Friday lineups

A quick set of lineups for today's minor-league games. The Rays play the Yankees with the Double- and Triple-A teams at home and the Class A's in Tampa, complete with an extra designated hitter.

Durham -- Perez, dh; Raburn, ss; Ruggiano, rf; Navarro, c; Nowak, dh (probably a typo, 1b); Cottrell, 3b; Eldridge, cf; Asanovich, 2b; Breen, lf; Lopez, dh. (Dioner Navarro is down from major-league camp because Jamie Shields is down to get some work in.)

Montgomery -- Loyola, dh; Suarez, 3b; Pedroza, rf; Fields, 1b; Ashley, dh; Hall, lf; Groce, cf; Fontaine, 2b; Walton, ss; Albernaz, c.

Vero Beach -- Salem, cf; Fronk, rf; Royster, lf; McCormick, dh; Vogt, dh; Sexton, 3b; Wrigley, 1b; Acosta, c; Luna, ss; Mayer, 2b.

Columbus -- Lineup not posted.

Making roster guesses out of thin air

Having successfully navigated the perilous path between Montgomery and St. Petersburg on Thursday, but before I grace the fields at the Naimoli Complex, it's time for the third annual Biscuits Roster Guesses.

We kicked off this bubbly blog with these guesses a few years ago, so let's do it again.

Envelope, please.

Pitcher Wade Davis could start at Durham, but I'll say he goes back to Montgomery. He may be on the David Price-in-Vero Beach Plan, though. (By the way, that could also be called the David Price-in-the-Minors Plan.)

Pitcher Jake McGee and first baseman Rhyne Hughes were late promotions from Vero last year and are due to return. Same for infielder Patrick Cottrell. DH Sergio Pedroza, of pennant-winning home run fame, will actually see a regular-season game in Montgomery this year, too.

Repeating a level isn't a pleasant experience, so bear with second baseman Josh Asanovich, outfielder Erold Andrus , pitcher Mike Prochaska and pitcher James Houser at the Meet the Team preseason event. Though Chris Nowak put up good numbers last year, it wouldn't be a surprise to see him back this season. He's starting to run into 40-man roadblocks ahead of him.

I expect Ronnie Merrill to be the shortstop with Reid Brignac taking his Cajun self to Durham. Christian Lopez will be the catcher and J.T. Hall will be in the outfield. Mike Wlodarczyk -- and I spelled that correctly without looking first -- will round out the rotation.

Derek Feldkamp will be back, but he'll be in the bullpen. I say either Jon Barratt is pushed to the bullpen or he starts because Houser is at Durham. I won't venture a guess on the stopper.

So, I've given you the starting rotation, the infield, two outfielders and a few relievers. Is that enough? Check back March 30 when the rosters are finalized to find out how little I know.

Charlie has 'happy drive' from L.A. to Arizona

In a fit of unabashed self-promotion (and a fervent hope I didn't screw up anything), allow me to point you to another story on the Montoyos' departure from Los Angeles.

Alex Montoyo headed home

Alex Montoyo, the infant son of former Biscuits manager Charlie, left the UCLA Medical Center today and will fly home to Arizona on Saturday.

Alex was born Oct. 17 with a heart defect and has spent the last five months in hospitals in Tucson, Ariz., Phoenix and Los Angeles. His family has been living in a small apartment near the UCLA hospital, but Alex, mom Sam and 5-year-old brother Tyson are flying home to Arizona today. Charlie is driving.

"Tyson said we've been waiting on this day for a long time," Charlie said. "We've gone to the hospital every day, hoping and praying. Now, we get to take (Alex) home."

Alex was born with Ebstein's anomaly, had two open-heart surgeries in his two months and was in intensive care at UCLA until early this week. Alex will have his next surgery in a few months, Charlie said.

Charlie said he'll arrive at spring training next week and return to Triple-A Durham for the season. He will be home "two or three days and then leave until September."

"That's all right," he said. "We're taking my baby home."

MLB hands out suspensions for Rays, Yanks

New York's Shelley Duncan and Melky Cabrera will sit three games, while Tampa Bay's Jonny Gomes will miss two for Wednesday's incident. Cabrera apparently punched Rays third baseman Evan Longoria in the back of the head during the fray.