Tampa Bay Rays activate Brad Boxberger, designate Danny Farquhar for assignment

Following last night’s loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Tampa Bay Rays announced that that would be designating Danny Farquhar for assignment so they could clear roster space in order to activate Brad Boxberger from the 60-day disabled list.

Brad Boxberger will be joining the Rays active roster for the first time in 2017. He has struggled with various injuries over the past two years (pitched in just 27 games in 2016), but prior to that, he was one of the top relievers in baseball. In 2014 when he burst onto the scene, he had a strikeout percentage above 40% in over 64 innings pitched. It would be hard to top that, and Boxberger didn't in 2015, but he still led the league in saves after taking over the Rays closing job.

Danny Farquhar came to the Rays in the big six player deal with Seattle in November of 2016 that also brought Logan Morrison and Brad Miller to the Rays. Farquhar has had flashes of success, but also is prone to some bad outings. So far in 2017, Farquhar has pitched in 37 games and has yielded 16 runs on 28 hits, while also lacking command as he has posted a career high walk percentage of 14.3%.

Boxberger will be counted on to resume his high leverage role from season’s past as the Rays look for help to lock down late inning ball games.