The Rays have placed first baseman Brad Miller on the 10-day disabled list, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets. The club selected the contract of right-hander Ryan Weber from Triple-A Durham in a corresponding move, thus giving it a full 40-man roster.
Miller suffered a groin injury while running the bases Sunday against the Red Sox, who overcame a 7-2 deficit in the eighth inning to post six runs and pull out an 8-7 win over the Rays. It was the most disappointing defeat yet in a slow start for Tampa Bay, which is a major league-worst 1-8 through the first week-plus of the season. Miller hasn’t exactly helped the Rays’ cause, having hit a so-so .222/.300/.370 (96 wRC+) through 30 plate appearances. However, that’s better production than Miller logged in 2017, a season in which he slashed .201/.327/.337 (83 wRC+) in 407 PAs. C.J. Cron stands out as the most logical replacement for Miller on the Rays’ 25-man roster.
Weber, a Tampa Bay native who signed a minor league pact with the Rays in the offseason, has thrown 68 1/3 innings (22 appearances, eight starts) since debuting with the Braves in 2015. The 27-year-old has registered a 5.00 ERA/4.47 FIP with 5.53 K/9, 1.45 BB/9 and a 55.7 percent groundball rate between Atlanta and Seattle. Weber has been far better at preventing runs at the Triple-A level (2.16 ERA, 5.1 K/9, 1.5 BB/9 in 167 innings), and he’ll hope for that type of success with the Rays, whose bullpen took a beating Sunday.
How long until adames?
The sad thing? That production is about the best of any Rays player this year! What a sad state of affairs for this once proud organization; long gone are the days of competing. I really have no idea why we don’t at least see a few of the ballyhooed prospects.
You’re not seeing the Rays’ ballyhooed prospects because the current rules of MLB dictate that it’s too early to call them up. If they keep performing, you’ll see them this summer.
I understand the process, I just fear even after these first few week we do not see them. I have seen how this FO works. They dont always make sense. Banda’s clock has already started, and the team needs help. Now. Obv we are not going to challenge this year, so I am patient. But this is bad. Even worse than I thought.
Jake Bauers?
This will hurt more than people might realize. Anyone who saw the weekend series in Boston knows how many throwing errors Miller saved at first.
The Marlins are actually a better team and I don’t think it’s close. Rays are definitely picking 1st. Only question is will be historically bad or just normal worst team bad. I think they might make some history.
Hey man, if we’re going to lose we should go all out… 😀