Tampa Bay Rays News and Links: Last chance to avoid Seattle sweep!

Rays News

Even good teams (and I think the Rays are a good team) can match up poorly against another team. Apparently the Mariners are the 2021 Rays kryptonite. There’s still a chance to prevent a series sweep.

Welcome, Dietrich Enns. The Rays have called up the 30 year old who has spent most of his career in the minors. Enns, you may recall, had a good Spring Training and has been strong in Durham. I do remember thinking, last March, that if he ended up in St. Pete a lot would have gone wrong. But Ian Malinowski had examined his stuff when he was first acquired and thought he was a very interesting pitcher.

Forbes: how do the Rays continue to find all these relief pitchers?

Rays: thanks, we’ve found another one:

Joey Wendle is not “merely” an All-Star:

Inside the Rays trade deadline “war room.” Hearing Erik Neander talk about the days of sleep deprivation makes me wonder whether GMs ever wake up the day after and say “wait, I didn’t mean to trade that guy!”

More on the trade deadline: Rays listed as “losers” of trade deadline trades by Ben Clemens....but only because he excluded the Nelson Cruz trade (which seems like an odd exclusion). I’d count the Cruz trade and say the Rays rate as “neutral.”

And yet more, from the Athletic — Rays and Cubs were very close on a deal that would have sent Bryant and Kimbrel to St. Pete, but at a high cost. Many of us would not be surprised to see a trade involving Kevin Kiermaier, but I was surprised to read Tyler Glasnow’s name ($)

And speaking of Glasnow, it’s now official. He’ll undergo Tommy John surgery today. Dammit, I’m sad all over again thinking about it.

Around the League

We all, I’m sure, feel for this cat! The crowd’s MVP chants make this especially fun, as does the observation of one of the Baltimore announcers that the cat is faster than anyone on the Yankee roster.

This is a great Fangraphs series, especially for anyone who likes to get under the hood of pitching mechanics. Pitchers talk about how they developed their breaking pitches.

Two Yankees pitchers have tested positive for COVID, so let’s blame Florida:

(To be clear I’m well aware of our state being the COVID hotspot at the moment, but this tweet just seems strange.)

More Champa Bay

A Hillsborough High School students is competing in the Olympics. This article runs down the many talented athletes who have graced those Central Avenue halls. DRB colleagues have noted that Denard Span attended HHS as well, although he transferred to and graduated from Tampa Catholic.