The Tampa Bay Rays continued their weekly weekend roster churn, placing Ryne Stanek on the IL, optioning Brendan McKay to Triple-A, calling up Hunter Wood, and activating Chaz Roe from the injured list, tweets MLB.com’s Juan Toribio.
Wood and McKay, like ships passing in the night, are two of the many innings-eating arms the Rays have trucked back and forth to Durham per the team’s need – such is life in the Tampa Bay system. McKay, 23, has thus far lived up to the hype in four starts, going 1-1 with a 3.72 ERA (2.86 FIP). Control has been his calling card, as he’s walked just one batter in 19 1/3 innings. With 18 strikeouts to go with it, McKay heads to Durham as the proud owner of a comic 18.00 K/BB ratio.
Wood, 25, has pitched effectively across 17 appearances (2 starts) for the big league club, currently boasting a 2.08 ERA (3.42 FIP) in 26 innings. His minor league numbers are less impressive, perhaps due to a tendency to air it out in Durham where he has both struck out hitters at a higher rate (11.9 K/9 to 7.3 K/9) and walked them at a higher rate (4.0 BB/9 to 2.1 BB/9).
Stanek, 27, hits the shelf with right hip soreness. He of the league-leading 27 games started distinction has gone 0-2 with a 3.40 ERA in 41 appearances, 27 of which qualify as starts, despite his longest single outing of the season lasting two innings – a mark he’s hit 14 times. Stanek has already pitched 55 2/3 innings on the season, less than 12 innings away from the career-high that he set last year.
Roe, 32, returns from a right flexor strain that has kept him out of action since July 9th. Roe, 32, had seen consistent usage out of the pen despite posting a 5.27 ERA (4.21 FIP) across those 39 games. The strikeouts have been there, but so have the walks as Roe racked up 11.9 K/9 to 6.6 BB/9.
McKay has lived up to the hype with a 3.72 ERA?
Did you see him get battered last night by the lowly White Sox?
McKay hasn’t proven anything yet. Ohtani will be the one and only foreseeable 2-way player, everything else is just balderdash.
2.86 FIP is elite
In what world is a 3.72 era and a 2.86 fip from a rookie not good?
Did *you* see the game last night? McKay did not have his best stuff, but four of the runs he gave up were directly or indirectly due to Austin Meadows’ awful defense. Two fly balls which should have been outs. Numbers can be misleading.
And for goodness sake, plz dont put Meadows out there again! Perma-DH!
Austin meadows made an incredible catch tonight, but I agree that the defense let Brandon McKay down last night.
Resting guys is tired let’s not do the Paddack thing again. People used to be able to go normal innings with throwing fast. Let pitchers pitch!
I cant help but wonder what all this back and forth does to McKay. Just leave him on the roster. Be like a normal team for once.
Stanek needs to get healthy asap. 8.49 era against the Yanks this year. 5 of his 7 HR’s allowed were against the Yanks.
Even if he doesn’t pitch again this year, I’m sure the Yanks will vote him a full World Series share. Especially since Gray and Robertson are on other teams.
What happened to McKay last night foretells what’s going to me a major issue for the Rays going forward. They’re simply not a very good defensive team, and that’s an issue since they’re so pitching-centric. Nate Lowe/Choi are sub-par at first (tho Choi is entertaining); Brosseau, like all Rays middle-infield prospects, is bat-first; Adames and Diaz are sub-standard. Wendle is decent at 2B and 3B, but isn’t a short stop. Getting Duffy back will help, but he’s at best “meh”.
The OF is below par, even with K K. Pham (like with his base running) barely pays attention; Meadows has never been any good defensively; Garcia is barely palatable.
To be fair, except for the Red Sox OF (and that’s trending downward), the rest of the division has similar issues. But, again, on a pitching-first team, it hurts more. Defense was their one area where they could gain a distinct advantage; that isn’t true anymore.
Stanek? Probably needs the time off, and since it doesn’t affect his earning power (pre-arb), he likely agreed to it; who doesn’t want a quickie vacation. Banda and DeLeon both appear to be healthy again, and at least Banda has been decent; his projection always was as a bullpen guy.
Don’t tell the guys that slobber over FIP metrics that McKay is headed nowhere….they’ll explode
They probably thought Pittsburgh won the Archer trade too.
Adames is sub par? Have you seen him play SS? Great range and doesn’t have a strong arm but quick release. Plays a good SS. Offense should come around he’ll never hit for power but should be a trade candidate once Wander Franco is ready. Cincinnati could be a good fit once Iglesias’ tenure is over in a low cost deal.
Obviously you’ve never seen him throw. Every one an adventure. Sure, the tools (quick-twitch) are there, but he gets caught off guard a lot, and tries to over-compensate. Even Keith Law realizes Adames isn’t a short-stop; so does everybody else. Right now, he’s sub par; perhaps with a lot of work he can be average. But that’s really not enough on a pitching-centric team, is it?