Bartlett to DL; Brignac, Zobrist up

Posted Jul 3, 2008 by Marc Lancaster

Updated Jul 3, 2008 at 03:50 PM

The Rays have placed shortstop Jason Bartlett on the disabled list with a right knee sprain. Tampa Bay will recall shortstop Reid Brignac and utilityman Ben Zobrist from Durham, while also optioning Mitch Talbot back to Triple-A after a one-day stay.

Bartlett was injuried sliding into third during the big seventh inning last night and kept going on adrenaline, as Andrew Friedman put it today. But his knee started swelling up after the game and he saw the doctor today. Friedman said the Rays consider the diagnosis a positive, as it could have been worse, and they expect Bartlett back for the beginning of the second half.

“It’s tough,” said Friedman. “Obviously our defense has been a big part of our success to date and Jason’s right in the middle of that. Injuries are a part of the game, so it doesn’t do us much good to cry about it, but it does kind of reflect on the fact that we feel like we have two very capable guys in Ben and Reid below that provide us great depth.”

The Rays are calling up both players because of lingering uncertainty over the status of Zobrist’s shoulder. He spent some time on Durham’s DL and had played in only a couple of games before being recalled to join the Rays for a three-day stint in Miami last week.

“It was a situation for us where with 10 games to go until the All-Star break, with Zobrist’s shoulder situation, we’re confident that he’s fine but not sure he’s going to be able to play every day, and this allows us to play some matchups and be in position to have an extra infielder ready,” Friedman explained.

He said it would be up to Joe Maddon to determine who gets the bulk of the playing time at shortstop between the two. As for the possibility of moving Evan Longoria over to play short for the next 10 days (which would have allowed them to get Willy Aybar back in the lineup at third base), Friedman basically said they’re comfortable playing Longoria there for short bursts, but “didn’t want to be in a position to have to play Evan at shortstop on any type of extended basis.”

In sending Talbot back, the Rays are prepared to go with 11 pitchers through the break. Friedman said he doesn’t expect Al Reyes to come off the DL until after the break, which is something of a departure from what we understood to be the case, so they’ll go with what they’ve got and make a move to bring in an arm if they need to over the next week and a half.