Tampa Bay Rays Notes: Upton, Brignac, Maddon, Namath, Offense

Here's some news and notes from the Tampa Bay Rays:

• Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports B.J. Upton returned to game action Tuesday after a nasty collision Wednesday with Desmond Jennings. Upton went 0-for-2 with a walk in minor league action. "It's a great day for me," said Upton.
• Rays shortstop Ried Brignac will be shut down for a few days with what manager Joe Maddon called a "nasty little" foot injury. The injury could keep Brignac off the opening day roster, in which case Sean Rodriguez would be the Opening Day shortstop. Maddon's descriptions did not sound good. "It's awkward, it's one of the most awkward injuries I've ever heard about," said Maddon. "There's no definitive way to treat it, you're going to be in pain, you can still run on it, it's still going to hurt, you know that."
• FreeZorilla at DRaysBay looks at how the Ray's offense has underperformed projections in past two years. He wonders if hitting coach Derek Shelton is responsible, while also considering the amount a hitting coach can change an offense at all.

• Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com writes Joe Maddon was starstruck Tuesday when he got to meet one of his childhood idles: Joe Namath. Maddon isn't usually so flustered. "You have no idea," Maddon said. "I'm normally pretty cool about things, but this is different."
• Check out the Tampa Bay Rays Complete Organizational Depth Chart. Don't you want to be as smart as Joe Maddon and the Rays front office?