We hypothesized the other day that the Rays were going to bring back Greg Zaun for 2010, and platoon him with either Dioner Navarro or Kelley Shoppach.  That theory went down the drain as Zaun was signed by the Brewers to a 1 year deal with a club option for 2011.

This puts the Rays in a bit of a pickle actually, because as I mentioned in our previous post, both guys struggle to hit RHP.  Even though he has only 208 career AB’s, I don’t think Shawn Riggans is really a viable secondary option at C and even if he were, he too hits LHP slightly better (although he doesn’t really hit anything that well) than RHP.

With a plethora of IF’s, the Rays might be forced to make a move for a young C from another team who has some upside using one of those IF’s as bait.  The Rays also could use Carl Crawford as trade bait to acquire a top tier C prospect amongst other things from another organization.  I don’t want to see CC go, but I think resigning him after this season is going to be tough for the Rays, as he will be immediately on the radar of the Sox and the Yanks.  With Desmond Jennings, Matt Joyce, and BJ Upton all in a better contractual state than CC based on their big league service time, CC may not be a Ray in 2010.

Regardless of who we move though, a C for the future, and at minimum, a C who can hit RHP is a necessity for the Rays this offseason.