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Rays’ Chaz Roe Undergoes Season-Ending Shoulder Surgery

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Rays right-hander Chaz Roe has undergone surgery to correct a posterior labrum tear in his throwing shoulder, the team announced.  The procedure will end Roe’s 2021 campaign, as manager Kevin Cash told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times and other reporters that the aim is to have the righty back in action for 2022.

Roe tossed only two-thirds of an inning in a single appearance for Tampa this season, before suffering a shoulder strain and then biceps tendinitis.  It marks the second straight abbreviated season for Roe, since elbow soreness limited him to 10 games and 9 1/3 innings.

Despite that injury, the Rays brought Roe back on a one-year, $1.15MM free agent contract that unfortunately is now a wash.  It wouldn’t be surprising to see Roe return for what would be a sixth season in Tampa Bay, however, if the club re-signed him on a minor league deal this winter.

Initially acquired from the Braves back in July 2017, Roe has posted some solid numbers for the Rays, including a 3.82 ERA over 101 1/3 relief innings in 2018-19.  That roughly matches the 3.89 ERA posted by the 34-year-old over parts of nine MLB seasons for five different teams.  While walks have been something of a nagging issue throughout Roe’s career, he has balanced those free passes with a good amount of missed bats (26.4% strikeout rate) and he has done a solid job of keeping the ball on the ground (48.9% grounder rate).

Quick Hits: Rays, Glasnow, Roe, Tigers, Boyd, Mets/Nats

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Rays fans can allow themselves some tempered excitement after the latest check-up on Tyler Glasnow. The lanky flamethrower will be shut down for four weeks before beginning to throw again, but that said, they may have located another source of Glasnow’s discomfort, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). The latest diagnosis theorizes that his elbow irritation could at least in part be the result of a bone issue, which Glasnow’s doctors will attempt to treat during this period of rest. Of course, much uncertainty remains for Glasnow, whose injury became a bit of a firestarter for the debate around the use of illegal substances. After his injury, Glasnow was vocal in opposition of MLB’s attempt to curtail the use of illegal substances on the mound by way of an in-season mandate.

Neither Glasnow’s injury nor the “sticky stuff” saga will be resolved in the immediate future, however, so let’s turn instead to the latest news on his Tampa teammate: reliever Chaz Roe has cut his rehab short for the time being. Roe has been out since April with a shoulder strain. The latest issue, however, is not with the shoulder, but rather a case of biceps tendinitis, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter links). It will be another 7-10 days until he’s able to resume throwing.

Elsewhere around the game…

  • Tigers starter Matthew Boyd has been to see a “number of doctors” about the arm discomfort that landed him on the injured list on June 15th. He won’t pitch again before the All-Star break, but there is no structural damage in the arm, per the Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen (via Twitter). Detroit plans to be cautious with the 30-year-old southpaw, adds Evan Woodbery of the Mlive Media Group (via Twitter). In 13 starts this season, Boyd has a 3.44 ERA/3.75 FIP across 70 2/3 innings. In terms of the positive, his 6.4 percent walk rate is better than his career norm. On the other side, Boyd’s strikeouts are down (18.8 percent strikeout rate). If all goes well, the Tigers hope to have a healthy Boyd back in the rotation for the second half.
  • The Mets and Nationals will play a doubleheader today. Both teams will add a 27th man to the roster for the day. In the Nationals’ case, right-hander Ryne Harper has stayed with the team after being optioned to Triple-A yesterday, per the team. He will be available out of the pen for manager Davey Martinez in both games. The Mets, meanwhile, recalled right-hander Yennsy Diaz to be their 27th man, per Anthony DiComo of MLB.com (via Twitter). There was some indication that Albert Almora Jr. would be activated from the injured list, and that’s still a possibility for game two, Dicomo notes.

Cody Reed Undergoes Thoracic Outlet Surgery

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Rays left-hander Cody Reed underwent surgery to correct thoracic outlet syndrome today, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). He will miss the rest of the 2021 season but is expected to be ready by the outset of next year’s Spring Training.

Tampa Bay acquired the former Reds top prospect from Cincinnati last August. He only made two appearances down the stretch because of a finger issue. Reed returned to pitch twelve times this season before numbness in his thumb sent him to the 60-day injured list and eventually led to today’s procedure. He allowed five runs (four earned) in 9 2/3 innings this year, only striking out seven while walking six.

Losing Reed is yet another blow to a Rays bullpen that has been without a few key contributors over the season’s first two months. None of Nick Anderson, Oliver Drake, Jalen Beeks or Colin Poche have pitched this year, while Chaz Roe has been out since April 3 with a shoulder issue. Roe is scheduled to begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Durham tomorrow, Topkin reports (Twitter link).

It’s good to hear the 28-year-old Reed is expected back at full strength in 2022, although it’s not clear he’ll survive the winter on Tampa Bay’s roster. Reed will accrue a full year of MLB service this year as he recovers, and he’ll be eligible for arbitration for the first time this offseason. Given the injury-wrecked platform year and his career 5.22 ERA, Reed’s projected arbitration cost surely won’t be exorbitant. Still, he’s never really found consistent success at the major league level and is out of minor league option years. Players have to be reinstated from the 60-day IL at the beginning of the offseason, so the Rays will have to carry him on the 40-man roster all winter or risk losing him to another club.

Rays Place Kevin Kiermaier On Injured List, Claim Deivy Grullon Off Waivers

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3:23pm: Kiermaier expects to miss a few weeks, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets.

1:52pm: The Rays on Tuesday announced that they’ve placed center fielder Kevin Kiermaier on the 10-day injured list due to a left quadriceps strain and claimed catcher Deivy Grullon off waivers from the Reds. Infielder Kevin Padlo was recalled to take Kiermaier’s spot on the roster, while righty Chaz Roe was transferred to the 60-day IL to open a 40-man spot for Grullon. Roe is expected to miss as many as 12 weeks with a shoulder strain.

Grullon, 24, has made extremely brief appearances in the Majors with both the Phillies (2019) and Red Sox (2020) over the past two seasons. In 13 plate appearances, he’s collected two hits, including a double, with a walk and three punchouts. There’s little to glean from such a small sample, but Grullon carries a .283/.354/.496 slash in 457 Triple-A plate appearances and a .264/.302/.494 line in a similar body of work in Double-A. He also went 2-for-13 with a pair of homers and two walks during Spring Training with Cincinnati, but the Reds designated him for assignment when claiming fellow catcher Beau Taylor recently.

Kiermaier, 30, exited last night’s game with tightness in his quad, leading to today’s IL placement. It’s not yet clear how much time he’s expected to miss, though the Rays will surely provide additional updates on his expected recovery as they’re available.

This it the latest in a mounting series of injuries for Kiermaier, an ultra-talented defender with a tantalizing combination of power and speed but questionable durability. Over the past five seasons, Kiermaier has missed time with a fractured hand, a fractured hip, a ligament tear in his right thumb, a sprain in his other thumb and now this latest quadriceps issue. In all, he’s missed almost exactly one third of the Rays’ total games since Opening Day 2016.

Padlo, 24, is a right-handed-hitting corner infielder with impressive power who ranked 20th among Rays farmhands prior to the season, according to Baseball America. He slashed .265/.389/.538 in 432 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A back in 2019 and went 2-for-12 with a homer and six strikeouts this spring. BA’s scouting report pegs him as a solid defender at third but also a likely platoon bat — though the Rays have no trouble maximizing their return on such skill sets.

Chaz Roe Out 12 Weeks Due To Shoulder Injury

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The Rays placed right-handed reliever Chaz Roe on the 10-day injured list with a shoulder strain on Monday, but he’ll miss a far longer stretch than that. Roe won’t throw for six weeks, making it likely he’ll sit out 12-plus weeks of game action, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports. That means Roe may not return until at least sometime in July.

This is the second blow the Rays’ bullpen has absorbed in the past couple weeks, as the reigning American League champions previously lost standout Nick Anderson until July or later because of a partial tear in his right elbow. Roe hasn’t dominated to the extent that Anderson had since being acquired from Miami, but the 34-year-old has nevertheless put up solid numbers with the Rays since making his team debut in 2017.

Through 119 1/3 frames from 2017-20, Roe notched a 3.54 ERA and logged an above-average 27.7 percent strikeout rate, although he totaled just 9 1/3 innings last season due to an elbow issue. The Rays outrighted Roe at season’s end but ultimately brought him back on a one-year, $1.5MM deal. This past Friday, Roe’s lone appearance so far this year, he surrendered two earned runs on one hit and two walks with a pair of strikeouts in two-thirds of an inning in a win over the Marlins.

To replace Roe, the Rays recalled righty Chris Mazza from their taxi squad. Mazza, whom the Rays acquired from the division-rival Red Sox in February, threw 30 innings of 4.80 ERA/4.97 SIERA ball with subpar strikeout (21.3), walk (11.0) and groundball (33.3) percentages last season. He made his Rays debut against his former team Monday and gave up two earned runs in as many innings.

Between Diego Castillo and Pete Fairbanks, the Rays still have a pair of potentially dominant late-inning righties at their disposal. Still, the early injuries to Anderson and Roe put pressure on the remainder of a relief corps that has some promise but little in the way of certainty. Veteran Collin McHugh has certainly been a quality reliever in the past, but injuries have hampered him in recent years. Ryan Thompson was solid for the Rays in 2020 and posted a huge 59 percent ground-ball rate in 26 innings, but that represents the entirety of the 28-year-old’s MLB experience. Andrew Kittredge had a promising 2019 season before injuries slowed him in 2020. The Rays, of course, have also proven adept at unearthing hidden gems, so it’s quite possible they tap into their farm and find yet another unexpected breakout performer to help shoulder the load.

Rays Re-Sign Chaz Roe To Major League Deal

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FEB 22: This deal is official, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter), as if their deal with Collin McHugh.  The Rays announced that Yonny Chirinos and Oliver Drake have been placed on the 60-day injured list to open up roster space for Roe and McHugh.

FEB 21: The Rays are in agreement on a contract with reliever Chaz Roe, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (Twitter link). The 34-year-old returns to the Tampa Bay organization for a fifth consecutive season. It’s a one-year, major league contract, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). The Apex Baseball client is guaranteed $1.15MM, per Topkin.

Roe has found a decent amount of success with the Rays over the past few years. Thanks to a wipeout slider he uses well over half the time, the right-hander has never had any trouble racking up punchouts. Over the past three seasons, Roe has pitched to a 3.74 ERA with a strong 27% strikeout rate. He has run into some trouble with walks but generally been a solid bullpen piece for manager Kevin Cash.

The Rays waived Roe off the 40-man roster after some concerning developments last season. Roe’s average fastball velocity was down a tick relative to past years, while he generated swings and misses at a career-worst 8.8% clip (against a league average 11.8% swinging strike rate for relievers). Most concerning, his season was cut short by elbow soreness after just 9.1 innings, as Roe didn’t pitch after August 19.

Nevertheless, the Rays are sufficiently satisfied Roe’s health woes are behind him at this point. The veteran threw in front of teams last weekend and apparently impressed Tampa Bay brass enough to bring him back into the fold with a guaranteed roster spot.

Pitching Notes: Odorizzi, Paxton, Mets, Red Sox, Tigers

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Jake Odorizzi is the top name left from MLBTR’s Top 50 free agent rankings, and it’s still not clear which (if any) team will meet the right-hander’s reported multi-year asking price. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes in his latest Q&A with readers that the Cardinals’ interest in Odorizzi is legitimate but not aggressive. Goold likens the Cards’ interest to their interest in Kyle Lohse more than a decade ago, when Lohse signed a one-year deal during Spring Training 2008 at a much lower rate than he’d initially sought in free agency. Of course, other teams would surely jump into the mix were Odorizzi to eventually settle for a one-year pact, and there’s no indication yet he plans to do so.

  • James Paxton is headed back to the Mariners on a one-year deal worth $8.5MM, but he drew interest from numerous other clubs before landing that deal. The Mets offered Paxton $6MM in guarantees, tweets Mike Puma of the New York Post, and Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times writes that the M’s at one point expected the lefty to be out of their price range because of how impressive he looked during an offseason showcase. However, Divish adds that Paxton also had a desire to return to a Seattle setting where he’d previously felt comfortable and had success.
  • The Red Sox were among the teams in attendance for free-agent righty Chaz Roe’s bullpen session over the weekend, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com tweets. The 34-year-old reliever spent the previous three-plus seasons in Tampa Bay and is familiar with Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, who used to be a Rays executive. Roe threw only 9 1/3 innings in 2020, but he was overall a solid bullpen option as a member of the Rays, with whom he pitched to a 3.54 ERA/3.73 SIERA in 119 1/3 frames.
  • The Tigers added Jose Urena to their rotation mix earlier in the offseason, but they might not be done yet. “We’re definitely looking for more pitching as we speak. I think at least one more starter would be ideal,” general manager Al Avila said Tuesday (via Evan Woodbery of MLive.com).The right-handed Urena was mostly a starter as a Marlin from 2015-20, but he could wind up in a bullpen role with the Tigers, Avila noted. For now, Urena’s a candidate to join Matthew Boyd, Spencer Turnbull and Michael Fulmer in Detroit’s starting staff. Tarik Skubal, Casey Mize, Matt Manning, Daniel Norris and Tyler Alexander are also among in-house possibilities to rack up starts this year.

Pirates Claim Michael Perez Off Waivers From Rays

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The Pirates have claimed catcher Michael Pérez off waivers from the Rays, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). Fellow catcher Kevan Smith and right-handers Andrew Kittredge and Chaz Roe each cleared waivers and elected free agency.

Pérez has hit .221/.286/.314 in 228 plate appearances over parts of three seasons in Tampa Bay. The 28-year-old has a pair of option seasons remaining and isn’t yet eligible for arbitration, so he’s an affordable piece to either back up Jacob Stallings or perhaps get the lion’s share of playing time behind the plate if Stallings is dealt this winter.

Between the declination of Mike Zunino’s club option and the losses of Pérez and Smith, the Rays are set to completely revamp their catching mix this offseason.

Jalen Beeks To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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The Rays received a slew on unfortunate injury news this afternoon, with Juan Toribio of MLB.com reporting that left-hander Jalen Beeks is set to undergo Tommy John surgery on Wednesday. Fellow reliever Chaz Roe will also have his season cut short, with the Rays transferring him to the 45-day injured list. Finally, two new players have hit the injured list: catcher Mike Zunino and lefty Ryan Yarbrough will head to the 10-day IL, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

Catcher Kevan Smith and 1B/OF Brian O’Grady have been added to the active roster.

Wit Beeks on the 45-day injured list, we’ve known that his season was over, but the Rays were awaiting word of the severity of Beeks’s injury, which was first reported as an elbow sprain. Thus continues the Rays’ plague of injuries, which have gutted the pitching staff to an alarming extent.

Yonny Chirinos, Colin Poche, Brendan McKay, and Andrew Kittredge have already endured season-ending injuries, with Charlie Morton, Jose Alvarado, Nick Anderson, and others spending time on the injured list.

Beeks, for his part, had been enjoying his best Major League season to date, on pace for career bests in virtually every significant category. After averaging 7.6 K/9 over the last two years, that number climbed up to 12.1 K/9 through 19 1/3 innings this year. Simultaneously, his walk rate plummeted to a career low, leading to a minuscule 1.76 FIP.

His loss will be a considerable blow to the already-thin Tampa bullpen, which now finds itself without Chaz Roe for the season—also due to an elbow issue. Zunino, meanwhile, is dealing with oblique pain, and Yarbrough is experiencing left groin tightness. He’s the eleventh Rays pitcher to be sidelined due to injury since the beginning of Spring Training 2.0.

Rays, Chaz Roe Avoid Arbitration

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The Rays and reliever Chaz Roe have avoided arbitration with an agreement worth $2,185,200, Jeff Passan of ESPN tweets. That’s in line with the $2.2MM salary MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected at the outset of the offseason.

The slider-heavy, right-handed Roe was a valuable member of the Rays’ bullpen over the previous two seasons. Most recently, Roe put up a 4.08 ERA/3.31 FIP with 11.47 strikeouts per nine and a 44.6 percent groundball rate across 51 innings in 2019. However, control was a problem for the 33-year-old Roe, who issued just under 5.5 walks per nine frames.

The upcoming season will be the penultimate arbitration-eligible year for Roe. He’ll remain a key part of a relief corps that stood out in 2019, when he, Emilio Pagan, Nick Anderson and Diego Castillo were among the playoff-bound Rays’ go-to options late in games.

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