The Rays announced that they’ve placed right-hander Michael Wacha on the 10-day injured list with right hamstring tightness. They’re hopeful he will only miss one appearance, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets. To replace Wacha, the club reinstated righty Collin McHugh from the 10-day IL.
Wacha, a $3MM free-agent pickup who previously played for the Cardinals and Mets, has put together some good outings and some clunkers this season. During his most recent appearance this past Sunday, Wacha came out of the bullpen and gave up four earned runs on five hits in 2 2/3 innings in a win over the Astros. In all, Wacha has made six appearances (four starts) and logged a 4.76 ERA with a 22.4 percent strikeout rate and a 6.9 percent walk rate across 28 1/3 innings. ERA estimators such as FIP (3.96), xFIP (3.99) and SIERA (4.05) paint a much more favorable picture of Wacha’s performance than his ERA, but he ranks near the bottom of the league in several critical Statcast categories.
A back strain forced McHugh to the IL on April 18, continuing a difficult start to the season for him. Prior to his IL placement, opposing offenses tagged the 33-year-old for eight runs (six earned) on 12 hits over 5 1/3 frames. That wasn’t what the Rays had in mind when they inked McHugh to a $1.8MM pact in free agency.
Wacha has been up and down, indeed. I think he helps as a veteran presence too, but if he can get back to his previous starts (prior to Sunday), he will contribute.
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Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like there have been more injuries the first month of this season than any other season I can remember. Nearly every team has an IL placement at least every other day. It’s pretty alarming.