Tampa Bay Rays News and Links: Bigger than Baseball

MLB celebrates Jackie Robinson day as players around the league take a stand.

By Darby Robinson@darby_robinson Aug 28, 2020, 9:00am EDT

Baltimore Orioles v Tampa Bay Rays

A statement from the Rays, in light of tonight's postponement pic.twitter.com/NulefmswBZ
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) August 27, 2020

Orioles, Rays decide not to play on Thursday - Juan Toribio, MLB.com
Players Alliance Donating Jackie Robinson Day MLB Salary to Social Justice - Blake Schuster, Bleacher Report
Players make stand as 7 games postponed - Alyson Footer, MLB.com
The Mets and Marlins shared a powerful moment:

Powerful. pic.twitter.com/VbvOT8VWBz
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) August 27, 2020

Of course, the Mets being the Mets also were involved in some wild drama involving a hot mic:

Boosted and cleaned the audio of the Brodie Van Wagenen video that's probably all over your timeline.

h/t @NickCocco18 pic.twitter.com/w06ohtfrLr
— Foolish Baseball (@FoolishBB) August 27, 2020

Brodie then attempted to clarify he wasn’t talking about Manfred, but instead about the Mets owner Jeff Wilpon!

Brodie Van Wagenen says in a statement that the idea he was ripping Rob Manfred for was not Manfred’s, but Jeff Wilpon’s. pic.twitter.com/m9QekmdftC
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) August 27, 2020

And of course the commissioners statement:

MLB released a statement on behalf of Rob Manfred. pic.twitter.com/7TdtfzzqIv
— Lindsey Adler (@lindseyadler) August 28, 2020

And the Wilpon’s statement (which both misspell Brodie’s name as “Brody”):

The Wilpon’s release a statement regarding leaked Brodie video: pic.twitter.com/rY2FQ5tQyC
— Ryan Field (@RyanFieldABC) August 28, 2020

Likely buyers, Rays seek pitching at Deadline - Juan Toribio, MLB.com: As the Rays begin their deadline shopping, all sorts of weird very “Raysy” moves are almost certain to follow.
The Rays kicked off the deadline weekend with a trade and it’s been a confusing one. However, as Rany showcases here, there is some major upside here:

Fox is a prospect with an interesting skill set - good defense at SS, and rare plate discipline for a middle infielder, let alone a Royals MIF.

But Brett Phillips is an absolutely elite defender, and if the Rays can unlock his bat, he's a 4-5 win player. And I think they will. https://t.co/XUufij4Gu1
— Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) August 27, 2020

Rays acquire Seminole High grad, famous laugher Brett Phillips - Marc Topkin, Tampa Bay Times