The Rays have placed veteran righty reliever Troy Percival on the 15-day disabled list due to a sore arm. Percival has left the team and returned to California to talk with his family about retirement. Percival pitched in 14 games for the Rays this season and he was 0-1 with 6 saves, a 6.35 ERA and a 1.68 WHIP. The Rays will start out with the idea of using a committee to replace Percival as the closer. But, that almost never works so the Rays need one of these guys to step up and take the job. Jason Isringhausen makes the most sense based on his experience as a closer. He has pitched in 5 games for the Rays this season and he is 0-1 with a 3.60 ERA and a 1.80 WHIP. Righty Grant Balfour without a doubt has the best stuff of the auditioning pitchers, but, he has pitched in 22 games this season for the Rays and he is 2-0 with 1 save, a 5.75 ERA and a 1.67 WHIP. Balfour could win the job as the closer if he started throwing more strikes as he has walked 14 batters in 20 1/3 innings this season. Righty Dan Wheeler was the fill-in last season as the closer whenever Percival was out and he did a decent job. He has pitched in 20 games this season for the Rays and he is 1-1 with a 4.86 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP. Lefty J.P. Howell is probably the best pitcher of this motley crew but he’s too valuable in the fact that he can pitch multiple innings per outing. Howell has pitched in 22 games for the Rays this season and he is 0-2 with 1 save, a 2.86 ERA and a 1.23 WHIP. Righty Joe Nelson is the biggest longshot of this bunch and that’s because he is pitching batting practice. He has worked in 22 games for the Rays this season and he is 1-0 with 2 saves, a 6.43 ERA and a 1.95 WHIP. He has allowed a stunning 6 homers and has walked 16 batters in only 21 innings this season. The Rays need one of these guys to step up big time.

The Rays have placed starting shortstop Jason Bartlett on the 15-day D.L. due to a sprained ankle. I laughed last season when the writers voted Bartlett as the team M.V.P. year. But this season he’s playing like one as he has played in 44 games in which he is 60 for 161 (.373 avg, 1.014 OPS) with 32 runs scored, 7 homers, 30 RBIs and 14 stolen bases. Ben Zobrist will likely get some playing time at SS while Bartlett is out. But, Reid Brignac will also get some P.T. in place of Bartlett. Brignac was the #4 prospect in the Rays’ minor league system coming into this season according to Baseball America. Brignac has played in 5 games already this season for the Rays and he is 3 for 12 (.250 avg, .583 OPS) with 3 runs scored and 2 RBIs. He played in 36 AAA games this season also and he was 41 for 141 (.291 avg, .817 OPS) with 24 runs scored, 3 homers, 15 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. The Rays can’t afford to be without Bartlett too long as he’s almost impossible to replace. The Rays have called up 33-year old righty swinging corner infielder Joe Dillon to replace Bartlett on the active roster. Dillon played in 12 games in AAA ball this season and he was 11 for 42 (.262 avg, .732 OPS) with 4 runs scored, 1 homer and 6 RBIs. Dillon has played in 122 games in his major league career and he is 48 for 187 (.257 avg, .709 OPS) with 31 runs scored, 2 homers and 17 RBIs.

The Rays have placed lefty starting pitcher Scott Kazmir on the 15-day disabled list with essentially hurt feelings. He has started 9 games for the Rays this season and he is 4-4 with a 7.69 ERA and a 1.95 WHIP. He has been out of whack the whole season allowing 60 hits, 7 homers and walking 29 batters in only 45 2/3 innings this year. The Rays hope that the time off with rejuvenate Kazmir’s mind and fastball which was barely cracking 90 mph. The Rays have recalled the #1 prospect in their minor league system (David Price) according to Baseball America. His first start was cut short due to a high pitch count. Price worked 3 1/3 innings against the Indians this past Monday and he allowed 4 hits, walked 5 batters and whiffed 6. Price started 8 games in AAA prior to his call up to the Rays and he was 1-4 with a 3.93 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP. Look for Price to be much better in his second start this weekend as he was probably a tad nervous.

The Rays have placed veteran lefty reliever Brian Shouse on the 15-day disabled list with a slight tear of his left flexor muscle. This will likely cause him to miss the next 4-6 weeks. Shouse has pitched in 19 games (0 starts) for the Rays this season and he is 1-1 with a 3.77 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP. To replace Shouse in the bullpen the Rays have recalled 33-year old lefty Randy Choate. Choate has already pitched in 2 games (0 starts) for the Rays this season and he is 0-0 with a 4.50 ERA and a 0.50 WHIP. Choate has pitched in 198 games (0 starts) in his major league career and he is 5-7 with a 4.63 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP. If Choate could just throw strikes he would be effective as he has walked 87 batters in 167 career major league innings. The Rays will miss Shouse.

The Tampa Bay Rays have lost starting 2B Akinori Iwamura for the season due to a torn left ACL. He played in 44 games for the Rays this season and he was 48 for 155 (.310 avg, .783 OPS) with 19 runs scored, 0 homers, 16 RBIs and 8 stolen bases. The Rays have capable backups so they won’t likely miss Iwamura’s bat too much. But what they will miss is his all-out hustle on the baseball field which seemed to ignite his teammates. Ben Zobrist and Willy Aybar will probably split the playing time at 2B the rest of the season for the Rays. Zobrist has played in 40 games this season and he is 31 for 108 (.287 avg, 1.009 OPS) with 19 runs scored, 8 homers, 24 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. Willy Aybar has played in 27 games for the Rays this season and he is 21 for 80 (.263 avg, .765 OPS) with 13 runs scored, 2 homers and 10 RBIs. This was a huge loss for the Rays as Iwamura was a great team player.