Tampa Bay Times Rays insider Marc Topkin was first to report the Rays have traded 1B Casey Gillaspie to the Chicago White Sox to left handed reliever Dan Jennings.
Jennings’ this season has an ERA of 3.45 and has been as impressive of late, posting a 2.25 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 24 innings of work since June 6 for Chicago. That’s just six earned runs in his last 23 appearances, with opposing batters turning in just a .491 OPS against him during that stretch.
Jennings finished with a 2.08 ERA in 64 games last season with the White Sox and a 1.34 ERA in 47 games with the Miami Marlins in 2014.
OFFICIAL RELEASE FROM TAMPA BAY RAYS COMMUNICATIONS
The Tampa Bay Rays have acquired left-handed relief pitcher Dan Jennings from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for minor league first baseman Casey Gillaspie.
To make room on the 40-man roster, right-handed relief pitcher Diego Moreno was designated for assignment. A corresponding move to the 25-man roster will be announced later. In addition, the Rays added right-handed pitcher Austin Pruitt to the taxi squad, and he will start Friday at New York in place of injured right-handed pitcher Jake Odorizzi.
Jennings, 30, will wear No. 43 and is expected to join the Rays tonight for the start of a four-game series at Yankee Stadium. He is 3-1 with a 3.45 ERA (44.1-IP, 17-ER) in 48 relief appearances this season and 12-13 with a 2.86 ERA (261.1-IP, 83-ER) over parts of six seasons with the Miami Marlins (2012-14) and White Sox (2015-17). His 48 apps this season are the most among American League lefties and are tied for second among all AL relievers, one shy of Bryan Shaw (Indians).
He has limited left-handed hitters to a .169 avg. (12-for-71) and one extra-base hit this season. In his three seasons with the White Sox, lefties have hit just .225 (56-for-249) against him. Over that same stretch, his 23 GIDP rank second among AL relief pitchers behind Shaw (26). His ground ball rate this season is 58.5 percent, according to FanGraphs, which ranks sixth in the AL (min. 40 IP). Dating back to August 1, 2015, he ranks third among AL relievers (min. 100 IP) with a 2.33 ERA (127.2-IP, 33-ER), trailing Zach Britton (1.41) of the Orioles and Andrew Miller (1.65) of the Yankees and Indians.
Selected by the Florida Marlins in the sixth round of the 2008 June Draft out of the University of Nebraska, he made his major league debut for the Marlins in 2012 and was traded to the White Sox following the 2014 season.
Gillaspie, 24, hit .227/.296/.357 (80-for-353) with nine home runs and 44 RBI in 95 games with Triple-A Durham this season. Last year, he led Rays minor leaguers with 18 home runs, ranked fourth with 64 RBI and was named the Minor League Player of the Year by the club’s Baseball Operations department. He entered this season ranked by Baseball America as the Best Power Hitter and Best Strike-Zone Judgment in the organization. In their midseason update, he was ranked by MLB.com as the No. 10 prospect in the Rays organization. Casey is the younger brother of Conor Gillaspie, who is currently on the active roster of the San Francisco Giants and spent parts of three seasons in the majors with the White Sox.
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