Tampa Bay Rays News and Links: Ryne Stanek Returns

The Trade Deadline has come and gone, and lordy was it a wild day.

You had Yu Darvish on the move to the Dodgers, and Sonny Gray headed to the Bronx (thanks a lot Oakland!). Pitchers, both starting and relieving were the hot commodity, with just two position players on the move yesterday.

One of those was Tim Beckham on the move to Baltimore, and you can read the reasons why it was a good idea and why it made no sense.

But the trade deadline is behind us, and most teams below the Rays in the standings were more on the sellers side, and the Rays this week were very much part of the buyers category, so onward with the stretch run for two months of meaningful baseball.

Links:

• Of course, just because the calendar has rolled over to August, doesn’t mean there will be no more moves. It just means it’s a little bit trickier. MLB Trade Rumors breaks down how the wavier wire trade period works.
• Ryne Stanek is on his way back to the Rays after the Chase Whitley was optioned back down to Durham. Stanek since his demotion has started to get hot: 22 Ks over 17 ²⁄₃ IP, with 8 BB and just 1 ER.

• Marc Topkin, always quick to criticize and blame Tim Beckham, writes about how the Rays made the right move trading Bex. He raises some good points (and some really terrible ones about “attitude” speculation) but I can’t help but shake that Beckham, like Desmond Jennings and BJ Upton before him, never got a fair shake from the local media.
• The Rays had a rough start to their series against Houston, losing big 14-7. Of course, the battle in between the lines is nothing compared to the war that has begun outside them: the war between Chris Archer and Astros mascot Orbit.

• The Rays were involved in pretty much every rumor about every reliever, including one I must have missed for Trevor Rosenthal. Well, Ken Rosenthal, fresh off his exile from the now video only Fox Sports website, sought to find out the truth:

Fired up, I texted a Rays official and said that I heard he was pursuing a Rosenthal - the GOOD Rosenthal. I asked him if a deal was close.

The official, aware that I currently am without a writing home, replied, “We’re probably closer to acquiring you to write for the unofficial (Rays) blog draysbay . . . though I do enjoy seeing your work on Facebook.”

I’m not going to draysbay. And the good Rosenthal did not leave the Cardinals.

• Super scary moment in Chicago between Willy Garcia and Yoan Moncada, as Moncada accidentally kneed Garcia in the head. For those that want the gory details, here’s the slow-mo. Absolutely brutal, but it looks like some good news:

• A cool moment between former teammates Felix Hernandez and Adrian Beltre yesterday, where King Felix came into home plate for a big ole hug.
• In other schmaltzy baseball stuff: Steve Bartman got a World Series ring from the Cubs.