The Rays announced today that they have selected the contract of righty Casey Sadler. To create a roster opening, the team shifted rehabbing hurler Jose De Leon to the 60-day injured list.
The AL East-leading Tampa Bay organization created active roster space by optioning out righty Emilio Pagan. And with backstop Mike Zunino hitting the paternity list, the team also brought up catcher Nick Ciuffo.
Sadler, 28, has seen scattered action in parts of three seasons with the Pirates. He’ll be looking to build off of an interesting early showing at Triple-A this year with his new organization, which added him on a minors deal over the offseason. Sadler has racked up 13 strikeouts in his seven innings with the Rays’ top affiliate.
Whether there’s some new trick up his sleeve remains to be seen; Sadler has averaged just 6.3 K/9 in his 700+ minor-league frames. He has been a solid performer at Triple-A, turning in a 3.64 ERA over 314 innings in parts of six seasons, making him a potentially useful multi-inning piece for the Rays even if he isn’t able to find another gear in the majors.
9,000 at the Trop last night to watch possibly the most interesting team in MLB….1,000 LESS than went to the Marlins game the night before……
Ah well, Sox are in town tonight……
Snow Birds….
hell, i have gotten groupon sending me a deal for half price rays tix.
not unusual, they do it 3-4 times a year.
but in this case? sent it out 2 days before opening day and have sent it everyday since (and considering with it, tix are half price AND pretty much zero “handling” fees)
I thought Emilio Pagan was pretty good. Why was he optioned?
Pagan was fine, both in Durham and then in Tampa. I have no idea why they optioned him and kept the infamous Wilmer Font.
Optioned him because they needed a fresh arm after using the bullpen so heavily with today being the third opener game in a row. Wilmer Font has no options remaining, pretty self explanatory they do not want to DFA him so they sent Pagan back down.
…this of course because Wilmer Font is so valuable….unbelievable…..
Casey Sadler is going to contend for Cy Young this year. When pitchers leave the Pirates, they are destined for greatness.
The marketing of the Rays is not very good at all. Also, I went to 2 games and both times the Credit card (no cash) was lethargic and an issue. The ticket window didn’t give me the seats I wanted and they could have. Seems the ownership has given up trying to market the team in Florida .
Terrible no clue marketing. Too bad that the marketing isn’t on par with the analytics and scouting depts. They’re top notch.
Bring them to NC or SC! Working well in football!
I thought that Casey Sadler was a decent pitcher with the Pirates who did not show the high strikeout numbers that they like to have.
His Tommy John surgery I think cost him 1 1/2 years when he would have been contending to make the major league team.
I wish him luck with Tampa Bay who might be able to get the most out of him.