Rays right-hander Ryan Pepiot will undergo hip surgery and miss the rest of the season, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Pepiot is already on the 60-day injured list and will stay there for the rest of the campaign.
It’s obviously an unfortunate blow for Pepiot and the Rays. The right-hander was healthy in spring training but some inflammation in his right hip sent him to the 15-day IL to start the season. It initially appeared as though that would be a minimal IL stint. As of April 4th, Pepiot had thrown a bullpen session and was in line to rejoin the Rays a little over a week later.
The tides shifted a couple of weeks ago. On April 14th, around the time Pepiot was supposed to be activated, the Rays instead transferred him to the 60-day injured list when they signed Michael Grove. Few details were available at that time but that at least signalled that Pepiot wasn’t going to return before late May. This latest update is even more ominous than that, with Pepiot now set to go under the knife and miss the whole season.
Acquired from the Dodgers as part of the Tyler Glasnow trade in December of 2023, Pepiot was largely a mainstay of the Tampa rotation in the past two seasons. He made 26 starts in 2024 and 31 last year. Between the two seasons, he gave the Rays 297 2/3 innings with a 3.75 earned run average, 25.4% strikeout rate and 8.9% walk rate.
So far, the Rays have done well this year, despite getting no contributions from Pepiot. They are 18-12 and in second place in the American League East. The rotation has been a key part of that, as the club’s starters have a combined 3.45 ERA, fifth-best in the majors.
Still, it’s less than ideal that Pepiot won’t be coming back to join the group at any point. They traded away Taj Bradley at last year’s deadline and then Shane Baz in the offseason, thinning out the rotation depth. This year, they’ve gotten multiple starts from Shane McClanahan, Drew Rasmussen, Steven Matz, Nick Martinez and Joe Boyle. The Rays put Boyle on the IL a few weeks ago due to a right elbow strain. Jesse Scholtens has effectively taken his place in the rotation, largely working behind an opener.
It’s not a sturdy group on the whole. McClanahan is pitching well but it’s fair to wonder if he’ll hit some kind of wall since he missed the previous two seasons. Rasmussen has a spotty health history with multiple surgeries on his chart. Martinez and Matz are mid-30s guys who were in swing roles as of last year. Scholtens was a waiver claim towards the end of last season.
At some point, the Rays will have to turn to other arms in the system, with Pepiot no longer part of the calculus. Joe Rock is on the 40-man roster and currently on optional assignment but he’s walking everyone in Triple-A. Prospect Brody Hopkins is in Triple-A but he only has six starts at that level and is also showing significant control issues. Yoendrys Gómez is working as a long reliever in the big leagues but he has a 6.23 ERA and is out of options.
For now, the Rays will do their best to keep making it work, though any further injuries could really hurt them. If they manage to stay in contention until the deadline, they will presumably look for reinforcements.
Turning back to Pepiot, he got his service clock just over three years in 2025, therefore qualifying for arbitration for the first time for 2026. He is making $3.025MM this season and can be controlled via arbitration through 2028. When arb-eligible players miss an entire season, they usually end up making the same salary in the following campaign. The Rays surely aren’t happy to be losing Pepiot but the one benefit for them is that they should be able to have him back in 2027 without giving him a raise.
Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images
He may stay there for the rest of the season, but will he also sit and roll over
He’ll have no Pep-iot in his step for awhile
It’s hip to be square
Ohhhhh Pep-eee-oh
They knew and tried to keep it in house but in this day and age of investigative reporting, social media, and players getting kick backs from beat reporters, the news eventually came out.
WTH are you saying here?
What I’m saying is that we found out today. The player, the organization and everyone else involved knew back in mid April and the secret could not be held any longer. Questions would have been asked as to his whereabouts and why he was suddenly wheelchair bound.
Damn these humans not leaping at the opportunity to have their personal health information plastered all over the internet
It’s for gambling purposes. Started with the NFL in 1947. Everyone knows this, Juan
Dude – I think you’re pretty far down the rabbit hole. The Rays are not withholding season ending medical information for a player who hasn’t played all year and is just a mid-rotation starter anyway because of any competitive advantage, gambling or otherwise. Even if the Rays believed he needed surgery two weeks ago when he was moved to the 60 day, the reason it was just announced is likely because they gave the player time to consult other doctors and make the decision for himself (it is the player’s decision after all). There’s no conspiracy here.
The only conspiracy is that Rays have gotten 5.8 WAR from Pepiot and the Dodgers have gotten 5.1 from Glasnow
Big blow for a team trying to make the playoffs
Nah… Eventually the offense and lack of depth will impact the W-L record. This team is setting up to sell at the deadline before the Lockout begins.
Would teams agree to so many extensions if they were suspecting a lockout or salary cap? Record number of near debut extensions would indicate teams think they’re hitting peak leverage and they see these deals as potential bargains going forward, otherwise the market wouldn’t be seeing so many teams lock these guys up.
3rd Challenge – Actually, I think a pretty strong case can be made that both the players and the teams believe a cap is coming that will limit the length and size of future deals and they are rushing to do favorable rookie deals while the getting is good. As for the Lockout year, players won’t get paid during the Lockout.
The stupidest decision they have made in awhile was Taj Bradley for Jax.
That said, they have more than enough offense. I knew going in that the SP was gonna be thin and a problem.
Having new owners with less money to spend than the old owner does not help.
Yet most of the geniuses on here were saying what a great trade it was for Tampa right after it happened.
CG – Bradley for Jax or Paredes for Morel and 2 low value prospects… It’s a tough call which was worse. I hated both about equally.
Rays as a team are hitting 97 wRC+ right now. It was 110 wRC+ just a few weeks ago. That’s #16 in the league and I suspect they will have a bottom 10 offense by year end. So I don’t think they have enough offense even if their pitching is top 10 (which it isn’t). They might contend for a WC spot if everything goes their way, but I’m not expecting that.
HH – Rays fans were saying the same thing on the Rays blog. It’s funny how so many of them seem to now believe they always hated the Bradley trade. I took a few receipts… 🙂
Dumber than Paredes for Morel and a bag of balls?
Taj Bradley rhymes with Christopher Sanchez and Joe Ryan.
“Something something… lock out” cliché
Cliché …. I don’t think that word means what you think it means…
I don’t know about any of that, but it’s pretty easy to connect the dots here. When the status quo changes (e.g., so many rookies signing long-term deals), it’s a safe bet to assume that something out of the ordinary is driving that behavior. In this case, it would be the possibility of a lockout. With that in mind, I expect the Trade Deadline to be wild this year.
The bigger blow will be if Yandy goes down for significant time. We can weather starting pitching injuries, but that lineup gets very thin without Yandy.
Its safe to say so far, Dodgers have won this trade with TB
Ds
Is it?
I’d say that it was pretty win-win and both teams are getting about what they expected
Let’s look at the data
For one year of Glasnow, the Rays have already gotten
57 starts, 298 innings, 3.9 fWAR, 101 FIP, 98 xFIP
out of Pepiot
A league average pitcher with multiple years of control left for the Rays
The Dodgers got
26 starts, 130 innings, 3.9 fWAR, 70 FIP, 69 xFIP
from Glasnow
Elite performance, though he missed the playoffs
The Rays also got Johnny DeLuca who’s put up
149 G, 484 PA, 88 wRC+, 1.8 fWAR
in 2+ seasons, one of which he missed significant time to injury
The Dodgers also got Manny Margot whom they traded to the Twins for IF Noah Miller who’s a less than elite prospect.
The Rays saved $33 million on payroll in the deal and got two productive players who will be with them for the next few years.
I think both teams are happy.
How many World Series has each team won since the trade?
Do you know so little about baseball that you think that the Rays not having won a World Series means they aren’t happy with the trade?
If not, what’s the point of your question?
Who cares if the Rays are happy with the trade? What about the Rays fans? I wish more teams owners would try to win a title instead of using them as just another investment tool.
Unless you believe Glasnow was the missing piece to a WS title in 2024, a year in which the Rays went 80-82, you should be happy the Rays traded a player on an expiring contract for 2 productive players with lots of years of control. No team can push their chips in every year, even the Dodgers (who will eventually have to pay all that deferred money). The bigger crime is not pushing your chips in when you have the team to make a run. That’s my beef with the Rays, but it’s not worth talking about right now. I don’t see the Rays winning any rings this year.
mp
“the Dodgers (who will eventually have to pay all that deferred money)”
For the umpteenth time, teama have to find6 the deferred payments during the contract. They don’t just ignore it until the deferred payments are due.
The Dodgers are paying money THIS YEAR for the deferrals to Betts, Freeman, Ohtani, etc
The best way to win a title is to go to the playsoffs frequently.
Well then, maybe the Dodgers can push all their chips in every year.
Sorry Juan, but I don’t think that’s the best way to win a title. I’ve seen too many faulty Rays teams make the playoffs and get bounced in round 1.
Bring back Erasmo Ramirez. He has a rubber arm and the 50 Rays fans at the Trop can recognize him in street clothes. It would be better than signing some scrap heap free agent to pitch after another loathsome Opener.
Expletive! Pep such a good pitcher. Well we’ll see you next year.
Erasmo is a sweetheart and used to eat innings, but he’s not been offered a job this year in MLB and is pitching in Mexico. I think his MLB days are behind him , along with Alex Cobb and Matt Moore. Some of my favorites, but injuries and age catch up with you in MLB.
griffin jax, get ready to learn starting buddy
He’s been so great in relief this year that it should be a cinch.
Traded Pepiot in a keeper league this off season for basically even up for S Alcantara. I also dealt P
Lopez during the off season. I dodged a bullet there- or – perhaps I jinxed both SPs 😬
I have him in a keeper league myself for $11. But now I can drop him to clear one of my IL spots.