The Rays have recalled 23-year old righty starting pitcher Alex Cobb for the second time this year. Cobb has pitched in 8 games (8 starts) in AAA-ball so far this year and he is 5-0 with a 1.14 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP. He did make his major league debut earlier this year for the Rays and it didn’t go too well. He is 0-0 with a 8.31 ERA and a 1.85 WHIP so far with the Rays. Cobb came into this season as the Rays’ #16 prospect according to Baseball America. 28-year old righty Andy Sonnanstine will go back to the bullpen for the time being. He has pitched in 9 games (3 starts) so far this year and he is 0-1 with a 4.21 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP.

26-year old lefty swinging RF Matt Joyce is on fire for the Rays in May. He has played in 21 games so far this May and he is 29 for 69 (.420 avg, 1.279 OPS) with 20 runs scored, 6 homers, 17 RBIs and 1 stolen base. Joyce has been hitting everything hard this month as he is currently the American League leader in batting average (.367). He has now played in 46 games so far this year and he is 54 for 147 (.367 avg, 1.070 OPS) with 31 runs scored, 8 homers, 26 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. Joyce’s bat has been one of the biggest reasons why the Rays are right in the hunt for the lead in the American League East.

The Rays have claimed 27-year old righty reliever/starter Jay Buente off waivers from the Marlins. He started against the Rays last weekend in Miami. He pitched in 1 game (1 start) this year for the Marlins and he was 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA and a 2.67 WHIP. Buente has now pitched in 9 games (1 start) in his two years in the majors so far and he is 0-1 with a 7.07 ERA and a 2.50 WHIP. He has walked 14 batters and has given up 21 hits in his first 14 innings in the majors. The Rays have designated 26-year old righty reliever Rob Delaney to make room on the roster for Buente. Delaney pitched in 3 games (0 starts) for the Rays and he was 0-0 with a 13.50 ERA and a 2.00 WHIP.

UPDATE: (5/29/2011) - Rob Delaney has accepted an outright assignment to AAA from the Rays.

Righty reliever Danys Baez came to the Devil Rays as a set-up man. The Devil Rays enticed him to come to Tampa as they offered him the chance to close and he did a solid job in his two years with the team. In 2005, Baez pitched in 67 games (0 starts) in which he was 5-4 with 41 saves, a 2.86 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. He made the All-Star team for the Devil Rays in 2005. He pitched in 2 seasons with the Devil Rays, working in 129 games (0 starts) in which he was 9-8 with 71 saves, a 3.21 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP. Baez is #2 in Rays/Devil Rays’ history in saves with 71.

The Tampa Bay Rays have placed switch-hitting shortstop Elliot Johnson on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to May 24th with a sprained left knee. Johnson has played in 28 games for the Rays so far this year and he is 17 for 66 (.258 avg, .715 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 2 homers, 8 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. The Rays have activated lefty swinging SS Reid Brignac from the bereavement list (death of his grandfather) ro replace Johnson on the active roster. Brignac has played in 35 games for the Rays so far this year and he is 17 for 100 (.170 avg, .390 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 0 homers and 6 RBIs. Brignac will likely share time at SS with Felipe Lopez until Johnson is ready to return to action. Lopez has played in 25 games for the Rays so far this year and he is 16 for 75 (.213 avg, .586 OPS) with 7 runs scored, 2 homers, 6 RBIs and 1 stolen base. This is a really bad break for Elliot Johnson who was getting his big chance to prove himself when he was injured.