Troy Percival Expects Healthy April

Troy Percival, the Rays' closer for much of 2008, underwent back surgery on December 3 to remove herniated discs and repair some other damage. Conventional wisdom this offseason has been that Percival won't be ready to take on his old role for a bit in the upcoming regular season. If he's ready, it won't be a gigantic blow to the Rays, because they already have Dan Wheeler, Grant Balfour, and J.P. Howell at the back-end of the bullpen.

Percival, though, is now feeling like he's going to be ready to go when the season begins. In fact, he wants to work a handful of Spring Training games just to be sure.

This could really end up making the Rays' already stout bullpen even better than it was last year. Percival didn't pitch much down the stretch last year, and the Rays advanced through two rounds of the playoffs without him. Plus, when he did throw, he wasn't feeling well.

"I feel better now than I did at any point last year,'' Percival said. "My back was killing me last year. I still have back pain but I don't have the things that go with it. My legs last year they were numb, they were shaking all the time. I have all the strength back in my legs. That's probably the biggest bonus that I've noticed.''

This is great news for the Rays, as Percival was worse than the three aforementioned relievers last season. If he is truly able to come back full strength, as he says he will, the Rays could have the best bullpen in the majors.