July 1:
Placed OF Spencer Torkelson on the 10-day IL with a strained ACL, purchased the contract of IF/OF Wil Myers from AAA Durham.
Who says you can't go home again? Wil Myers is back with the Rays for the first time since the end of the 2014 season. I went with Myers for two main reasons: 1) his right-handed bat, and 2) his versatility. I primarily expect to use him in left against lefties, but it's good to have his ability to fill in at all 4 corners (he can even fake CF). He still has 60 power so even though his numbers at Durham were anemic, in the few at-bats he'll end up getting he could get lucky.
Game 1: Tyler Glasnow was not very impressive in his return to Pittsburgh but the Rays were still in it until Scott Barlow blew up in the 8th inning to turn a 4-4 game into a 9-4 loss. Despite the day off Nick Anderson wasn't available, and with Mitch Keller and Jose Alvarado having already pitched the 6th and 7th and righties due up, I figured I could get Barlow through it. Nope. He gave up an infield hit, a walk, then got a forceout to put runners on 1st and 3rd, hit Iso Kurokawa to load the bases, and then hit Kevin Newman to force in a run. That was enough for me and Will Smith came in, and he gave up a double, a single and sac fly to score the other 3 of Barlow's baserunners and one of his own. Those two are the worst. When Ian Hamilton comes back soon I was planning on sending Sandy Gaston down but I might just waive Barlow. Glasnow was wild and not overpowering, going 5 5 4 2 4 3 with the two unearned runs the result of his own error dropping a toss from Alec Bohm on a grounder. Speaking of Bohm, his 13th HR put the Rays on the board and Heston Kjerstad had his first MLB hit, a double off the RF scoreboard and also singled and walked. Bohm had a sac fly, Brujan a RBI single and Triston Casas came off the bench to hit for Glasnow and delivered an RBI double that tied the game at 4 in the 6th before the Barlow barf.
July 3: Traded 25-year-old minor league center fielder Grant Richardson, 25-year-old minor league starting pitcher Kevin Holcomb and 31-year-old reliever Scott Barlow to the Los Angeles Dodgers, getting 23-year-old minor league starting pitcher Hunter Barco and 26-year-old reliever Mitchell Verburg in return.
Never again will I be tempted to bring Scott Barlow into a game, especially a close one. And in return I get a reliever I coveted since last season in Verburg. Check out his ratings and stats here:
Good stuff and pinpoint control. Can't ask for more from a reliever to use in high-leverage spots. The price here was Richardson, a pretty decent OF prospect but one already 25 and a couple of years away. Of course Barlow could get it together in LA, it wouldn't shock me. Also glad to get Barco in the deal, he was LA's #1 pick in 2022 and a former Gator (always a key for me). He's not any kind of elite prospect but has potential 60 stuff and 55 movement which will need to offset his 45 control. Worth a flyer. Holcomb was a minor league free agent we signed earlier this year and isn't anything special but was enough to put the deal over the top. (By the way Verburg was the key to the possible Seth Beer trade I referenced earlier, with Barco in it as well although the other guy I was going to get was Joe Rose, a 70-stuff reliever. Now I get to keep Beer, get rid of Barlow and still get Verburg.)
Game 2: The Rays evened the series with a 5-3 win over Pittsburgh and the Pirates learned a valuable lesson: don't intentionally walk someone to pitch to Austin Meadows. With the game tied at 2 going to the top of the 5th, Vidal Brujan led off with a single and went to second on a passed ball. Instead of pitching to Wander Franco, the Pirates chose to intentionally walk him with the base open and pitch to Meadows as they had lefty Charlie Barnes on the mound. It was a mistake as Meadows ripped a double down the RF line scoring both runners and then came around to score on a double play grounder. That was enough for Daniel Lynch, who wasn't overpowering (1 strikeout in 6 1/3 innings) but didn't walk anyone, giving up 9 hits and 3 runs and barely meeting the definition of a quality start while picking up his 8th win. Mitchell Verburg made his Rays debut with Nick Anderson *still* tired (jeez, it's been 3 days now since he went 1 1/3 innings) and got 5 outs on 17 pitches to bridge the game to the 9th, and Jasseel De La Cruz got a 1-2-3 inning with a K for save #13. Earlier the Rays had picked up a pair of runs in the 3rd on an RBI double from Wander and an RBI single from Meadows, who continues to lead MLB with 63 RBI. Wil Myers saw his first Rays action since 2014 and went 0-2 with an intentional walk. Baltimore won to stay 11 1/2 games back.
Who says the AI doesn't have a sense of humor?
I had sniffed around Hader myself, Milwaukee was willing to eat 50% of his contract (which would mean 2 more years after this of $6.6M/year) in exchange for Brandon Dieter, an interesting MI prospect of ours, but as much as I love Hader's stuff he's been inconsistent and a bit homer-prone so I passed.
Game 3: The Rays gutted out a tough 4-3 win on Independence Day to take 2 of 3 from the Pirates. There weren't many fireworks, unless you count the ones in my stomach as a 4-0 lead going into the 7th became a nail-biter. One thing I have learned is that the Pirates are a tough team to strike out, much like the Rays. Glasnow had only 3 in 5 innings in the first game, Lynch had only 1 in 6 1/3 last night and Dustin May tonight only had 1 in his 6 innings. Like Lynch last night, though, he didn't walk anyone and left with a 6 7 0 0 0 1 line after being pinch-hit for in the 7th. But after getting hits in his previous 2 pinch-hit appearances, Triston Casas couldn't add to the Rays lead this time and whiffed, so Mitch Keller came on against his old team in the 7th and promptly got himself into trouble, walking the leadoff man, giving up a couple of hits and a run before Jose Alvarado bailed him out by getting the last two men of the inning. Nick Anderson was available for the 8th, but he gave up a single and then a 2-run HR to Danny Jansen with nobody out and suddenly it was 4-3. He recovered to get through the inning and then for some reason (which I didn't notice until it was time) Jasseel De La Cruz was tired when it came time for the 9th. With Verburg also unavailable, it was either Sandy Gaston or Will Smith and with a couple of lefties due up I went with Smith and held my breath. He did walk a guy but got the three outs for save #8 and his first in over a month. Alec Bohm's infield RBI single got them on the board in the 1st, and then in the 6th a Vidal Brujan single and Wander Franco sac fly made it 3-0, and the third of Nick Schnell's hits on the night made it 4-0 in the top of the 7th. May improved to 8-2 and lowered his AL-leading ERA to 2.71.
Team record: 52-29. Next up: We start the true second half of the season, having played 81 games, for a weekend series in Baltimore who are now 12 1/2 behind after a loss to Toronto. The next post will be a midseason review with stats and analysis galore.