Biscuits open single-game ticket sales

The team's ticket office will open at 10 a.m. Saturday and start selling single-game ducats for the 2011 season.

Grady's Wright, 2 former Biscuits to minors

Left-handed pitcher Wesley Wright, the Grady native, was optioned to the minor leagues today by the Houston Astros. He had a 9.00 ERA in eight spring innings.

Two former Biscuits also moved out of major league camps. Outfielder Fernando Perez was optioned to the minors by the Chicago Cubs. Catcher Robinson Cancel was reassigned to the minors by the Astros.

Auburn's Gabe Gross was reassigned to Seattle's minor leagues Wednesday.

(What's the difference in being "optioned" and "reassigned"? Optioned means the player is on the 40-man roster.)

Tampa Bay minor league spring roster

I hope you'll forgive my football-mushed mind while I try to transition into baseball. Driving all day Saturday and scheduled to report to camp Sunday, but here's something to get things going.

It's Tampa Bay's minor league camp roster -- dated Tuesday -- with 78 pitchers, 19 catchers, 36 infielders and 24 outfielders.

This will not include those souls still in major league camp. Unless I immediately remembered that the player goes by another name, I used the name listed on the roster. (They mostly go with full first names. Ex: Nicholas Barnese, Alexander Torres, etc.) And I blame any typos on football OD and Emeel Salem.

PITCHERS
Wilmer Almonte
Chris Andujar
Chris Archer
Brian Baker
Nick Barnese
Jonah Bayliss
Andrew Bellatti
Omar Bencomo
Justin Betts-Robinson
Matt Bush
Alex Cobb
Alex Colome
Joseph Cruz
Dane De La Rosa
Frank De Los Santos
Richard De Los Santos
Robert Dickmann
Aaron Dott
Shane Dyer
Sergio Espinosa
Ryan Fleckenstein
Marquis Fleming
Justin Garcia
Nathan Garcia
Brandon Gomes
Edgar Gonzalez
Jesse Hahn
Jeremy Hall
Justin Hall
Dirk Hayhurst
Brandon Henderson
James Hill
Stephen Hiscock
Austin Hubbard
Kevin James
Mickey Jannis
Michael Jarman
George Jensen
Marcus Jensen
Daniel Johnson
Ken Kelly
Ian Kendall
Will Kline
Alex Koronis
Braulio Lara
Adam Liberatore
Kyle Lobstein
Parker Markei
Victor Mateo
Deivis Mavarez
Jason McEachern
shane Minks
Matt Moore
David Newmann
Ricky Orta
Jacob Partridge
James Patterson
Paul Phillips
Zach Quate
Chris Rearick
Ryan Reid
Charles Riefenhauser
Wilking Rodriguez
Enny Romero
Josh Satow
Neil Schenk
Trevor Shull
Scott Shuman
Matt Spann
Matt Stabelfeld
Albert Suarez
Eliazer Suero
Jake Sullivan
Matt Swilley
Jacob Thompson
Alex Torres
Justin Woodall
Kirby Yates

CATCHERS
Mayobanex Acosta
Nevin Ashley
Luke Bailey
Tanner Biagini
Keith Castillo
Robinson Chirinos
Jacob DePew
Tomas Francisco
Kyle Holloway
Jacob Jefferies
Omar Narvaez
Justin O'Conner
Gerardo Olivares
Junior Rodriguez
Alejandro Segovia
Mark Thomas
Alejandro Torres
Stephen Vogt
David Wendt

INFIELDERS
Tim Beckham
Tyler Bortnick
Ryan Brett
Russ Canzler
Julio Cedeno
Cody Cipriano
Bennett Davis
Derek Dietrich
Robinson Estrada
Cole Figueroa
Travis Flores
J.J. Furmaniak
Felix Gonzalez
Hector Guevara
Matthew Hall
Seth Henry
Scott Lawson
Hak-Ju Lee
Diogenes Luis
Omar Luna
Kyle Lusson
Jeff Malm
Daniel Mayora
Julian Morillo
Shawn O'Malley
Robby Price
Juniel Querecuto
Leonardo Reginatto
Anthony Scelfo
Nicholas Schwaner
Greg Sexton
Michael Sheridan
Matthew Sweeney
Steven Tinoco
Henry Wrigley
Philip Wunderlich

OUTFIELDERS
Dustin Biell
Brian Bryles
Gabe Cohen
Alex Diaz
Deshun Dixon
Bryan Fogle
Reid Fronk
Todd Glaesmann
Cesar Guillen
Brandon Guyer
Desmond Jennings
D.J. Jones
Kyeong Kang
Kevin Kiermaier
John Matulia
Lucas Montero
Ty Morrison
Chris Murrill
Brett Nommensen
Cody Rogers
Josh Sale
Emeel Salem
Isaias Velasquez
Drew Vettleson

Spring to BoSox; X's Huskies pick up first win

Former Biscuits catcher Matt Spring, a free agent after last season, has hooked on with the Boston Red Sox. He was a late addition to Boston's minor league camp.

Former Biscuits pitching coach Xavier Hernandez, now the first-year pitching coach at Houston Baptist, celebrated a win tonight. The Huskies picked a goodie to win, beating No. 7 Texas Christian 8-4.

Lastly, the blog will start warming up in two weeks, BUT there will be nothing over the next week. I am off and won't be allowed to post any information until March 20, at the earliest.

Dukes back in the news

The latest on former Biscuit Elijah Dukes, from the AP ...

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Authorities say former major leaguer Elijah Dukes is being held in a Florida jail after his pregnant ex-girlfriend accused him of slapping her in the face during an argument.

Hillsborough County Jail records show Dukes was being held without bond Thursday after his arrest a day earlier on charges of aggravated battery on a pregnant woman and driving with a revoked or suspended license. He also had been wanted on a contempt of court warrant

A sheriff’s office report said the ex-girlfriend told deputies Dukes slapped her in the face several times.

Dukes began his career with the Tampa Bay Rays and was traded to the Washington Nationals in 2008. He was released before the 2010 season.

Jail records did not indicate if Dukes had an attorney. Attorney Grady Irvin Jr. says he no longer represents Dukes.