The Rays announced that they have recalled right-hander Edwin Uceta from Triple-A Durham. Fellow right Chris Devenski was designated for assignment in a corresponding move, dropping their 40-man roster count to 39. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times relayed the info on X prior to the official announcement.
Devenski, now 33, has had an up-and-down career but seemed to be in decent form with the Rays last year. After being let go by the Angels, he signed with Tampa at the end of August and finished 2023 with a 2.08 earned run average in nine appearances for the Rays. That was enough for the Rays to re-sign him for 2024, as the two sides agreed to a one-year deal with a $1.1MM guarantee, in the form of a $1MM salary and a club option for 2025 with a $100K buyout.
Unfortunately, Devenski hasn’t been able to carry those results over this year. He has been working a multi-inning role out of Tampa’s bullpen, tossing 26 2/3 frames over 19 appearances this year, but having allowed 6.75 earned runs per nine. His 19.7% strikeout rate, 11.5% walk rate and 25% ground ball rate have all been subpar.
The righty is a veteran with far more than five years of major league service time, meaning he can’t be optioned to the minors without his consent. Based on his poor results overall, and the fact that he threw 43 pitches last night while only recording two outs, the Rays figured they could make better use of his roster spot and had to remove him from the 40-man entirely.
The Rays will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers, though it’s unlikely any club would have much interest as acquiring Devenski would involve taking on what’s left of his salary and the buyout on that option. Since he has enough service time to reject an outright assignment, he’s should end up a free agent at some point in the next week.
He may garner more interest at that point, as the Rays would still be on the hook for what’s left of his contract, while any other club could sign him and only pay him the prorated version of the league minimum for any time spent on the roster.
Devenski had a strong run early in his career but has struggled more recently. In 2016 and 2017, he tossed 189 innings for the Astros with a 2.35 ERA, 28.2% strikeout rate and 6.4% walk rate. His results took a step back in the subsequent seasons and he ended up missing a decent chunk of time due to injuries, including Tommy John surgery. He has a 5.42 ERA since the start of 2018 and a 6.46 ERA since the start of 2020.
As recently as last year, he was in decent form. Between the Angels and Rays, he had a 4.46 ERA, 24.3% strikeout rate and 6.4% walk rate. The Rays were willing to take a shot on that bounce-back but it didn’t play out. Given the slate of pitcher injuries around the league, perhaps some other club will take a low-cost gamble on him in the weeks to come.
Hasn’t been good since 2018.
Wow. How bad was Devenski that they actually think Uceta is better? Pssst, He’s not.
Devenski is 33 and is a lost cause in terms of development.
Uceta is 26 and has potential if nothing else.
No he has no potential. Except to start a dumpster fire maybe.
Well, that’s potential, isn’t it? 😉
I kind of like Uceta. He has pitched 2 games for the Rays this year for 2 IP each, and he was good in both games (1.95 xERA). Even if you think that small sample isn’t worth much, it’s pretty clear Uceta has never pitched as bad as Devenski pitched this year.
You like train wrecks too?
He pitched tonight, going 2 IP and giving up 1 hit, no walks and no runs. That’s 6 total IP for the season now, and he has a 0.00 ERA and 0.66 WHIP. You may not like him, but the Rays often get good results from pitchers other teams throw away. Still early though….
While you were reading this, Devenski gave up another homer.
They tried. It didn’t work out. Glad the Rays moved on.
I asked Strom how did Devenski and Peacock go from like 8 k’s per 9 to 11 K’s per 9 in 2018. He said sticky sticky.
It always amazes me how often teams will take low cost gambles on fringe relievers in hopes they can maintain or develop into something. It rarely works out. I was glad to see Devenski go from the Angels, and now the Rays realize what they really have.
It amazes you that teams like the Rays don’t sign only the well established successful players? Rays have made a lot of chicken salad with chicken poop over the years. Just look at the Angels big signing of Stephenson this past offseason. Rays took a nothing player and made him a multi-millionaire with 1/2 a season of work.
All the Rays pitchers have a great slider. It’s called the Roger Beshens Football Slider, you can Google that one.
Glasnow was nothing until May 2018 in Pitt when he learned that football slider and the Rays noticed.
That’s the blueprint for the Rays and now all the elite teams know it.
Well gosh, I had no idea the secret to the Rays success was a single pitch.
Well the Rays teach the Roger Beshens Sinker which is 2 seam on label and thumb as high as comfortable, but that sinker alone isn’t good enough to make them elite, were the RB Football Slider alone is.
The Rays wanted Glasnow while in Pitt cause Glas learned the Roger Beshens Football Slider, then they couldn’t afford him throwing the RB Football Slider and the Dodgers said Thank you.