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Blake Snell

Rays Demote Blake Snell To Minors

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The Rays have optioned left-handed starter Blake Snell to Triple-A Durham, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The club will recall reliever Ryne Stanek to take Snell’s roster spot, Topkin adds (on Twitter).

Tampa Bay elected to demote Snell after he turned in arguably his worst start of the year in a 6-3 loss to the Red Sox on Saturday. The 24-year-old went 5 2/3 innings, marking the seventh time in eight starts this season that he hasn’t completed at least six frames, and yielded six earned runs on six hits and three walks, with five strikeouts. In 42 innings this year, Snell has logged a bloated 4.71 ERA with a disappointing strikeout rate (7.29 per nine innings) and a horrid walk rate (5.36).

Snell also struggled with control as a rookie last season (5.16 BB/9), but the former top prospect managed to offset that to a degree with a stellar 9.91 K/9, which helped him post a quality ERA (3.54) in 89 innings. Since then, though, Snell has lost some fastball velocity and generated fewer swinging strikes, as his rate has fallen from 10.9 percent in 2016 to 8.8 percent this year. Overall, Snell has been the weak link in a Rays rotation that has otherwise been a strength in 2017, with Chris Archer, Alex Cobb, Matt Andriese and Jake Odorizzi having recorded positive results.

With Snell returning to the minors, veteran swingman Erasmo Ramirez is likely to take his rotation spot, per Topkin, though he notes that the Rays might not need a fifth starter imminently. Snell’s demotion shouldn’t affect his long-term control, as he entered the season with 110 days of service time and is now closing in on the 172 necessary to accrue a full year. Thus, assuming Snell returns to the majors this season, he should still remain on track to reach free agency after the 2022 season.

Rays To Promote Blake Snell, Move Matt Andriese To Bullpen

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The Rays will call up top pitching prospect Blake Snell for a start on Thursday, manager Kevin Cash told reporters (including Roger Mooney of the Tampa Bay Times).  Righty Matt Andriese, who has a 2.82 ERA over seven starts for the Rays this season, will be shifted into a fireman role in the bullpen.

This is the second time Snell has been promoted, as the 23-year-old southpaw was called upon for a spot start against the Yankees on April 23.  Snell looked good in his MLB debut, holding New York to one run on two hits and a walk over five innings, recording six strikeouts along the way.  He was returned to Triple-A Durham afterwards, where he has enjoyed an impressive season: 3.29 ERA, 12.9 K/9 and a 3.21 K/BB rate over 63 innings.

Cash gave no indication as to how long Snell’s latest stint the Tampa rotation could last, though as Mooney notes, Snell won’t amass enough service time to attain Super Two status should he remain on the Major League roster for the rest of the season.  That being the case, there’s little reason the Rays wouldn’t keep the lefty around if he pitches well.

It may be unfair to solely attribute financial reasons to Snell’s minor league stay, of course, as he has exhibited some control issues over his pro career — 28 walks over his 63 Triple-A innings this season and a 4.4 BB/9 over his 485 frames in the minors.  An extra bit of Triple-A seasoning also may have been warranted simply due to the fact that Snell (while picked 52nd overall in the 2011 draft) was somewhat of a middling prospect before his breakout 2015 campaign.  That massive season saw Snell jump three levels in the Rays’ farm system and land himself a prominent spot on the preseason prospect rankings lists (ranked 12th by Baseball America and MLB.com, 14th by ESPN’s Keith Law, 21st by Baseball Prospectus).

Snell’s continued success this year, however, earned him that April start and now what could be a prolonged look in Tampa’s rotation.  The Rays entered the season expecting to be led by their starters, though only Jake Odorizzi and Andriese have performed consistently well.  Chris Archer (4.61 ERA), Drew Smyly (4.94) and Matt Moore (5.56) have all had their share of struggles, though advanced metrics indicate that all three are significantly outperforming their inflated ERAs.

Andriese’s 2.82 ERA, by contrast, has perhaps a bit fortunate, as ERA predictors (3.22 FIP, 4.25 xFIP, 4.42 SIERA) paint a less flattering view of his performance.  Andriese doesn’t miss many bats (6.04 K/9) and relies on grounders and soft contract to rack up outs.  It’s not a dissimilar arsenal to that of Erasmo Ramirez, who has also pitched quite well for Tampa in a fireman role this season.  Having a pair of versatile, multi-inning relievers could provide a boost to a Rays bullpen that has been plagued with injuries, most notably closer Brad Boxberger spending almost the entire season on the DL.

AL East Notes: Snell, Hicks, Yankees, Bogaerts, Farrell

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Blake Snell looked impressive in his Major League debut, holding the Yankees to one run on two hits and a walk over five innings on Saturday, while striking out six.  “I just settled in, and it felt like it felt my whole life when I went out there and pitched,” Snell told reporters, including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.  Snell has already been optioned back to Triple-A since the Rays only needed him for one start (due to Erasmo Ramirez being needed in the bullpen) but it seems quite likely that you’ll see Snell back in the Show later this season.  Here’s some more from around the AL East…

  • Aaron Hicks will be out of action for four-to-five days after receiving a cortisone injection in his left shoulder, Yankees manager Joe Girardi told reporters (including Dan Martin of the New York Post).  Hicks suffered the injury, described as Girardi as traumatic bursitis, when diving for a ball in Friday night’s game.  If there’s no improvement shown over the next couple of days, the team could end up placing Hicks on the DL.
  • Losing the right-handed hitting Hicks will only worsen the Yankees’ problems against left-handed pitching, Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes, an issue that developed late in 2015 and seemingly hasn’t been solved after the offseason’s moves.  The Yankees entered today’s game with a .235/.324/.315 cumulative line against southpaws, and middling numbers overall against all pitching.  A lackluster offense, Sherman notes, isn’t helping the team take advantage of its greatest weapon, the Andrew Miller/Dellin Betances combo at the end of games.
  • X-rays were negative on Xander Bogaerts’ right wrist after the Red Sox shortstop was hit by a Luke Gregerson pitch in Friday’s game.  Manager John Farrell told reporters (including WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford) that Bogaerts would’ve only been used in an emergency situation today, though the hope is that Bogaerts can return for Sunday’s game.  Farrell also provided injury updates on Carson Smith and Eduardo Rodriguez, with Smith possibly on track to return from the DL later this week.
  • Some Red Sox fans have already begun to whisper that Farrell should be fired in the wake of the club’s 8-9 start, which Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe considered to be very premature thinking.  It’s rare for any team to fire a manager so early in a season, and Cafardo doesn’t think Farrell should be blamed so quickly given how the Sox have faced several pitching injuries.
  • It’s already been a busy day for AL East news, as beyond just Yovani Gallardo’s DL stint and Branden Pinder’s UCL tear, more division items were collected in a pair of Notes posts.

Minor MLB Transactions: 4/23/16

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Here are the latest minor transactions from around baseball:

  • The Twins have called up right-hander Tyler Duffey from Triple-A and optioned infielder Jorge Polanco, the team announced. Duffey will start the Twins’ game Sunday against the Nationals in place of Ervin Santana, who has back tightness. Duffey, 25, broke into the majors last season and was excellent for the Twins, throwing 58 innings of 3.10 ERA ball with an 8.22 K/9 and 3.10 BB/9. Duffey’s standout performance has continued this year in Triple-A Rochester, where he has pitched to a 1.72 ERA and 2.98 FIP in three starts. Polanco, who’s regarded as a top-100 prospect, got the call to Minnesota last week but didn’t last long. The 22-year-old logged only eight plate appearances, giving him 28 in the big leagues since 2014.
  • The Rays wasted no time sending top pitching prospect Blake Snell back to Triple-A after his stellar debut at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, Roger Mooney of the Tampa Tribune tweets. With Snell returning to Durham, the Rays have selected the contract of right-hander Jhan Marinez. Snell threw five innings of one-run ball in his first major league start, holding the Yankees to two hits and a walk while striking out six. Snell got a no-decision in the Rays’ 3-2 loss. Marinez, 27, could now make his first trip to a major league mound since he picked up 2 2/3 frames for the White Sox in 2012.
  • The Blue Jays have optioned southpaw Chad Girodo to Triple-A to make room for right-hander Drew Hutchison, who will start their game Sunday against the A’s, reports Shi Davidi of Sportsnet (Twitter link). Girodo has tossed two scoreless innings for the Jays this year. Hutchison racked up 62 appearances (60 starts) and 335 innings with the Jays from 2014-15, but he struggled to prevent runs (4.97 ERA) despite a quality K/9 (8.41) and decent BB/9 (2.79).
  • The Marlins have placed third baseman Martin Prado on the paternity list and selected the contract of left-hander Cody Ege, per a club announcement. Ege, 24, will make his major league debut after recording stellar numbers in 161 2/3 minor league innings. Ege owns a 2.23 minors ERA to go with an 11.4 K/9 and 2.8 BB/9.
  • The Diamondbacks have recalled right-hander Enrique Burgos from Triple-A and optioned righty Silvino Bracho, the team announced. Burgos accrued 27 innings out of the D-backs’ bullpen last season and put up a lofty ERA (4.67) that belied an impressive strikeout rate (13.0 per nine). Bracho threw just 1 2/3 innings for Arizona prior to the demotion, surrendering five hits and three earned runs.
  • The Padres have placed utilityman Alexi Amarista on the 15-day DL (retroactive to April 20) with a right hamstring strain and recalled Cesar Vargas from Double-A, according to Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune (Twitter link). Amarista owns a career .229/.277/.325 batting line in 1,601 major league plate appearances, but he was off to a solid start this year (.333/.440/.333 in 26 PAs). Vargas will start the Padres’ game against the Cardinals tonight. The Mexico native could be a diamond in the rough, as Chris Mitchell of Fangraphs details.

 

Earlier Moves

  • The Nationals signed righty Jaron Long to a minor league deal, the team announced. Jaron Long, the son of Mets hitting coach Kevin Long, spent 2013-15 working through the Yankees’ minor league system. Long, 24, has put up some solid totals in the minors (3.26 ERA, 6.8 K/9, 1.6 BB/9), but he hasn’t yet earned a call-up to the majors.
  • The Tigers have claimed catcher John Hicks off waivers from the Twins, Anthony Fenecki of the Detroit Free Press was among those to report (on Twitter). Hicks owns a .279/.325/.408 line in 1,690 minor league PAs and has thrown out a whopping 48 percent of base stealers at various levels. The 26-year-old debuted in the majors last season with the Mariners, collecting only two hits and a walk in 34 trips to the plate.
  • The Blue Jays announced that right-hander Arnold Leon cleared waivers and has been outrighted to Triple-A (Twitter link via Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com). Leon gave up two runs in 2 1/3 innings with the Jays before they designated him for assignment April 13. He made his major league debut last year with Oakland and posted a 4.39 ERA in 26 1/3 innings. Leon induced an average amount of ground balls (45.9 percent) and averaged 6.4 K/9 against 3.0 BB/9 during that time.
  • The Royals have released minor league left-hander Brandon Zajac, tweets Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com. Zajac was a 23rd-round pick of the Giants in 2013.
  • The Braves have recalled lefty reliever Matt Marksberry from Double-A and optioned right-hander Casey Kelly to Triple-A, reports Mark Bowman of MLB.com. The Braves needed a fresh arm in place of Kelly, who threw three innings of one-run ball for them on Friday. Marksberry, who has put up a 3.63 ERA over 203 1/3 career minor league innings, tossed 23 1/3 frames for the Braves last season. He compiled a 5.01 ERA to accompany an 8.1 K/9 and 6.2 BB/9.
  • The Mets sent right-hander Rafael Montero to Triple-A to make room for the return of starter Jacob deGrom, according to Adam Rubin of ESPN. New York called up Montero on April 12 and he went on to surrender three earned runs on five hits, one walk and three strikeouts in 2 1/3 innings. DeGrom hasn’t pitched since April 8 because of right lat tightness and medical complications with his recently born son, Jaxon, who was released from the hospital Monday.
  • The Red Sox recalled left-handler Roenis Elias on Friday and sent righty William Cuevas to Triple-A, per the Boston Herald. Elias, whom Boston acquired from Seattle during the offseason in the Wade Miley/Carson Smith trade, will work out of the Red Sox’s bullpen. Elias has made a pair of starts for Pawtucket this year after totaling 49 as a Mariner the previous two seasons. During that time frame, Elias combined for 277 2/3 innings of 3.99 ERA ball to go with a 7.75 K/9 and 3.47 BB/9. Cuevas, who has been in the Boston organization since 2008, made his major league debut this season to poor results before the demotion. The 25-year-old allowed five base runners (three hits and two walks) and two earned runs in 2 1/3 frames.

AL Notes: Darvish, Smith, ERod, Kelly, Owens, Snell, Farquhar, Gausman, Gallardo

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Here’s the latest out of the American League, with a focus on some recent injury news on key pitchers:

  • Rehabbing Rangers ace Yu Darvish will throw another live BP session before beginning his rehab assignment, Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reports. The righty hasn’t suffered any kind of setback, but hopes to refine his offspeed offerings before reporting to Double-A to begin his march back to the majors.
  • Meanwhile, Red Sox reliever Carson Smith looks to be on track for a return in early May, Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe reports on Twitter. He’ll need to make at least three minor league outings, including two on back-to-back days, before being activate. The righty will be a welcome addition to the back of the Boston pen. Likewise, lefty Eduardo Rodriguez may be on his way back soon, as Evan Drellich of the Boston Herald tweets that he could return to the majors after two rehab starts.
  • In other Red Sox pitching news, the club is hopeful that Joe Kelly won’t miss much more than the minimum on his 15-day DL stint, Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald reports (Twitter links). Southpaw Henry Owens will step into Kelly’s place in the rotation. He’s put up three solid outings at Triple-A thus far, allowing just two earned runs in 18 innings with 23 strikeouts and ten walks.
  • With top Rays pitching prospect Blake Snell coming up for his first start tomorrow, Baseball America’s Vince Lara-Cinisomo takes a look at the 23-year-old lefty. While he still needs to refine his command, BA suggests he could become a number two starter if he can reach his ceiling in the majors. Tampa Bay has optioned reliever Danny Farquhar to clear room for Snell, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets. The 29-year-old righty has pitched well enough in the early going, but he was one of only a few optionable arms in the Rays’ pen and appeared in each of the last two games.
  • The Orioles are set to activate Kevin Gausman for his first start of the season on Monday, with the heralded righty saying that he thinks his shoulder issues are a thing of the past, as MLB.com’s Britt Ghiroli reports. In his latest rehab appearance, said Gausman, he felt more “comfortable” than he had in his prior outings. Hopes are high for the 25-year-old, and the Baltimore rotation is certainly need of a boost with only one member (Ubaldo Jimenez) currently carrying a sub-4.00 ERA.

Rays To Promote Blake Snell

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4:19pm: Snell is expected to be active only for one start, manager Kevin Cash tells reporters, including Topkin (Twitter link).

2:09pm: The Rays will promote one of the game’s top pitching prospects, left-hander Blake Snell, to start Saturday at Yankee Stadium, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). Snell, the No. 52 overall pick in the 2011 draft, will be making his Major League debut.

While he wasn’t an overly heralded prospect until last season, Snell’s 2015 was simply too dominant to ignore. The Washington native began the season at Class-A Advanced and had a meteoric rise to the Triple-A level, beginning with an incredible streak of 46 scoreless innings to open the year. All told, Snell’s 2015 season culminated with a microscopic 1.41 ERA with 10.9 strikeouts and 3.6 walks per nine innings pitched. That showing prompted Baseball America and MLB.com each to rank him as the No. 12 prospect in baseball, while ESPN’s Keith Law rated him 14th and Baseball Prospectus penciled Snell in at No. 21 on their list.

Snell is said to have the upside of a No. 2 starter now that his command has taken several steps forward (he averaged 6.6 and 4.4 walks per nine innings in 2013 and 2014, respectively). The 6’4″ lefty has a 92-94 mph fastball that can reach 96-97 mph and complements that plus heater with a plus changeup and a plus slider in addition to a curveball that BA calls “more of a supplement to his arsenal than a true weapon.” Law writes that Snell is probably a No. 3 even if his command doesn’t take a further step forward, and he could become one of the 10 best lefties in baseball.

Because Snell will have spent the first 20 days of the season at the minor league level, he’ll be able to earn a maximum of 163 days of Major League service this season. That’s assuming he doesn’t make a return trip to the minors, which is far from a given. It’s also worth noting that the 20 days he’s spent in the minors is the minimum he could’ve spent at that level without retroactively receiving the service time he’s missed by being optioned to open the season. In essence, Saturday then marks the first day that Snell could be recalled without the Rays running the risk of losing a year of club control. In the event that Snell does not return to the minors this year, the Rays would be able to control him through the 2022 season, though he would still qualify as a Super Two player and be arbitration eligible four times instead of the more typical three. Snell is already on the 40-man roster, so Tampa Bay will only need to clear space for him on the active roster. He’s begun the season with a 2.41 ERA and a 21-to-7 K/BB ratio in 14 1/3 innings at the Triple-A level.

Whether Snell sticks with the big league club remains to be seen. As Topkin notes, the promotion was necessitated by the need for a fifth starter after Erasmo Ramirez was needed in relief, so there may not be a permanent spot in the rotation — especially with right-hander Alex Cobb making his way back from Tommy John surgery. It’s conceivable, though, that Snell would be impressive enough to earn a lengthier look than merely one start with a strong showing, leaving Ramirez in a swing-man role while Cobb continues his rehab.

Rays, Blake Snell Have Discussed Long-Term Deal

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12:56pm: SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo tweets that talks between the Rays and Snell, to this point, have been preliminary in nature. Nothing is particularly close for the time being.

8:31am: The Rays have discussed a long-term deal with top left-handed pitching prospect Blake Snell, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports near the end of a lengthier profile on the former No. 52 overall pick. An extension for Snell would be a move that is very characteristic to the Rays, who have a penchant for locking up potential stars early in their careers as a means of securing control of free-agent years.

Locking up the 23-year-old Snell, though, would be a somewhat of a precedent-setter for the Rays, as Snell has yet to accrue even one day of Major League service time. Even prior extensions such as the long-term deals for Matt Moore and Evan Longoria came when Moore had 17 days of big league service (and some additional postseason experience) and Longoria had cracked the Opening Day roster and picked up six days of service (though, realistically, the Longoria negotiations almost certainly began before the season when he, like Snell, had no MLB experience). The Rays have also secured long-term control over the likes of James Shields, Wade Davis and Chris Archer, among others, in this capacity. While those deals were finalized when Andrew Friedman was the club’s general manager (Friedman is now with the Dodgers), present-day GM Matt Silverman was club president for all of those extensions.

Were a deal to be reached prior to Opening Day, Snell would become just the second player in Major League history to sign an extension without a single day of Major League service time under his belt. Notably, the other player — Houston’s Jon Singleton — shares the same representation as Snell, who is a client of Sosnick, Cobbe and Karon Sports. (Sosnick, Cobbe and Karon also represents Moore.) Singleton received a $10MM guarantee over five years before ever stepping foot on Major League soil, and his contract also contained a trio of options that would’ve allowed the contract to max out at $35MM. Moore’s deal was a five-year, $14MM contract that can max out around $40MM over the life of eight years by virtue of club options and escalators.

Certainly, none of this means that a deal is likely to be struck. For one thing, Topkin notes only that the two sides have had discussions — not that talks are currently active or advanced. Beyond that, the numbers will have to make sense. We often hear of long-term extension talks for players that have limited or no Major League experience, but rarely do such deals come to fruition. The incentive for the Rays (or for any club) to check in with their top prospect is easy enough to see, and there’s a possibility that the talks amounted to little more than due diligence for the agency, though their history of early extensions does make the Snell scenario seem more plausible.

The Rays will have control of Snell for at least six seasons from the time he makes his Major League debut, meaning he’d be under control through the 2021 season were he to crack the Opening Day rotation. That seems unlikely, with Archer, Moore, Jake Odorizzi, Drew Smyly and Erasmo Ramirez all serving as options on the big league roster, though a spring injury could potentially create an opening. It’s worth pointing out, of course, that the Rays could extend that club control through the 2022 season by stashing Snell in the minors for as little as three weeks to open the season — a trade-off that seems highly worthwhile from a business standpoint, especially for a small-market club.

Snell skyrocketed up prospect rankings this past season on the strength of a dominant minor league campaign that saw him begin the year at Class-A Advanced and finish in Triple-A. Snell rattled off 46 consecutive scoreless innings to open his season and finished the year with a combined 1.41 ERA, 10.9 K/9, 3.6 BB/9 and a 51.8 percent ground-ball rate in 134 innings. As Topkin notes, Snell’s success could be attributable to a heart-to-heart with his father — a former minor league pitcher himself — who implored his son to increase his work ethic prior to the 2015 campaign. Rays farm director Mitch Lukevics told Topkin that Snell’s talent was obvious from the day he was drafted, though he added that Snell was “okay with the work ethic but not to where needed him to be” earlier in his career. Lukevics explained to Topkin that those questions evaporated beginning in Spring Training last season, as Snell looked like a player that had “turn[ed] the light switch on.” The entire profile is well worth a read for Rays fans looking to get to know a bit more about Snell, who rated as the game’s No. 12 prospect according to Baseball America. Snell also ranked 14th on the top 100 of Jim Callis & Jonathan Mayo at MLB.com, 14th on the top 100 of ESPN’s Keith Law and 21st on the top 101 over at Baseball Prospectus.

Added To The 40-Man Roster: Friday

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Tonight at 8:00pm ET is the deadline for teams to add players to their 40-man roster and thereby protect them from this year’s Rule 5 Draft. In other words: there will be a significant amount of 40-man roster moves made over the course of the next 13 or so hours. Six clubs already made moves to protect prospects from the Rule 5 yesterday, and each of the remaining 24 clubs should make moves today as well.

In brief: players drafted/signed at 18 years of age or younger must be added to the 40-man roster within five years of signing or be exposed to the Rule 5 Draft. Players drafted/signed at 19 or older must be added within four years. Those interested in all of the specifics can refer to articles from MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo and J.J. Cooper of Baseball America. Perhaps of greater interest is that Mayo lists all of the prospects from MLB.com’s Top 100 list and from their organizational Top 30 lists that much be protected in advance of tonight’s deadline, while Cooper provides brief write-ups on each player that has been protected (and will continue to do so as additions are made).

Here are today’s additions to the 40-man roster. You can check out Baseball America’s coverage to learn more about the individual players listed below …

Earlier Updates

Rays Designate Arencibia, Gomes, Nava, Yates

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The Rays have designated catcher J.P. Arencibia, outfielder Daniel Nava, and righties Brandon Gomes and Kirby Yates for assignment, the club announced. Tampa Bay will add righties Jacob Faria, Taylor Guerrieri, and German Marquez to the 40-man roster along with infielder/outfielder Taylor Motter and rising lefty prospect Blake Snell.

By parting with Arencibia, the club appears to have chosen to keep Rene Rivera around behind the dish, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets. The 29-year-old Arencibia still benefited from his time in Tampa Bay, though, as he put on a power show in his 73 plate appearances and figures to have boosted his free agent stock. Nava, soon to turn 33, never really got going last year and will probably be left looking for an opportunity on a minor league deal this winter.

On the pitching side of the ledger, the 31-year-old Gomes has seen his share of action in the Rays’ pen over the last five years, throwing a total of 167 innings of 4.20 ERA ball. He could land an MLB deal with a team looking for reliever depth. As for Yates, the 28-year-old righty was hit hard last year, but will enter the market with 10.1 K/9 vs. 3.5 BB/9 on his ledger over 56 1/3 career MLB innings.

Notably, also, the move will save Tampa Bay some money. MLBTR projected Arencibia ($1.4MM), Nava ($1.9MM), and Gomes ($900K) to command salaries that are not insignificant for a team with Tampa Bay’s tight payroll.

AL East Notes: Yankees, O’Day, Pena, Snell

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Though many Yankees fans have grown weary of Stephen Drew’s low batting average at second base (and “grown weary” is admittedly an understatement), Chad Jennings of the Journal News offers a well-reasoned explanation for the team’s decision to stick with Drew and Brendan Ryan over the likes of Rob Refsnyder and Jose Pirela. Jennings notes Refsnyder’s poor second half at Triple-A and questionable glovework and also points to the fact that Ryan has been an ideal platoon-mate at second base, providing good defense and a hefty .286/.333/.500 batting line against lefties this year. Jennings dispels several oft-used myths, such as the Yankees’ reluctance to rely on young talent or the claim that only manager Joe Girardi would continue relying on a struggling veteran such as Drew.

A few more notes from the AL East…

  • Darren O’Day’s time with the Orioles is quite possibly winding down, writes Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. Despite being a bit older than typical free agents — he’s 32 and will pitch next season at 33 — O’Day is primed to cash in on a nice free-agent deal due to his recent string of dominant seasons. Manager Buck Showalter offered high praise for the sidearming setup man: “Darren, there’s no doubt he’s the leader of that bullpen,” said Showalter. The manager noted O’Day’s role in keeping the bullpen a tight-knit unit, noting that his shoes would be tough to fill if he ultimately signs elsewhere upon hitting the open market.
  • Carlos Pena is humbled and grateful for the opportunity to sign a contract and retire as a member of the Rays organization, he tells Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. “As much as the Rays have meant to me, for me to even believe that I meant the same to the Rays as well, I couldn’t be more grateful,” said Pena. “This is a dream come true to end my career in such a way, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
  • Rays top prospect Blake Snell was disappointed not to be called up in September, writes Topkin in a separate column, but the left-hander nonetheless has hopes of making the team out of Spring Training in 2015. Snell, 22, hadn’t pitched above A-ball heading into the season but broke out with an absurd 1.61 ERA, 10.9 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 in 134 innings between High-A, Double-A and Triple-A. Baseball America named Snell its minor league player of the year as a result of the strong performance. Snell could very well have a chance at cracking the roster next season, especially considering the fact that Topkin has recently said it seems likely that Tampa Bay will deal from its surplus of rotation options this offseason.
  • Baseball America’s Matt Eddy examines Snell’s historic minor league season, noting that he’s tied for the second-lowest composite ERA for a starter since 2003, trailing only Justin Verlander. Of the 10 pitchers to have posted a composite 1.60 ERA or better across multiple minor league levels, Snell is the only one who reached Triple-A in his dominant season; the others spread their dominance across lower levels. Snell’s season, Eddy writes, was one of the best in recent minor league history.

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