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Latest On Rays’ Pitching Staff

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Traditionalists may never fully embrace the approach, but it’s hard to argue with the results: through a quarter of the season, the Rays’ pitching staff has been lights out. By design, it’s a fluid and ever-evolving mix of hurlers. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times provides an update on some particularly important arms for the AL East-leading team.

Most notably, prospect Brent Honeywell has encountered another hurdle in his effort to return from Tommy John surgery. He’s only slated for a week-long shutdown for nerve irritation in his right elbow, but this isn’t the first setback. The fact that Honeywell’s road back hasn’t been perfectly smooth doesn’t mean he won’t make it, but it does add to the uncertainty and bump back his timeline.

In Topkin’s assessment, the Tampa Bay front office won’t be able to consider Honeywell as a MLB option until July or August. He’s obviously going to be handled with plenty of caution given his high-ceiling billing and hiccups to this point. Honeywell is going to need a full arm build-up and even then will need to show he’s fully ready for the majors, having never yet pitched in the bigs. No doubt the Rays will keep a close eye on his workload even when he is ready for game action. Honeywell hasn’t yet topped 140 innings in a professional season and already missed all of 2018.

Clearly, then, Honeywell won’t be stepping into the opening in the rotation created when Tyler Glasnow hit the injured list recently. Nobody will, in fact. Skipper Kevin Cash tells Topkin that the club won’t tap a third starter, even on an interim basis. Rather, the club will continue to piece things together on a day-to-day basis behind rotation pieces Blake Snell and Charlie Morton.

Topkin warns not to expect any major acquisitions to plug the openings. Fortunately, Glasnow is said to be looking at an absence of only four to six weeks. That’s about as good an outlook as might have been hoped for when he left with forearm tightness. The injury might knock the 25-year-old out of surprise Cy Young contention, but hopefully won’t spoil his breakout season.

Plus, there are some other hurlers working back. Reliever Hunter Wood is close to being an option again for the MLB roster after hitting the IL with a shoulder issue, though he may take at least one more rehab outing. Wood showed an intriguing 18.0% swinging-strike rate in 6 1/3 innings to open the year. Former top prospect Jose De Leon is ready to move his rehab work to the highest level of the minors after a pair of High-A outings. Given his long and arduous rehab process, the odds are he’ll be given some time to work at Triple-A even when his assignment is up (which must occur on or before June 2nd). There’s no word yet on when Anthony Banda will be ready to begin his own rehab assignment after undergoing Tommy John surgery last June, but he was reportedly throwing from a mound late last month.

Rays Notes: Kimbrel, Honeywell/De Leon, Kiermaier

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The Rays will need to squeeze every last ounce of value out of their existing roster and payroll if they are to make a real bid for the postseason in an incredibly stratified American League. Here’s the latest, with all links to the reporting of Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times:

  • With some payroll space evidently still available, the Rays have “maintained regular contact” with legendary reliever Craig Kimbrel, Topkin tweets. A successful pursuit remains “unlikely,” per the report. Surely the Rays would only consider Kimbrel on a short-term deal, as the organization has always been careful not to tie up too much future payroll. Whether Kimbrel will ultimately settle for a one or two-year pact — and, if so, what will drive his decisionmaking — isn’t yet evident.
  • Two important young Tampa Bay hurlers are making progress in their efforts to return from Tommy John procedures, Topkin further reports (Twitter links). Brent Honeywell and Jose De Leon each threw against live hitters for the first time. It was only 15 pitches apiece, but that’s still a good sign that both of these well-regarded young hurlers are coming along. The Rays will likely continue to take things slow, but surely also entertain visions of either or both making an impact as a mid-season call-up.
  • Topkin also looks in at Rays center fielder Kevin Kiermaier, whom the team badly needs to turn in a healthy and productive campaign. Soon to turn 29, the rangy outfielder is coming off of a disappointing season at the plate in which he slashed just .217/.282/.370. Kiermaier has averaged barely more than 400 plate appearances annually over the past three years due to a variety of injuries. The maladies have tended to come about in the course of Kiermaier’s hard-charging play, though it doesn’t seem as if the team thinks there’s much to be gained from trying to rein him in. “It’s probably best for us to stay out of the way and keep our fingers crossed that none of the freak things happen,” says skipper Kevin Cash.

Rays Acquire Jeremy Hazelbaker From Diamondbacks

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The Rays have acquired outfielder Jeremy Hazelbaker from the Diamondbacks in exchange for cash, the teams announced. To clear a spot on the 40-man roster, Tampa Bay has transferred right-hander Jose De Leon to the 60-day disabled list.

Hazelbaker, whom the D-backs designated for assignment late last week, will head to Triple-A Durham. De Leon underwent Tommy John surgery during Spring Training, so he’ll be out for the entirety of the 2018 season.

The 30-year-old Hazelbaker will give the Rays some depth across the board in the outfield, as he’s plenty experienced in center and in both outfield corners. The left-handed-hitting Hazelbaker was the talk of MLB two years ago when he broke camp with the Cardinals and posted an absurd .317/.357/.683 slash in the month of April. However, he cooled off considerably over the remainder of the season and was ultimately waived by St. Louis and claimed by Arizona.

Last year with the D-backs, Hazelbaker logged 61 plate appearances and again posted some eye-popping numbers, hitting .346/.443/.577 with two doubles, two homers and two triples. In all, Hazelbaker is a .258/.327/.500 hitter in in 285 MLB plate appearances, and he owns a .277/.336/.452 slash in parts of seven Triple-A seasons.

Jose De Leon To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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The Rays have lost a second highly touted pitching prospect to a torn ulnar collateral ligament, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports that right-hander Jose De Leon is headed for Tommy John surgery (Twitter link). Fellow right-hander Brent Honeywell, widely regarded as Tampa Bay’s best all-around prospect, underwent Tommy John earlier this spring.

Acquired last offseason in a straight-up swap for infielder Logan Forsythe, De Leon was thought to be a near-MLB-ready asset at the time of the trade. However, De Leon battled a flexor strain and tendinitis in his elbow for much of the 2017 season and was ultimately limited to just 41 innings on the season as a whole — 38 1/3 frames in Triple-A plus another 2 2/3 innings at the big league level. Now, with today’s news, the Rays won’t have the opportunity to reap much benefit from that trade until 2019, at the earliest.

While the Rays have an enviable stock of MLB-caliber arms on the precipice of breaking into the Majors, there’s no question that the team’s pitching depth has taken a massive hit in recent weeks. The Rays felt comfortable enough with their depth to trade righty Jake Odorizzi to the Twins in a move that looks to have been largely motivated by finances, and in the three brief weeks since that trade they’ve lost both Honeywell and De Leon — effectively removing three rotation candidates from their roster in under a month’s time.

Tampa Bay will open the season with Chris Archer, Nathan Eovaldi, Blake Snell and Jake Faria in a four-man rotation, with Matt Andriese reportedly likely to jump in as a fifth starter after a few weeks. (The early schedule affords enough off days that Andriese can be used as a multi-inning reliever in the interim.) If Faria can build off an impressive rookie season (3.43 ERA, 8.7 K/9, 3.2 BB/9 in 86 2/3 innings) and Snell can continue at the pace he showed in a very strong second half of the 2017 season (3.49 ERA, 8.6 K/9, 2.9 BB/9), then the Rays still boast a solid mix of starters even with the recent rash of injuries.

Beyond that quintet, the Rays still have lefties Anthony Banda and Ryan Yarbrough in addition to righty Yonny Chirinos waiting in the wings at Triple-A. Nonetheless, Tampa Bay is considerably less equipped to handle a major injury (or injuries) in the rotation now than it was at the onset of Spring Training. The organization no doubt has Double-A arms that can move up to step into the Triple-A vacancies, though it certainly wouldn’t be a surprise to see them pursue some additional veteran depth from outside the organization after losing both De Leon and Honeywell for the year.

East Notes: Yankees, Mets, Nava, Orioles, De Leon

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Both the Yankees and Mets acted rationally with their approaches in trades this summer, opines Joel Sherman of the New York Post. The Yankees showed a willingness to deal from the middle range of their considerable prospect depth to avoid luxury taxation, as they did with the Jaime Garcia trade and reportedly tried to do in their pursuits of Jay Bruce and Neil Walker. Sherman writes that the Yankees asked the Mets to eat $2.7MM of the remaining $3.7MM on Bruce’s contract in exchange for two prospects. The Mets clearly didn’t deem the difference between that pair and Ryder Ryan (whom they acquired from the Indians for Bruce) to be sizable enough to eat that cash. While many Mets fans chastise the organization for not spending, Sherman points out that the Mets have taken on salary (Bruce, Addison Reed, Yoenis Cespedes) in recent years. They’ve also already begun spending for 2018, Sherman adds, pointing to the acquisition of AJ Ramos. In that sense, saving money in trades to better stock the team’s offseason war chest could have relatively immediate impact on the team’s fortunes. Of course, it remains to be seen how their offseason plays out.

A bit more from the game’s Eastern divisions…

  • The Phillies announced tonight that outfielder Daniel Nava has been placed on the 10-day disabled list due to a lower back strain. The veteran Nava’s injury is especially noteworthy given the fact that he seemed a logical August trade candidate for the Phils. The 33-year-old switch-hitter hasn’t done much against left-handed pitching this year — he’s always been weaker as a right-handed bat — but he’s clubbed righty pitching at a .347/.427.492 clip through 143 PAs and could’ve been a solid bench addition for a contender. There’s still time for Nava to get back and demonstrate his health to interested parties, but his back injury clearly diminishes the chances of a trade.
  • Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com writes that Orioles GM Dan Duquette has a long history of making August deals — six in the past five years — but opines that there’s not much worth pursuing for the O’s this summer. Baltimore’s greatest need is starting pitching, but the remaining available arms are mostly fringe fifth starters that don’t represent a clear upgrade over the Orioles’ current options. Nonetheless, Connolly states that he does find it likely that Duquette and his staff make some kind of move, noting that the Orioles have “always had a little interest in” Derek Holland and are quite familiar with Miguel Gonzalez — both currently pitching for the rebuilding White Sox. I’d agree with Connolly that neither seems to represent an upgrade, though the O’s could probably acquire either pitcher primarily in exchange for salary relief.
  • Rays right-hander Jose De Leon is on the minor league disabled list for the third time this season, tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. De Leon, who has previously dealt with forearm/flexor issues, now has tendinitis in his right elbow, per Topkin. It’s been a frustrating first season with the Rays organization for De Leon — a highly touted pitching prospect that was acquired in a straight-up swap that sent Logan Forsythe to the Dodgers. De Leon has appeared in just one big league game with the Rays and has only 38 1/3 minor league innings under his belt, though he’s logged a 3.05 ERA with 44-to-16 K/BB ratio in the minors when healthy.

AL East Notes: Austin, Beliveau, Rays, Sox

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The Yankees announced that they’ve reinstated first baseman/outfielder Tyler Austin from the 60-day disabled list and optioned him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Austin, who suffered a foot fracture in Spring Training, has been limited to just 13 games on a rehab assignment thus far in 2017. He’s hit quite well in that time and comes with a very solid track record of performance in Triple-A. Given the terrible performance the Yankees have received their first basemen this season — they’re hitting a collective .150/.265/.278 this season — Austin could factor into the Major League mix for playing time if he continues to hit well in Triple-A.

More from the AL East…

  • The Blue Jays appear set to add left-hander Jeff Beliveau to their roster, per Ben Nicholson-Smith and Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. The 32-year-old has 45 innings of big league experience but hasn’t been in the Majors since 2015 due partly to the fact that he underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum that year. Beliveau has a 4.00 ERA in his time as a Major Leaguer and turned in a 2.54 mark in the Orioles’ minor league system last year. He’s punched out 43 hitters in 32 innings this season with Triple-A Buffalo en route to a 3.09 ERA. Beliveau isn’t on the 40-man roster, but the Jays do have an open 40-man spot.
  • Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes that he expects the Rays to dip into their minor league depth this week and summon a young arm such as Jacob Faria or Jose De Leon in an effort to rest what looks, at present, to be an overtaxed rotation. Calling up a promising young arm for a spot start on Wednesday would allow the Rays to get an extra day of rest for Alex Cobb, Jake Odorizzi and Erasmo Ramitez, Topkin notes. Both De Leon and Faria stand out as potential long-term pieces for a Tampa Bay rotation that is set to lose Cobb to free agency following this season and is oft-rumored to be entertaining offers on its more established arms.
  • Red Sox president of baseball ops Dave Dombrowski feels it’s too early to determine the team’s greatest needs for this year’s trade deadline, writes MassLive.com’s Jen McCaffrey. Dombrowski calls this stage of the season an “information-gathering time period” and notes that there are still too many questions to pinpoint one specific need. The Sox have a number of players that are currently injured or will soon return from injuries, and the recovery and performance of players such as Pablo Sandoval, Dustin Pedroia and Brock Holt (among others) could certainly impact the team’s trade strategies.

Rays To Promote Jose De Leon

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The Rays are bringing up highly touted right-hander Jose De Leon prior to tonight’s game, writes Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. ESPN’s Buster Olney first reported that De Leon “appeared” to be on his way to the Majors (Twitter link). Per Topkin, De Leon won’t immediately be placed into the rotation, as Erasmo Ramirez is still lined up to make tonight’s start even after pitching the final inning of yesterday’s 15-inning game with the Twins.

Acquired from the Dodgers in a straight-up swap for Logan Forsythe this offseason, De Leon has frequented top prospect rankings for the better part of the past three years. He entered the 2017 campaign rated No. 29 on Baseball America’s top 100 prospects list and rated 33rd, 38th and 73rd on the respective lists of MLB.com, Baseball Prospectus and ESPN’s Keith Law. A flexor injury has limited De Leon to just 8 1/3 innings in 2017, but he turned in a brilliant 2.61 ERA with 11.6 K/9 with 2.1 BB/9 in 86 Triple-A innings last year. De Leon also made four starts for the Dodgers in 2016, though he limped to a 6.35 ERA in 17 frames.

It could prove to be a short stay for De Leon this time around, as his promotion appears to be somewhat out of necessity. (Topkin notes that in addition to Ramirez starting one day after recording a save, the Rays also had three relievers throw more than 30 pitches yesterday.) The Rays, after all, don’t have a lot of room in the rotation thanks to strong starts to the season from Chris Archer, Alex Cobb, Jake Odorizzi, Ramirez and Matt Andriese — each of whom carries an ERA of 3.67 or better.

That said, it may not be long before a spot for De Leon materializes. Even with a 27-26 record, the Rays are still often suggested as a candidate to field offers their starting pitchers this summer. That, of course, wouldn’t necessarily be akin to waving a white flag on the 2017 season; rather, the Rays have the pitching depth to be able to deal from their big league rotation in order to acquire controllable help in other areas without necessarily hampering their chances in 2017. In addition to De Leon, the Rays have Jacob Faria and Ryan Yarbrough pitching well in the Triple-A rotation, while lefty Blake Snell has struck out 21 batters in 11 2/3 innings since being optioned earlier this month. Cobb, in particular, is an oft-mentioned trade candidate, given his status as an impending free agent.

AL East Notes: HanRam, Sandoval/Holt, Ramos, De Leon

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Red Sox slugger Hanley Ramirez departed tonight’s contest with what the team is calling a “right trap muscle spasm,” Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald tweets. There’s no real reason to expect it’s a significant problem, though Boston will surely wish to make sure that Ramirez doesn’t rush back and end up shelved.

Here are a few more notes from the AL East:

  • While the Red Sox have been walking a fine line at third base, the team may soon have a fuller set of options, as Mastrodonato also recently reported. Pablo Sandoval is nearing a minor-league assignment now that his knee is improving. And Brock Holt is moving even faster with his symptoms of vertigo finally clearing. It’s still not exactly clear how the playing time will sort out once those two are back, but presumably they’ll join Josh Rutledge in some kind of platoon situation at the hot corner, with both Rutledge and (especially) Holt also representing options elsewhere around the diamond.
  • Rays catcher Wilson Ramos is making strides in his rehab from ACL surgery, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay  Times reports. Ramos says he is “very excited” about how his surgically repaired knee is progressing, with hopes that he can begin a rehab stint before the end of May. Ramos is not only running and hitting but will soon be allowed to ramp up his work with the mask on. Tampa Bay will no doubt look forward to seeing whether Ramos can follow up on his big 2016 season, as current regular Derek Norris has struggled to a .202/.263/.303 batting line to open the year.
  • The Rays will soon get a look at another important offseason acquisition, too. As Topkin tweets, righty Jose De Leon is preparing for his first start of the year at the High-A level. He’ll presumably move up to Triple-A as his rehab from flexor mass issues continues to progress. While De Leon did reach the majors last year, the timing of his return to the bigs is currently unclear. In addition to completing his development and ensuring his health, the Rays will also be looking for the best way to boost De Leon’s workload. He still has yet to throw more than 114 1/3 innings in a given season.

East Notes: Lugo, Price, Cabrera, De Leon, Rays

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While Mets righty Seth Lugo doesn’t believe he’ll ultimately require surgery for his partially torn UCL, GM Sandy Alderson is calling it “a possibility,” as MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo reports. The veteran executive also notes that there’s optimism from the medical experts that Lugo can avoid going under the knife, but it does seem notable that the potential for a procedure is being publicly acknowledged. New York will hope for the best — Lugo could resume throwing in as few as two weeks — but will need to account for the possibility of a more significant absence. The club will at least keep an eye out for some starting pitching depth after learning of the partial UCL tear suffered by righty Seth Lugo, according to Marc Carig of Newsday (via Twitter).

Here’s more from the game’s eastern divisions:

  • Red Sox lefty David Price is back on the mound, though it doesn’t seem he’s back to pitching yet, as Evan Drellich of CSNNE.com reports. After a long-toss session, he took the hill to throw to a standing catcher, which represents the latest step forward. “The most encouraging thing is each throwing session he goes through, he comes out feeling good physically,” says Farrell, who added that the team will continue to push Price forward incrementally.
  • Braves righty Mauricio Cabrera has been cleared to begin throwing, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman tweets. The high-octane youngster has been dealing with arm fatigue, relegating him to the DL to open the year. It’s still unclear how long it’ll take to get him back to the majors, but it seems there’s continued optimism that the layoff isn’t anything to worry about in the long run. Still, the Braves will likely continue to take a cautious course before adding Cabrera back to the late-inning mix.
  • The Rays have placed righty Jose De Leon on the minor-league DL, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports. Flexor mass discomfort is to blame, though the club says the issue has already been resolved. Still, with De Leon set to face an innings limit in his first season with his new organization, he’ll ramp up slowly before heading on assignment to Triple-A.
  • St. Petersburg mayor Rick Kriseman laid out the city’s plan for the Rays to build a new ballpark on the existing site of Tropicana Field, as Charlie Frago and Mark Puente of the Tampa Bay Times report. As the story notes, “financial details” remain unknown, though Kriseman suggested that the money side can be managed. The plan set forth is based upon the premise that broader development of the Trop site, in conjunction with a new park, could open avenues for revenue for the club, the municipality, and local businesses.

Trade/Free Agent Rumors: Blevins, Jays, Alvarez, Breslow, Dozier

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The Mets are open to a back-loaded two-year contract with Jerry Blevins, according to Ken Davidoff and Mike Puma of the New York Post. The Mets have long been reported to hold interest in a reunion with Blevins, but the team’s inability to find a taker for Jay Bruce’s $13MM salary has been a deterrent to their ability to re-sign the southpaw reliever. Blevins, according to the Post duo, has been seeking a contract in line with Mike Dunn’s three-year, $19MM contract with the Rockies, though it’s not clear if any such offer will materialize. Recently, FOX’s Ken Rosenthal reported that Blevins’ agents have signaled to interested teams that they expect to be able to secure at least a two-year, $12MM deal. If Blevins is to land that type of commitment from the Mets, most of the salary would be allocated to the 2018 season, when the Mets will have considerably more financial flexibility. Bruce, Curtis Granderson, Addison Reed, Neil Walker, Rene Rivera and Lucas Duda are all set to come off the books after 2017.

Here’s more on the free agent and trade markets…

  • After agreeing to a one-year deal with lefty reliever J.P. Howell earlier today, the Jays are still on the hunt for a right-handed arm, reports Rosenthal (Twitter link). The Blue Jays are hoping to add a righty for a similar commitment to the $3MM that Howell commanded on his one-year deal with Toronto. Notably, Rosenthal quells some of the buzz that has built up regarding the Jays and White Sox closer David Robertson. Over the weekend, the Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo reported that the two sides had been in touch earlier this winter, and while many have used that as a launching point for further speculation, Rosenthal reports that there’s been no recent talk between the Jays and the White Sox.
  • Agent Scott Boras is trying to engage the Rangers in talks about slugger Pedro Alvarez, reports ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick (via Twitter). Texas has been tied to a different first base/DH option, Mike Napoli, for the better part of a month. There’s somewhat of a disconnect between Napoli and the Rangers, though, as Napoli has reportedly been seeking a multi-year deal while the Rangers only want to make a one-year commitment. Alvarez would represent an alternative with comparable power but a worse glove at first base. Texas could theoretically mix Alvarez into a first base/designated hitter carousel that also features some combination of Jurickson Profar, Joey Gallo and Ryan Rua, though Crasnick’s report doesn’t specify if the Rangers have any genuine interest in Alvarez.
  • MLB Network’s Jon Morosi adds the Diamondbacks to the list of teams with interest in southpaw Craig Breslow (Twitter link). As Morosi notes, Arizona execs Mike Hazen and Jared Porter were both with the Red Sox when Breslow pitched for Boston from 2012-15 (as was D-backs exec Amiel Sawdaye). Breslow’s name has become more prevalent on the rumor circuit since a showcase at which he demonstrated a new arm angle for about half the teams in the league. The 36-year-old spent most of the 2016 campaign in the Marlins organization, tossing 14 innings of 4.50 ERA ball in the Majors. Breslow logged a 2.82 ERA in 402 Major League innings from 2005-13, but he’s pitched to a 4.93 ERA in 133 2/3 innings since that time.
  • Morosi also tweets a late addition to the Brian Dozier saga, noting that at one point the Twins sought Jose De Leon, Yadier Alvarez and Willie Calhoun from the Dodgers in exchange for the second baseman. Certainly, that’s an aggressive ask, though it strikes me as likely that said package was presented early in talks. Most recent rumors pertaining to the talks between the Twins and Dodgers suggested that the Dodgers were set on sending only De Leon to Minnesota (as the eventually did in order to acquire Logan Forsythe from Tampa Bay), while the Twins sought at least one additional piece to the deal. Obviously, the two sides were never able to agree on a price, prompting the Dodgers to shift their focus to Forsythe.

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