The Rays Tank: A Welcomed Rain Delay

A rain delay probably couldn’t have occurred at a better time for the Rays. After taking a beating on Monday night to the Orioles and releasing a lineup for Tuesday’s game which had Brandon Gomes listed as the starting pitcher, Tampa Bay needed yesterday off.

There will not be a doubleheader today, and the rotation has been pushed back a day to allow Jake Odorizzi to make the start at this afternoon against Miguel Gonzalez of the Orioles, and David Price will take the mound tomorrow against the Yankees at the Trop.

With the push back, Chris Archer could potentially pitch on Saturday against the Yankees between Cesar Ramos and Erik Bedard’s starts, per Marc Topkin.

After pitching Price Thurs, #Rays may reset order with possibility of splitting lefties Bedard and Ramos with Archer on Saturday

— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) April 15, 2014

Chris Archer was in-studio at MLB Network Radio to discuss Jackie Robinson’s impact on MLB, and also to have a discussion with listeners about ‘I Am’ by Howard Falco. You can listen to part of the interview below, courtesy of MLB Network Radio.

Marc Topkin called into 620 WDAE to discuss his conversation with Matt Moore about his decision to undergo Tommy John surgery. Audio of the interview is available here. Moore told Topkin that all of the medical advice that he received was that "it wasn’t going to get better, it would only get worse," so that’s where the decision came to undergo the surgery.

Andrew Friedman had a conference call with the local media and Steve Carney of 620 WDAE provided audio of the call here. Friedman discussed Moore’s decision to have the surgery and preserve as much of the 2015 season as possible and pitching depth within the farm system.

Stuart Sternberg attended the MLB Diversity Business Summit yesterday and discussed the stadium saga. According to 10 News, Sternberg said that "Tampa is obviously very, very attractive on the list, and we expect to at some point, hopefully sooner, look there as well as some other parts of the region."

Talk about a hot streak…Mikie Mahtook had eleven hits in eleven at bats over the past three games! Scott takes a look at how the Rays farm system fared in their games yesterday.

Links:

-MLB Daily Dish notes the importance of the Rays having David Price in light of the recent injuries to the starting rotation.

-Bud Selig commented on the new replay system, calling it ‘remarkable’. Per Fox Sports, Selig told the crowd at the MLB Diversity Business Summit, "Everything in life will have a little glitch here and there where you do something new. And are our guys on top of it? You bet. But I'm saying to you again, you'll hear about the one or two controversies, but look at all the calls that have been overturned."

-Taijuan Walker was supposed to make one final rehab start last night before joining the Mariners rotation, but was scratched from the game with shoulder stiffness, again.

-Josh Johnson is experiencing discomfort in his forearm and will be heading to see Dr. Andrews. Johnson previously underwent Tommy John Surgery in 2007.

-Jason Collette examined Matt Moore’s decline over at FanGraphs, showing that Moore’s velocity wasn’t the only thing on a downhill slide.

-Also at FanGraphs, Jeff Sullivan writes about ‘What it is to sit a player’.

Oh, Joe...

Our geometry's not very good right now - we're hitting a lot of baseballs at defenders. I did well in Mrs. O'Donnell's class too...

— Joe Maddon (@RaysJoeMaddon) April 15, 2014