The future has officially arrived at Tropicana field. If you’re headed to the ball park this next homestand make sure you pick up a program with a roster guide inside. You will definitely need it.
Chris Archer is gone. Adeiny Hechavarria gone. Designated for assignment to open the SS position for rookie Willy Adames. Nathan Eovaldi, Matt Andriese and Wilson Ramos were all traded before the trade deadline on Tuesday.
Say hello to your new Rays. Tyler Glasnow is the latest pitching prospect to come to the Rays organization. Glasnow a hard throwing right hander came to the Rays in the Chris Archer deal. Glasnow made his Rays debut against the Angels on Wednesday night and in three innings gave up one run with five strikouts.
Glasnow consistently hit 95 MPH on the radar gun. Glasnow just needs to learn to consistently throw that pitch for strikes, but the talent is there and he has the potential with Blake Snell to anchor this Rays rotation for a long while.
Jalen Beeks who was acquired from the Red Sox in the Eovaldi trade was drilled in his debut last weekend, but this afternoon looked like the prospect that was so highly touted as Beeks worked 5 innings giving up 2 runs with 4 strikeouts. Beeks threw 71 pitches, 47 for strikes.
Jacob Faria who has been missing in action since May returned to the mound last night and got the win in the Rays 7-2 win over the Angels.
So we are starting to get a feel for what this Rays pitching staff is going to look like going forward. Snell, Glasnow, Beeks, and Faria have the potential to be a very good strong 1-4. Add in Jose De Leon, Brent Honeywell, and Wilmer Font battling for the no. 5 spot and the Rays rotation is shaping up to very formidable going forward.
Sergio Romo will be gone after this year. With the youth movement in full swing, I can‘t see them bringing him back.
Diego Castillo has the potential to be a closer but the Rays have other options as well. Hunter Wood and Ryne Stanek could also be closers. I think all three of these guys could be late inning guys for the Rays. Wood however needs to work on his consistency.
Ryan Yarborough will have a spot in the bullpen as well as Yonny Chirinos and Jamie Schultz. The pitching will be the strength of this team going forward.
The Rays also picked up the their catcher of the future in Michael Perez in the trade with Arizona for Matt AndrIese.
For the final two months of the season, the Rays will be looking at a lot of rookies and evaluating who they think can help them and be everyday MLB players.
Michael Perez will be the starting catcher every two days with the third day off. The rest of the infield will feature Jake Bauers at 1B, Daniel Robertson at 2B, Willy Adames at SS, and the veteran Matt Duffy at 3B.
The outfield will feature Mallex Smith, Kevin Kiermaier, and Carlos Gomez. I think Gomez is just a one year rental for the Rays, but they traded their No. 1 outfield prospect Justin Williams, so they really need to stock up on the outfield prospects especially at the AAA level.
Daniel Robertson has played some OF this Year. If Christian Arroyo ever gets his game together and can play consistently at the MLB level, Robertson could move to the OF while Arroyo plays 2B, although that’s not his strongest position. But the more versatile you are, the more value you bring to the team.
The Rays are three games above .500. Four games above .500 is their best all season. You would hope with the White Sox and Baltimore coming in, the Rays could get a few W’s. But too often this seasonthe Rays have played down or up to the level of their competition.
The Rays are learning how to win consistently with this young team. Playing loose and with a lot of effort is what is going to make watching this team a lot of fun.
