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Rays Select Sean Gilmartin

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The Rays announced Friday that they’ve placed lefty Jose Alvarado on the paternity list and selected the contract of fellow left-hander Sean Gilmartin from their alternate training site. A 40-man roster spot was opened by reinstating outfielder Manuel Margot from the bereavement list and placing him on the Covid-19-related injured list so that he can undergo mandatory intake testing. It should be noted that there’s no indication of a positive test or any symptoms for Margot; this is merely standard protocol after Margot left the team earlier this week following the death of his father.

Gilmartin, 30, has pitched in the big leagues in each of the past five seasons — albeit just 2 1/3 frames with the Orioles in 2019. The Braves selected him with the No. 28 pick back in 2011, and he’s since bounced around the league in a series of trades, a Rule 5 pick and waiver claims.

Back in 2015, the Mets looked wise to have plucked Gilmartin out of the Twins organization in the 2014 Rule 5 Draft. He stuck with the club all season and gave the Mets 57 2/3 innings of 2.67 ERA ball with a strong 54-to-18 K/BB ratio and just two home runs allowed. Outside of that rookie season, however, success in the Majors has been hard to come by.

In the four years since that time, Gilmartin has pitched to a combined 5.90 ERA and 6.46 FIP, averaging just 5.5 strikeouts and 3.8 walks per nine innings pitched. Gilmartin’s home-run and walk rates have ballooned as his strikeout rate has dipped. He’ll hope to reverse those trends with the Rays, but it’s also possible that his stay with the club will be rather abbreviated, as Alvarado should return to the Rays in just a few days.

Rays Place Yonny Chirinos On Injured List

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The Rays have placed starter Yonny Chirinos on the injured list, retroactive to Aug. 3, with right triceps inflammation, Juan Toribio of MLB.com tweets. The team recalled fellow righty Trevor Richards from its alternate training site to take Chirinos’ place.

Fortunately, expectations are that Chirinos will not be on the IL for long, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. While Charlie Morton, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow overshadow him in the Rays’ rotation, Chirinos has been an effective swingman for the club since he debuted in 2018. The 26-year-old has logged a 3.61 ERA/4.09 FIP with 7.61 K/9 and 2.21 BB/9 during his 231 2/3-inning career. He totaled 8 2/3 frames of one-earned run ball in two starts this season before landing on the IL.

Chirinos had been scheduled to start Saturday versus the Yankees, but it’s now unclear who will take the ball for the Rays then. Richards may be a candidate, though, as he combined for 48 starts as a Marlin and Ray from 2018-19. Although Richards was a passable starter in those seasons, he began this year in rough fashion. After Richards allowed six earned runs on 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings in two appearances, the Rays optioned him earlier this week.

Rays Activate Austin Meadows

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The Rays can look forward to a significant lineup boost. The team has activated outfielder Austin Meadows from the COVID-19 injured list, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets.

Meadows has yet to make his season debut. He had already been cleared to rejoin the team but needed a few weeks to ramp up to regular-season readiness.

To create an active roster spot, the club optioned righty Trevor Richards. He was a nice pickup for the Tampa Bay organization last year but had been knocked around early in 2020.

Meadows will now get back to work trying to build off of his enormously impressive showing in his first full MLB campaign. He launched 33 home runs, swiped a dozen bags, and posted a 142 wRC+ over 591 plate appearances last season.

Rays Reinstate Kevan Smith From Injured List, Option Daniel Robertson

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TODAY: After just one day, Smith has been reinstated from the IL and Robertson has been optioned back to the Rays’ minor league training site.  Manager Kevin Cash told the Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin and other media members that Smith’s second COVID-19 test came back negative, and thus the catcher was cleared to take the field.

AUGUST 1: The Tampa Bay Rays have recalled infielder Daniel Robertson just a couple days after sending him to their alternate training site. Catcher Kevan Smith was placed on the injured list, per the team.

Smith, 32, has been suffering from cold symptoms, prompting some coronavirus concern, though he’s tested negative, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Given his symptoms, he will need a second negative test before being cleared to return to the team. Smith has served as a defensive replacement early this season, catching 5 innings over the course of three appearances with just a lone plate appearance.

Mike Zunino and Michael Perez are the other catchers currently on the Rays active roster. Ronaldo Hernandez, Rene Pinto, and Brett Sullivan are the other backstops in Tampa’s 60 player pool. Assuming the veteran receiver gets his second negative test and returns to normal health, Smith shouldn’t be away from the team for long.

Robertson has not yet made an appearance this season, though he’s been a steady utility presence for the Rays the past three seasons. The 26-year-old right-hander splits his time evenly between second, third, and short with occasional emergency spells in the outfield. His usefulness to the Rays is in his utility. Inconsistent results at the plate have kept him from a regular role. An 11.6 BB% suggests a sound approach at the plate, though his career strikeouts rate (25.2%) is a little higher than would be ideal. The bigger issue with Robertston would appear to be a shortage of pop (career .122 ISO).

In other Tampa news, highly-touted two-way player Brendan McKay has returned to the club’s alternate training site after previously testing positive for COVID-19, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. He will need multiple weeks to get ready.

Rays’ Colin Poche Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

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JULY 30: Poche has indeed undergone Tommy John surgery, the Rays announced.

JULY 21: Rays lefty Colin Poche has been diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow and will miss the 2020 season, the team announced. Tommy John surgery has been recommended for the 26-year-old Poche, who has been placed on the 45-day injured list. Tampa Bay selected veteran catcher Kevan Smith to the big league roster in a corresponding move.

The loss of Poche is a tough blow for the Tampa Bay bullpen. While last season’s 4.70 ERA doesn’t exactly stand out as an impressive mark. Poche’s secondary numbers were all considerably better. The southpaw averaged 12.5 strikeouts and 3.3 walks per nine innings pitched with a 4.08 FIP in 51 2/3 frames.

In spite of that unsightly ERA, Poche overwhelmed both left- and right-handed hitters, yielding just a .167/.276/.348 slash to lefties and a .190/.277/.388 line to righties. A 67.6 percent strand rate that was vastly worse than his career mark in the minors, and Statcast pegged Poche in the 91st percentile or better in terms of swinging-strike rate and his opponents’ expected batting average, slugging percentage and weight on-base average. A breakout season for the talented lefty seemed eminently possible, but he could now be sidelined into late 2021 — if not all the way into the 2022 season.

Poche will get a year of service time in 2020 as he rehabs on the 45-day IL, and he’ll need to be placed on the 60-day IL to open the 2021 season as well. If he is indeed out until 2022, he may be arbitration-eligible as a Super Two player by the time he’s able to return to the mound, although with 114 days under his belt at the moment, he’d be a very borderline case for Super Two status.

As for the 32-year-old Smith, he’ll likely make the club’s roster as a backup catcher. Smith has seen time in each of the past four seasons — 2016-18 with the White Sox and 2019 with the Angels — hitting a combined .272/.318/.381 along the way. That’s pretty solid production from behind the plate, but Smith also owns a woeful 14 percent caught stealing rate and has posted sub-par framing numbers as well.

East Notes: Mets, Rays, Red Sox

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Mets right-hander Marcus Stroman is making progress in his recovery from the left calf tear he suffered last week. Stroman has returned to throwing “full tilt” bullpen sessions, manager Luis Rojas said (via Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News). Pitching coach Jeremy Hefner added that Stroman is still unable to sprint, so it remains unclear when he’ll be in line for his season debut. The sooner the better for the Mets, for whom Stroman is a must-have complement to ace Jacob deGrom. From his own standpoint, Stroman’s in for a rather important season with his first trip to free agency scheduled for the winter.

  • One of Stroman’s Mets teammates, fellow righty Jared Hughes, has been on the injured list since July 15. The team didn’t announce a reason for the move at the time, though it turns out he tested positive for the coronavirus, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports. Hughes was symptomatic for roughly 10 days, per Rosenthal, but he’s now healthy and pitching at the team’s alternate training site. Prior to his bout with the virus, Hughes appeared as if he’d earn a season-opening roster spot after the Mets signed him to a major league contract.
  • The Rays have gotten good news on a couple of their outfielders who, because of their own positive COVID tests, have missed the season so far. Star Austin Meadows engaged in baseball activities on Wednesday, Juan Toribio of MLB.com relays (Twitter links). Manager Kevin Cash indicated Meadows could return sometime during the Rays’ Aug. 4-9 homestand. Meanwhile, Randy Arozarena was cleared to rejoin the team and resume baseball activities, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. He started a rehab assignment at the Rays’ alternate training site Wednesday.
  • The Red Sox, having gotten poor production from their patchwork rotation thus far, will give righty Zack Godley an opportunity as a starter, Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald tweets. Godley, whom the Red Sox signed to a minor league contract this month, will make his first start with the club on Saturday against the Yankees. The former Diamondback and Blue Jay was an effective starter just a couple years ago before falling off dramatically last season. Godley had an extremely encouraging long-relief appearance Monday, though, as he tossed four scoreless, four-hit innings with seven strikeouts against no walks in a loss to the Mets.

60-Man Player Pool Additions: Orioles, Rays

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A couple of American League East teams have made new additions to their 60-man player pools. Here are the latest updates:

  • One of the Orioles’ top prospects, right-hander Grayson Rodriguez has joined their player pool, the team announced. The 20-year-old isn’t far removed from going 11th overall to the Orioles in the 2018 draft. He made his Single-A debut last year and turned heads with a 2.68 ERA, 12.4 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9 in 94 innings. Rodriguez currently ranks among the league’s best farmhands – FanGraphs (No. 29), MLB.com (36) and Baseball America (37) are among the prospect outlets that are quite bullish on him.
  • The Rays have added catcher/outfielder Brett Sullivan, who will head to their alternate training site, Juan Toribio of MLB.com tweets. Sullivan was a 17th-round pick of the Rays in 2015 who has since climbed to Double-A ball. He batted an impressive .280/.333/.459 (127 wRC+) and hit 10 home runs with 21 stolen bases in 403 plate appearances last season.

Predict The AL East Division Winner

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With final roster decisions in the books and the 2020 season underway at long last, it’s time to make some predictions. We’re polling the MLBTR readership on each of the game’s six divisions — though plenty more teams will crack the postseason under the rather inclusive new playoff qualification system. We’ve already surveyed the AL Central, NL Central, and NL East landscapes, and now we’ll turn to the American League East.

The Yankees have certainly been tabbed the favorite by most observers, but several key players have questionable injury histories and the short-season format opens the door for challengers. The Rays are perhaps the prime contender for a surprise, with a deep and versatile roster that’s far more talented than the payroll would suggest. Then again, we may all be overlooking the Red Sox, who have certainly shed some talent but still have several rather high-ceiling players. There’s a ton of young talent on the Blue Jays roster; maybe the team could surprise if those precocious performers develop ahead of schedule. It’s quite difficult to make a case for the Orioles, even in a pithy blurb, but … hey, they’re tied for the division lead at 2-1 entering play today!

Which team do you think is going to take the division title? (Poll link for app users.)

Predict The 2020 A.L. East Division Winner
Yankees 53.19% (3,832 votes)
Rays 22.92% (1,651 votes)
Orioles 10.49% (756 votes)
Blue Jays 9.77% (704 votes)
Red Sox 3.62% (261 votes)
Total Votes: 7,204

Austin Meadows Cleared For Workouts

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Rays outfielder Austin Meadows has been cleared to resume training and is currently working out at the Rays’ minor league camp, manager Kevin Cash told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times and other reporters.  Meadows was placed on the injured list nine days ago due to a positive COVID-19 test and said he suffered some mild symptoms of the virus, though he has now passed league protocols that include a lack of symptoms and negative tests on consecutive days.

Meadows only worked out briefly at the start of the Rays’ Summer Camp, and Cash said he doesn’t know it will take the outfielder to get back up to speed following his weeks away from training.  Topkin speculated that Meadows could potentially join the Rays on Wednesday for the start of a road trip, though that is likely the best-case scenario.

Meadows’ first full season in Tampa Bay was an unqualified success, as he hit .291/.364/.558 with 33 homers over 591 PA to help the Rays reach the postseason.  The 25-year-old has gone from being a touted prospect in the Pirates’ farm system to one of the sport’s brightest young stars, and a huge cornerstone of a Rays team that is hoping to be in the World Series conversation as soon as this October.

Rays To Select Contract Of Ryan Thompson

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11:03am: Southpaw Aaron Loup will also be selected to the 40-man and added to the Opening Day roster, the club has announced. He had been in camp on a minor-league deal.

8:09am: The Rays have decided to carry sidearmer Ryan Thompson on the Opening Day roster, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports. He’ll be selected to the 40-man roster today.

It’ll certainly be interesting to see whether Thompson can carve out a MLB career after an impressive showing during this year’s two training periods. The former minor-league Rule 5er will finally get his first shot after first reaching the upper minors in 2016.

Thompson, 28, is said to deliver a low-nineties heater from an unusually low angle. It’s “pretty, pretty nasty” stuff, according to skipper Kevin Cash. Topkin goes on to discuss the final remaining roster calls facing the Rays, who’ll have to make formal decisions today.

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