Everett Teaford pitching on borrowed time

Last night I had a dream that my boy Everett Teaford had blown his ACL, not much unlike Marcus Stroman did during Spring Training, and that the Rays had yet another man on the disabled list. Such has been this season.

When I woke up this morning, I legitimately did not know if my dream was true. When watching tape on Teaford this spring, the thing that jumped out the most was his athleticism to get off the mound and field the ball. I'd hate for that to be his downfall.

Teaford made his seven-out debut last night, allowing one run across three innings of work on a hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded. The performance wasn't inspiring, he struck out as many as he walked (2) and was pretty flyball heavy on a hitter's park. And then there was his zone.

The performance was erratic, which is not great for a man on borrowed time.

Alex Colome is returning to form after losing weight in a battle with pre-season pneumonia. A bullpen session today should put him on track to re-join the Rays on Friday, likely as the new fifth starter. The Rays also acquired a new left reliever yesterday in Xavier Cedeno. Both players are out of options. A roster crunch is underway.

In his defense, Teaford was getting the Yankees to offer, which is a positive given his out-of-zone performance, but the change wasn't really lively based on what I saw.

How long will Teaford remain on the roster? I'd imagine he has one or two more performances to set things straight. His role as longman is short lived with Colome coming back into the fold, shifting Erasmo Ramirez to longman duties, but his role as the lone lefty still has a week to go.

The newly acquired Cedeno needs some medical evaluation, as he hasn't pitched in two weeks due to trades and travel between clubs, and Jake McGee officially begins his rehab assignment today. Teaford is a bandaid in the bullpen, not a reliever. He's willing to play the role, but he's best suited to mopping up innings until things shuffle back into place.

Rays Notes

Medical notes from Marc Topkin:

- Desmond Jennings has been diagnosed with left knee bursitis, but is only day-to-day. He did not appear in last night's game, but was dressed to play.

- John Jaso was moved to the 60-Day DL to add Cedeno to the roster. Jaso's timetable has no end in sight, but he reportedly has regained mobility in his wrist.

- Nick Franklin is expected to begin rehab appearances by the end of the week.

Links

- Riots in Baltimore have postponed home games for the Orioles, where the Rays are scheduled to travel on Thursday for a weekend series. Furthermore, a week long curfew of 10:00 PM has been enacted for the entire city. No announcements have been made on how the Orioles will proceed. Day games, or moving the site to the Nationals ballpark or Tropicana Field are leading possibilities.

- No trade clauses are bad for baseball, writes Mike Bates.

- Know thy enemy: Vice on A-Rod | Jose Reyes is officially on the DL

- Hardball Times: Does the time of day have an effect on the strike zone? | A score for evaluating pitch arsenals

- Finally, team President Brian Auld was on the Rays Baseball podcast on Monday. Check it here.