Well, Someone’s Gotta Go…Right? Who Are We Going to Say Goodbye to When Joyce, Farnsworth, and Scott Return?

It goes without saying that with the imminent return of both DH Luke Scott, and reliever Kyle Farnsworth in the very near future, some folks have got to go in order to make room for them on the roster. The question begs: who will be optioned or designated for assignment? What’s more, are there any players that might just be released all together? This may just be the best problem that the Rays front office has been faced with this season.

I’d think that it’s pretty much a given that Brandon Gomes will be sent back down to Triple-A when Matt Joyce is reactivated. True, Gomes has put up decent numbers with the Rays, but he is here to “fill in” for Joel Peralta while he serves out the rest of his eight game suspension. Besides, he’s filling Joyce’s spot on the roster. In the end, Gomes has performed exceedingly well in Triple-A this year, and his numbers have, undoubtedly, improved between this year and last. However, he certainly isn’t an essential cog in the pen…at least at the moment. I’d assume that he’s aware of why he’s on the roster, and I doubt that he’s sweating a move back to Durham.

With the recent acquisition, and success, of Brooks Conrad, the Rays have been put in a precarious position. The Rays have seven or eight (counting Ben Zobrist) infielders on the roster at the moment. With the exceptions of Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria, the remaining six infielders are multifaceted, in that they (obviously in an ideal world) can play anywhere on the diamond. With more infield depth, something tells me that one of those players will be sent back down when either Scott or Farnsworth are reactivated. We can assume with 99.99% certainty that Zobrist, Pena, and Longoria aren’t going anywhere. I also don’t see Elliot Johnson, Sean Rodriguez, or Jeff Keppinger going anywhere, especially with the offensive output that Johnson and Keppinger have offered the Rays. That leaves Conrad and Will Rhymes.

Prior to the acquisition of Conrad, it was assumed that Rhymes would be sent back down to Triple-A at some point. Recall that Rhymes was called up from Durham when Longoria was sent to the DL. In his time with the Rays, Rhymes has posted a .221 BA/.286 OBP/.242 SLG/.528 OPS with seven RBI and runs in 95 at-bats. Yet, Rhymes has committed seven errors split between his time spent at second and third. I would add however, that Rhymes has a .970 fielding percentage, which is 11 percentage points higher than Brooks Conrad. The beauty of Rhymes lies within his ability to hit right-handed pitching, posting a .284 BA/.333 OBP/.245 SLG/.533 OPS line. It also bears mentioning that the lot share of Rhymes production has come against righties, including all of his hits, runs, and RBI.

Conrad, on the other hand, has received a fair amount of fanfare in the few games that he’s played with the Rays, and for good reason. Conrad has driven in six runs on five hits, including two doubles and a home run. Yet the question begs, is his success fleeting? Over his career, Conrad has posted a .218 BA/.292 OBP/.418 SLG/.710 OPS line. Those numbers aren’t very good.

When comparing Rhymes and Conrad over their career, we see that they have played an equitable number of games in the bigs; Rhymes with 110 and Conrad 102. Rhymes has put up better numbers in that time, both offensively and defensively. But Conrad is a switch hitter who does better from the right side, and he has a bit more pop in his bat. Rhymes hits more grounders and line drives. Conrad has a significantly higher strikeout percentage (29.7% vs 10.3%) than Rhymes. But, he also has a higher walk percentage (8.8% vs 7.5%) and a higher extra base hit percentage (9.2% vs 5.1%) than Rhymes.

With all of that said, I think Rhymes will be sent back to Triple-A, but could be a Ray over the long-term. Conrad seems like he’ll be here until he’s no longer needed. With Joyce’s reactivation looming, I’d think that Zobrist would be spending more time at second with Keppinger at third. In the meantime, it would be assumed that Maddon is going to squeeze as much production out of Conrad as he can while he’s hot.

Then there’s Hideki Matsui. I respect Matsui for what he’s done in the past, but I’m not certain if there’s much left in the well. To put it bluntly, he’s hit like crap in his 80 at-bats with the Rays. Matsui has posted a .162 BA/.225 OBP/.257 SLG/.522 OPS line with 12 hits, six runs and RBI, one double, and two home runs. He’s also striking out almost three times more than he’s walking. Those, uh…aren’t very good numbers for a DH. Hideki has seen much more playing time since Scott was placed on the DL, yet his production hasn’t increased. Plus, who knows how long his knees can stay healthy. With Brandon Allen doing exceedingly well in Durham, there really isn’t a place for Matsui when Scott returns. I’d imagine that Matsui would be, in the least, sent back to Triple-A. There are those that think he should be released from his contract. And to be honest, I totally see the validity in giving Matsui the old heave-ho.

In the end, this is just speculation by someone with access to Baseball-reference.com and Fangraphs.com. We won’t know what’s going to happen until, well, it happens. Nevertheless, I’d love to hear what you all have to say on the subject. Comment away.