A couple of transactions I neglected to mention from last week - IF/DH
Jonathan Aranda and SP
Taj Bradley were activated from their rehab assignments while
Niko Goodrum and
Manuel Rodriguez went down to Durham.
Given that this team is going nowhere fast, I pulled the trigger on an Amed Rosario deal as he's a free agent at year's end:
As you can see it was over the objections of AGM Erik Neander but I felt it was the best offer we got for Rosario, who is a useful utility guy with some upside but wasn't going to command a king's ransom. And I'm quite happy to add Campusano, a good-hitting catcher who's decent defensively. Also we picked up Ornelas, who profiles as a potentially useful 4th OF type. To make room for Campusano,
Ben Rortvedt was optioned to Durham and taking Rosario's place is another injury returnee, OF
Jonny DeLuca, acquired in the Glasnow trade this past offseason. He'll give us a RH bench bat and will platoon with
Josh Lowe in RF.
Shawn Armstrong is the only other free agent although if we were to keep everyone our payroll would balloon to $140M next year which is something Stu Sternberg isn't going to abide. So
Zach Eflin ($18M) and
Brandon Lowe, Jeffrey Springs, Yandy Diaz and
Randy Arozarena (all projected around $10-11M) are all trade bait. Too bad they're all having terrible seasons or in the case of Springs, hurt. Also you can bet the $7.8M team option on
Phil Maton will not be exercised.
May 13 at Boston: 4-5 L. LP-E.Ramirez (0-1). Starter-Bradley (6 5 2 2 1 5). HR-Aranda (1), Y.Diaz (3). Should have been a win at 4-2 in the 9th but
Jason Adam walked 3 guys, gave up a run, left two on and we had to bring Erasmo in since everyone else was tired, and he proceeded to load the bases and give up a game-losing 2-run single. And in his Rays debut
Luis Campusano doubled twice and then was hit on the hand with a pitch, breaking it and will be out a month. Unbelievable.
Transaction: Campusano goes on the IL and Rortvedt is back up while Pete Fairbanks is activated off the IL and
Erasmo Ramirez is designated for assignment.
May 14 at Boston: 8-6 W. WP-Civale (3-4, 5.2 11 4 4 0 6). S-Fairbanks (4). HR-Caminero (2), Siri (3). Yandy and Siri had massive games with the former banging out 4 hits and driving in 2 and the latter homering and knocking in 4 including a 3-run shot in the 6th off Rays Spring Training invitee Nayouki Uwasama to break a 4-4 tie. Fairbanks converted the save in his first appearance off the IL.
May 15 at Boston: 10-8 W. WP-Armstrong (1-1). S-Fairbanks (5). Starter-Littell (4.2 6 4 4 1 3). HR-Aranda (2), Y.Diaz (4). Another wild win where the Rays kept taking leads and losing them before a 5-run 8th highlighted by a bases-clearing
Jose Caballero double. Aranda was 2-2 with a walk, homer and 3 RBI.
May 16 at Boston: 7-3 W. WP-Pepiot (5-2, 5 7 2 2 2 5). HR-Pinto (5). A season-high third straight win with
Jonny DeLuca doubling twice and driving in a pair for his first contributions as a Ray while
Jose Caballero had another big double knocking in a pair.
Transaction: Still another injury return as lefty reliever
Colin Poche is back and
Jacob Lopez is returned to the Bulls.
May 17 at Toronto: 5-8 L. LP-Eflin (1-6, 5 5 5 5 2 5). HR-H.Ramirez (3), Siri (4). An early 4-1 went by the wayside as Eflin's struggles continued.
May 18 at Toronto: 8-12 L. LP-Adam (1-3). Starter-Bradley (5 6 4 4 2 2). HR-Caminero (3). The offense has finally gotten its act together on this road trip but the pitching staff still hasn't gotten the memo and leads of 3-0 and 6-3 vanished in another disheartening defeat. Rays pitching allowed 7(!) homers including 3 to Danny Jansen and they actually led 8-6 in the 7th before Adam crapped the bed again, giving up 4 runs (2 earned) on 5 hits in only 2/3 of an inning.
May 19 at Toronto: 4-6 L. LP-Civale (3-5, 5 7 5 5 2 3). HR-Siri (5), Caballero (3). Whatever good vibes came out of the Boston series have dissipated completely after the Rays scored 17 runs in Toronto over the weekend and left with nothing to show for it. Once perennially one of the best defensive teams in baseball the Rays this year are dead last (30th) in MLB in defensive efficiency as they seem to allow double-digit hits in almost every game. One culprit is the phenom Caminero, who's a butcher at 2B but is hitting a robust 333/426/561 with 3 HR and 9 RBI in 16 games and still has 0.6 WAR in that span which would translate to 5-6 over a full season.
Record: 20-28, now 14 1/2 and 7 back in the division and wild card. Barring a massive turnaround in the next month there's going to be a lot of players for sale. Upcoming: Back to the Trop for a pair of series against Boston and Kansas City.
MLB News: AL PotW is Houston's Jeremy Pena, 11-20 with 4 HR and 15 RBI while the NL winner is LA's Freddie Freeman, 11-22 with 3 HR and 9 RBI.
Also winning player of the week honors on the farm was this guy:
We could be seeing him sooner than later as he's baseball's #15 prospect, a plus-plus defensive SS (something we can use) and his bat has rapidly developed.