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The Rays have chosen the contract of right-hander Jacob Waguespack, the staff introduced Friday. Left-hander Jeffrey Springs, who’s recovering from Tommy John surgical procedure carried out final April, was moved to the 60-day IL to open a spot on the 40-man roster. Tampa Bay additionally optioned southpaw Jacob Lopez to Triple-A Durham and reassigned non-roster pitchers Brendan McKay and Michael Gomez to minor league camp.
Waguespack’s addition to the 40-man roster and the choice to choice Lopez each lend readability to the Rays’ rotation outlook as they navigate a pectoral injury to starter Taj Bradley. Waguespack can nonetheless technically be optioned to Triple-A, however at this time’s transfer appears to place him squarely within the operating for a spot on the Opening Day roster. The 30-year-old righty has spent the previous two seasons with the Orix Buffaloes in Japan’s Nippon Skilled Baseball, primarily understanding of the bullpen, and in addition pitched within the majors with the Blue Jays in 2019-20.
The 95 2/3 innings Waguespack pitched with the Jays signify his total physique of massive league work. He labored to a 4.38 ERA with an 18.8% strikeout price and eight.7% stroll price by 78 innings (13 begins, three reduction appearances) as a rookie in 2019. The fitting-hander’s sophomore season noticed him torched for 16 runs in 17 2/3 innings (8.15 ERA), although that was in no small half because of a bloated .410 common on balls in play. Waguespack’s strikeout, stroll and ground-ball charges have been principally consistent with his 2019 ranges, and his spike in BABIP got here regardless of a notable drop in his opponents’ common exit velocity and hard-hit price.
When Bradley went down, every of Waguespack, Lopez and non-roster righty Naoyuki Uwasawa have been listed as potential rotation choices, alongside swingmen Tyler Alexander and Chris Devenski. Tampa Bay additionally signed Jake Odorizzi to a minor league deal just this morning, however he’ll must construct up and will require some minor league work to start the season earlier than he turns into a extra viable choice in early or mid-April. Even when the plan is to plug Odorizzi into the large league rotation as early as attainable, Waguespack might make a pair early begins and, if he reveals properly, transfer into the bullpen or else head all the way down to Durham to work out of the rotation there and function continued depth.
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