Tyler Glasnow has been placed on the 10-day injured list after being removed from his start yesterday with forearm soreness. An MRI returned a mild forearm strain, better than a potential elbow issue as was the fear, though Glasnow is expected to miss four to six weeks of action, as reported by both MLB.com’s Juan Toribio (via Twitter) and Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter links). Andrew Velazquez will be recalled to take Glasnow’s roster spot.
While this isn’t the worst case scenario for the Rays, it’s certainly disappointing to see Glasnow out for an extended period. As Jeff Todd pointed out yesterday at the time of the injury, Glasnow’s production has aligned with expectations for the first time this season, his first full season in Tampa after being acquired in the Chris Archer deal. Still only 25-years-old, the hard-throwing, 6’8″ righty has bull-rushed opponents with an average 96.6 mph heater, 10.24 K/9 to only 1.68 BB/9, while limiting impact contact with only 3.8% of at-bats resulting in an extra-base hit, a number that ranks second in the American League.
Andrew Velazquez, 24, joins the club in the short-term from Triple-A, where he’s worked a batting line of .290/.347/.495. He is as well-suited for the Rays as a player can be, providing tremendous versatility via speed, switch-hitting and the ability to play all over the diamond. In just 13 games with the big league club last year, Velazquez managed time at every position except pitcher, catcher, and first, while twice being used a pinch-runner and once at designated hitter. While he did not rank among the Rays’ top 30 prospects per MLB.com, the New York native has cut down on his strikeouts through 101 plate appearances so far this season, and while it’s still early, his versatility should provide more opportunity enough to stick in the bigs at some point.
As for the rotation, there will be increased pressure on Blake Snell and Charlie Morton, the other two rotation stalwarts for a roster that largely relies on a pitching-by-committee approach. At 48 1/3 innings, Glasnow heads to the injured list as the Rays leader in innings pitched so far this season. Yonny Chirinos has pitched well both as a starter and a follower, including an efficient 7 1/3 innings in his last start against Baltimore. Jalen Beeks has also given the Rays quality innings in a long man/follower role, with a 2.48 ERA in ten games averaging almost three innings per outing. With a 12-man pitching staff at present, the Rays are likely to maintain a fluid approach to roster construction in the near-term.
Could be worse. Happy its not more serious
That’s a big blow for the Rays. Having only 2 legitimate starters now is tough. It’s only a month-month and a half timeline but that’s a big loss. Strong chance NYY and perhaps even Boston will have leapfrogged them by the time he returns.
I’d count on NY overtaking them first. The Red Sox are starting to play better, and have the easy part of their schedule over the next few weeks. So probably by June 1st it will be Boston than NY followed by the Rays.
NY has a crazy amount of head to heads with tampa coming up. They’re basically done playing eachother before August.
Well yeah I mean NY is only half a game back I’m sure they’d close that gap before Boston closes a 4 game gap. In 4-6 weeks the Red Sox could close that gap between those two teams. Though they themselves are down 2 starters and have questions in the pen.
Have we not learned by now that Tampa is a cavalry of arms they can call up at any time that throw 97 with a breaking ball. They’ll be fine lol
This definitely hurts. I think the rays have a solid young team. But any long term injury to Snell, Glasnow, or Morton hurts worse than it would for a regular team. This probably means Chirinos is going to be a traditional #3 starter for the next month and a half. They haven’t gotten good length from anyone other than Beeks in the “follower” or length role. Whatever term you’d prefer to use for it. They’ll have to have Yarbrough, Faria or the like step up and be able to fill that role or this will hurt a great deal. Luckily NY is still banged up (though they are winning ballgames) and Boston is still cobbling together a rotation as we speak.
Well they were concerned about innings pitched so that problem has been solved
Well they were concerned about innings pitched so that problem has been solved
Hate to be “that guy”, but forearm strains sometimes turn into the dreaded TJ surgery (I remember an almost identical situation a few years back with Cobb). I certainly hope I am wrong. Glasnow has unbelievable stuff.
Sometimes? How about most of the time? It’s an elbow injury, don’t let the media spin diagnosis fool you.
Yeah, all too often that seems to be the case. Unfortunately.
That being said glad it’s not worse. Just a question to Ray’s fans.How is Honeywell and that pitcher you got from LA a couple years that was suppose to be really good? Will they be back at all this year?
Jose De Leon has started to make rehab starts. Honeywell has had setbacks in his rehab and been shut down indefinitely.
Pittsburgh won the trade
Bummer for Glasnow but the trade does lean in favor of the Bucs now.
No they didn’t. I’m a Pirates fan, but stop being delusional. Regardless of how long Glasnow is out, the Rays still managed to unlock his immense potential, which the Pirates embarrassingly failed to do, just like with Cole and Morton. Meadows looks like an all-star. And Archer is still just producing average results.
The trade reeks of desperation by the Pirates to draw in more fans and less of an actual attempt to make the team better, as evidenced by the complete lack of moves this offseason. It’s disgusting.
TBH I forgot that Cole and Morton were bucks even recently.Yeah Pitt seems to draft well and have good talent but at the FO level I don’t know who the GM is but it seems he doesn’t have a clear direction of what he is doing
I would think that you’re trolling JDGoat but I wouldn’t expect that out of you. I don’t see any way that someone could think the Pirates even came close to winning this one. Glasnow looks to be a better pitcher than Archer, is cheaper, and under control for longer. Not to mention Meadows has looked like an All-Star.
You can’t really say who won a trade for years but at this point it looks like the Rays fleeced the Pirates
I think he was being sarcastic…..
Yeah it was definitely sarcastic. Glasnow could have TJ tomorrow and the Pirates would have a tough time calling themselves winners considering Austin Meadows could easily provide more value than archer moving forward as well.
Great…Back in time for the playoffs is all that matters
I think Bumgarner could be a target. I believe he’s only making $12,000,000 this year, and the Giants needed to start the rebuild a couple years ago. If he is available at the right price I still think Buxton would be a good target. Wendle and Robertson should be shopped aggressively along with Roe and Kolarak. Wendle’s value is down but should be decent if he shows he’s healthy. I like Robertson but believe he’s another year or two away from busting out. Faria and some others on the 40 man could be part of the trades. I’m torn on who to get but believe Castelanos will probably be a target also. They’ve had alot of injuries to their prospects who are close, Gibaut, McCarthy, Honeywell all were on the cusp of making it to the MLB this year and contributing.