Rays Rumors

Rays Designate Danny Farquhar For Assignment

By Connor Byrne | May 14, 2016 at 10:10pm CDT

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

By charliewilmoth | May 14, 2016 at 2:06pm CDT

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.

AL Notes: Severino, Rays, Wilson, Heaney, Ferrell

By Jeff Todd | May 13, 2016 at 10:47pm CDT

Prized Yankees righty Luis Severino was roughed up today and left early after experiencing elbow pain, but the prognosis isn’t nearly as bad as might have been feared. New York announced that he has a triceps strain, but it doesn’t seem that he’s suffered any serious damage. Severino will hit the 15-day DL and won’t touch a baseball for about a week, but it remains to be seen what his path back will be beyond that. The 22-year-old may have been nearing an optional assignment as it was, as he’s failed to follow up on his sparkling debut in 2015, so it wouldn’t be surprising if he takes at least a few turns at Triple-A before returning to the majors.

Here’s more from the American League:

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.
The Rangers prioritized defense in bringing back center fielder Drew Stubbs and catcher Bobby Wilson, GM Jon Daniels tells Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News in a podcast interview. The club primarily valued Wilson over Chris Gimenez, who was traded away when the former was added, because Wilson “excels” at things like “working with the pitcher, executing a game plan and reading swings” and other softer elements of the craft of catching. Notably, though, Wilson has also been working to drive the ball more when he has the bat in hand, even at the cost of some swings and misses, and Daniels says he’s noticed an improvement offensively.
The Angels’ rotation remains a major question mark as the club seeks to crawl back into things in the AL West, and the status of lefty Andrew Heaney could play a big role in the team’s near and long-term outlook. At present, writes Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register, he’s waiting to see how his elbow reacts to a platelet-rich plasma treatment while using meditation to gain any advantage he can. “Right now I’m trying to will my body to heal itself,” he said. “The mind is a powerful thing. … It sounds like a crock, but it can’t hurt.”
Astros righty Riley Ferrell, a third-round pick in last year’s draft, is likely to miss the rest of the season after undergoing a procedure to “repair an aneurysm in his throwing shoulder area,” GM Jeff Luhnow told reporters including Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle reports. It’s expected that Ferrell will be ready to go for a full 2017, however, and this doesn’t appear to be the kind of traditional shoulder issue that would send up red flags. The 22-year-old had been off to a nice start to his career. He threw well at the Class A level last year and opened the current season with ten innings in which he allowed just two earned runs while racking up 14 strikeouts against a pair of walks.

Injury Notes: Canha, Boxberger, Norris, Cashner, Brantley, Gallardo, Travis, Chirinos

By Steve Adams and Jeff Todd | May 13, 2016 at 7:15pm CDT

Athletics first baseman/outfielder Mark Canha is weighing surgery to repair a hip impingement, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Undergoing the procedure would keep him out the rest of the way, per the report, but he’s still undecided and will seek a second opinion. It seems that he’ll at least try out a cortisone shot before going under the knife. The 27-year-old had a strong 2015 season, sticking as a Rule 5 pick, but has come out of the gates with a meager .122/.140/.341 slash in 44 plate appearances in 2016.

Here are some more injury updates from around the game that are worthy of note:

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.
The Padres had originally planned to carry three catchers for a short time following the claim of Hector Sanchez, but a hand injury to Derek Norris last night now makes the decision to claim Sanchez all the more critical, writes Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Norris was hit on the hand by a pitch and would ultimately leave the game, and while initial x-rays were negative, he’s undergoing further tests today. Interestingly, Lin notes that the Sanchez claim, initially, would’ve allowed the Padres to use Christian Bethancourt as a pinch-hitter, and there was even some talk of him getting some work in at third base (scouting reports have long touted his arm as an 80-grade tool). However, if Norris is found to have any kind of fracture and will miss some time, those plans will change.
Meanwhile, the Padres decided to put righty Andrew Cashner on the 15-day DL today after determining that his hamstring wasn’t quite ready to go, as Lin tweets. It certainly doesn’t appear to be a major injury, since Cashner very nearly was allowed to pitch tonight, but it’s nonetheless notable. After all, San Diego doesn’t appear to be primed to contend this year, and Cashner could be an important trade piece — or qualifying offer recipient, if he can really turn things around. But he’s currently allowing just under five earned runs per nine, with ERA estimators not much more optimistic.
Michael Brantley’s surgically repaired shoulder is fatigued, reports Cleveland.com’s Zack Meisel, which prompted the Indians to rest him on Tuesday and Wednesday in advance of yesterday’s off-day. Brantley will take batting practice today and be re-evaluated. Per Meisel, Brantley’s shoulder has not been “bouncing back in ideal fashion” following an increase in playing time for the team’s star player. Brantley underwent shoulder surgery over the winter, and while earlier projections had him possibly remaining on the disabled list well into May, he instead beat that timeline by a good margin and was in the Indians’ lineup in late April.
Orioles righty Yovani Gallardo is set to begin throwing again tomorrow, Eduardo Encina of the Baltimore Sun reports on Twitter. It’s been a three-week gap since he last picked up a baseball, and Gallardo is only expected to engage in a light toss. His timeline to return to action from a shoulder injury remains uncertain, with at least a couple rehab outings seemingly in his future even if things go well.
The Blue Jays, meanwhile, now have reason to believe that second baseman Devon Travis will soon be back. Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca tweets that Travis is heading out on a rehab assignment, which will begin a maximum twenty-day stretch in the minors. So long as Travis progresses, he ought to be back in Toronto by early June, it would appear. The 25-year-old burst onto the scene early last year, but he hasn’t played since late July after undergoing a procedure on his left shoulder.
Likewise, Rangers catcher Robinson Chirinos has been able to throw for each of the last five days, Stefan Stevenson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram tweets. That’s certainly promising, given that he’s recovering from a broken right forearm. Chirinos won’t be eligible to come off of the 60-day DL until June 9th, but Texas would surely like to get him back as close to that date as possible.

Brewers Acquire Jhan Marinez, Designate Michael Kirkman

By Jeff Todd | May 12, 2016 at 10:24pm CDT

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.

AL East Notes: Price, E-Rod, Rays, Posey, Blue Jays

By Mark Polishuk | May 8, 2016 at 6:54pm CDT

Here’s the latest from around the AL East…

David Price insists that his seven-year, $217MM contract with the Red Sox isn’t playing any part in his struggles this season, the star lefty told reporters (including the Boston Herald’s Evan Drellich). “Every 14 or 15 days when we get paid, I don’t know what my paycheck looks like,” Price said. “I’m not going to ask my agent. I’m not going to sit down and do the math. I don’t spend money. I don’t live a lavish lifestyle….I’m the same guy. I’m not going to let my struggles affect me. The amount of money that I make, I’m not going to change.” Price’s Red Sox career is off to a rough beginning, though he feels he may have discovered a mechanical reason for his problems thanks to a tip from Dustin Pedroia.
Boston manager John Farrell said it’s possible Eduardo Rodriguez’s next outing could be with the Red Sox, Stephen Hewitt of the Boston Herald writes. Rodriguez is still working his way back from a knee injury that sidelined him for around a month during Spring Training and greatly set back his offseason training. The southpaw tossed his third rehab start in the minors today, and Farrell said the club will speak to Rodriguez tomorrow to gauge whether he’s ready to escape the DL.
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.
The Blue Jays suffered another late-game breakdown today, and bullpen help could soon become a need for the club unless the relief corps improves, Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith writes. Drew Storen and Brett Cecil, expected to be Toronto’s chief setup men, have instead struggled badly — Storen has an even 9.00 ERA over 11 innings after allowing two runs today, while Cecil has a 5.59 ERA over 9 2/3 frames.

Rays Designate Jhan Marinez For Assignment

By Connor Byrne | May 8, 2016 at 7:24am CDT

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.

AL East Notes: Gallardo, Sandoval, Swisher, Sowers

By Steve Adams | May 6, 2016 at 12:05pm CDT

Orioles right-hander Yovani Gallardo tells reporters, including Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun (Twitter link), that there’s still no timetable for him to begin throwing. However, the 30-year-old did somewhat vaguely say he believes his return to throwing to be just “around the corner.” Gallardo hit the disabled list back on April 23 due to shoulder tendinitis and was originally projected to miss around four weeks. It’s been nearly two weeks since that time, though, so it’s looking like he may miss that window by a bit, as one has to figure that he’ll require a minor league rehab assignment after not throwing for several weeks. Gallardo agreed to a three-year deal with the Orioles this winter but saw that reduced to a two-year, $22MM pact over concerns with the same shoulder that now has him on the disabled list.

Red Sox chairman Tom Werner elaborated on the lack of insurance on Pablo Sandoval’s contract earlier this week in an appearance on WEEI’s Ordway, Merloni and Fauria show, writes Rob Bradford. Werner said that the decisions to take out insurance policies on contracts are made on a case-by-case basis and that while the club does have insurance on some contracts, Sandoval’s five-year, $95MM deal isn’t one of them. “The fact is this guy played in 157 games with the Giants the year before we signed a deal with him, and that doesn’t include postseason,” said Werner. “…You know there is wear and tear. You could look at an MRI on 80 percent of players and there would be something that you would notice. … We don’t know what happened. I’m going to surmise that he did something this year that injured it because he woke up one day and he couldn’t lift his arm above his stomach. He’s not saying at the moment.”
Nick Swisher is off to a solid start with the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate, batting .299/.324/.463 with three homers in 71 plate appearances, but the 34-year-old is having some difficulty running, one evaluator told the New York Post’s George A. King III. The person to whom King spoke described Swisher’s running as “hard to look at,” which is perhaps unsurprising for a player of his age coming off multiple knee surgeries. Nonetheless, the limited mobility likely restricts Swisher to first base, King writes, so the likeliest means by which Swisher could be recalled would be in the event of an injury to Mark Teixeira, although even than New York could turn to Dustin Ackley, King notes.
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.

AL East Notes: A-Rod, Phelps, Hanley, Rays

By Steve Adams | May 4, 2016 at 4:15pm CDT

A strained hamstring will send Yankees designated hitter Alex Rodriguez to the 15-day disabled list, writes MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch. Rodriguez, who had previously been slowed by an oblique injury, expressed frustration at the timing of the injury, as he’d begun to emerge from an early slump. Over the past 12 games, the 40-year-old Rodriguez is hitting .262/.311/.619, and he’d homered in three of his five games as well. Hoch notes that the brief hiatus could give the Yankees the opportunity to play Carlos Beltran at DH and get offseason acquisition Aaron Hicks some extra time in the outfield, which would be a defensive upgrade. Left-handed reliever James Pazos was recalled from Triple-A to fill Rodriguez’s spot on the roster for the time being.

Checking in elsewhere in the division…

The trade that sent Martin Prado and David Phelps from the Yankees to the Marlins looked to be a win for New York as recently as last August, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post, but early 2016 results for those involved serve as a reminder that judging the “winner” of a trade is a long-term (and imperfect) process. Last year, right-hander Nathan Eovaldi had taken some steps forward, while the main components sent to Miami had delivered solid but inferior returns. However, Eovaldi has struggled this season, while Prado is leading the NL in hitting and Phelps has blossomed under the tutelage of pitching guru Jim Benedict (hired by the Marlins from the Pirates this winter). Sherman writes that the Yankees would probably do the trade again even today, as they still believe in Eovaldi’s upside, but Phelps’ emergence and remaining club control (through the 2018 season) bode quite well for the Fish. Phelps has allowed just two runs through 16 innings with a 19-to-7 K/BB ratio and a fastball that is 2.5 miles per hour faster than it was in his New York days. Marlins assistant GM Mike Berger spoke to Sherman about Phelps’ breakout, favorably drawing some parallels with another former Yankee farmhand: Mark Melancon.
Red Sox first baseman Hanley Ramirez nearly had shoulder surgery late last year, Rob Bradford of WEEI.com reports. He ended up taking a rehab approach, which seems to have worked out, but did undergo a similar procedure to teammate Pablo Sandoval back in 2011. “The hardest thing is not the surgery. The hardest thing is the rehab,” Ramirez explained. “My advice to Pablo is that it’s going to take a lot of work. A lot of work, a lot of education and a lot of discipline because you use your shoulder for everything. I know that he can do it.”
Right-hander Erasmo Ramirez has pitched so well in relief that the Rays may not move him back to the rotation, even though that was the initial plan, writes Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. “Once we were going to go to a four-man rotation, we knew that we were going to use Erasmo in some pretty high-leverage situations,” manager Kevin Cash tells Topkin. “I don’t think any of us could have said he was going to be pitching this good at this point. Not discounting him at all, he’s just been unbelievable.” Ramirez has fired 10 1/3 innings of one-run ball since April 19, striking out seven hitters against just one walk with a 60.7 percent ground-ball ratio. His overall relief numbers are even more impressive, as Ramirez has tossed 16 1/3 innings out of the bullpen this year and yielded just three runs on 11 hits and a walk with 13 strikeouts. The Rays have Alex Cobb on the mend and could could turn to Blake Snell or Matt Andriese as rotation options in the interim. If Ramirez can sustain his success, it’ll only be a boon for a Tampa Bay ’pen that is also on the verge of getting closer Brad Boxberger back as well. Boxberger is nearing a return from offseason hernia surgery.

AL East Notes: Yankees, Rays, Paredes, Smith

By Steve Adams | May 2, 2016 at 10:45am CDT

With the Yankees off to a woeful 8-15 start to the season, the New York Post’s Ken Davidoff opines that it’s time to make some significant changes to the lineup. Chief among them, writes Davidoff, is the benching of struggling third baseman Chase Headley in favor of Ronald Torreyes. While he notes that such a move wouldn’t be a long-term fit, Davidoff feels Torreyes would provide quality at-bats on a more consistent basis. Davidoff also calls for a demotion for right-hander Luis Severino if his struggles persist much longer, writes that aging veterans (Carlos Beltran, Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira) should receive less playing time and adds that the Yankees should make it known that they’ll eat a large portion of Jacoby Ellsbury’s salary in a trade.

While the Yankees could certainly look to move Ellsbury, that’s far easier said than done, even if they’re eating a huge portion of his contract. Ellsbury has nearly $107MM remaining on his contract through the end of the 2020 season (including the $5MM buyout on his 2021 option). While the Dodgers were able to move Matt Kemp with nearly an identical amount remaining on his deal, Kemp was significantly more productive at the plate prior to his trade, and the Dodgers still had to eat $32MM of his deal. L.A.’s inability to move Carl Crawford and the longtime struggles the Braves faced in trying to shed Melvin Upton Jr. serve as reminders that it would be exceptionally difficult to move Ellsbury.

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