The Rays have made some moves in between games of their double-header with the Red Sox today, as reported by Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). Left-hander Joe La Sorsa was designated for assignment and righty Trevor Kelley was optioned to Triple-A. Taking their places in the bullpen are the newly-acquired Robert Stephenson, as well as another right-hander in Shawn Armstrong. For Armstrong, he is set to make his 2023 debut after being activated from the 60-day injured list, as he has been sidelined due to a neck injury.
Armstrong’s neck problem surfaced in early March, so he missed quite a bit of Spring Training and thus needed a good amount of ramp-up time once he was healthy enough to pitch. The veteran reliever made seven appearances with Triple-A Durham and performed well, with a 2.00 ERA over his even nine innings of work.
Tampa Bay’s bullpen has always been something of a revolving door due to the team’s penchant for shuttling fresh arms up and down from Triple-A, but injuries and an overall so-so performance from the relief corps (who rank 22nd in bullpen ERA) has led to a bit more shuffling than usual. The Rays hope that Armstrong and Stephenson can help provide some stability, as the bullpen has been basically the only relative weak link on a team that otherwise looks like a World Series contender.
More to come…