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Rays Outright Shawn Armstrong, David Hess

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The Rays announced that right-handers Shawn Armstrong and David Hess have each cleared outright waivers (via Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times). Both pitchers had the right to elect free agency, but they’ve each chosen to accept an assignment to Triple-A Durham. Tampa Bay had designated Armstrong and Hess for assignment last week.

Armstrong began the season with the Orioles, where he struggled badly and wound up designated for assignment and passed through outright waivers. He performed well with Baltimore’s top minor league affiliate, and the Rays acquired him for cash on the day of the trade deadline and selected him to the big league club a few weeks later.

The 30-year-old Armstrong worked sixteen innings over eleven frames of relief with Tampa Bay, pitching to a 4.50 ERA with rather bizarre peripherals. Armstrong’s strikeout and walk rates with the Rays have been stellar, as he’s punched out 33.8% of opponents while issuing free passes at only a 7.7% clip. But Armstrong was tagged for five home runs in that limited body of work, with an extremely low opponents’ batting average on balls in play and high rate of stranding baserunners keeping his ERA at a respectable level.

Hess has been up and down with a few teams this season. Originally signed by the Rays to a minor league deal, he was traded to the Marlins and made eighteen appearances with Miami. After being designated for assignment, he returned to Tampa Bay on another minors pact, and he’s already been selected and outrighted twice more since landing back in the Rays’ organization.

Between the two clubs, Hess has logged twenty innings with a 9.90 ERA. Like Armstrong, Hess has been plagued by the long ball, as he’s served up ten homers in his MLB action this season. Despite the nightmarish results at the big league level, Hess has been quite impressive with Durham. Over 35 2/3 frames with the Bulls, he has a 3.28 ERA with better than average strikeout and walk numbers (27.2% and 5.4%, respectively).

Rays Place Chris Archer On Injured List, Designate Shawn Armstrong, Activate Nick Anderson And Brett Phillips

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The Rays have made a flurry of roster moves, as first reported by Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter links).  Right-hander Chris Archer has been placed on the 10-day injured list with discomfort in his left hip, while fellow right Shawn Armstrong has been designated for assignment.  To fill the two open roster spots, Tampa Bay has activated right-hander Nick Anderson from the 60-day injured list and outfielder Brett Phillips from the 10-day IL.

Archer was solid over four innings in yesterday’s 7-2 victory over the Tigers, allowing one run on a walk and two hits during his brief start.  However, Archer’s hip issue forced him out of the game early, marking the second time in less than a month that the injury led to an early exit from a start.

Injures have been a constant for Archer in recent years, and yesterday’s start was only Archer’s sixth game of the season.  After missing all of 2020 recovering from thoracic outlet syndrome surgery, he spent over four months of the 2021 campaign on the IL due to forearm tightness.

While this latest trip to the IL might be just be a way to rest Archer and allow him to fully get over a nagging injury, it also has to call into question Archer’s availability for Tampa Bay’s playoff roster.  Over the small sample size of 19 1/3 innings, Archer has a 4.66 ERA, 25.9% strikeout rate, and 9.6% walk rate — not eye-popping numbers by any means, though perhaps productive enough for a Rays team that seems poised to use a bullpen-heavy approach with their postseason pitching staff.  Tampa will need as many quality arms as possible to keep everyone fresh for what the club hopes will be a more successful trip to the World Series.

That same logic applies to Anderson, who is finally set to make his 2021 debut after suffering a partial tear of his right elbow ligament near the end of Spring Training.  It is a testament to the Rays’ incredible bullpen depth that their relief corps has remained among the game’s best even despite the absence of arguably their best reliever from 2019-20.  A trade deadline pickup from the Marlins in July 2019, Anderson has been all but untouchable over 37 2/3 regular-season innings with Tampa, as he has posted a 1.43 ERA, a tiny 3.68% walk rate, and an absurd 49.26% strikeout rate.

The Rays leaned hard on Anderson during their postseason run last October, and it seems the increased usage took its toll on the right-hander.  Anderson pitched in 10 of Tampa Bay’s 20 playoff games, and allowed runs in eight of his appearances.  Most infamously, Anderson was the pitcher called in to replace a seemingly-cruising Blake Snell in Game 6 of last year’s World Series — Anderson immediately surrendered the Rays’ lead within two batters, putting the Dodgers ahead for good in the Series-clinching game.

Armstrong was a trade deadline pickup from the Orioles, and the veteran righty posted a 4.50 ERA over his 16 innings in a Rays uniform.  Despite some solid peripheral numbers, Armstrong was again hurt by the home run ball, as he has already allowed five homers in his brief time with Tampa Bay.  Armstrong has surrendered 10 homers in his 36 combined innings with Baltimore and Tampa this season, a jarring spike for a pitcher who gave up just 17 home runs over his 131 previous career frames as a big league pitcher.

Since Armstrong is out of minor league options, the Rays had to put him through DFA waivers in order to remove him from their roster.  Armstrong has the right to elect free agency rather than accept an outright assignment to Triple-A, since he was already outrighted off the Orioles’ roster earlier this week.  It is also possible another team simply claims Armstrong off waivers, in order to add another relief arm down the stretch.

Rays Place Wander Franco On 10-Day Injured List

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2:45pm: Manager Kevin Cash says the timeline for Franco’s return is two-to-three weeks, per Topkin (via Twitter). That would get Franco back to the field before the end of the season.

TODAY, 10:40am: As expected, the Rays placed Franco on the 10-day injured list, recalling shortstop Taylor Walls to take his place on the roster. In addition, Randy Arozarena was reinstated from the paternity list and Josh Lowe was optioned back to Triple-A, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter links). Franco will have an MRI done later today to determine the extend of his hamstring strain.

SEPT. 10: Rays shortstop Wander Franco left this evening’s game against the Tigers in the first inning due to right hamstring tightness. After the game, manager Kevin Cash told reporters (including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times) the expectation is that Franco will require a stint on the injured list.

Presumably, Franco will go for further testing to determine the extent of the injury and a projected timetable for his return. With an eight and a half game cushion in the AL East, the Rays shouldn’t have much issue weathering the loss of the star rookie for the next few weeks. But it’d obviously be disastrous news for Tampa Bay if the injury were to threaten his readiness for the start of postseason play a little less than a month from now.

The game’s consensus top prospect entering the season, Franco has demonstrated exactly why he’s so highly-regarded over his first couple months in the majors. Tampa Bay selected the switch-hitter to make his big league debut in late June. Franco started off slowly over his first couple weeks, but the 20-year-old’s recent run of play has been historic. He’s reached base safely in each of his past 39 games (including tonight’s contest, in which he singled in his only plate appearance). In MLB history, only Hall of Famer Frank Robinson has posted a longer on-base streak (43 games in 1956) at such a young age.

Altogether, Franco owns a .285/.347/.463 line (126 wRC+) over his first 271 big league plate appearances. He’s walking and hitting for power at essentially league average rates, but Franco has demonstrated excellent bat-to-ball skills. His 12.9% strikeout rate is almost ten percentage points lower than the league average, an impressive achievement for any player — let alone one as young as Franco.

The Rays do have ample infield depth to cover shortstop while Franco’s on the shelf. Fellow top prospects Vidal Bruján and Taylor Walls have logged some big league time this year and could be recalled from Triple-A Durham. Joey Wendle could also slide over from his typical third base position on occasion, with Yandy Díaz capable of manning the hot corner and Ji-Man Choi playing first base in such a scenario.

Rays Place Shane McClanahan, Matt Wisler On 10-Day Injured List

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Tightness in Shane McClanahan’s back has forced the Rays to place the rookie southpaw on the 10-day injured list yesterday. The injury is minor, however, and the Rays plan to have McClanahan back in the rotation as of September 19, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

McClanahan has made 22 starts for the Rays, which puts him first on the team in that category, while he’s second in innings pitched with 110 1/3 frames. Those innings have largely been quality: McClanahan has posted a 3.59 ERA/3.23 FIP with a strikeout rate roughly four percent better than average and a walk rate roughly one percent better than average.

In the meantime, Louis Head was recalled from Triple-A, and Chris Archer will move back into the rotation to start today’s game against the Tigers. The 31-year-old Head is in his first season with Tampa, a year in which he’s made his Major League debut and posted a 2.93 ERA/3.52 FIP in 27 2/3 innings. Archer has yet to find his groove, though he did soak up five innings during his last start on September 4.

In less promising news, Matt Wisler could be sidelined for the rest of the season due to inflammation in his middle finger. The team is hopeful he sees some improvement after a 10-day shutdown, but the outlook doesn’t look promising. Wisler has been stellar since joining Tampa from the Giants, pitching to a 2.30 ERA/2.17 FIP over 27 1/3 innings.

If Wisler is out for the year, the Rays could replace him with a familiar face: Nick Anderson should join the active roster for the first time this season on Sunday, per Topkin. That the Rays have succeeded as they have without Anderson all year speaks to their pitching depth. Anderson was a crucial piece of their pen last season and could be again if he appears on track heading into the postseason. Anderson has been out all year with a partial ligament tear in his elbow.

Rays Prospect Cole Wilcox Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

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Top Rays pitching prospect Cole Wilcox underwent Tommy John surgery on Wednesday this week, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). That’ll quite likely wipe out his entire 2022 campaign.

Wilcox, 22, came to the Rays as one of the key young pieces in the trade that sent lefty Blake Snell to San Diego. He was a third-round pick, selected No. 80 overall, just last summer — although that draft placement is somewhat misleading. Wilcox, a draft-eligible sophomore last summer, was widely viewed as a first-round talent but slipped down the draft board due to signability concerns. The Friars gave him a $3.3MM signing bonus — a record number for a third-round selection.

The Padres added Wilcox to their 60-man player pool last year and let him work out with at their alternate site over the course of the summer, but last year’s nixed minor league season meant that the former Georgia Bulldogs righty didn’t make his professional debut until this year with the Rays’ Class-A affiliate. Wilcox looked every bit like a first-round talent when cruising through A-ball lineups. In 44 1/3 innings, he pitched to a 2.03 ERA with an impressive 29.9 percent strikeout rate and an incredibly low 2.9 percent walk rate.

Wilcox only recently turned 22, so he’ll still be just 23 years of age when he returns to the mound — presumably early in the 2023 campaign. Obviously, it’s not ideal for a promising young pitcher to effectively lose two seasons of development (2020 and 2022, in this case), but Wilcox has age on his side. Assuming he’s able to pitch a mostly full season in 2023, he’ll likely be added to Tampa Bay’s 40-man roster in the 2023-24 offseason, as he’d otherwise be eligible for the Rule 5 Draft that winter.

Even with Wilcox sidelined next season, the Rays have an impressive crop of rising young arms to tap into both in 2022 and in 2023. Luis Patino (also acquired in the Snell deal) and Shane McClanahan have already made an impact at the MLB level, and top prospect Shane Baz likely isn’t too far behind. Right-hander Seth Johnson, like Wilcox, has yet to pitch beyond Class-A, but the 2019 No. 40 overall selection has upped his prospect stock with an outstanding showing in A-ball this season.

Tampa Bay did trade away a pair of nearly MLB-ready arms — Joe Ryan and Drew Strotman — in order to acquire Nelson Cruz, but it seems we can scarcely go a year without a pop-up pitching prospect or two in the Rays’ perennially deep farm system garnering national attention. Recent trades and the loss of Wilcox notwithstanding, the Rays still boast a deep farm system that’ll continue to be ranked among the game’s best.

Rays Promote Erik Neander To President Of Baseball Operations, Sign Him To Multi-Year Extension

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The Rays announced the signing of Erik Neander to a multi-year contract extension. Formerly the team’s senior vice president of baseball operations and general manager, Neander has been promoted to president of baseball operations. At the press conference announcing the news, Neander told reporters the club is not planning to make any additional major changes to the baseball operations structure in the wake of his promotion.

Neander, 38, has been in the Tampa Bay organization since 2007, when he came on as an intern. He worked his way to baseball operations VP in October 2014 when former GM Andrew Friedman departed to take over the Dodgers’ front office. He picked up the GM title and responsibilities two years thereafter. Both of those promotions came in junction with boosts for Chaim Bloom, with whom Neander shared high billing atop baseball ops. However, Bloom departed in October 2019 to become chief baseball officer of the Red Sox, leaving no question that Neander was the front office head in Tampa Bay over the past two seasons.

The Rays have generally been successful over the past decade-plus despite regularly featuring one of the league’s lowest player payrolls. The front office’s ability to consistently outperform expectations despite strict budgets has made Rays’ executives highly appealing to other ownership groups around the league. In addition to Friedman and Bloom, former Tampa Bay vice president James Click was hired to lead the Astros in February 2020.

Neander himself was reportedly of interest in the Angels’ GM search last offseason, but Tampa Bay ownership refused to make him available for discussions. That was ultimately a moot point, as reports at the time indicated that Neander had no interest in leaving Tampa. Today’s extension reaffirms that and will take his name off the list for potential suitors looking for a new baseball operations head this offseason.

Given Neander’s track record, it seems likely bigger-market clubs would’ve continued to gauge his availability had the Rays not inked him to a long-term deal. The Rays have posted four consecutive winning seasons, reaching the playoffs in 2019-20. They’re a near lock to win the AL East again this season, and only the Dodgers have a better record than Tampa Bay’s 128-71 mark (64.3% winning percentage) going back to the start of 2020.

The Rays’ ever-low payroll has often been a source of frustration for fans, with the Tampa Bay front office as aggressive as any around the league in trading away recognizable players to constantly replenish young talent. Neander has had an active role in deals sending notable players like Evan Longoria, Chris Archer, Blake Snell and Willy Adames elsewhere over the past few seasons.

That constant roster churn can make it difficult for the fanbase to connect to franchise players, but there’s little arguing with the front office’s ability to consistently put together a strong roster in the long run. The Archer trade — which netted the Rays Austin Meadows, Tyler Glasnow and Shane Baz — turned out to be one of the more lopsided deals in recent memory. Tampa Bay acquired Mike Zunino from the Mariners for a package centering on Mallex Smith and boldly struck to acquire Randy Arozarena from the Cardinals. That deal cost them top pitching prospect Matthew Liberatore, but Arozarena has excellent in Tampa Bay and was the biggest driver of their run to an AL pennant last year.

The Rays have also been adept at acquiring and developing prospects. Wander Franco is one of the most talented young players in the game, and the Rays have a few more top prospects (Vidal Bruján, Josh Lowe and Taylor Walls among them) at or near the big league level. And while the team hasn’t generally been active in free agency, Neander’s group struck gold on their signing of Charlie Morton to a two-year, $30MM guarantee over the 2018-19 offseason.

Like any executive, Neander has a few misses on his record as well. Adames has taken his game to another level since being moved to Milwaukee in May. The December 2019 trade that sent Tommy Pham and Jake Cronenworth to San Diego for Hunter Renfroe and Xavier Edwards looks regrettable (although Edwards is still a well-regarded prospect). But the Rays’ front office has a very impressive body of work overall, one that has attracted the attention of plenty rivals around the league. While the Rays have lost a few key executives in recent years, they’ll keep Neander atop baseball operations for the foreseeable future.

Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times first reported that Neander had agreed to a multi-year extension. Rays’ pregame and postgame host Neil Solondz reported Neander was being promoted to president of baseball operations. Image credit: USA Today Sports.

Rays Designate David Hess For Assignment

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The Rays have designated right-hander David Hess for assignment, placed outfielder Randy Arozarena on the paternity list and optioned righty Louis Head to Triple-A Durham, per a club announcement. That trio of moves clears a path for the previously reported promotion of top outfield prospect Josh Lowe and the reinstatement of first baseman Ji-Man Choi and righty Matt Wisler from the injured list.

It’s the third DFA of the season for Hess and his second with the Rays. The 28-year-old right-hander originally inked a minor league pact with Tampa Bay but was traded to the Marlins in early July and quickly immediately added to their MLB roster. The former Orioles righty had gotten out to a terrific start in Triple-A but was clobbered for seven runs in one inning at Coors Field in his second-to-last appearance with Miami, who designated him for assignment about a month after originally acquiring him.

Hess made his way back to the Rays on a new minor league deal, and he’s now been selected to the MLB roster and designated for assignment twice more. He didn’t get into a game the first time but did pitch two innings in his most recent call-up. Things didn’t go well, however, as he surrendered six runs in a pair of innings against the Red Sox. Because of the nature of that DFA carousel, Hess was pitching for just the fourth time in a span of nearly four weeks during his lone appearance in this most recent Rays stint.

On the whole, Hess has surrendered 22 runs in 20 big league innings this season. Most of the damage has come in that pair of ugly outings, but it’s still not a surprise to see a pitcher with that level of cumulative results bumped from the 40-man roster. He’ll now be placed on outright waivers or release waivers in the next couple of days. If he goes unclaimed, the Rays can assign him back to Triple-A Durham, where he’s pitched to a 3.28 ERA with a 27.2 percent strikeout rate and a 5.4 percent walk rate in 35 2/3 frames of relief work this year.

Looking to the rest of the Rays’ moves, Lowe looks to be a short-term replacement for Arozarena, who can miss up to three games. Brief or not, the promotion will give Rays fans a glimpse at the future, as Lowe is widely viewed as a long-term building block in the outfield.

Head, like Hess, has been riding the shuttle between the big leagues and Triple-A with dizzying frequency. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times observes that this marks the staggering tenth time that Head has been optioned to Triple-A this season. Despite being bandied about between Durham and St. Petersburg, he’s held his own against MLB lineups, pitching to a 2.93 ERA with a 26-to-9 K/BB ratio in 27 2/3 innings of relief. Head has similarly strong numbers in Triple-A, and while it’s surely frustrating to be unable to secure a long-term spot in the bullpen, he’s a 31-year-old who made his MLB debut this season, so even the brief and inconsistent days of Major League service time and pay are a welcome turn of events.

Choi, who’s hitting .250/.364/.435 in 236 plate appearances, missed a bit more than two weeks with a strained hamstring. He also missed time in June with a groin strain. Wisler missed a similar chunk of time with a finger injury on his pitching hand. He’s been excellent since the Rays acquired him from the Giants, pitching to a 1.98 ERA with a 32.7 percent strikeout rate and a 3.8 percent walk rate in 27 1/3 innings.

Rays To Promote Josh Lowe

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The Rays are calling up top outfield prospect Josh Lowe for his Major League debut, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan (Twitter thread). Passan adds that it might not be a long-term stay for Lowe in his first big league call-up, Rays fans will apparently still get a look at yet another well-regarded farmhand late in the ’21 season. Lowe is already on the 40-man roster, so the Rays only need to make room on the active roster to accommodate him.

Josh Lowe | USA Today Sports

Lowe, 23, was the No. 13 overall pick in the 2016 draft and has ridden a breakout season in Triple-A to a widely regarded status as one of baseball’s 100 best prospects. He’s posted a .282/.369/.540 batting line (good for a 138 wRC+) while connecting on 21 home runs, 24 doubles and two triples. He’s also gone a perfect 24-for-24 in stolen-base attempts on the season. It’s been a strong follow-up to Lowe’s quality showing at the Double-A level in 2019, when he hit .252/.341/.443 (128 wRC+) in a very pitcher-friendly setting. He and his older brother, Nate, were both in the Rays’ system before the team traded the latter to the Rangers this past offseason.

Keith Law of The Athletic ranked the younger Lowe as baseball’s No. 31 overall prospect on his July 22nd list, calling him a “plus center fielder with patience and power.” Lowe lands No. 40 overall on Eric Longenhagen’s current rankings at FanGraphs, and he was named the No. 76 and No. 89 prospect in baseball on the respective midseason rankings at MLB.com and Baseball America. There are concerns about Lowe’s strikeout tendencies — he’s fanned at a 26.6 percent clip in his minor league career and has matched that level at Triple-A in 2021 — but he also draws walks at a strong clip (12.4 percent this year).

Tampa Bay’s outfield is largely set at the moment with Austin Meadows, Kevin Kiermaier and Randy Arozarena as the go-to options and both Manuel Margot and Jordan Luplow as right-handed options off the bench. Lowe would bring another left-handed-hitting option to the mix, joining Meadows and Kiermaier — the former coming off his worst month of the season at the plate and the latter coming off his best. Lowe seems likely to be just one of a couple moves, as the Rays could also use some additional infield depth on the bench at the moment.

There may not be a long-term opportunity for Lowe in the outfield at the moment, but it seems likely that he’ll have such an opportunity before too long. How they’ll go about facilitating that remains to be seen, but Kiermaier’s name has come up in trade rumblings for years. The 2022 season will be the final guaranteed season of his six-year, $53.5MM contract in Tampa Bay. Meanwhile, both Margot and Meadows will be up for arbitration raises this offseason. Meadows will enter his first of three arb seasons in 2022, while Margot will be owed a final raise on his current $3.4MM salary before reaching free agency in the 2022-23 offseason. A trade isn’t a foregone conclusion, of course. Designated hitter Nelson Cruz is a free agent at season’s end, and his departure could open the door for Meadows to slide back into a primary designated hitter role, further opening some outfield reps for Lowe (and others).

However it shakes out, the Rays are again on the cusp of bringing yet another high-end talent to the big leagues — one who’ll potentially give the team another cost-effective player to build around as some of the current mainstays on the roster inch closer to free agency or arbitration salaries that ownership deems untenable. There’s always some degree of year-to-year churn on the Rays’ roster, but the consistent development of quality young talent like Lowe has made it sustainable for years now.

From a service-time standpoint, Lowe is already controllable through at least the 2027 season. Depending on how much time he spends in the Majors this year and how the team handles him early in the 2022 season, that could be pushed back to 2028. Under the current system, Lowe would’ve needed to spend 15 days in the minors next year to push that free-agent trajectory back to 2028. That number would grow by one for every day Lowe spends on the MLB roster between now and season’s end. Of course, we don’t know for certain what the arbitration system and service will look like moving forward. Both are hot-button issues in ongoing collective bargaining talks between Major League Baseball and the Players Association, and it’d come as little surprise to see some notable overhaul the current service-time/arbitration structure.

Rays Select David Hess

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The Rays have selected the contract of right-hander David Hess, per a team announcement. Left-hander Dietrich Enns was optioned to Triple-A in a corresponding move. Hess is joining the Rays’ big league roster for the second time this season. Tampa Bay doesn’t need to make a corresponding roster move due to the fact that righty Chris Mazza is on the Covid-19-related injured list in Triple-A, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times points out (Twitter link).

Hess, 28, has bounced back and forth between the two Florida clubs so far in 2021. He inked a minor league pact with the Rays in the offseason and, after a very strong start to the year in Triple-A, was traded to the Marlins and plugged into their big league bullpen. Miami cut him loose a few weeks later, and he quickly returned to the Rays on another minor league deal. He’s since been selected back to the MLB roster, designated for assignment and outrighted before now being selected back to the Majors.

It’s been a rather tumultuous year, transactions-wise, for the former Orioles right-hander. In terms of performance, Hess has pitched quite well in Triple-A, where he carries a 3.28 ERA with very strong strikeout and walk percentages (27.2 and 5.4, respectively) in 35 2/3 frames. He’s been tagged for 16 runs in 18 MLB frames this year, although seven of those came in one brutal inning for the Marlins at Coors Field. Despite signing a pair of minor league deals with Tampa Bay and already being selected to the MLB roster once this year, Hess still hasn’t thrown a pitch in the Majors as a member of the Rays, so he’ll be making his team debut if he gets into a game this time around.

Rays To Recall David Robertson

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The Rays are planning to recall veteran reliever David Robertson to the big league roster before tomorrow evening’s game against the Red Sox, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). Active rosters expand from 26 to 28 players tomorrow, so no corresponding move is necessary.

It’ll be Robertson’s first big league action since April 2019. The veteran righty suffered a UCL tear that spring, eventually requiring a Tommy John surgery that wiped out both the rest of that season and his entire 2020 campaign. Robertson tossed a couple showcases over the offseason but ultimately didn’t sign over the winter.

Instead, Robertson was among the handful of longtime big leaguers to join the U.S. National team for this year’s Summer Olympics. He showed well enough there to land a major league contract with Tampa Bay, although he agreed to a temporary assignment to Triple-A Durham to build up arm strength. Robertson has been stellar with the Bulls, tossing six scoreless innings with twelve strikeouts and a lone walk issued.

While it has been almost three years since Robertson was healthy, he was one of the league’s most durable and productive relievers for much of his tenures with the Yankees and White Sox. The 36-year-old owns a 2.90 ERA over 663 2/3 big league innings, and he tossed 60+ innings with a sub-4.00 ERA in every season from 2010-18.

Anything resembling that level of production would be key for a Rays’ bullpen that has dealt with myriad health issues this season.  While Robertson will step in as an option for manager Kevin Cash, it seems Tampa Bay can’t count on immediate contributions from either Ryan Thompson or Oliver Drake.

Thompson, who has been out since June 30 with shoulder inflammation, continues to feel soreness and isn’t expected to begin throwing any time soon, manager Kevin Cash told Topkin. Drake, meanwhile, isn’t expected to pitch this season, according to Cash. Drake has been plagued by a flexor strain since last October; he was expected to begin a rehab assignment in July but apparently suffered some form of setback. Both players are already on the 60-day injured list.

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