Just a sample. You'll laugh a lot. (Credit:

Traveling to Boston, the Rays decided to carry out a “Ken Rosenthal/nerd-themed” road trip with everyone wearing bowties to benefit various charities. Marc Topkin has the group pictures, the individual pictures, and the information here. Definitely worth your time to check that out.

In other news, the Rangers claimed lefty reliever John Gaub from the Rays. Gaub was designated for assignment following the Drew Sutton acquisition. Gaub is lefty with nasty stuff and no control and that was no exception this season at Triple-A Durham, where he struck out 11.3 batters per 9 innings in 16 relief appearances, but walked 6.5. Here is what I wrote about him when the Rays acquired him on a waiver claim from the Cubs back in early April. Gaub made four major league appearances with the Cubs in 2011, his only big league experience.

Sutton's defensive versatility, his ability to play anywhere from shortstop (like here) to the corner outfield positions, is a real asset for him and something that we know the Rays especially appreciate. (Credit: Daniel Shirey-US PRESSWIRE)

It has a whirlwind of events for Sutton, who signed with the Braves as a minor league free agent this offseason, was traded to the Pirates, and then less than 24 hours later was traded  to the Rays for a player to be named later. Sutton, who turns 29 in late June, is the type of player the Rays love: a super utilityman. In 86 major league games and 764 minor league games, Sutton has seen solid playing time, at least 10 games, at every position other than centerfield, pitcher, and catcher. Sutton is an infielder by trade and is best at second and third base although he is good enough defensively at shortstop as well. The Rays will definitely utilize that.

At the plate, Sutton is a switch-hitter with good plate discipline, a little speed, and a little pop. In 2008 at Double-A in the Astros organization, Sutton posted a .317/.408/.523 line with 39 doubles, 4 triples, 20 homers, 69 RBI, and 20 stolen bases in 27 tries in 133 games. He also walked 76 times while striking out 98 times. That’s Sutton absolute upside, but he hasn’t been anywhere near that good at Triple-A, let alone the big leagues. In 245 Triple-A games, Sutton has posted just a .275/.379/.416 line with just 15 home runs and 12 steals in 22 tries. Yep, both of those are less than that one season at Double-A. Tommy Rancel of ESPN Florida made the comparison between Sutton and Ben Zobrist, and that’s especially interesting because Zobrist and Sutton were teammates in the Houston Astros organization. Zobrist didn’t break into the big leagues to stay until age 27 (and then he had his ridiculous 2009 season at age 28), but Zobrist had a much more impressive minor league pedigree than Sutton, posting a .318/.429/.459 line compared to Sutton’s .280/.378/.434 and walking 250 times to 194 strikeouts and stealing 58 bases in 78 tries. Sutton did hit for more power in the minor leagues than Zobrist did, but Sutton’s power has still disappeared at Triple-A. It was unlikely to begin with that Zobrist broke out, and it’s even less of a possibility that a slightly older and less talented player in Sutton follows suit. So what can Sutton be? He can be a capable utiltyman who is a professional hitter. He’s more of an Elliot Johnson or Sean Rodriguez-type than a Ben Zobrist. Sure, Johnson and Rodriguez have played well overall thus far in 2012, but they’re likely to regress and even if they don’t, they’re never going to be All-Stars or get MVP votes. Sutton, if he can stick in the big leagues, projects as a utilty player who can play all over the place with halfway decent hitting ability and who wouldn’t hurt a team too much if he needed to start at a position for an extended period. The Rays have stockpiled utility players like Sutton and we’ve seen Zobrist and to a lesser extent Rodriguez and Johnson break out. We’ll see what Sutton can do if he can stick in the big leagues.

Keppinger is the 10th player on the DL for the Rays, their most since 1998. Keppinger had a .295/.330/.398 line to begin 2012 with especially good at-bats against lefty pitching. The Rays will miss him especially when they face lefties because of his ability to put the ball in play and occasionally get some big hits.

Gaub, 27, is a lefty reliever who hits the low to mid-90′s with his fastball with a sharp slider. Gaub has struck out an incredible 12.5 batters per 9 innings in 187 minor league appearances, but he has walked 5.8 batters per 9 as well. 2012 for the Rays’ Triple-A affiliate in Durham has been more of the same as he has posted a 11.3 K/9 but a 6.3 BB/9. Gaub has great stuff but he needs to improve his control significantly if he’s ever going to make it in the big leagues. Now that he is designated for assignment, Gaub has 15 days to be traded or placed on waivers. The Rays could keep Gaub if he passes through waivers unclaimed by removing him from the 40-man roster and allowing him to stay at Durham. Gaub is a candidate to be claimed by a team that likes his repertoire, but with his horrific control, you never know.

Nice to see Torra pitching well. (Credit: Jerome Miron-US PRESSWIRE)

Triple-A International League: Durham Bulls 6, Charlotte Knights (CHW) 0

Former Diamondback first round pick Matt Torra has had a frustrating 2012 season in the Rays organization. Maybe that is finally over. Torra pitched extremely well against the Knights, going 6 shutout innings, allowing just 3 hits and striking out 3 while walking 1. He forced an 8-5 groundout flyout ratio. Lefty John Gaub tossed 3 no-hit innings to close out this one, striking out 5 while walking 1. The story for the Bulls on offense was power, especially from unlikely sources. Cole Figueroa slammed his first homer for Durham and his 4th of the season, a second-inning 2-run shot. Mayo Acosta stayed blisterring hot, slamming his first homer for Durham, and Leslie Anderson also slammed his third homer of the year. Hideki Matsui also went 1 for 3 with a sac fly for the Bulls, who improved to 18-27 on the season.

Double-A Southern League: Montgomery Biscuits 5, Birmingham Barons (CHW) 1

Where the heck did this come from? Rays left-handed pitching prospect Kyle Lobstein was a one-time recipient of a 1.5 million bonus as a second round pick. We haven’t seen much of the ability that prompted the Rays to give him such a bonus the past few years. Until Sunday. Lobstein turned in one of his best outings as a pro and his best outing of the season by a wide margin, going 8 innings allowing not a single run on 4 hits, striking out just 4 but walking just 1. His groundout to flyout ratio was an outstanding 12-4. Wow. Lobstein got his run support in this one from 2 for 5 days from Ty Morrison, Kyeong Kang, and Michael Sheridan, and Ryan Garko also went 1 for 4 with a walk, an RBI, and a run scored. The Biscuits went over .500 at 23-22 of the season with the 3rd win in 4 games.

High-A Florida State League: Tampa Yankees 3, Charlotte Stone Crabs 2

The Stone Crabs were down 2-0 after 1 and got 3-hit in this game. Yet somehow they hanged with the Yankees all game. What a win it could have been. The Yankees tagged Enny Romero for 2 runs in the first innings on a Tyson Blaser RBI double and a sac fly, but a Keith Castillo RBI double brought Charlotte within 2-1. Neither starter would allow another run. Sean Black went 5 innings for the Yankees, allowing 1 run on 2 hits, striking out 5 while walking none. Romero, meanwhile, allowed 2 runs in 6 innings on 4 hits, striking out 5 while walking 2. He forced a solid 7-4 groundout to flyout ratio. The Stone Crabs finally tied the game in the 7th inning with their third hit of the ballgame as Phil Wunderlich slammed his third home run of the season off of Tommy Kahnle. But Theron Geith, after tossing scoreless innings in the 7th and 8th. But in the bottom of the 9th, he allowed a walk-off single to Eduardo Sosa than scored Rob Segedin as the Yankees won 3-2. The Stone Crabs drop to 21-21 on the season.

Low-A Midwest League: Fort Wayne Tincaps (SDP) 2, Bowling Green Hot Rods

It’s always frustrating to lose in a 9th inning lead- especially when you lose in a walk-off. Juniel Querecuto had an RBI single in the third inning, the only run the Hot Rods would get in 5 innings against Colin Rea. But Ryan Carpenter was even better, tossing 5 shutout innings, allowing just 4 hits and no walks while striking out 6. He also had a pickoff. Andrew Bellatti followed him up with 3 shutout innings to hand a 1-0 lead to Austin Hubbard. But Hubbard allowed a game-tying homer to Lee Orr and a walk-off single to Travis Whitmore as the Tincaps won 2-1. The Hot Rods fell to 24-20 on the year with the backbreaking loss. Josh Sale went 1 for 3 with a walk in the loss.