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Rays 8/8/17 starting lineup and pregame notes; Cobb placed on 10-day DL

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(Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

Back at it Tuesday night. The Tampa Bay Rays will start a brief two-game series against the Boston Red Sox tonight, at Tropicana Field.

The Rays start the day tied with Kansas City for the final Wildcard slot, 2-1/2 games behind New York for the top Wildcard slot, and 5-1/2 behind Boston in the division. As Neil Solondz noted (Rays Radio Blog), of the remaining 49 games, 17 are against the Royals, Red Sox and Yankees, while another 10 are against the Mariners and Orioles, teams right behind the Rays in the race.

You can read about tonight’s pitching matchup, and so much more, in our series preview.

Rays 8/8/17 Starting Lineup

Bourjos CF
Plouffe 3B
Longoria DH
Morrison 1B
Souza Jr RF
Ramos C
Hechavarria SS
Robertson 2B
Smith LF
Pruitt RHP

Noteworthiness

— The Rays made a roster move this afternoon, placing RHP Alex Cobb on the 10-day DL with turf toe (retroactive to August 6). LHP Blake Snell has been recalled and will take his place in the rotation for the time being.

Cobb said the toe was issue in his last start on Saturday, and could’ve pitched through it. The team, however, decided best to address now. He is certain he will miss just 10 days total.

Snell is replacing Cobb, and Alex has given us a lot of chances to win, said Rays manager Kevin Cash. Now Blake has to do the same.

Cash also said Snell was the obvious choice to replace Cobb (yes, more so than Brent Honeywell), and sees it as another chance for the southpaw to help the team.

— Major League Baseball released the dates for the 2017 postseason Tuesday afternoon, including the dates for the World Series beginning on Tuesday, October 24.

From Major League Baseball’s press release:

The American League Wild Card Game will be on ESPN on Tuesday, Oct. 3, followed a day later by the National League Wild Card Game, televised exclusively by TBS.

Both AL Division Series will be scheduled to begin on Thursday, Oct. 5. The first full slate of Division Series games, featuring two NLDS openers and a pair of ALDS Game 2 contests, will be held on Friday, Oct. 6. Overall, the Division Series are scheduled to run from Thursday, Oct. 5, through the following Thursday, Oct. 12, with potential Game 5s on Wednesday, Oct. 11 (ALDS) and Thursday, Oct. 12 (NLDS).

TBS will cover all NLDS games, while FS1 or MLB Network will cover the ALDS.

The AL Championship Series, beginning on Friday, Oct. 13, will be telecast by FOX or FS1. The NLCS, set to start on Saturday, Oct. 14, will be telecast by TBS. A potential Game 7 of the ALCS is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 21, while a potential Game 7 of the NLCS is set for Sunday, Oct. 22.

Game 1 of the 2017 World Series is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 24, and the best-of-seven series will change sites for Game 3 on Friday, Oct. 27. If a Game 7 proves necessary once again, it is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 1. Scheduled days off are Oct. 26 and 30 (if a Game 6 is necessary).

FOX Sports will present live telecast coverage of the World Series for the 20th time.

— Kevin Kiermaier (hip, back) still limited in baseball activities, and it’s unlikely that he will return until the next homestand at the soonest.

Steven Souza walks it off in Rays 2-1 victory; 40-man roster moves

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Yes, that was a huge win in an otherwise lost series. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

Tampa Bay snapped its 21 inning scoreless streak Sunday afternoon against Milwaukee, and Steven Souza Jr. hit a ninth inning walk off blast that gave the Rays a 2–1 victory over the Brewers.

At the time of writing, the Rays are currently tied with Kansas City for the final playoff spot, two-games back of New York for the lead Wildcard spot, and 5-1/2 games behind the Red Sox. The Royals are playing a double header today, so Tampa Bay could be 1/2 of a game ahead, or 1/2 of a game behind, Kansas City pending the outcome of game two.

Additionally, the Rays made a roster move prior to the game, trading Ryan Garton to, you guessed it, Seattle.

The shot heard ’round the world

Souza lashed a 1–0 pitch into section 145 off St Petersburg native Jacob Barnes to give the first Rays not only a crucial win, but their first walk-off homer since May 22, 2014 (Sean Rodriguez vs Oakland) — snapping the longest active streak in Major League Baseball.

(Photo Credit: Dave Haller/Tampa Bay Rays)

Tampa Bay welcomes the Boston Red Sox into the Trop for a two game series starting Tuesday. The Rays need to win head-to-head contests against the competitors ahead of them in the standings, and this will be a great opportunity for the good guys to make up a couple of games in the AL East, as well as in the Playoff race.

Rays clear a couple of spots on the 40-man roster

The Rays created some space on the 40-man roster before the game, trading RHP Ryan Garton to Seattle along with Durham catcher Mike Marjama. With the trade, the Rays have opened a pair of spots on their 40-man roster. In exchange, Tampa Bay received LHP Anthony Misiewicz, UTL Luis Rengifo, and a player to be named later or cash considerations.

Garton had been good with Triple-A Durham this season, going 2–0 with a 1.64 ERA. He, however, struggled the past two seasons at the big league level, going 1–3 with a 5.26 ERA.

A mid-season All-Star in the International League, the 28-year-old Marjama hit .272 in 72 games with nine homers this season. The catcher was Rule-5 eligible this past offseason — as are prospects Justin O’Conner and Nick Ciuffo — so the team opted to add Marjama to the 40-man roster as protection in the Rule-5 draft. These moves will create more roster flexibility, while also lessening the off-season logjam behind the plate.

Hmm … might the Rays be looking to acquire a player or two before the August 31 waiver trade deadline? Perhaps. After all, they were looking for a right-handed bat leading up to the non-waiver trade deadline. However, it’s more likely that they are clearing space ahead of the activation of Kevin Kiermaier from the 60-day DL.

Another fascinating idea, the team could be creating roster space for Brent Honewell, who might be considered as a September call-up. That being said, Honeywell threw 130 innings between Single-A, Double-A, and the Arizona Fall League last season. Tampa Bay, historically, uses a 20% yearly workload, so he has about 40 innings left in his 2017 campaign at Triple-A Durham. If he was to be promoted this season, he would likely work out of the bullpen to mitigate the number of innings thrown.

Welcome Lucas Duda, the Tampa Bay Rays new left-handed masher

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The Rays traded with the Mets for Lucas Duda on Thursday. (Photo Credit: Sports Illustrated)

The known known, the Tampa Bay Rays traded for first baseman Lucas Thursday afternoon, sending RHP prospect Drew Smith to New York in return. Duda, who is expected to slot in at DH, will be activated prior to Friday night’s contest against the Yankees. How might Duda impact the postseason dreaming ball-club? Let’s take a look.

Don’t Go Lucas!!!!! Gonna miss you buddy!!!

A post shared by Lucas Duda (@wefollowlucasduda) on

First and foremost, Duda had been a beloved member of the Mets organization since being drafted by the team almost a decade ago. In other words, he’s a player that should mesh well within the Rays clubhouse. One only needs to take a look at the popular Instagram account @wefollowlucasduda (embedded above; maintained by Curtis Granderson), which documented Duda’s every day comings and goings in the clubhouse.

Beyond an amiable personality though, Duda represents a power bat that should take the place of Colby Rasmus, who took a personal leave of absence on July 13.

The 31 year-old first baseman has posted some beefy offensive numbers this season, slashing .246 BA/.347 OBP/.532 SLG/.869 OPS in 291 plate appearances, with 17 home runs — coming close to his offensive output during his excellent 2014 and 2015 campaigns. Duda has been especially good against right-handed pitching, against which he has slashed .253 BA/.367 OBP/.546 SLG/.913 OPS with 29 extra base hits (15 doubles, 14 homers), 27 RBI, and 24 runs in 194 at-bats. While he is prone to striking out (51 strikeouts vs RHP), his 33 walks against right-handers indicates that he has a well defined strike zone.

He has maintained a steady .297 True Average (TAv*) this season, and that paired with a career best slugging percentage equal the type of player the Rays will gladly welcome with arms wide open. In taking plate appearances from from Shane Peterson — owner of a career 84 wRC+ and designated for assignment on Thursday — and giving them to Duda, the team has added a lot of thump to the lineup.

In short, Duda is someone who can slot in at DH, allowing Corey Dickerson to spend more time in the outfield, someone who can provide insurance in case Logan Morrison is injured or needs an off-day, and someone who can give the team a serious offensive boost early on — when the Rays score the bulk of their runs.

*True Average (TAv) is a measure of total offensive value scaled to batting average. Adjustments are made for park and league quality, as such the league-average mark is constant at .260. (Source: Baseball Prospectus)

Noteworthiness

— With the acquisition of Lucas Duda, the Rays appear to be open to listening to offers on infielders Brad Miller and Tim Beckham. Steve Adams and Jeff Todd (MLB Trade Rumors) wrote about the Rays willingness to deal one of the two earlier, saying:

As they continue to work on upgrading their roster, the Rays are willing to take trade offers for infielders Tim Beckham and Brad Miller, per ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick (Twitter links). With the recent additions of Adeiny Hechavarria and now Lucas Duda, the Rays are perhaps a bit overstocked in infielders. Still, Tampa Bay is more interested in listening to potential offers than in shopping the pair around, Crasnick notes.

Mariners to acquire Erasmo Ramirez from Rays for Steve Cishek (MLB Trade Rumors)

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It appears that Erasmo Ramirez may be heading back to Seattle. (Photo Credit: Gary Shelton Sports)

According to Jeff Todd (MLB Trade Rumors), the Tampa Bay Rays and Seattle Mariners have completed another trade, this time for RHP Steve Cishek. The move may explain Kevin Cash’s hesitance to use Ramirez in the extra inning loss to the New York Yankees last night.

Todd writes:

The Marines are closing in on a deal to add righty Erasmo Ramirez from the Rays, according to Jon Morosi of MLB.com (via Twitter). Right-handed reliever Steve Cishek would head to Tampa Bay in return, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (Twitter link).

Ramirez, 27, has functioned as a swingman for the Rays since coming over from Seattle before the 2015 season. Now, he’ll head back to his original organization to provide another rotation option. With two more years of arbitration eligibility, he’ll also represent a potential part of the staff through 2019.

While Ramirez carries only a 4.80 ERA on the year, and has worked mostly from the pen over the past two campaigns, he has mostly been himself in 2017. The positive areas (7.1 K/9, 2.1 BB/9, 48.6% groundball rate) are on par with Ramirez’s career figures, and the problems (1.30 HR/9) are familiar. His velocity and swinging-strike rate sit right at career averages.

If and when his 63.8% strand rate normalizes, Ramirez will likely settle back into being a useful back-end starter or solid long-relief arm. And that’s what the M’s will need from him to stay in contention down the stretch. Seattle has cycled through starters for much of the year and still has an uncertain rotation mix. It’ll be interesting to see whether the club continues exploring the market for starters.

Of course, that came at a cost, as the Mariners will sacrifice a solid late-inning option in Cishek. That’s just what the Rays have been searching for, with the team perhaps more willing to part with Ramirez with a variety of rotation options at or near the MLB level.

The 31 year-old Cishek carries a 3.15 ERA/4.80 FIP over 20 innings of work this season, with a 6.75 K/9 and a 3.15 BB/9. What really stands out for the right-hander though is his ability to induce ground balls (61.4% ground ball rate) at a high level — which bodes well for Tampa Bay’s infielders when they choose to make plays — and his ability to miss barrels and limit hard contact (26.3 % soft contact rate, 45.6 % medium contact rate, 28.1 % hard contact rate).

His splits against left and right handed batters — .150 BA/.261 OBP/.500 SLG/.761 OPS/.299 wOBA vs LHH, .192 BA/.263 OBP/.275 SLG/.516 OPS/.241 wOBA vs RHH — make him more than a one and done type of pitcher …  although his unsightly .500 SLG against lefties makes him a better option against righties. The American League East is loaded with right-handed bats, and in that way Cishek is a big upgrade over Ramirez.

The Rays would control Cishek until the end of the season, after which he will become a free-agent.

In the end, Erasmo was beloved by the team, as well as one of the better pitching options for Tampa Bay, since coming over from Seattle in 2015. However, the Rays had a glaring need in the ‘pen going into their playoff push, and the front office devised a plan to get a dominant, extreme ground-ball pitcher — a hurler that helps lesson the probability of what happened a night ago.

All told, there 20 active relief pitchers that have at least 250 career appearances and hold a sub-2.90 ERA … and the Rays have acquired three of them this week in Cishek, Dan Jennings and Sergio Romo.

Roster Moves: Rays acquire left-handed reliever Dan Jennings from ChiSox

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The Tampa Bay Rays acquired LHP Dan Jennings from the Chicago White Sox on Thursday. (Photo Credit: Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune)

Buyers! The Tampa Bay Rays have begun to make roster moves ahead of a playoff push, announcing Thursday morning that they have traded for left-handed pitching reliever Dan Jennings from the White Sox for first base prospect Casey Gillaspie. To make room for Jennings, Tampa Bay designated RHP Diego Moreno for assignment.

With Xavier Cedeno on the DL, the Rays were interested in picking up a southpaw reliever, and this acquisition fits that. However, and interestingly enough, they are reportedly still looking at bigger names on the market, and there could be further additions to the beleaguered ‘pen.

Jennings, 30, has amassed 161-1/3 innings out of Chicago’s bullpen over the past three seasons. While a rather pedestrian 7.3 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9 don’t stand out, Jennings has pitched to an impressive a 59.1% GB rate and a paltry 23.7% hard contact rate to help him perform to a 3.12 ERA/sub 4 FIP in that time. His 58.5% GB rate this season is sixth best in the American League (minimum 40 innings), which bodes well for the Rays improved infield defense.

As the incomparable Neil Solondz (Rays Radio) noted, we could expect to see the Rays turn more high-leverage double plays with Jennings on the mound.

During the last three years, Jennings’ 23 GIDP rank second among AL relief pitchers behind Shaw (26). His ground ball rate this season is 58.5 percent, according to FanGraphs, which ranks sixth in the AL (min. 40 IP). Dating back to August 1, 2015, he ranks third among AL relievers (min. 100 IP) with a 2.33 ERA (127.2-IP, 33-ER), trailing Zach Britton (1.41) of the Orioles and Andrew Miller (1.65) of the Yankees and Indians.

Jennings has been especially effective against southpaw hitters in his three seasons with the White Sox, with lefties hitting just .225 (56-for-249) against him. He’s been absolutely lethal against left-handed hitters this season though, limiting them to a .164 BA/.286 OBP/.211 SLG/.497 OPS line, and just one extra-base hit over 85 plate appearances.

Jennings also is earning just $1.4-Million in 2017 and is under team control for another two years (via arbitration), making him a nice longer-term piece for the Rays’ bullpen.

The Rays did have to trade the 24 year-old 2014 first-round draft pick Casey Gillaspie — Baseball America’s 74th overall prospect. That ranking came on the heels of a strong age-23 campaign. This season has been a struggle for Gillaspie, who has slumped to a .227 BA/.296 OBP/.357 SLG/.653 OPS line through his first 395 Triple-A plate appearances.

Solondz opined that this move opens up a fast track for Jake Bauers going into 2018.

While the Rays don’t have Logan Morrison signed beyond this year, they do have depth at first base, as Jake Bauers is younger (21 to Gillaspie who is 24) and has had a better season. Perhaps this move indicates Bauers has the inside track to being next year’s first baseman. In addition, the Rays have built up significant depth at first in the organization. Dalton Kelly and Joe McCarthy have had terrific years and are both in Double-A, while the team’s top pick this season also plays first base.