Violent Rays

 

Nearly a decade into the Kevin Cash era of Rays baseball, we have flipped the script entirely, and now have a Rays team where the rotation is so good that it makes the team hesitant to hand it to the bullpen. Who'd have thought??

The current rotation plan, as opposed to 2018's plan of 'Blake Snell, Chris Archer, Tyler Glasnow and give it to a reliever', is a much more traditional mindset. McClanahan and Rasmussen up top, Martinez and Matz supplanting, then Jesse Scholtens with an opener. That's remarkably unconvoluted. And so far it's REALLY working. Nick Martinez is having his best season yet, he's 4-1 with a 1.51 ERA in 9 starts. He's not outthrowing like McClanahan and Rasmussen are [despite the fact that it IS working], but he's been dominant, and the Rays' defense has been making it easy work. Having a healthy McClanahan back also helps, he's got a 2.82 ERA, he's 5-2 and he's got 47 Ks. I still think he's trying not to exacerbate things again after missing 2 years at his peak, but it's a fine time for him to be throwing this well. And even Matz has been impressive, going 4-1 with a 3.70 ERA in 8 starts. It's a compact, solid unit of people that can just stay on as Junior Caminero, Jonathan Aranda, Yandy Diaz and Chandler Simpson make their jobs really easy.

But...the bullpen, people. Bryan Baker does have 13 saves right now, but not all of them have been pretty. That ERA reads 2.66, but it was above 4 a week or so ago. The more you look at this bullpen, the more doesn't sit right. Hunter Bigge ALONE. The man gave up 8 runs IN EXTRAS. TO THE MARLINS. Just got on there hoping for an easy inning and completely exploded. Garrett Cleavinger, Griffin Jax and Ian Seymour aren't much better. Remember, the Rays gave up Taj Bradley for Griffin Jax, and Bradley's having a comeback year in Minneapolis while Jax...tries. He gives up too many walks, gets way too many batters on base and presses his luck. Even the 'better' relievers on this team don't hold a candle to the heights of this administration's pens. This is why you re-sign Pete Fairbanks, or hold onto Andrew Kittredge, or anything. But no, Ian Seymour really was the answer here. Or Mason Englert.

Again, it's a good thing the Rays are really good right now, and hitting .261 as a team with sensational contact hitting and a lot of sharp ideas fueling the fire, but seeing a Rays team with a bad bullpen just feels wrong. Like they haven't thought about what that'll do to them. And it's not like the Dodgers where they can use other starters instead of their bullpen, because they don't have Dodgers money. Not even close. 

The Rays face the Yankees tonight, and this weekend. Gerrit Cole is getting the ball tonight. Then they start next week in Baltimore. If they can get through that with their dignity intact, then we can talk.

Coming Tonight: A rookie who's my age. To any longtime readers, 10 years ago that was kinda cool. I'm now at an age where if I was a rookie in the MLB, I'd get some concerned looks.