ST. PETERSBURG — The Tampa Bay Rays placed left-hander Shane McClanahan on the 15-day injured list with left mid-back tightness, adding urgency to a trade deadline pursuit that already had the American League’s best team linked to Tigers ace Tarik Skubal and Mets right-hander Freddy Peralta.
McClanahan left his start against the Rangers on Thursday and said he expects to miss only a brief stretch. “I don’t want to speculate or obviously put stuff out there that could be wrong, but hopefully it’s just a minimal thing,” McClanahan said. “Just use these next two weeks to kind of get the body right, get fresh and help this team win a lot more meaningful baseball games these next couple months.”
Rays president of baseball operations Erik Neander confirmed during a WDAE radio interview that McClanahan would likely miss only two starts before returning. But the timing — with Monday’s 6 p.m. ET Trade Deadline looming — sharpens Tampa Bay’s need for rotation depth. The Rays recalled right-handed reliever Alex Cook from Triple-A Durham to fill the roster spot.
McClanahan has posted a 3.09 ERA in 99 innings over 20 starts this season after missing the past two years due to Tommy John surgery and a nerve issue in his left triceps. The club had already been managing his workload toward a target of roughly 150 innings, the same threshold Drew Rasmussen reached in his return to the rotation last season.
“You feel for Mac because his body of work has been tremendous. He wants to be out here competing, and I’m very confident he’ll be out there real soon,” manager Kevin Cash said. “We’ll probably take the ball out of his hand, get some treatment on his back and look to build him right back up pretty quick.”
Neander framed the IL stint as reinforcing a need that existed well before the back tightness. “The way our five starters have been throwing the ball, if you had 5-10 games to go, [you’d] feel really good about this group. But you don’t. You’ve got two months and hopefully another,” Neander said. “That leads us to looking around to see if there’s somebody we can bring in to help in that regard, certainly. Not much different, but [it] does create an opening now, at least for a few weeks, that wasn’t there before.”
At 64-44, the Rays hold the top record in the American League, giving Neander both the motivation and the prospect capital to pursue front-line starters. McClanahan, for his part, acknowledged the difficulty of returning to the IL after his extended absence. “Obviously, no one wants to go on the IL, and I’ve been a little averse to that word after kind of what I’ve been through,” McClanahan said. “But ultimately, had the conversation with Cashy and [pitching coach Kyle Snyder], and this is going to be the best thing for me, the best thing for the team right now.”
Neander said the IL time could ultimately benefit McClanahan’s October availability. “Hopefully at that point he can let it rip the rest of the way and help us get to where we’re looking to go,” Neander said. McClanahan would have been scheduled to pitch against the Rockies at Coors Field on Tuesday night; the Rays have not announced a replacement.