- The Rays placed right-hander Collin McHugh on the COVID-related injury list, and called up right-hander Chris Mazza from Triple-A to take McHugh’s spot on the active roster. McHugh is receiving rapid testing after feeling sick this morning, manager Kevin Cash told The Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin and other reporters, so the COVID-IL placement is precautionary. After missing the 2020 season with injuries, McHugh has rebounded to post a 2.70 ERA/2.38 SIERA over 23 1/3 innings for the Rays this year, with an elite 37.1% strikeout rate and an above-average 7.2% walk rate. [UPDATE: McHugh has tested negative for the virus and is feeling a bit better, manager Kevin Cash told reporters (including Topkin).]
Rays Rumors
Glasnow: Enforcing Sticky Stuff Rule Midseason Is “Insane” And Contributed To Injury
Rays starter Tyler Glasnow hit the IL with a partially torn UCL and a flexor tendon strain today, and he feels that MLB’s decision to finally enforce the foreign substance rules on the books is a contributing factor. In advance of MLB’s new enforcement policy, Glasnow ceased usage of sunscreen, changing the grips on his fastball and curveball. Here’s what Glasnow had to say (Bally Sports Florida sideline reporter Tricia Whitaker has the video here):
“Do it in the offseason, give us a chance to adjust to it. But I just threw 80-something, 70-whatever innings, and then you just told me I can’t use anything in the middle of the year? I had to change everything I’d been doing the entire season. Everything, out of the window, I had to start doing something completely new.
And then I’m telling you, I truly believe, that’s why I got hurt. Me throwing 100 and being 6’7″ is why I got hurt, but that contributed. I’m just frustrated that they don’t understand how hard it is to pitch, one, but to tell us to do something completely different in the middle of the season is insane. It’s ridiculous. There has to be some give and take here. You can’t just take away everything and not add something. Pitchers need to be able to have some sort of control or some sort of grip on the ball. And I just don’t want this to happen to somebody else, I don’t want a fastball to sail away and hit somebody in the face like it already has.
I understand you need to take an aggressive approach here, but I just think people are going about it all wrong. And I’m sitting here, my lifelong dream, I want to go out and win a Cy Young, I want to be an All-Star, and then now it’s all just shit on. Now it’s over. I have to try and rehab and come back in the playoffs. I’m clearly frustrated…people need to figure this out. You can’t just tell us to use nothing. It’s crazy.”
According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, Glasnow’s sentiments are “shared by a lot of people across baseball — and not just players.” Dodgers righty Trevor Bauer is another pitcher who takes issue with MLB’s timing on the enforcement, tweeting, “They’ve knowingly swept this under the rug for 4 years. Now they implement a knee jerk reaction to shifting public perception. Hard to hear them talk about “competitive integrity” when they have no integrity to begin with.”
The pitchers who have been speaking up recently on this topic have sound points: this issue could have been tackled with care in the offseason, and MLB should have tried to get players on board. As the Nationals’ Max Scherzer put it, “The players should have a say in this. Unfortunately, I don’t think we will. It just appears that MLB is going to do whatever they want with this.” The use of “sticky stuff” by pitchers has been an unenforced rule for many years, and forcing pitchers to go cold turkey could bring unintended consequences – including injuries. MLB’s new “enhanced enforcements” go into effect Monday, though some pitchers have clearly been weaning off the sticky stuff this month.
Rays Tyler Glasnow Placed On Injured List With Partial UCL Tear
2:08 pm: Glasnow’s MRI revealed a partial tear of his ulnar collateral ligament, as well as a flexor strain in his forearm, Adam Berry of MLB.com was among those to relay. It’s a brutal development, considering that UCL tears and flexor strains are often precursors to a Tommy John procedure. The current hope is that Glasnow can rehab the injury without surgery, relays Jeff Passan of ESPN, but it seems he’s in for a significant absence even in the best case scenario. The Rays haven’t released a formal timeline for his return, but he’s been placed on the 10-day injured list.
9:44 am: The Rays are sending Tyler Glasnow for an MRI on his elbow after the right-hander left last night’s start after four innings, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times was among those to report. The team announced Glasnow’s issue as elbow inflammation, with the pitcher telling reporters he felt “a little tug” and “tightness” in the area.
It’s an ominous-sounding diagnosis, but Glasnow himself didn’t sound overly concerned. “I think I got it relatively early. I just was like, I don’t want to go back out and chance it,” he said (via Topkin). “The (velocity) and everything was still there. But it just felt not right.” He did note, though, that the issue was more than mere discomfort. Glasnow missed most of the 2019 season with a forearm strain and suggested there’s a possibility his current issue is similar.
Certainly, the Rays will be holding their breath as they await the results of the MRI. Glasnow is amidst a stellar season, having worked to a 2.66 ERA/2.83 SIERA. He ranks fifth among qualified pitchers in strikeout rate (36.2%) and sixth in strikeout/walk rate differential (28.2 percentage points). He’s also been a true workhorse for a Rays pitching staff that otherwise tends to heavily leverage matchups, as Glasnow is tied for second in the American League with 88 innings pitched.
Rays Reinstate Ji-Man Choi From 10-Day IL
The Rays have reinstated first baseman Ji-Man Choi from the 10-day injured list, with utilityman Mike Brosseau heading down to Triple-A as the corresponding move. Choi will end up missing just beyond the 10-day minimum, as his IL placement for a left groin strain was retroactive to June 3.
It has been an injury-plagued year for Choi, who didn’t make his season debut until mid-May due to arthroscopic knee surgery. When he has played, however, Choi has been swinging a mighty bat — he has hit .304/.448/.522 with two home runs over the small sample size of 58 plate appearances. The left-handed hitting Choi will resume his normal role as Tampa Bay’s top option at first base against righty pitching, with Yandy Diaz forming the other half of the platoon.
Brosseau had somewhat quietly been a very productive player over his first two MLB seasons, hitting .284/.343/.500 in 240 PA in 2019-20 and playing all over the field for the Rays. This year, however, Brosseau wasn’t offering much beyond defensive versatility, with only a .184/.259/.336 slash line in 139 PA. There is little doubt Brosseau will find himself back in the big leagues at some point this season, and a stint in Triple-A might be just what he needs to get on track at the plate.
Rays Option Ryan Sherriff, Add Matt Wisler To Active Roster
The Rays have officially added Matt Wisler to their active roster, per the team. Wisler was acquired via trade from the Giants yesterday. To make room on the active roster, southpaw Ryan Sherriff was optioned to Triple-A. The Rays continue to adeptly re-work their bullpen, adding Wisler to previous trade acquisitions J.P. Feyereisen and Drew Rasmussen (though the latter is currently in Triple-A). Wisler presents a unique challenge for Tampa, as he is out of options and, therefore, must stay on the active roster, lest they expose him to waivers. In other AL roster moves…
Giants Trade Matt Wisler To Rays
The Giants have traded righty Matt Wisler to the Rays in exchange for minor league left-hander Michael Plassmeyer, per a pair of team announcements. Tampa Bay has designated catcher Deivy Grullon for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Wisler. The Giants designated Wisler for assignment earlier in the week.
Wisler, 28, was long one of the game’s best pitching prospects, both with the Padres and the Braves. He never found his footing with either club, but he enjoyed something of a breakout campaign in the Twins’ bullpen during last summer’s shortened season, when he pitched to a 1.07 ERA with a 32.7 percent strikeout rate in 25 1/3 innings. Wisler walked far too many hitters last year (13.1 percent), but it was still rather surprising to see Minnesota non-tender him in spite of a very modest arbitration price. Wisler landed in San Francisco on a one-year, $1.15MM contract over the winter.
Things haven’t gone as hoped with his new club. Wisler has been tagged for a 6.05 earned run average in 19 1/3 innings with the Giants, but he’s actually maintained his huge uptick in strikeouts while also refining his control (7.3 percent walk rate). A great deal of Wisler’s success in Minnesota stemmed from a remarkable use of his slider, which he threw at an almost comical 83.5 percent clip in 2020. Wisler has incredibly thrown the slider with even greater frequency so far in 2021, using his slider at a 90.3 percent rate.
Wisler give the Rays an intriguing and fairly low cost arm who can be controlled through the 2022 season if he rights the ship in his new environs. He’s the type of low-cost acquisition who seems to thrive with great frequency in the Tampa Bay ’pen. Injuries to the Rays’ relief staff have pushed them to the trade market multiple times already in 2021. They also acquired righties J.P. Feyereisen and Drew Rasmussen from the Brewers in a trade that sent shortstop Willy Adames to Milwaukee.
The Giants will net a nicer return than one would expect from a player who’d been designated for assignment. Plassmeyer, 24, was a fourth-rounder in 2018 who went from Seattle to Tampa Bay in the Mike Zunino trade. He ranked 30th in a perennially stacked Rays farm system at Baseball America last year, and FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen has him 31st in the Tampa Bay system in 2021.
Plassmeyer isn’t an overpowering arm, but he’s walked just 4.6 percent of the hitters he’s faced in pro ball and has ascended to the Double-A level in 2021, making him a relatively near-term prospect. Plassmeyer’s 2019 season saw the lefty post a 1.91 ERA with a 21.2 percent strikeout rate, a 4.5 percent walk rate and a 45.2 percent ground-ball rate in 132 frames across three levels. He’s pitched to a 3.64 ERA so far in 29 2/3 frames of Double-A ball, enjoying a nice uptick in strikeouts (26.1 percent) while maintaining his typically stellar control.
Latest On Chris Archer
- Rays right-hander Chris Archer is hopeful he’ll return from forearm tightness in early July, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times relays. Archer reunited with the Rays on a one-year, $6.5MM contract in free agency, but he made just two appearances and combined for 4 1/3 innings before suffering this injury. Archer, previously with the Pirates, missed all of 2020 after undergoing thoracic outlet surgery.
Agent: Ben Zobrist’s Playing Days Are Over
Ben Zobrist’s name surfaced in the news over the last few days, as a tweet from Heritage Auction Sports claimed that Zobrist’s World Series ring from the 2016 Cubs was going to be up for bids in August. However, Zobrist’s agent Scott Pucino told Paul Sullivan of The Chicago Tribune that the ring wasn’t going to be sold, and that Zobrist told him that ” ’Why would I sell this ring? It makes no sense. I’m never going to get rid of this ring — never, never, ever.’ ”
That would seem to put that curious matter to rest, and Pucino also confirmed what has seemed increasingly obvious over the last two years: Zobrist has ended his playing career. Though Zobrist has not officially retired, Pucino said that Zobrist is focusing on taking care of his children while going through a divorce. “He’s a devoted dad and grabbing the bull by the horns and taking hold of the situation,” Pucino said.
Zobrist last played in 2019, his 14th Major League season. He only played in 47 games during that final year, as his divorce led him to spend much of the season on personal leave — the money surrendered by Zobrist for his time on the restricted list allowed the Cubs enough luxury tax wiggle room to sign Craig Kimbrel, so Zobrist’s impact is still being felt on the Cubs to this day.
Of course, Zobrist had already long since made his mark on Chicago baseball history due to his role in the Cubs’ curse-breaking 2016 championship run. Signed to a four-year, $56MM free agent deal in the 2015-16 offseason, Zobrist hit .272/.386/.446 over 631 PA during the regular season, and then won World Series MVP honors by batting .357/.419/.500 over 31 PA during the Fall Classic. That came on the heels of another big performance for Zobrist in the previous year’s World Series, as Zobrist was acquired by the Royals before the trade deadline in 2015 and then helped Kansas City capture the title.
Over 14 MLB seasons, the switch-hitting Zobrist batted .266/.357/.426 over 6836 PA for the Rays, Athletics, Royals, and Cubs. The Astros initially drafted Zobrist in the sixth round in 2004, and after being dealt to Tampa in July 2006, Zobrist went from being mostly a full-time shortstop into the super-utilityman position that defined his career.
Through far from the only “Swiss Army Knife” of a player in history (Jose Oquendo and Tony Phillips stand out for fans of 80’s and 90’s baseball), Zobrist’s name became synonymous with on-field versatility in this generation. He made 794 of his 1503 career starts as a second baseman, but also 363 starts in right field, 196 starts at shortstop, 107 starts in left field, as well as time as a center fielder and at both corner infield slots. Between his multi-position ability and productive switch-hitting bat, Zobrist could be moved around the diamond and utilized in a number of different fashions by Rays manager Joe Maddon and future skippers throughout Zobrist’s career.
While Zobrist ranks third in fWAR (behind Evan Longoria and Carl Crawford) on the Rays’ all-time franchise list, it can be argued that Zobrist might be the “greatest Ray ever” for both on-field value and symbolic reasons, as he exemplifies how the Rays have looked to mold a seemingly endless array of multi-positional players since Zobrist’s time with the franchise. Beyond just Tampa Bay, teams all over baseball in recent years have looked to maximize bench depth by having super-utility types on the roster.
From 2009-16, Zobrist generated 40.5 fWAR, a total surpassed by only eight players in baseball during that eight-season span. These prime years saw him reach three All-Star teams, finish as high as eighth place in AL MVP voting (2009), and capture those two World Series titles with the Royals and Cubs in consecutive years.
MLBTR wishes all the best to Zobrist in his post-playing days, and congratulates him on an outstanding career.
Rays Trade Yacksel Rios To Mariners
The Mariners announced Friday that they have acquired right-hander Yacksel Rios from the Rays in exchange for cash. He’s not currently on the 40-man roster, having inked a minor league pact with Tampa Bay over the winter.
Of course, that lack of a 40-man roster spot may change quickly. The Mariners have a pair of open spots on their roster, and Rios has been lights-out in Triple-A Durham thus far in 2021. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets that Rios had a June 1 opt-out date in his contract, so this trade quite likely boils down to a matter of the Rays not feeling there’s a spot for him in their current bullpen and helping him land in a situation with a quick and straightforward path to the big leagues.
Rios, who’ll turn 28 later this month, doesn’t have much of a track record in the Majors but has ripped through Triple-A lineups so far in 2021. He’s tossed 13 2/3 innings with Tampa Bay’s top affiliate and yielded just one run on eight hits and two walks with 17 strikeouts, complementing those numbers with a terrific 56.7 percent grounder rate.
Rios has just a 6.36 ERA in 69 1/3 big league innings, so those eye-popping numbers in Triple-A should be taken with a grain of salt. But the hard-throwing righty averages just shy of 96 mph on his heater and has generated a solid 11.9 percent swinging-strike rate during his 66 big league appearances, so it’s certainly possible he has more in the tank. The Mariners entered the season with a fluid bullpen mix in the first place and are currently without Kendall Graveman, Erik Swanson, Casey Sadler, Andres Munoz and Drew Steckenrider, so there should be opportunity for Rios in the near future.
Rays Notes: Zombro, Choi
Rays pitching prospect Tyler Zombro was struck in the head by a line drive last night during the eighth inning of Triple-A Durham’s game against Norfolk. Zombro was taken off the field on a stretcher and taken to hospital, as the game was suspended and then later officially halted.
The Rays released a statement on Zombro’s condition earlier today: “As of this morning, Tyler remains under the care of the nurses and doctors at Duke University Hospital. The updates from overnight have been positive, and he remains in stable condition. We are overwhelmed by the support for Tyler and the wishes for his full and speedy recovery from fans and the baseball community alike. We will provide additional updates as he progresses.”
- Ji-Man Choi has been battling left groin tightness and might require a trip to the injured list. Choi missed Thursday’s game with the Yankees due to the issue, and Rays manager Kevin Cash told reporters (including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times) that “I don’t think that he necessarily felt that great today” even after Choi received treatment throughout the game. Arthroscopic knee surgery in March delayed Choi’s season debut until May 16, and he has been making up for lost time with a scorching .304/.448/.522 slash line in his first 58 plate appearances. [UPDATE: the Rays have placed Choi on the 10-day IL with a left groin strain.]
