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Rays Select Dusten Knight, Place Jalen Beeks On IL

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The Rays announced a series of roster moves prior to today’s game, selecting the contract of right-hander Dusten Knight. He will take the active roster spot of left-hander Jalen Beeks, who has been placed on the 15-day IL due to lower leg tightness, retroactive to September 18. To create room on the 40-man roster, right-hander Nick Anderson was recalled and placed on the 60-day IL due to plantar fasciitis.

The loss of Beeks will be a notable one for the Rays, as the southpaw has somewhat quietly been having an excellent season. After missing all of 2021 while recovering from Tommy John surgery, Beeks has thrown 61 innings here in 2022 with a 2.80 ERA, 28% strikeout rate, 8.8% walk rate and 45.8% ground ball rate. This is the second time he’s landed on the IL this year due to his leg and this one will keep him out of action until the final days of the regular season, at least.

Knight, 32, signed a minor league deal with the Rays in the offseason and has bounced on and off the roster since then. This is the third time the club has selected his contract, with the previous two instances resulting in him being designated for assignment before clearing waivers and being outrighted. He’s thrown eight innings in the big leagues with a 4.50 ERA but had a more substantial showing in Triple-A. He’s thrown 54 1/3 innings for the Bulls with a 3.48 ERA, 27.4% strikeout rate and 48.5% ground ball rate, but an unfortunate 13.7% walk rate.

The move for Anderson is a formality, as it had already been reported that he would miss the remainder of the season. By placing him on the 60-day IL, the Rays have freed up a roster spot for Knight but will now pay Anderson a major league salary for the final two weeks of the season, with Anderson also earning service time for that stretch.

Rays Reinstate Pete Fairbanks, Outright Dusten Knight

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July 20: The Rays announced that Knight has cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Durham, as relayed by broadcaster Neil Solondz.

July 17: The Rays have announced some roster moves prior to today’s game, starting with right-hander Pete Fairbanks being reinstated from the 60-day injured list. To make room on the active roster, lefty Jalen Beeks was placed on the 15-day IL due to right lower leg tightness. To open a spot on the 40-man roster, righty Dusten Knight was designated for assignment.

Fairbanks, 28, has emerged as a key reliever for the Rays over the past couple of seasons. Acquired from the Rangers for Nick Solak in 2019, he threw 26 2/3 innings of 2.70 ERA ball in the shortened 2020 campaign. That came with an excellent 33.3% strikeout rate, though a walk rate on the high side at 12%. He moved up the bullpen charts enough to earn seven holds that year. He followed that up with similar results in 2021, throwing 42 2/3 innings with a 3.59 ERA, 29.6% strikeout rate and 11.1% walk rate. Again, he was called on for important assignments, logging 14 holds and five saves.

He was expected to be a key part of the Rays’ bullpen again this year but tore a lat muscle in Spring Training. He’ll make his season debut as soon as he gets into a game. The absence of Fairbanks has been just one of many subtractions from their relief corps this year. While Fairbanks is coming off, the Rays still have four notable relievers on the 60-day IL: Nick Anderson, J.P. Feyereisen, JT Chargois and Andrew Kittredge.

With all of those options sidelined, the club has leaned on a committee approach for their high leverage innings this year. Eight different pitchers have at least one save but no one has more than six. Fairbanks should now step into the mix as well, alongside hurlers like Colin Poche, Jason Adam and Brooks Raley. Despite those bullpen setbacks, and many injuries elsewhere, the club is 50-41 and currently in possession of the top American League Wild Card spot.

Knight, 31, made his MLB debut with the Orioles last year but joined the Rays on a minor league deal in the offseason. He was selected to the big league club in April but designated for assignment one day later. After being outrighted, he was selected again in May. He’s pitched just eight innings at the MLB level this year, spending most of his time with the Durham Bulls. In 30 2/3 Triple-A innings, he has a 3.82 ERA, with a strong 25.7% strikeout rate but a 16.7% walk rate that’s double the current MLB average of 8.3%. The Rays will have a week to trade him, pass him through waivers or release him.

Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times announced the moves prior to the official announcement (Twitter links).

Injury Notes: Montas, Brantley, Eflin, Springs, Beeks, May

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With the trade deadline approaching, Frankie Montas’ health status is of particular interest to both the Athletics and several other teams around baseball.  The right-hander tossed just one inning on July 3 and hasn’t pitched since, due to shoulder inflammation.  The A’s resisted placing Montas on the 15-day injured list, and it seems as though he could return as early as Thursday, when Oakland opens the second half with a doubleheader against the Tigers.

Montas received a cortisone shot as part of his recovery, and things went “really well” during a bullpen session yesterday, A’s manager Mark Kotsay told the San Francisco Chronicle’s Matt Kawahara and other reporters.  The club will continue to observe Montas over the All-Star break, but for now, it would seem like Montas is on pace to get back onto the mound.  Assuming regular rest, Montas would be on pace to make at least two starts prior to the August 2 deadline, though it’s also possible the Athletics could rest him if a trade is close.

More injury notes from around baseball…

  • Right shoulder discomfort sent Michael Brantley to the 10-day IL back on June 27, but the Astros outfielder still “didn’t feel right” while trying to swing last Thursday, manager Dusty Baker said.  “Right now, he’s in the same spot, no worse….That was the shoulder he got operated on years ago.  He’s still a little sore,” Baker told MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart and other reporters.  Brantley had shoulder surgeries in both 2015 and 2016, which limited him to only 11 games in 2016 and also delayed his return in 2017.  There isn’t yet any sense that this current injury is anywhere near as serious, however, though speculatively, Houston could perhaps look out for outfield help at the deadline should they have any longer-term concerns over Brantley’s health.
  • Zach Eflin threw a simulated game yesterday, but Phillies manager Rob Thomson told reporters (including Alex Coffey of the Philadelphia Inquirer) that Eflin came out of the session feeling a little sore, and team doctors will examine him tomorrow.  Eflin was placed on the 15-day IL on June 26 due to a right knee bruise, and Eflin is another player with a lengthy surgical history, as the righty underwent knee procedures in both 2016 and 2021.
  • Rays manager Kevin Cash updated reporters (including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times) about a pair of pitching injuries, noting that Jeffrey Springs is expected to be activated during the Rays’ first series after the All-Star break.  Springs’ placement on the 15-day IL (for tightness in his lower right leg) was retroactive to July 7, so the southpaw looks like he’ll miss just the minimum amount of time.  Cash also thinks Jalen Beeks will miss only 15 days, after Beeks went to the IL just today with a similar leg injury.
  • Dustin May threw two innings of Arizona Complex League action yesterday, marking the first in-game action in his recovery from Tommy John surgery in May 2021.  May’s minor league rehab assignment is expected to last at least a month, the Orange County Register’s Bill Plunkett writes, but he could be an option for the Dodgers down the stretch.  As president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman recently told Plunkett and other reporters, “our plan is to build [May] up, have him start for us and then evaluate as we go,” possibly adjusting usage based on the Dodgers’ needs (in the regular season or the playoffs) and May’s health.

Rays Acquire Chris Mazza, Jeffrey Springs From Red Sox

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9:19am: The teams have officially announced the four-player trade. Tampa Bay placed lefty Jalen Beeks, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery, on the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man roster spot. The Red Sox, notably, announced that backup catcher Kevin Plawecki has been placed on the Covid-19 related injured list (which can be done either for positive cases or for players who have been exposed to positive cases).

9:00am: The two sides have agreed to the trade of Mazza, Springs and cash for Hernandez and Sogard, tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

8:09am: The Rays and Red Sox are moving toward a trade that would send recently designated-for-assignment pitchers Chris Mazza and Jeffrey Springs from Boston to Tampa Bay in exchange for minor league catcher Ronaldo Hernandez and another Rays farmhand, reports Alex Speier of the Boston Globe (Twitter thread). MLB.com’s Adam Berry tweets that 23-year-old Nick Sogard, the Rays’ 12th-round pick in 2019, is the other player going to Boston in the deal.

Hernandez ranked among the game’s top 100 prospects as recently as the 2018-19 offseason, so it’s a bit of a surprise to see the Rays deal him and another minor leaguer in exchange for a pair of recently DFA’ed arms. Hernandez’s prospect stock has tumbled in recent seasons, however, and the Rays are likely aiming to stockpile as much optionable pitching depth as possible to get them through a 2021 season when most pitchers will be on limited workloads.

Mazza, 31, has spent time in the Majors with the Mets and Red Sox across the past two seasons but hasn’t matched his strong Triple-A results. In 46 1/3 big league innings, he’s posted a 5.05 ERA and 4.96 SIERA with sub-par strikeout (21.3), walk (11.0) and ground-ball (35.4) percentages. Mazza does carry a 3.72 ERA in 92 Triple-A frames and a 3.24 mark in 283 2/3 Double-A innings, but he’s been with five MLB organizations (Twins, Marlins, Mariners, Mets, Red Sox) and hasn’t carried those results to the big leagues yet.

The 2020 season was Springs’ first with the Red Sox, and it proved to be a struggle. In 20 1/3 frames, the former Rangers southpaw was tagged for a 7.08 ERA. He struck out 28 percent of his opponents against just a seven percent walk rate, but five of the 99 opponents Springs faced took him deep. He has a 5.42 ERA and 4.66 FIP in 84 2/3 innings at the Major League level between the Texas and Boston organizations.

Mazza limited hard contact reasonably well in 2020, while Springs showed plenty of aptitude for missing bats even if he yielded too many long balls. Both figure to be shuttled back and forth between the Rays’ Triple-A club in Durham and their MLB roster throughout the season. The Rays surely believe they can coax more out of both players as well, either by tinkering with their pitch mixes or altering their approach with the existing arsenals of Mazza and Springs.

The trade also illustrates the volatility of prospects and serves as a reminder not to be too beholden to prospect lists, which are typically just a snapshot in time anyhow. Hernandez posted big numbers in Rookie ball and had a strong full-season debut in 2018 when he slashed .284/.339/.494 with 21 homers in 109 games. His 2019 season in Class-A Advanced, however, resulted in a lackluster .265/.299/.397 showing, though he did rebound with a good showing during 11 games of Arizona Fall League action.

Hernandez still ranked 13th among Tampa Bay prospects, per Baseball America, but perhaps the Rays’ internal evaluations vary. It’s tougher than ever to evaluate prospects right now after they didn’t have a minor league season in 2020 and weren’t as widely accessible for scouts. The Rays may feel that Hernandez’s stock is more diminished than the general public consensus. Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom, meanwhile, knows Hernandez quite well from his time as a Rays vice president and was likely more than content to roll the dice on a prospect at an organizational position of need when the cost was a pair of arms the Sox determined to be fringe 40-man contributors.

Boston will also pick up Sogard, a utility-infield type who is devoid of any power but can move around the diamond with a contact-driven skill set at the plate. Sogard hit all of two home runs in his NCAA career and slashed .290/.405/.313 in 63 games for the Rays’ short-season Class-A affiliate following the draft. He walked nearly as often as he struck out that year — a trend which aligns with his college days at Loyola Marymount.

40-Man Roster Additions: 11/1/20

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With the offseason kicking off, most teams are bringing some inactive players back onto their rosters. Here’s the latest:

  • The Rockies announced they’ve activated outfielder Ian Desmond from the restricted list. Outfielder David Dahl and right-handers Peter Lambert and Scott Oberg are back from the 60-day injured list, putting Colorado’s 40-man roster tally at 38. Desmond opted out of the 2020 season due to COVID-19 concerns and is entering his final year under contract. Dahl underwent shoulder surgery in September, capping a miserable season. Lambert, meanwhile, underwent Tommy John surgery in July. Oberg unfortunately also had to go under the knife, undergoing thoracic outlet surgery to alleviate blood clots in September.
  • The Indians reinstated right-hander Jefry Rodríguez from the 45-day injured list (via Tribeinsider). While working at Cleveland’s alternate training site, the 27-year-old went down with a strain in his throwing shoulder in early September. Rodríguez worked 98.2 innings of 5.20 ERA ball with the Nationals and Indians between 2018-19 but didn’t pitch in the majors in 2020. Cleveland’s 40-man roster now sports 35 players.
  • The Rays activated pitchers Jalen Beeks, Yonny Chirinos, Colin Poche and Cody Reed from the 45-day injured list (via Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times). Each of Beeks, Chirinos and Poche has undergone Tommy John surgery over the past few months, meaning none will be ready (or even particularly close) at the start of next season. Reed suffered an injury to his left pinky finger shortly after being acquired from the Reds. He’s expected to be a full-go for spring training, Topkin notes.
  • The Mariners have brought outfielder Mitch Haniger, catcher Tom Murphy and right-hander Andres Muñoz off the 45-day injured list, per Greg Johns of MLB.com. Haniger has dealt with a series of brutal injuries since emerging as one of the sport’s quieter stars, but he’s finally expected to be healthy next spring. Like Haniger, Murphy missed the entire 2020 season; the backstop broke a bone in his foot on the heels of a breakout 2019. Muñoz underwent Tommy John surgery while part of the Padres’ system in March. Still, the Mariners acquired the fireballing 21-year-old before the trade deadline as part of the return for Austin Nola, Austin Adams and Dan Altavilla. Seattle now has 35 players on the 40-man roster.

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 Place Jalen Beeks On 45-Day IL, Select Ryan Sherriff

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The Rays announced Wednesday that they’ve placed lefty Jalen Beeks on the 45-day injured list due to an elbow sprain and selected the contract of fellow southpaw Ryan Sherriff from their alternate training site. It’s another blow to the Rays’ pitching staff, as Beeks is now lost for the season. The team didn’t announce a treatment plan for Beeks, though the presence of a sprain indicates some degree of stretching or tearing within the elbow.

In the past week alone, the Rays have lost lefty Brendan McKay to shoulder surgery and right-hander Yonny Chirinos to Tommy John surgery. Tampa reliever Colin Poche also had Tommy John surgery earlier this season, righty Andrew Kittredge was diagnosed with a UCL sprain just two weeks ago. The Rays have also been without Charlie Morton for several weeks to shoulder inflammation. Also on the IL for the Rays are key relievers Nick Anderson, Oliver Drake, Jose Alvarado and Chaz Roe.

Beeks looks as if he’ll be a significant loss to Tampa Bay’s bullpen, which saw the 27-year-old turn in outstanding numbers this season before his campaign came to a premature end. Beeks made 12 appearances for the Rays and logged a 3.26 ERA/1.76 BB/9 with 12.1 K/9 and 1.86 BB/9 across 19 1/3 innings.

The Rays are obviously hopeful Sherriff will step up in the absence of Beeks and the rest of the their pitchers, but he brings a limited track record to the table and is coming off a major injury. Sherriff has thrown just 20 big league innings, all with the Cardinals from 2017-18, and owns a 4.05 ERA/4.51 FIP with 8.1 K/9, 2.7 BB/9 and an exemplary 62.3 percent groundball rate. He signed with the Rays way back in October 2018, but the Tommy John surgery he underwent in June of that year mostly kept him on ice last season. In his first year with the Tampa Bay organization in 2019, Sherriff combined for just seven innings between the rookie and High-A levels.

Pitching Notes: Hader, Bumgarner, Pearson, Dodgers, Beeks, Wright

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On a night in which White Sox ace Lucas Giolito fired the first no-hitter of 2020, let’s check in on several other notable pitchers…

  • The Brewers are “listening” to offers for star reliever Josh Hader, but it’s not likely the club will trade the 26-year-old left-hander before the Aug. 31 deadline, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic writes (subscription link). Milwaukee was also willing to entertain proposals for Hader last winter, but it elected to retain him heading into this year – his first of four potential arbitration seasons. For a bargain price this season (a prorated $4.1MM), Hader has given the Brewers 9 1/3 scoreless, hitless innings with 13 strikeouts and five walks. He’s obviously not someone the Brewers are going to give up for anything less than a massive offer.
  • After throwing a 70-pitch bullpen session Sunday, Diamondbacks southpaw Madison Bumgarner could be closing in on a return from the injured list, per Steve Gilbert of MLB.com. Bumgarner has been on the IL since Aug. 9 with a mid-back strain, but he came out of his bullpen session unscathed, which manager Torey Lovullo called “very encouraging news.” The former Giant’s first season as a Diamondback has been anything but encouraging, though. After inking a five-year, $85MM contract in the offseason, Bumgarner has logged a 9.35 ERA/8.79 FIP with 6.75 K/9, 3.63 BB/9 and a 23.7 percent groundball rate in 17 1/3 innings. The 31-year-old averaged a career-worst 87.8 mph on his fastball during that four-start stretch, but Lovullo revealed Bumgarner’s “velo ticked up a little bit” during sim games.
  • Right-hander Nate Pearson, whom the Blue Jays placed on the IL on Aug. 19, has been diagnosed with a flexor strain, according to Scott Mitchell of TSN. He’s hoping to play catch this weekend, Mitchell reports, though it remains unclear if the rookie will return in 2020. Pearson struggled to a 6.61 ERA/7.60 FIP with 7.71 K/9 and 6.61 BB/9 over four starts and 16 1/3 frames before going on the shelf.
  • Dodgers righty Joe Kelly has been on the IL since Aug. 10 with shoulder inflammation, and a return isn’t imminent for the reliever. Manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday (via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com) that Kelly remains “a ways away” from rejoining the Dodgers. When Kelly does come back, he’ll have to serve a five-game suspension stemming from a July 28 dustup with the Astros. Meanwhile, Dodgers lefty Alex Wood won’t come off the IL before the end of the month, Gurnick tweets. Wood, who’s also dealing with shoulder inflammation, has only made one appearance this year (on July 25).
  • The Rays’ injury-laden pitching staff may have lost yet another hurler Tuesday, when southpaw Jalen Beeks left their game with an elbow/forearm issue. Manager Kevin Cash didn’t come off as optimistic afterward, saying (via Juan Toribio of MLB.com), “It sounded similar to Kitt, but we don’t know anything yet.” Cash was referring to righty Andrew Kittredge, who went on the 45-day IL on Aug. 12 with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament. A similar fate would be a season-ender for Beeks, who has been terrific in 2020. The 27-year-old has notched a 3.26 ERA and a much more impressive 1.74 FIP with 12.1 K/9 against 1.86 BB/9 across 19 1/3 innings.
  • Veteran knuckleballer Steven Wright hasn’t taken a major league mound since July 13, 2019, but the former Red Sox righty informed Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe that he’s not ready to call it a career. “I just don’t want to sit back in a few years and wish I had tried it,” said the soon-to-be 36-year-old Wright, who threw 35 pitches from a mound last week and told Abraham, “I’m throwing two bullpens a week and I’m feeling healthy for the first time since 2016.” Wright was an All-Star that year, but he then faced knee problems, Tommy John surgery, a performance-enhancing drugs suspension and an arrest on domestic violence charges (which led to a 15-game ban) during the ensuing seasons.

Rays Designate Nick Ciuffo For Assignment

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The Rays announced Friday that they’ve designated catcher Nick Ciuffo for assignment. His 40-man spot will go to top prospect Brendan McKay, whose previously reported promotion to the Majors is now official. Tampa Bay also reinstated lefty Jose Alvarado from the restricted list and recalled Casey Sadler from Triple-A Durham. Lefty Jalen Beeks and infielder Mike Brosseau were optioned to Durham in a pair of corresponding moves.

The 24-year-old Ciuffo was a first-round pick back in 2013 but has yet to live up to the potential that came along with that draft billing. His DFA will come with somewhat atypical circumstances, as Ciuffo is on the injured list in the minor leagues after undergoing thumb surgery that was expected to sideline him for eight to ten weeks. There’s still another four to six weeks to go on that projected recovery time. Because Ciuffo is on the IL, he can’t be outrighted, which means the Rays will likely release him and then hope to re-sign him to a new minor league contract. That’s a fairly common outcome in the rare instances that an injured minor league player is designated for assignment.

In 134 plate appearances with Durham this year, Ciuffo batted .228/.276/.350. He’s posted a .529 OPS in a tiny sample of 50 big league plate appearances and is a career .250/.292/.369 hitter in 370 trips to the plate at the Triple-A level.

Alvarado, also 24, was on the restricted list after stepping away from the club for family reasons. He’s arguably Tampa Bay’s best reliever, having posted a 2.85 ERA (2.50 FIP) with 10.8 K/9 against 4.2 BB/9 in 117 innings since making his MLB debut as a 21-year-old in 2017.

The 25-year-old Beeks has been excellent for the Rays in 2019, serving primarily as a followup pitcher to frequent opener Ryne Stanek. In 61 1/3 innings, Beeks has a 2.79 ERA (3.48 FIP) with 7.5 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9. Despite that strong performance, Beeks is a casualty of yesterday’s 18-inning marathon win over the Twins. Beeks pitched 3 1/3 innings yesterday and wouldn’t have been available for a couple of days. The Rays, in need of fresh arms, sent him down for some additional depth, but it’s likely that Beeks will be back once the 10-day minimum length of his optional assignment has been met.

Red Sox Acquire Nathan Eovaldi

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The Red Sox have officially struck a deal to land righty Nathan Eovaldi from the Rays, as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic first reported (via Twitter). Young lefty Jalen Beeks will go to Tampa Bay in return, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link).

This swap is the second in the last two days that sends rental pitchers between AL East rivals. Yesterday, of course, the Yankees got lefty reliever Zach Britton from the Orioles. The Yanks will temporarily dodge Eovaldi, who had been scheduled to start against them today, but will surely see him down the stretch.

For Boston, the move will add an intriguing arm to their roster. Eovaldi has worked as a starter almost exclusively in his career, and may well continue to do so over the final two months of the season as he helps to shore up a Red Sox rotation that is showing a few cracks. But his role in the postseason could end up being an interesting one. The Sox have an unusual number of southpaws among their rotation candidates, making Eovaldi an interesting pitcher to pair up with one or more lefties.

Eovaldi is a pure rental, and a cheap one at that. He’s earning just $2MM this year, with some affordable incentive pay also included. Though it took him quite a while to make it all the way back from Tommy John surgery, Eovaldi has returned with vigor thus far in 2018.

Over 57 frames in ten starts this year Eovaldi has pumped his customary 97+ mph heat while working to a solid 4.26 ERA. But that only tells part of the story. He’s sporting a career-best 20.1% K%-BB% while generating more swings and misses (11.0%) than ever before, though he has also been touched for 11 long balls. Eovaldi merited rather lofty placement on MLBTR’s latest ranking of the top trade deadline candidates and has certainly increased his stock heading into free agency.

It seems likely the Rays will have designs on using Beeks in a flexible manner, too, but on a more regular basis. The 25-year-old has been roughed up in two MLB outings this year, but has also turned in increasingly interesting results in the upper minors in recent seasons.

Over 16 Triple-A starts in 2018, Beeks carries a 2.89 ERA with 12.1 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 over 87 1/3 innings. That strong showing led Baseball America to rank Beeks the Sox’ sixth-best prospect in its most recent look at a thin Boston farm. While he’s considered likely to be a back-end rotation piece in the majors, he possesses an interesting four-pitch mix and seems a good fit for the Rays’ counter-culture approach to building a pitching staff.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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