Tampa Bay Rays and bending the roster rules

Are the Tampa Bay Rays planning on subverting roster rules in 2021?

That’s the question one is forced to ask following reliable reports that the Rays have deals in place to add veteran starters Rich Hill and Collin McHugh to their pitching lineup.

Assuming those deals go final, the Rays project to be rostering at least 16 pitchers when opening day comes around.

Tampa Bay Rays have too many pitchers for too few spots

They’ve already got Tyler Glasnow, Chris Archer, Michael Wacha, Josh Fleming, Ryan Yarbrough and Brendan McKay plugged in as “bulk innings guys” – what the rest of the world calls starters.

And that octet is backed up by seven established, certified relievers: Nick Anderson, Pete Fairbanks, Diego Castillo, Ryan Thompson, John Curtiss, Ryan Sherriff and Trevor Richards.

The roster rules in effect for 2021 allow a team to carry a maximum of 26 players. If 15 of Tampa’s 26 are pitchers, that only leaves room for nine regulars, one backup catcher, and one injury replacement.

Unless, that is, the Rays’ master plan involves subversion of those roster rules.

The Rays’ spring camp hasn’t even opened yet, but the McHugh and Hill signings raise the prospect of such rules subterfuge. After all, beyond the 15 pitchers who appear likely to be carried, the Rays also have the following every-day personnel: catchers Mike Zunino and Kevan Smith, infielders Ji-Man Choi, Yandy Diaz, Brandon Lowe, Joey Wendle, Willy Adames and Mike Brousseau, and outfielders Randy Arozarena, Austin Meadows, Manuel Margot, Kevin Kiermaier and Yoshi Tsutsugo.

All of their roster positions appear secure. I’ll save you the math: That’s 28 players who are virtually guaranteed a spot on a 26-person roster. And it doesn’t count such touted prospects as pitchers Shane McClanahan, Luis Patino and Brent Honeywell Jr.

The Rays appear to be serious about carrying up to 15 pitchers.

Many of those pitchers have come to be viewed as short-inning guys. Hill, McHugh and Wacha all fit that description. That, of course, doesn’t bother the Rays, who invented the concept of an ‘opener.’ But it does raise the question of how one navigates through a 162-game season with the 26-person roster mandated by the rules when that roster is so heavily tilted toward the mound.

The obvious answer is by creative application of those rules. The most creative method would be by taking liberal advantage of the fact that those rules allow a team to designate a player for the 10-day ‘injured list’ without having to prove that a diagnosable injury has actually occurred. Such explanations as ‘soreness’ or ‘fatigue’ are not uncommon.

Is it the Rays’ plan to periodically and conveniently discover ‘soreness’ or ‘fatigue’ in the arms of Hill, McHugh, Wacha or one or two of their other pitchers in order to squeeze a 28 or 30-player roster down to 26?

In the cases of several of their younger arms, they could simply use the option system to rotate pitcher usage for a week or two at a time. But older pitchers, Hill, Wacha and McHugh among them, are likely to be out of options, eliminating that avenue.

Hill, who will turn 41 during spring training, deserves credit for durability. He logged a respectable 39 innings in eight starts for the Twins last season. But even if you project him capable of 20 starts and 100 innings across a full 2021 for Tampa Bay, it’s difficult to justify a full-year roster spot for that level of work.

The same can be said of McHugh. After undergoing elbow surgery in 2019, he opted out of the 2020 season. He hasn’t pitched 75 innings since 2016. It stretches credulity to expect the Rays to sign both Hill and McHugh with the expectation of tying up two season-long roster spots for them.

Ergo, they have something else in mind. Knowing how the Tampa Bay Rays handle pitchers, it almost certainly will be creative.

The question is whether it will be within the letter of the rules.