Rays Report | Rays walk a tightrope between winning in June, planning for October

The season is not even half over and they are plotting a postseason rotation

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View on the web Go to our home page Subscribe to the Times Monday, June 7, 2021 Forward this to a friend Subscribe to more newsletters [ADAM HUNGER | Associated Press] Rays are spreading innings to protect arms It’s moments such as this that should make you appreciate the Rays. Not because they have the best record in the American League but because they are more concerned with being the best team in the league in October. And they’re willing to sacrifice in small ways in June to make that happen. Let me explain: The Rays decided to add an extra day to their pitching rotation this week by starting Michael Wacha on Sunday against the Rangers, while acknowledging it would likely be a heavy bullpen day. Which is precisely what happened. Wacha lasted only 2.2 innings, and five different relievers combined to throw 6.1 innings of shutout ball in the 7-1 victory. The point is that the Rays did it, even though they knew it lessened their chances of winning Sunday’s game, of winning the Texas series, of finishing the road trip with a winning record. They did it because it’s the smart move in the long run. The pandemic means every team is dealing with pitchers who threw far fewer innings than normal in 2020. For some, that won’t be a big deal. Veterans who are accustomed to throwing 170 innings a season might even benefit from last year’s smaller workload. But the Rays are not built that way. None of their pitchers have topped 170 innings since 2017. For pitchers unaccustomed to throwing that many innings, there are two potential pitfalls. No. 1, they could be weary and less effective by the time the postseason rolls around. No. 2, they could blow out their arms and be on the shelf for a year or more. That’s why the Rays are looking for every opportunity to spread their innings around the entirety of their pitching staff, and that includes guys on the 40-man roster in Triple-A Durham. The Rays aren’t so concerned about giving Tyler Glasnow, Rich Hill and Shane McClanahan a couple of extra days of rest in the second week in June. They’re concerned with keeping Glasnow, Hill and McClanahan healthy and sharp in October. “We’re always concerned about the workloads,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said on Sunday. “Kyle (Snyder) and Stan (Boroski) do such a good job of taking all these thoughts and trying to do right by the pitchers and the team. “But I agree with what you said: It’s not like we’re built with four or five starters that have that track record of throwing 180-200 innings. And we knew coming in this was going to be a long season, and we would have to find ways to be creative and making sure it’s balanced out appropriately over the course of the season so when we hit August, September and hopefully beyond that, we’ve got guys that are contributing at their peak and not the other way.” You think this is overblown? Look at it this way: Glasnow, Hill, McClanahan, Wacha, Ryan Yarbrough and Josh Fleming have already thrown more innings in the 2021 regular season than they did in the 2020 regular season. By itself, that’s not a huge issue. Except the Rays still have 101 games to go. Glasnow, for instance, is currently on pace to throw more than 200 innings in the regular season. That’s not going to happen. The Rays won’t let it happen because it would be nuts. Not only would it be asking him to nearly quadruple his workload from last season, it would be nearly as many innings as he threw in the 2018, ’19 and ’20 regular seasons combined. Putting aside that a leap of that size would be a huge health risk, it would also be risking that his best innings were wasted in a mid-August game against the Orioles. With that in mind, you can probably expect to see Hill end up on the injured list before too long just for maintenance purposes. Not only is he the oldest pitcher in the majors at age 41, but he hasn’t topped 100 innings in a season since 2018. If it helps, think of these guys as high-performance sports cars. Why would you want to drive them around the city during rush hour when you’re looking forward to hitting the highway with them in a few months? Even Glasnow, who is eager to establish himself as a bona fide ace, understands that the goal is to be ready to roll in October. “It’s definitely in my best interests,” Glasnow said. “Part of me is like, ‘I want to go every five days and throw a bunch of innings.’ But in the long run, it’s a good call. I trust their (judgment).” [KATHY WILLENS | Associated Press] Yarbs goes the distance and other baseball links • Having just explained why it’s smart for the Rays to limit starters’ innings, I’m still happy that Cash let Ryan Yarbrough throw a complete game against the Yankees in the season finale in New York. Yarbrough came tantalizingly close to throwing a complete game a few years ago, and deserves to have his name in the record books as the pitcher who stopped the longest streak of non-complete games in MLB history. Marc Topkin got hold of Matt Andriese to talk about the five-year stretch between complete game outings in Tampa Bay. • While the rest of the baseball world is complaining about the lack of offense, the Rays are scoring more runs than they did in 2020. And they’re doing it with a handful of hitters batting in the .200 range. Here’s a quick explanation of how a team can be on its way toward obliterating the MLB record for strikeouts in a season and still be leading the AL East. • New York’s recent slide in the standings did not coincide with Giancarlo Stanton’s trip to the injured list. It began when Stanton returned. Here’s a New York Post story that examines the hard-luck tale of Stanton trying to play through injuries and the Yankees (silently) lamenting his albatross of a contract.​​​​​​​ • Get ready for the Bob Gibson-Jacob DeGrom comparisons. The Mets pitcher is having the best season on the mound anyone has seen since Gibson had a 1.12 ERA in 1968 (and helped MLB decide to lower the mound to increase offense). As pointed out in this ESPN story, DeGrom went into a game against the Padres with a 0.71 ERA and somehow managed to lower it. Gain unlimited access to Rays, Buccaneers and Lightning coverage for about $1 a week! Subscribe now [BRANDON WADE | Associated Press] Yandy gives us the home run we’ve waited for • It’s almost unfathomable how a guy who hits the ball as consistently hard as Yandy Diaz, and who has Popeye-like muscles, can avoid hitting home runs so consistently. Yes, Diaz has almost no uppercut to his swing, but you would still think he would run into a few more balls by accident. When he homered in the ninth inning on Sunday, it was his first in 207 at-bats in the regular season. If you add the postseason, it’s 243 at-bats. His batting average this year (.253) is about 9.6 percent lower than his career average, but his slugging percentage (.306) has dropped 26.7 percent. • At 40-20, the Rays had the best record in the American League at the end of 2020’s 60-game season. Sixty games into this season, the Rays stood at 37-23. And, once again, had the best record in the AL. • Initial reports are encouraging on Durham pitcher Tyler Zombro, who was hit in the face by a line drive in a game Thursday. Rays manager Kevin Cash said Zombro was able to get out of bed on Saturday and was hopefully being transferred out of the ICU. Zombro was an undrafted free agent out of George Mason University in 2017, and moved quickly through the Rays organization. He went 11-4 with a 2.79 ERA and 20 saves as he moved from rookie ball to Triple-A in less than four seasons. • Randy Arozarena and Brandon Lowe are tied for the team lead (and are in fourth place in the American League) with 72 strikeouts each. At their current pace, they would both break Carlos Pena’s Tampa Bay record of 182 strikeouts in a season. They’re on a pace for 191. Contact John Romano at jromano@tampabay.com. Follow @romano_tbtimes. Did someone forward this to you? Get Rays Report in your own inbox next time. It's free to subscribe. Sign up here. 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