The Rays Tank: Voodoo Dolls

Jeff Niemann's injury last night resulted in the eighth different member of the team hitting the disabled list. It isn't $67M in payroll, but it is still 20 percent of the 40 man roster and it eats at the depth and the thin margins the Rays have to work with and against as they compete with the bigger payrolls in the league.

The pitching depth that was not traded away for hitting is now available and it is likely Alex Cobb slides into Niemann's spot in the rotation as Cobb pitched (very well) last night and is on a schedule that makes his slotting rather easy. Chris Archer has looked better of late but such a move would come as a surprise to most and whoever gets the nod will get to face a red hot Atlanta Braves team this weekend.

Lotsa Links:

• Some Rays prospects picking up some hardware this week (RaysProspects)
• Chris Sale - is he a reliever or a starter (HardballTimes)
• Have you checked out the mickopedia yet? (BaseballProspectus)
• Remember all of that pitching depth the Royals had in their system? Yea, about that (HardballTalk)
• UZR leaders from 2002-2012 (The Book)
• A model for explaining the home field advantage in sports (Sabermetric Research)
• Fastball velocity increases and its effects on performance and DL time (FanGraphs)
• How the Rays are molding the pitching staff (The Ray Area)