X-Rays Spex

A Below Average Rays Fan Blog

TNWN: Rays vs Yankees — a series preview

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Kevin Kiermaier went 1-for-2 with an RBI in the series finale against the Diamondbacks on Wednesday. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

The top two teams in the AL East are set to open up a three-game weekend series at Tropicana Field when the Tampa Bay Rays face the New York Yankees for the first time this season, starting Friday night. Tampa Bay took two-of-three from Arizona, although they missed an opportunity to sweep the Diamondbacks when they fell 3-2 in 13 innings on Wednesday. The Yankees took three-of-four from the Mariners.

(Stats Credit: ESPN)

The Rays were handed just their second defeat in the last six games, finishing their marathon 13-inning contest with eight hits and a whopping 23 strikeouts. Tommy Pham was the only player with two hits in the ballgame, while Tampa Bay went 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position. Still, the Rays averaged 6.67 runs per game over the life of the series, while the pitching staff allowed seven runs total over the previous three days.

Outfielder Austin Meadows (thumb sprain) is expected to be activated from the Injured List and back in the lineup on Friday. Prior to the injury, Meadows was hitting .351 with six home runs, 19 RBI and a fantastic 1.097 OPS. To create space on the 25-man roster, the Rays optioned rookie 1B/DH Nate Lowe, who hit .257 with one RBI across nine games, back to Triple-A Durham.

However, the team is still sorting out the catching situation, with the potential for Mike Zunino to be placed on the IL after he left Wednesday’s game due to quad tightness.

If Zunino is out for an extended amount of time, Tampa Bay will have to make another roster move, with Anthony Bemboom the most likely candidate for promotion — a move that would leave them with a very inexperienced duo of backstops; he and Nick Ciuffo. The 29-year-old Bemboom signed as a minor-league free agent this past offseason after he spent 2-1/2 seasons at Triple-A with the Rockies and Angels organizations. He has no big league experience.

(Stats Credit: FanGraphs)

New York won the season series last season, 10-9, but Tampa Bay won six of the 10 meetings at Tropicana Field.

Pitching Probables

Over the next three days Kevin Cash will lean on Tyler Glasnow (6-0, 1.47 ERA), Yonny Chirinos (4-1, 3.52 ERA) — pitching in the bulk inning role — and Blake Snell (3-3, 3.62 ERA). Aaron Boone will counter with Domingo German (6-1, 2.35 ERA), CC Sabathia (2-1, 3.20 ERA), and Masahiro Tanaka (2-3, 3.77 ERA).

(Stats Credit: FanGraphs)

Tyler Glasnow allowed just three hits while striking out eight batters across seven scoreless innings against the Orioles. The right-hander didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning en route to his sixth win of the season. Glasnow is undefeated with a pristine 1.47 ERA, 0.86 WHIP and 6.57 K/BB across seven starts this season.

Domingo German allowed one run on four hits and three walks while striking out seven over 6-2/3 innings against the Twin. German worked around seven base runners thanks in part to 21 called strikes. The right-hander has been great this season, and his 2.72 FIP suggests that his 2.35 ERA could stick. German relies primarily on a 94 mph four-seam fastball with slight arm side run and a whiffy 82 mph 12-6 curveball, while also mixing in a firm 88 mph worm-killer changeup and a 94 mph sinker with obvious tail. He is 1-0 with a 7.36 ERA in three games (two starts) against Tampa Bay. Key Matchups: Kevin Kiermaier (1-3, 3B), Brandon Lowe (1-1)

Yonny Chirinos took a hard-luck loss against Baltimore on Saturday, allowing three runs on seven hits across 7-1/3 innings. He struck out three and walked one. Chirinos was used as a traditional starter and ended up delivering a quality start for the Rays. The right-hander has pitched well with a 3.52 ERA, 0.89 WHIP and 4.14 K/BB over 38-1/3 innings, with most of his damage coming in one outing in which he allowed six runs over 2-1/3 innings (April 12).

CC Sabathia gave up three earned runs on five hits over five innings while striking out five and walking three against the Mariners. The swarthy southpaw wasn’t particularly efficient, needing 99 pitches to make it through five innings, yet he was able to pick up his second victory of the season thanks to a lot of early run support. Sabathia has posted solid ratios over his five 2019 starts, performing to a 3.20 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP across 25-1/3 innings. Sabathia relies primarily on an 89 mph cutter with strong cutting action and an 80 mph sweeping slider, while also mixing in an 89 mph sinker, and a whiffy 83 mph worm-killer changeup. Sabathia is 17-16 with a 3.67 ERA in 48 career starts against Tampa Bay. Key Matchups: Willy Adames (2-8, RBI), Kevin Kiermaier (5-16, 2 HR, 2 RBI), Mike Zunino (5-11, HR, RBI, BB)

Blake Snell bounced back from a pair of tough outings and cruised to his third win of the season. Snell gave up just one hit and no walks while striking out nine across six scoreless innings. The southpaw induced 19 swinging strikes (61 strikes overall, a 71% strike rate and a 31% SwStr%) on 86 total pitches. It was a phenomenal performance by Snell, who posted a 12.79 ERA in his first two starts since returning from the IL because of a fractured toe. He is now 3-3 on the season with a respectable 3.62 ERA and 5.56 K/BB over seven starts this season.

Masahiro Tanaka gave up two earned runs on five hits over 6-1/3 innings on Tuesday against the Mariners. He struck out four and walked two. Tanaka struggled in his previous two starts, but he was sharp against Seattle. The right-hander carries a 3.64 ERA and 1.31 WHIP with a 2.86 K/BB across 45-1/3 innings. He relies primarily on an 84 mph slider with glove-side cut and two-plane movement, a whiffy 92 mph four-seam fastball, and a firm 88 mph splitter with arm side fade. Tanaka is 8-4 with a 3.72 ERA in 14 career starts against the Rays. Key Matchups: Willy Adames (2-7, 2B, RBI), Avisail Garcia (4-13, 2B, RBI), Guillermo Heredia (1-4), Kevin Kiermaier (7-23, 2B, 3B, HR, RBI, BB), Brandon Lowe (2-4, 2B), Tommy Pham (3-5, 2B, HR, 2 BB), Daniel Robertson (1-4, 2B, BB), Mike Zunino (5-16, 2 2B, HR, RBI)

TNWN: Rays vs Red Sox — a series preview, part two

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Willy the Kid is ready for the upcoming 10-game road trip. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

Following their first sub .500 homestand of the season, the Tampa Bay Rays will hit the road for a three-city, 10-game road trip starting Friday. Their first stop is Boston, where they’ll take on the Red Sox over the next three days.

The Rays are coming off a series win against the Royals, while the Red Sox split a four-game set against the Detroit Tigers. Tampa Bay seeks to exact some revenge on the sub .500 Red Sox after a three-game sweep last weekend.

(Stats Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

The concern with the Rays right now happens to be on the injury front. Joey Wendle went down with a fractured wrist on Wednesday and isn’t expected to return for six-to-eight weeks — a total that will be updated. Then again, Tampa Bay has only played eight games with a healthy Wendle this season, so… Matt Duffy is still on the Injured List, although he is close to returning. Ji-Man Choi should rejoin the lineup on Friday after, essentially, six days off. However, the biggest loss for the Rays is Austin Meadows, who won’t return from the IL, with a sprained thumb, for another two-and-a-half weeks.

Taking Wendle’s place on the roster will be INF Christian Arroyo, who was promoted from Triple-A Durham. Arroyo has slashed .310 BA/.370 OBP/.548 SLG/.918 OPS/.392 wOBA with nine RBI and two homers for Durham so far.

Meanwhile, Boston appears to be turning a corner, although they have performed under the league average in wRC+ over the last 14 days. Their -3.5 wRAA over the same stretch isn’t much to write home about either. Still, Tampa Bay can attest to how dangerous the Red Sox lineup can be after last weekend’s embarrassing spate of play. The Red Sox clearly are beatable, but the Rays will need to do better than go 4-for-23 wRISP (.173 BA) as they did a week ago.

(Stats Credit: FanGraphs)

A lot of us were very bitter after this past weekend, coming up on the short end of the stick three games in a row. We know what we want to accomplish this weekend. We want to get back at them. They play good baseball. We definitely had our chances that we didn’t take advantage of, but that’s baseball sometimes. … Definitely we want to go up there and beat them at their place and win a series, and try to do the same thing they did to us. We want to win all three. We have the talent. We have the guys to do it.

It’ll be a big test for us. It’s an important series for us getting revenge and proving to ourselves we can still beat the best teams in baseball. And we will.

— Kevin Kiermaier

Pitching Probables

Over the next couple of days, Kevin Cash will lean on Charlie Morton (2-0, 3.38 ERA) and Tyler Glasnow (4-0, 1.53 ERA). Alex Cora will respond with David Price (1-1, 3.75 ERA) and Chris Sale (0-4, 7.43 ERA).

(Stats Credit: FanGraphs)

Charlie Morton coughed up five early runs on five hits and two walks over six innings on Saturday while striking out nine. The big blow off Morton came on a second-inning grand slam by Andrew Benintendi. Yet Morton was able to shake it off and shut Boston down for the next four frames, giving his team a chance to mount a comeback and eventually tie things up in the eighth. Morton will take a 3.38 ERA and a 2.83 K/BB across 26-2/3 innings into his rematch against the Red Sox, in Boston.

David Price fanned 10 and allowed two runs on two walks and five hits in a five-inning no-decision against the Rays on Sunday. It was the former ace’s first 10-strikeout game of the season; his first double-digit strikeout game since late last season. Sunday’s strong outing gives Price an excellent 6 K/BB across 24 innings this season. Key Matchups: Christian Arroyo (1-2), Kevin Kiermaier (5-19, 2 2B, HR, RBI, BB), Micahel Perez (2-5), Daniel Robertson (3-11, 2 2B, 3 RBI, 3 BB)

Tyler Glasnow struck out five and allowed two runs on three walks and three hits over 5-1/3 innings on Sunday. Coming into Sunday’s start, the right-hander had issued just three free passes in 24 innings but matched that total against Boston. He also threw just 49 of 76 pitches for strikes (64% strike rate), yet made the big pitch when he needed to. Still, Glasnow owns a terrific 4.83 K/BB and a 1.53 ERA this season. The right-hander will try to get his revenge against Boston on Saturday.

Chris Sale gave up two earned runs on five hits over five innings of work in his last start. He fanned 10 and walked two in the Red Sox 7-4 loss. Sale shut out the Tigers over the first three frames but yielded single runs in the fourth and fifth innings, the latter on a solo homer. The southpaw struck out two batters in each inning, throwing 97 pitches overall (72 strikes, 74% strike rate). This season Sale has relied primarily on a 78 mph sweeping slider, a 93 mph four-seam fastball with heavy sinking action and arm-side run, and an 85 mph circle changeup with obvious arm-side fade that dives down out of the zone, while also mixing in a 92 mph sinker with obvious tail and natural sinking action. Key Matchups: Willy Adames (1-3, HR, RBI), Yandy Diaz (2-3, 2B, RBI, BB), Avisail Garcia (3-6, 2B), Kevin Kiermaier (5-17, HR, 3 RBI, BB)

Tampa Bay Rays Spring Training, day six

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Next stop: Full squad workouts on Monday. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

The last day of pitcher-catcher workouts is in the books. With the arrivals of outfielders Tommy Pham and Jesus Sanchez, shortstop Jesus Sanchez and Yandy Diaz, the Tampa Bay Rays have all 66 players in camp before the first full-squad workout Monday morning. All of the players participated in administrative activities, including photo day on Sunday.

Photo day included some fun and posed shots. Left-hander Ryan Yarbrough reportedly did a bit where he maneuvered an Oreo from his forehead to his mouth without using his hands.

Hidden talent I didn’t know I had.

— Ryan Yarbrough
https://twitter.com/RaysBaseball/status/1097190088000323584
https://twitter.com/RaysBaseball/status/1097229839386451968

Diaz, who was acquired from Cleveland in the Jake Bauers trade, made the biggest splash along with, in Marc Topkin’s (Tampa Bay Times) words, his well-muscled arms.

Wow! I was just talking to a couple guys about that. How is he that big?

— Willy Adames

Diaz said through team translator Manny Navarro that he is excited to be in Tampa Bay after being traded from Cleveland.

I feel happy since I’m going to have more opportunities here to showcase my talent and I’m happy to be here and help the team in whatever way I can.

— Yandy Diaz

Diaz is slated to platoon first base with either Brandon Lowe or Ji-Man Choi, although he can also could play third base or in the outfield.

Last year I played a good amount of first base and I felt comfortable. This year, I’m going to focus more on my defense and play the entire time at first base.

— Yandy Diaz

Several pitchers did throw bullpens, including Blake Snell, Charlie Morton, and relief pitcher Emilio Pagan.

Rays manager Kevin Cash was again impressed with Pagan’s bullpen session, as well as those by side-arming southpaws Adam Kolarek and Hoby Milner.

Reliever Ian Gibaut said an MRI exam on a right lat strain showed “everything was intact.” Gibaut is not expected to throw for the next few days, and there is no timetable yet. Cash said they will know more after a specialist looks at the results.

The New What Next

The first full-squad workout starts on Monday morning at 11:00 a.m. and lasts 2-2½ hours at the Charlotte Sports Park. The day starts with the first live batting practice sessions of camp.

Tampa Bay Rays Spring Training, day four

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Daniel Robertson (pictured), Brandon Lowe, and Kevin Kiermaier arrived at camp on Thursday and Friday (respectively). (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

Daniel Robertson, Brandon Lowe, and Kevin Kiermaier arrived in Tampa Bay Rays camp on Thursday and Friday (respectively), as 61 of 66 players are now present. Still to arrive are Ji-Man Choi, Yandy Diaz, Lucius Fox, Tommy Pham, and Jesus Sanchez.

Meanwhile, Ryne Stanek, Austin Pruitt, Oliver Drake, and Ian Gibaut threw their regularly scheduled bullpen sessions on the fourth day of Spring Training.

Kiermaier, who entered camp even more in shape than usual, was eager to get on the field.

Last year, we look at it, it was a broken year for KK in the fact that it’s not easy to come out of spring training, get banged up, miss time, try to re-start everything. It was like he was playing catchup, swimming uphill the entire time.

— Rays manager Kevin Cash

Last season, Kiermaier tore a right thumb ligament in what was called freak injury — his third in as many years

As Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) wrote, the challenge for the team is keeping him there.

We’re a different team when KK is on the field. When he’s not, we miss him. Obviously, our defense is different. Our offense, when he’s going right, he’s got the ability to really ignite us.

— Kevin Cash

Robertson arrived yesterday but spoke with the media this morning. The utility player was one of the more consistent position players last season before he missed the final two months of 2018 with a thumb injury.

Before his injury, Robertson was arguably Tampa Bay’s most consistent position player last year. The infielder reportedly had no issues or limitations during the offseason and is excited to get back on the field.

Obviously the injury was a bummer but I got a solid foundation and feel I’m even more equipped for this year. Just got to stay healthy.

— Daniel Robertson

Cash will look at Lowe and Ji-Man Choi, both southpaw swingers, to see who will pair best with Yandy Diaz at first base. The Rays skipper expects the infielder/outfielder to be a quick study based on the athleticism he exhibited last season.

We’ve got to give him a little bit of time to work on the little nuances, the footwork and stuff like that.

— Kevin Cash

Because of it, Lowe prepared to play on the right side of the infield (first and second base) as well as both corner outfield spots. He ordered his own first baseman glove, sought advice from Justin Smoak — who shares the same representation — and studied the fundamentals of playing at first.

Lowe, who last played first base in youth baseball, welcomed the opportunity to expand on his expertise.

If it gets me on the field and it gets me at-bats, I’m all for it.

— Brandon Lowe

Chaz Roe, who had been delayed after suffering through a tweaked back, played catch and is expected to start throwing with the other pitchers soon.

No concern whatsoever.


— Kevin Cash

40 Rays players arrive to camp early on Monday

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Joey Wendle was one of 40 Rays’ players to arrive at camp early. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

On Monday, 40 Tampa Bay Rays’ players arrived at camp in Port Charlotte — two days before the first official workout of Spring Training. Among those who arrived early were catchers Mike Zunino and Michael Perez; infielders Willy Adames, Joey Wendle, and Matt Duffy; outfielder Avisail Garcia; and pitchers Brent Honeywell Jr., Jalen Beeks, Colin Poche, and Tyler Cloyd.

Both Wendle and Duffy bulked up over the offseason. Duffy added 23 pounds to increase his strength and flexibility, while Wendle told Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) this is nothing unusual — the utility infielder typically comes in a little heavier and stronger and then loses weight as the season progresses.

After being sidelined from late August to the end of the season with a severe left hamstring strain, Perez said he is ready to go, “100 percent.” The catcher is slated to platoon with Zunino, who reportedly looks like former Ray Brad Miller and put on quite the show in batting practice.

Garcia took some swings in the batting cage. He “is bigger and more muscular up close than you think,” writes Topkin.

Cloyd, a late acquisition by the Rays, showed up on Monday. The 31-year-old right-hander has big-league experience with the Phillies (2012-13), Mariners (2017) and Marlins (2018). Cloyd posted a solid 3.78 K/BB ratio across 85-1/3 innings with Triple-A New Orleans in 2018. He, however, has a susceptibility to the long ball which he paired with a low strand rate and a 5.17 ERA overall with the Marlins’ top affiliate.

(Photo Credit: Marc Topkin)

Honeywell added the Jr. to his jersey in honor of his father, Brent Lee Honeywell, who was a minor league hurler.

Not many people can have Jr. on the back of their jersey, Honeywell said. This is a gift my dad gave me — he taught me how to pitch growing up. It adds some flair. I’m not really a flashy person. All the good ones did it, like Griffey.

Noteworthiness

— Soft announcement: X-Rays Spex will be partnering with our buddies, Golden Dinosaurs Vegan Deli, on March 23rd — the weekend before Rays Opening Day — for the release of our newest shirt titled “Oh Boston, Up Yours.” The shirts will be available for sale (and preorder pickup) then, and you can expect some great raffle prizes among other things.

Pencil it in, more information is to come.