Rays Release John Lamb, Designate Steve Geltz For Assignment

The Rays have released left-hander John Lamb and designated right-hander Steve Geltz for assignment, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (on Twitter).

Lamb, 26, was acquired from the Reds in exchange for cash earlier this offseason. While many Cincinnati fans took umbrage to the fact that Lamb, who was one of the three lefties acquired by the Reds in the 2015 Johnny Cueto blockbuster, was traded for essentially no return. However, Lamb has had two back surgeries in the past 11 months, including one shortly after the season ended, and has struggled tremendously in the Majors when healthy enough to pitch. While he’s averaged a promising 8.7 K/9 against 3.8 BB/9, Lamb has been very homer-prone and ultimately recorded a 6.17 ERA in 119 2/3 innings. Lamb is a former top 25 overall prospect, however, and he did pitch well in Triple-A as recently as 2015 (2.67 ERA with 9.5 K/9 against 2.9 BB/9 in 111 1/3 innings). He should draw interest elsewhere on a minor league pact this offseason, given his pedigree and recent success in the upper minors.

Geltz, who turned 29 two weeks ago, pitched to a 5.74 ERA in 26 2/3 innings with Tampa Bay this past season but posted a more impressive 3.03 ERA with better than 10 strikeouts per nine innings during his time at Triple-A. He had a solid season out of the Tampa Bay ’pen in 2015 (3.74 ERA, 8.2 K/9, 3.5 BB/9 in 67 1/3 innings) and has a 4.23 ERA in 104 1/3 innings at the big league level dating back to 2012.