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Rays Release Carlos Corporan

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The Rays have released backstop Carlos Corporan, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports on Twitter. His role at Triple-A is now occupied by J.P. Arencibia, whose signing was announced by the club.

Corporan, 32, is a switch hitter with a good deal of major league experience. He owns a .218/.280/.342 lifetime batting line over 780 plate appearances in parts of six seasons. But he struggled last year with the Rangers and has failed to re-establish himself since.

The Yankees inked Corporan to a minor league deal over the winter, and dealt him to Tampa Bay just before the start of the season. He’s put up a meager .200/.246/.308 slash in his 70 plate appearances at Triple-A Durham on the year.

While that’s not a terribly exciting package of results with the bat in hand, Corporan is generally regarded as a sturdy presence behind the dish. It doesn’t hurt, of course, that he’s capable of hitting from both sides and has spent so much time in the bigs — not to mention the relative scarcity of palatable receivers around the league.

Rays To Sign J.P. Arencibia

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The Rays are set to sign veteran catcher J.P. Arencibia, who recently asked for his release from a contract with the Phillies, to a minor league deal, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

The 30-year-old Arencibia will return to the organization with which he posted outstanding results in a brief stretch of time in 2015, batting .310/.315/.606 with six homers in 73 plate appearances. His experience with the Phillies’ Triple-A affiliate this season was another story, as he struggled to a .167/.167/.271 line in 48 trips to the plate, but he’ll seek better results and a perhaps clearer path back to the Major Leagues in his second stint with Tampa Bay.

Currently, the Rays have Hank Conger and Curt Casali splitting catching duties at the big league level. However, Conger is hitting just .170/.220/.170 in 50 plate appearances and has continued to struggle in preventing stolen bases (although to his credit, he’s nabbed three of the past four runners that have attempted). The Rays, currently 23rd in the Majors in runs scored, could certainly stand to inject some offense into the bottom of their lineup, and Arencibia provides an option that could help them achieve that goal in the near future if Conger isn’t able to right the ship. While Arencibia has a history of OBP struggles and strikeouts, he has undeniable power, with 80 homers and a .200 ISO (slugging minus batting average) in 1687 plate appearances at the big league level.

Rays Designate Danny Farquhar For Assignment

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The Rays have designated right-handed reliever Danny Farquhar for assignment, per a team announcement. In a corresponding move, Tampa Bay recalled outfielder Taylor Motter, according to Steve Carney of 620 WDAE (Twitter link).

In an unusual twist, the Rays designated Farquhar for the purpose of sending him to Triple-A Durham and keeping him on their 40-man roster. The team asked for optional waivers, meaning no one puts in a claim, tweets Roger Mooney of the Tampa Bay Times.

Farquhar, whom the Rays recalled earlier Saturday when they placed second baseman Logan Forsythe on the disabled list, has tossed 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball for the club this year. He spent 2013-15 with the Mariners, for whom he threw 177 2/3 frames of 3.85 ERA/3.05 FIP/3.08 xFIP pitching to go with a 10.54 K/9 and 3.09 BB/9. Seattle then dealt the 29-year-old to the Rays in the offseason as part of a seven-player trade that also saw Nate Karns, Brad Miller and Logan Morrison, among others, switch uniforms.

Logan Forsythe Out Four Weeks With Hairline Fracture Of Shoulder

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The Rays have announced that second baseman Logan Forsythe has a hairline fracture of his left shoulder blade. They’ve placed him on the 15-day DL and recalled reliever Danny Farquhar to take his place on their active roster.

The Rays added that Forsythe will be reevaluated in about two and a half weeks, although Forsythe himself says the best-case scenario is that he’ll return in about four weeks following the injury, according to Roger Mooney of the Tampa Tribune (on Twitter). That timeline would put Forsythe on track to return in early June. The injury occurred early this week when Felix Hernandez hit him with a pitch, and Forsythe hasn’t played since.

Regardless, the Rays should miss Forsythe, who has become one of their best players in the last two seasons, quietly morphing from a forgettable role player into a borderline star. After batting .281/.359/.444 last season while nearly tripling his previous season high with 17 home runs, the 29-year-old was off to an even better start in 2016, hitting .308/.398/.523 with 14 extra-base hits in 123 plate appearances. The Rays have used Tim Beckham and Steve Pearce at second base in his absence.

Time For Rays To Make Moves On Offense?

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  • With the Rays’ offense struggling, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes that the time to take some fairly drastic measures could be nearing. Entering tonight’s action, Desmond Jennings, Hank Conger and Logan Morrison were each hitting under .200 with OPS marks south of .500, and while each has seen his playing time diminish, Topkin wonders how long each can hold onto his roster spot. Jennings, he notes, does have a minor league option remaining, and fellow outfielder Mikie Mahtook is coming off the disabled list at Triple-A Durham this weekend. While Jennings was once viewed as a building block and is earning $3.3MM this season, Topkin notes that he’s already been reduced to a bench role and is in a 1-for-35 slump, so some time at Triple-A could do him some good. It’d be difficult for the Rays to part ways with Morrison ($4.2MM) when they’re already paying James Loney $8MM not to play for them, but his production has been dismal. Conger, meanwhile, hasn’t hit and has also not made strides in the throwing department, having caught just one of 13 runners. He’d been 0-for-48 prior to the one runner he caught this season.

Brad Boxberger Nearing Rehab Assignment

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  • Rays closer Brad Boxberger, who is on the mend from core muscle surgery dating back to Spring Training, threw 22 pitches in an extended Spring Training game yesterday, writes Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. If Boxberger feels good today, he’ll likely begin a rehab assignment early next week (possibly Monday) with an eye toward returning late in the month of May. Boxberger led the American League with 41 saves in 2015 and would immediately deepen a bullpen that ranks 10th in the Majors in ERA but carries a more troubling ranking of 25th in the FIP department.

Brewers Acquire Jhan Marinez, Designate Michael Kirkman

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The Brewers have acquired righty Jhan Marinez from the Rays, according to a club announcement. To clear roster space, southpaw Michael Kirkman was designated for assignment.

Marinez, 27, has seen scattered major league time in parts of three seasons dating back to 2010. He’s only logged nine total frames, so there’s not much of a track record to go on. Of course, Marinez has racked up 178 1/3 frames at Triple-A in five campaigns, compiling a 3.63 ERA with 9.4 K/9 versus 4.7 BB/9.

As for Kirkman, his stay in Milwaukee didn’t last very long. The 29-year-old has received one appearance each with the Brewers and with the Padres this season, allowing five earned runs in 2 1/3 frames. Kirkman owns a 5.28 ERA in his 109 career innings at the major league level, with 8.6 K/9 to go with 4.6 BB/9.

Examining The Rays' Catcher Problem

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  • Catcher has been an area of need for the Rays throughout virtually their entire franchise history, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes in a look at how the Rays have tried many methods of acquiring or developing a solid everyday catcher with little success.  While Tampa is far from the only team who has struggled to find consistent help behind the plate, the Rays’ decision to take Tim Beckham ahead of Buster Posey in the 2008 draft looms as perhaps the franchise’s biggest what-if scenario.  “To me, there’s no draft miss like the Posey miss in the last decade….Anyway, no one with the Rays ever has admitted it, but it feels like the organization has been trying to make up for it ever since,” Baseball America editor-in-chief John Manuel tells Topkin.

Rays Designate Jhan Marinez For Assignment

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The Rays have designated right-hander Jhan Marinez for assignment, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Marinez’s roster spot was needed for righty Matt Andriese, who will start the Rays’ game against the Angels today.

Marinez, 27, logged 3 2/3 innings for the Rays prior to his designation and allowed one run and two hits while striking out three. It was his first big league action since he racked up 2 2/3 innings with the White Sox in 2012. Marinez, who has nine major league innings to his credit, has totaled 456 frames across 11 minor league seasons and owns a 4.00 ERA, 9.8 K/9 and 5.3 BB/9.

Former MLB Pitcher Sowers Discusses New Role With Rays

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  • Fangraphs’ David Laurila interviews former MLB left-hander Jeremy Sowers, who is now working for the Rays after obtaining an MBA from the University of North Carloina. Sowers discusses the end of his career, his transition to the other side of the game, his future in front offices and the openness he has to data and analytics as a new way of looking at pitching in an excellent Q&A with Laurila. “After about two weeks with the Rays, and hearing some of the information they could bring to me, I kind of began wishing I had approached pitching differently,” said Sowers of the Rays’ use of data and analytics. “…It was just another way of thinking about first-pitch strikes, or trusting my breaking ball, or understanding sink versus carry. It’s all stuff you could think about in 2009, but not in the same way we can look at it now. … I’m not going to look at data and say that it is, for lack of a better word, ‘crap.’ I’m going to try to understand what it means.” The entire interview is well worth a read.
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