The biggest Rays news is that our deadline move, the reactivation of Alex Cobb, is moving along.
Around the Divison
The Orioles activated Wei-Yin Chen and optioned Zach Britton and Kevin Gausman in their continuing search for starting pitching. It's a loaded triple-A rotation they've got, but the future might not be quite yet.
David Ortiz tied the record for most hits by a DH, held by Harold Baines.
Other Links
We all like to talk about how old the Yankees are, but age is an arbitrary measure when it comes to baseball. Really, what we care about is an "aging curve." What is the effect of how old or young a team is? Adam Dorhauer at The Hardball Times has applied aging curves to every team and expressed their age in how they should be expected to improve or deteriorate over the next year. The Yankees' hitters are still old, but so are the Rays' hitters. The Rays pitchers are younger than average, but still on the downswing, going by aging curves. It's actually surprising how few teams should be expected to improve, based purely on age. I'd be curious to see the same numbers for other sports that don't have minor leagues.
Also at THT, Shane Tourtellotte took a look at whether familiarity favors pitchers or hitters, by examining scoring in divisional games. The conclusion, powered by the AL, is that familiarity is a slight advantage for hitters, and promotes higher scoring. The AL East is a tough place to pitch.
Over at FanGraphs, Jeff Sullivan analyzes the potential for a Matt Garza trade. While I'd like to see a triumphant return, he's probably not heading this far south.