The Rays have recalled right-hander Calvin Faucher from Triple-A Durham, the team announced today. In a corresponding move, they optioned fellow righty Ralph Garza Jr. — who’d been recalled only two days prior — back to Durham.
It’ll be the first taste of the bigs for Faucher, whom the Rays acquired last July in the deal that also brought Nelson Cruz to Tampa. After pitching well last year in 25 innings between Double-A Montgomery and Triple-A Durham following the trade, Faucher has hardly lit Triple-A on fire this season, posting a 5.02 ERA (and 1.535 WHIP) in 14 1/3 innings. Garza, who spent time in the majors with both the Astros and the Twins in 2021, has a career 3.96 ERA in 36 1/3 big-league innings — six of them this season.
The corresponding moves likely come less as a result of either player’s performance than the need for a fresh arm. Garza had pitched in both games the Rays had played since his Saturday activation, including two innings in Saturday’s victory over the Mariners, while Faucher hasn’t pitched since Friday. The Rays three-game set against the Angels, which begins tonight, marks the end of a stretch of sixteen consecutive games without an off-day.
*SARASOTA SEA HORSES
Faucher’s numbers do not scream “MLB ready”.
Rays want a fresh arm up for mop up work. He’ll probably be sent down by the end of the week.
…….and that won’t be soon enough. He had no right being in that game. First Major league game in front of his home crowd especially when he was bad in AAA?
Don’t worry about that. He’ll come up and pitch sub 3 ERA ball like all the other no name relievers that the Rays somehow grab for little to nothing.
Not after today’s performance.
Probably pitch in middle relief tonight and get the W
They fed him to the lions tonight. Painful debut
Cash committed managerial malfeasance and rookie abuse tonight. Leaving Faucher in to get hammered and humiliated in his debut was just brutal.
Terrible decision on Cash. When I saw him warming the deer in the headlights look was not going to end well.
When they send tired-arm pitchers down, do they tell the AAA managers not to use them, or do they just expect the managers to give them a few days off? It’s not like the minors are loaded with effective pitchers, particularly lefties.
If the Rays were a winning organization, Cash himself or the pitching coach, or the veteran players or all three would say: “You got things to work on, but to us it matters a lot less HOW you did tonight, than WHAT you did.. We’re not gonna forget it.
I mean IF they were a winning organization.