We still have two days left in the regular season, so the Rays roster churn continues. Chris Mazza has been recalled from Triple-A, while Louis Head has been optioned, though he’ll remain on-hand as part of the taxi squad, per the team.
Head is no stranger to the taxi squad. The 31-year-old has put together a solid rookie season with a 2.31 ERA/3.11 FIP in 35 innings of work. Head has a 23.9 percent strikeout rate, enviable 6.7 percent walk rate, and 31.1 percent groundball rate. Despite keeping the ball in the air, he’s limited long balls to just a 1.5 percent home run rate.
Mazza will be available out of the bullpen for these final two regular season games. Mazza, also 31, has appeared in 13 games for the Rays, pitching to a 4.97 ERA/4.35 FIP across 25 1/3 innings.
Love the Rays churn comment
Gotta love the bullpen call: give me Head!
I fear that’s going be all the Head we’ll get this year.
“Taxi Squad” in Tampa, with their owner., means the player is required to be an Uber driver in order to collect his paycheck.
Rays taking full advantage of the COVID rules. This is nothing more than trading a reliever that just pitched 2 innings and would probably be unavailable for the next couple games for a fresh arm. I know a lot of teams are doing the same thing but the Rays are making it obvious. Hopefully they get ride of the COVID rules next year.
I hope the COVID rules are no more, mostly because that means COVID has been stamped out, or at least it is no longer a threat.