Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times recently dug into the factors behind the Rays’ decision to demote top pitching prospect Taj Bradley to Triple-A last week. Topkin notes that Bradley’s call to the majors came primarily due to the young right-hander being on full rest when starters were needed to sub in for Zach Eflin and Jeffrey Springs. With Eflin back in action and bulk arms Yonny Chirinos and Josh Fleming joining him, lefty Shane McClanahan and right-hander Drew Rasmussen as rotation options, Bradley was no longer needed to fill out the rotation in Tampa.
Despite Bradley’s strong trio of starts in the big leagues, where he posted a 3.52 ERA and 2.65 FIP over 15 1/3 innings of work, that left the Rays free to send Bradley back to the minors. Topkin highlights Bradley’s need to adjust to pitching every fifth day and maintain his velocity throughout the season as major factors in the decision, though he also notes that the Rays are hoping to avoid a situation similar to the one the Nationals had with Stephen Strasburg in 2012. That season, the club made the difficult decision to shut down their young ace ahead of the playoffs despite a 3.16 ERA in 28 starts, as the right-hander was on an innings limit following Tommy John surgery. Topkin notes that Bradley through 133 1/3 innings in 2022, and may be limited to 160 innings this season.
One other potential factor Topkin mentions is service time. By optioning Bradley, the Rays have assured themselves an additional season of team control over the 22-year-old, who now figures to be a free agent for the first time during the 2029-2030 offseason. That, of course, could change if Bradley finishes in the top two of Rookie of the Year voting this season, as he would be awarded a full year of service time in that case.
More from around the AL East…
- The Orioles today optioned infielder Joey Ortiz to Triple-A, recalling outfielder Kyle Stowers, per a team announcement. Ortiz, who was promoted to the big league club just this past Thursday, appeared in just three games for the Orioles during his first big league cup of coffee, recording two hits and striking out once in 8 at-bats. Stowers, meanwhile, impressed with a .253/.306/.418 slash line in 34 games at the big league level last season but did not record a hit in six at-bats with the big league club prior to being optioned to Triple-A during the second week of the season.
- The Red Sox expect to be without their closer for the next few days, as veteran Kenley Jansen noted to reporters (including Alex Speier of The Boston Globe) that he will be unavailable until at least Tuesday after pitching through back spasms in last night’s blown save against the Guardians. John Schreiber and Josh Winckowski have worked the late innings alongside Jansen in the early going this season, but with Chris Martin likely coming off the injured list today, the 36-year-old veteran may get the ninth inning while Jansen is down.
Stowers has been mashing in AAA. .996 OPS.
5 HR, 17 RBI in 17 games.
Used through instead of threw in the paragraph about Taj Bradley
Used through instead of threw in the paragraph about Bradley
krsgator – You’ve posted that twice, are you threw now?
Fever Pitch–still early, but you get my vote for quote of the day!
Mike – Thanks!
If I say I’m in China right now, does that mean voting ends in 80 minutes?
Fever, didn’t you know Boston is the favorite team in China?
Something about the red sox….
GASox – Great point!
Hey next week is my trip to Hotlanta, can’t wait to use your great advice you gave me months ago! Will be staying in Marietta right near I-75, that’s a safe area right? Very close to Truist and 20 minutes to the airport.
Incorrect, it’s actually Cincinnati.
Cue up The Proclaimers song!
It’s not bad, but, it’s under Fulton County jurisdiction generally unless you peek over the line into cobb county which means be careful. Their DA is part of the catch and release equity movement, and, the cops are understaffed and overworked so they don’t sually respond to property crimes and the peeps don’t face serious consequences.
So you know what that means.
The ballclub keeps the battery area pretty safe, but, be careful of pick pockets and the like, and, leave nothing visible in the rental car as they have had past issues with the parking deck from time to time – there’s only so much to monitor and the ‘tourists’ are the preferred target.
Much much safer than Detroit or NOLA, but, not as safe as the Fens or walking to the legal seafood at the PRU after a game. Use the common sense you obviously have and it’ll be safe.
Lots of great restaurants a short jump away from where you are depending how long you plan to be there or where you want to be. I-75 to i-285 and get off just past ga 400 and there’s a fogo de Chao barzilian steakhouse. Sometimes they have specials online, reservations recommended. It’s in sandy springs right by perimeter mall.
Can’t beat “The Varsity”. Of course you can’t funnel enough statins to deal with the arterial abuse you will be enjoying.
GASox – Thanks again for the advice!
So in your opinion, would it be a better idea to stay in Duluth right near I-85? That would be Gwinnett County. I can change my hotel reservations.
For decades I’ve always kept my wallet and keys in the front pockets of my pants, so no worries there! LOL!
Solid advice on the car rental, I like to leave everything in the trunk and refuse to accept a hatchback for that exact reason.
Cartrow – Thanks! I eat very clean every day, so I’ll have no issues with a “cheat day” of burgers, fries etc.
I refuse to eat healthy when I go to restaurants. LOL
Nah fever, one spot isn’t really any better than the other. Given traffic and the DOT mess at i-285 / ga400 interchange, your quality of trip is waaaay better to stay near the 285/75 area, or, in sandy springs. You dont want to waste 1/3 of your trip sitting in traffic trying to get to the battery.
I wish you were in town last month. We have business to still deal with in East Cobb and Cherokee counties, and, I’d have used it as an excuse to drive up and treat you to dinner.
Unfortunately, I started a new chemo drug Thursday and need to semi-isolate…..
That and these side effects are going to take some getting used to. And they haven’t even gotten into the upping dose yet l….
GASox – Thank you so much, I really appreciate the info. Usually I’m a very patient man, but not when I’m stuck in traffic … that drives me bonkers.
I would have enjoyed the dinner, you’re very kind. My schedule probably wouldn’t have allowed it anyway, I do quite a bit of traveling from March thru October.
Man I didn’t know anything about you being on chemo, or if you mentioned it long ago I didn’t remember. That really hits home for me as I have someone very close to me going through the same thing. I’ll keep you in my prayers and please know you have my support.
GA: I wish you a fast recovery.
Thanks Fever.
Sorry to hear y’all have someone in your neck of the woods in the same program. This ‘new’ stuff is rougher than the old, but, purportedly ‘works better’… irony for you- had a different sort of ‘fever’ hanging around of 102.5 yesterday. I’d tag you in instead LOL.
Also, thanks Suit. I can’t go anywhere, otherwise you’d lose someone to bicker with you over this roster. They say you need something to motivate you and to live for, for me, it’s the post-bloom Renaissance 😉
King – You’re the one who is racist for associating color with anything he wrote, let alone the fact he didn’t mention marijuana.
Can you please keep it friendly here, we’re all baseball fans ya know …
GASox – Your last sentence is one of the best responses ever!
Yes hopefully they will pull themselves out of the ashes of the Bloom Era, similar to what they did after the Bobby Valentine Era.
BTW – I’m still high on Yorke, if they can have an infield of Mayer/Yorke/Casas producing at league average or better, that should free up plenty of money to sign or retain star players.
Yorke is healthy and doing very well at AA so far.
Casas still worries me as much as he did last season. He’s still in the same funk, and, the analysis I gave on his hitting has played out this spring as well.
Wish JDM was here to help him real-time with learning in game adjustments.
I’m not ready to give up on him by any means, I think he’s got promise. But, they’ve already started screwing with dalbec, so, I fear it’s only a matter of time on casas as well which would be a shame.
Good luck GA.
Thanks Joe.
They’ve already called me in twice for the side effects of these little poison pills, but, the marrow cancer seems to be responding to the suppression efforts. 2 weeks and a 1/3 decrease.
Fingers crossed, knock on wood, but it may turn out, that, as long as I stay on the absurdly priced $22k/month pills, it’ll suppress this thing. No cure, but, I’ll take what I can get.
as long as I stay on the absurdly priced $22k/month pills,
===============================
This is why the country needs a catastrophic health care plan. Most of the every day nickel and dime stuff can be handled pretty easily by any insurance plan.
No surprise to see service time mentioned in the last paragraph for Bradley.
I was wondering about that too.
It’ll be interesting to see how long they keep Bradley down whereas he wouldn’t accumulate enough MLB IPs to get enough top RotY votes. At the same time, the Rays are in an enviable spot right now to execute his innings limit so he can help in the playoffs.
Topkin is a notorious mouthpiece for the Rays Front Office. Bradley’s demotion is first and foremost a service time manipulation. Everything else comes after that.
Peter Angelos has around 3 billion reasons to relocate the Orioles if the city/state of Baltimore doesn’t build and pay for a new stadium for him soon.
Peter Angelos doesn’t run the team anymore and hasn’t for several years.
Okay.
What’s 3 billion minus one?
299,999,999,999?
There you go, Acemighty!!
The city of Baltimore doesn’t need a new stadium, it needs better people living there.
Earlier in this comment section, we had the best comment of the night. Then Ace has to even things out by posting the worst, most uniformed and ridiculous comment of the night.
blackand – I think Ace has given up pretending to be a recent former ML player.
That is false. There are plenty of great people in Baltimore. Baltimore is not nearly as bad as Fox makes it out to be. Spend a couple nights downtown – plenty of nice bars, well-lit… I guess if black people taking the bus scares your precious little white heart, you might be uncomfortable, but really it’s pretty simple – don’t go west.
In 1993, Elijah Cummings said it was a rat infested dump.
You are lying.
Camden yards is still a gem in my book. Revitalize the neighborhood if you must, or, get some more cops on the books to keep things safe if open drug use and panhandling become a turn-off (it’s been years since I was there, so, bo idea on the current state of things )
You don’t move unless and until a corrupt council lines the pockets of friends and family instead of taking care of business for the people.
GASox – I’ve been there as recently as 2 years ago, it’s worse than what you remembered. There are guys who have run up behind unsuspecting tourists walking along the street and have hit them on the head with a brick knocking them out, all the while a buddy is filming it. Sorta a new version of the “Knockout Game”. Only the Inner Harbor area is safe, for now.
At least Mosby is finally under indictment, that’s a start in the right direction.
Speaking as an Orioles fan, you’re saying that 30 year old Camden Yards needs replaced or it’s a good reason to move? Exactly how often do you think ballparks should be replaced?
blackand – I agree with what you’re saying, especially considering how old my favorite team’s park is, but keep in mind the Braves replaced their ballpark after just 20 years and the Rangers replaced their ballpark after just 26 years.
Is there a better area with space for a new ball park district? I’m not familiar with the area but the stadium is still top notch from what I’ve read. If there are issues what about renovations besides pushing the fences back?
They were shtty parks. OPACY is a gem.
Would you argue Wrigley and Fenway should have been replaced 70 years ago?
Exactly why I mentioned renovations.
Ra – I’m not going to comment on the old Rangers and Braves parks because I was never there, but from what I heard they weren’t that bad at all and like Dewey said they could have also been renovated.
I have, however, been to The Big O and Shea and The Trop … those definitely needed to be replaced.
As for Oriole Park, I have been there many times and agree it’s still a beautiful park but the location really hurts the appeal of attending games there.
No there is no better space in Baltimore for the ballpark. They’re building up the land around Ravens stadium to make the area more appealing.
OPACY is the best spot in Baltimore for the stadium by far. We certainly don’t need a new one. They’re making some renovations over the next few years but I honestly think the park is in fantastic shape as is.
Fever – the Ted (or Turner Field) was an Olympic venue turned into a ballpark, not a purpose built ballpark. Structurally it was OK, except for its biggest problem – it was situated somewhere by design you were intended to drive to for an event and immediately pack up and move along elsewhere.
Go one step further back and the old Fulton County ballpark was across the street, but, IT was built in a time when the population was a few million less and it the whole setting was drastically different than today.
The city grew, and the area became harder to get to due to the amount of interfering traffic that was trying to go elsewhere impeding access to turner field. Factor that in with the urban blight surrounding it, and, lack of ability to make a trip of things outside seeing the game inside the stadium, then the powers that be reneging on the development agreements that were previously promised….
Well, there’s a LOT of reasons outside construction age that turner field wasn’t somewhere to focus on staying at any longer.
OPACY’s location is great. And safe. I know a lot of people have watched The Wire and some people are frightened when they see a Black person but those people can let their prejudices cower them into their basements.
Stupid comment, considering the Orioles would not garner $3billion in a sale. Plus –
I am certain you are ignorant of this fact – there is $600million committed by the state of Maryland for upgrades to OPACY.
Most importantly, MLB would not allow the Orioles to move at any time in the foreseeable future.
Ace = most stupid comment I’ve seen on the internet this week. Laughably dumb.
This article talks about Taj Bradley getting an extra year of eligibility by being sent down. That’s absurd. The writer was badly misinformed. There is no way to guarantee he gets an extra year in April unless he stays down the entire year or a major part of it. That won’t happen when the wheels fall off the bus in TB. They will struggle during the season and his arm will be needed. If they could have moved him into their rotation and had better depth for the whole season, the extra year of control would have been completely offset by his performance. Also, as well as he was pitching he might have earned them ROY or other awards that help the team not punish the team..
Next time, if you want to claim a year was going to be saved you may want to explain how so people can pick you apart for being so incredibly wrong.
Bradley needs 172 more days this year to accumulate a full year of service time which is no longer possible by effectively being sent down. Nick is correct and you appear to be misinformed.
Joey, we hardly knew ya. Tear up AAA and get back to the majors.
That’s not how you use “meanwhile.” It has to come at the start of the sentence, not in the middle.