The Future is Now: Rays Bring Up McGee, Lobaton

The Rays made a few roster moves today before they kick off the second half. Brandon Guyer was sent down to Triple A on Sunday, leaving a roster spot open. Another roster spot was opened when catcher John Jaso was placed on the disabled list retroactive to Sunday. In their place, Jake McGee and Jose Lobaton were brought up.

McGee was the trendy pick by bloggers (and me) to be the closer by now. Instead, he really struggled out of the bullpen, allowing two baserunners an inning over seven frames. At Durham, he has an ERA of 2.70 with nine saves in 33.1 innings. He replaces Andy Sonnanstine in the bullpen and hopefully will give Joe Maddon a viable lefty to go with J.P. Howell and Cesar Ramos.

Jose Lobaton was with the Rays in spring training  and has had a real solid year with Durham. The 26 year old is hitting .293/.410/.489 with eight homers and 31 runs batted in. All of those numbers are better than what either Jaso or Kelly Shoppach have put up this year. Frankly, I can’t wait to see what switch hitter will do in this lineup. Hopefully it will better than what the Rays have gotten so far out of the position.