The Rays Tank: Cobb out four to six weeks

Yesterday was rough. For one, the Rays bullpen, entrusted with the game because of the absence of the injured Matt Moore, gave up 12 runs in the loss. But worse, the MRI on Alex Cobb showed a strained oblique, meaning that he will likely miss four to six weeks.

Marc Topkin has a full article up with quotes and an explanation of the injury. It's bad to have both Moore and Cobb out at the same time, and Cobb knows it:

"That's definitely been the toughest part for me to have to handle right now, really feeling like I let some of the guys down," Cobb said. "And I have to get past that and realize that there's nothing I could have done to prevent this."

Perhaps the biggest impediment to the Rays moving to another city are TV territorial rights. Jeff Passan has a good article explaining MLB blackout policy and the history of those territorial rights.

This was from a few days ago, but Chris St. John has a post over at Beyond the Box Score evaluating the success of all the many prospect lists. It's an interesting and necessary prospect. I'm not going to give a one-sentence summary, because the conclusion isn't that clear-cut. Take a read for yourself.

Dirk Hayhurst wrote on deadspin about doctoring baseballs. In the article, he sideswipes Grant Balfour, calling him out for being an established reliever who "gets away with it."

Dirk Hayhurst also appears to be making a video game about PED use in the minors. Doesn't sound particularly fun, but to each his own.

From last week, Noah Woodward at The Hardball Times talks about fastball spin, through the lens of Marcus Stroman. If you're wondering why Noted Fastball Spinner Jake McGee doesn't show up on the list, it's because his average velocity is too high.

Former Ray Gabe Kapler talks about lineup optimization.