Brad Boxberger’s abdominal muscle surgery fired a wrench into the Rays’ closer plans for at least the season’s opening quarter. As a result, there’s intrigue as spring training winds down.

With Jake McGee gone – gee, wouldn’t he be a convenient plug-and-play replacement? – Tampa Bay must sort out a muddied picture for protecting ninth-inning leads.

A few logical options include Alex Colome, Xavier Cedeno and Danny Farquhar. But don’t count on the Rays knighting a single face for the final-inning spotlight.

Chatter out of camp says multiple names could receive the nod, depending on how early innings shake out. As Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times notes, baseball overlord Matt Silverman sees the “closer” tag being passed around like a baton until Boxberger returns.

“A lot of it is going to be dependent upon situations within games and across a series of games,” baseball operations president Matt Silverman said. “There aren’t going to be set roles, but certainly you will see some predispositions in the first couple of series as we work through those situations. … We’re going to learn a lot more about some of these relievers early on.”

As frustrating as Boxberger’s injury can be, Joe sees opportunity. Some bullpen members will be given a chance to sink or soar. Talk about a gut check. But maybe some will take a step forward in their careers.

Hopefully, Boxberger will have a speedy recovery. But there’s nothing wrong with learning more about less-proven arms this early.