clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Tampa Bay Rays News and Links: All-Star Break Edition

Rays sail into the break on a roll, but some storm clouds form

By John Ford
/ new
MLB: Baltimore Orioles at Tampa Bay Rays Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

First, the good news: The Rays finished the last week before the All-Star Break with a 6-1 record, completing a four game sweep of the Red Sox and taking two of three from the suddenly relevant Orioles. They hold the top Wild Card spot, and are 13 behind the Yankees in the AL East.

In addition, Pete Fairbanks finally made his season debut. Though he got tagged for a home run, he looked to have all his stuff back. Brandon Lowe also made his return to the lineup, and looked to be in midseason form. Which is very, very good news, since this is the middle of the season.

On the down side, the Jalen Beeks hit the IL with right lower leg tightness, and Harold Ramírez went down with a broken thumb courtesy of an 0-2 fastball from Jordan Lyles.

So we’re in next man up territory once again, and the Rays vaunted depth will be once again be tested.

Links!

The Major League draft started on Sunday evening. And I think we can all agree that the highlights was Rob Manfred getting booed.

Wait, no, that was the wrong clip. Here ya go.

Shoot, that’s the wrong one too. Third times the charm, right?

Dammit! Who knew there were so many clips of Rob Manfred getting booed?

In the actual draft, the biggest surprise of day one was Kumar Rocker going #3 to the Rangers.

As for the Rays? They made a very un-Rasy pick at #29, grabbing 6’4”, 240 lb high school first baseman, Xavier Isaac.

In the second round, the Rays grabbed college OF Brock Jones at #65, college shortstop Chandler Simpson at #70, and college OF Ryan Cermak at #71.

In other notable picks, Jackson Holliday, son of Matt Holliday, went #1 to the Orioles, Druw Jones, son of Andruw, went #2 to the Diamondbacks, and Carl Crawford’s son Justin went #17 to Philadelphia.

The draft continues today and tomorrow.

Day 2

When: Monday, July 18, 2 p.m. ET

Online: MLB.com

Rounds: 3-10

Day 3

When: Tuesday, July 19, 2 p.m. ET

Online: MLB.com

Rounds: 11-20

In other news, MLB settled a class action suit with minor leaguers.

Taj Bradley and Curtis Mead played in the Futures Game.

Harold Ramírez wasn’t the only broken finger victim this week. Chris Sale took a liner off his pitching hand on Sunday, and, well, fingers aren’t supposed to point like that.

Juan Soto turned down 15/$440M.

Robinson Canó is a Brave.

Christian Bethancourt is a second half rebound candidate.

Kevin Kiermaier deals with the real possibility that his season is over.

David Hess is done for the year.

Our sister site Royals Review did a great job covering the ten (10!) Royals who could not make the trip to Toronto due to their vaccination status.

Friend of the site R.J. Anderson on under the radar moves that have paid off so far. Harold Ramírez makes the list.

Charlie Montoyo was fired by the Blue Jays, and maybe it was justified or maybe it wasn’t. What is definitely true is that Anonymous Player is a coward. Own your actions, bud.

Turns out the shift rules they’ve implemented in the minor leagues hasn’t made much of a difference. Enter: the Pie Slice Rule.

Cole Wilcox’s journey back from TJS.

Yadier Molina got ejected from a basketball game.

As you may or may not know, Joey Gallo has had a rough go of it this year, hitting .164/.288/.342. At least some Yankee fans have kept their sense of humor about it.

This happened during the Fox Saturday Night Baseball game. If you don’t know, that’s Ground Zero. Fox released a statement apologizing on Sunday.

If you don’t follow Tom House, you should. Great pitching commentary, as well as just great baseball content.

Palate cleanser: More Little Leaguers living their best lives.

More From DRaysBay

Loading comments...