Tampa Bay Rays news and links: Is it time for Jake Bauers?

It hasn’t been a great start to the season so far, but the bright spot for Rays fans is swingman (soon to be starter?) Yonny Chirinos. Despite shaky command in his very first appearance, he’s now gone 14 and a third innings without allowing a run. He’s put himself on a lot of people’s maps with a quality mix of three major league pitches.

Interviewer extraordinaier David Laurila wrote about Chirinos as the headline for his Sunday Notes, talking to manager Kevin Cash and pitching coach Kyle Snyder.

Rays Links

• Over at The Athletic, Matt Gelb wrote about the Denard Span line drive that Aaron Altherr caught in right field. Gelb talks about the game situation, the pitching matchups, Gabe Kapler, and the Phillies at large. It’s very good writing.
• Along with the rest of baseball, over the weekend, the Rays celebated Jackie Robinson and his impact on the game and on the country. The Ray Tank wrote about the festivities of Jackie Robinson Day.
• From the weekend, before the Johnny Field got his first start, but Marc Topkin used the start as a peg to talk about the Rays past troubles in developing hitting prospects, and the crop of prospects hoping to change that.
• Speaking of those prospects, Steve Kinsella thinks the Rays should promote Jake Bauers, essentially now.
• Kevin Kiermaier has a sprained thumb. He will be reevaluated today.
• Jason Hanselman gave us his first set of team rankings, with the league analyzed on a whole lot of different axes, including based off statcast data. It’s too early to put much stock in any numbers, but they so far tell us about what you’d think: The Rays aren’t doin too well.

Other Links

• We’ve spent a lot of time talking about service time (Hello, Jake Bauers!), and are going to spend more. This isn’t just a Rays thing, it’s a league-wide consideration. Kyle Downing of MLB Trade Rumors gave a brief explanation of the way service time works, for those who are confused by the shennanigans, with a poll on how fans feel about it at the end.
• Lovely short relief from Patrick Dubuque on watching Ichiro age.