Tampa Bay has joined the group of teams pulling their support from their prospects. On Tuesday, the Devil Rays demoted Toby Hall, calling up Paul Hoover to take his roster spot.

The Devil Rays have been disappointed in Hall's defensive fundamentals and his bat has not been hot enough to distract them from that disappointment. Hall had 26 H, 6 2B, and 2 HR in 139 AB with a 6:12 BB:K for a .187 BA, .224 OBP, and .273 SLG. Tampa sat the young catcher for five days last week in order to rest a jammed thumb and a bruised left ankle, as well as to give him time to work on his defense. He'd only been back in the lineup for three games prior to his demotion.

He had demonstrated both good plate discipline and power potential at AAA last season as one of the top catching prospects in the minors. Hall also improved his defense to an acceptable level. My first reaction upon reading of this demotion was irritation at another rookie bounced down without enough playing time to prove himself in the majors. As non-contenders this season, the Rays are under no pressure to shortchange their prospects for the possibility of a small immediate upgrade to the roster.

I've since seen columnists attribute the demotion to more than poor performance. In a St. Petersburg Times article linked to by Rotowire.com, Staff Writer John Romano reports that Hall arrived in camp 20-25 pounds overweight and continued to display a lack of conditioning and commitment to improvement throughout the course of the season. He speculates that perhaps the Devil Rays intend this demotion to be a wake up call for the 26-year-old.

If they mean this to be a punitive demotion, then I'm still not in favor of the move as such actions rarely have a positive effect. However, if Hall truly needs to work on his conditioning, a few weeks in the minors might allow him to complete the necessary work in a much more efficient manner than remaining in the majors.

Hoover will back-up John Flaherty, who has returned to the Rays' starting catcher job during Hall's demotion. He's also 26, though while Hoover demonstrated good plate discipline in AA in 2000 with a 67:66 BB:K in 360 AB, his strike zone judgment severely deteriorated last season in AAA to the lowest levels of his professional career with an 11:66 BB:K in 293 AB. He appears to possess moderate speed skills, so his value would increase in multiple areas if his batting eye returned to its AA heights.

Even Hoover has admitted that his call-up now has more to do with the poor performances of others than his success. In AAA this season, he was hitting .211 with a .276 OBP and .400 SLG in 90 AB on 19 H, 4 2B, 2 3B, and 3 HR, with a 7:28 BB:K. While he's almost reached his walk total from last season in the first quarter of 2002, he still isn't in range of good plate discipline numbers.

In addition to demoting Hall, the Devil Rays also sent down Jason Tyner on Tuesday. At the time of his demotion, Tyner had 36 H, 2 2B, and 1 3B, in 168 AB with a 7:19 BB:K for a .214 BA, .249 OBP, and a .238 SLG. He'd also stolen 7 bases in 8 attempts.

Tyner's speed is an asset to the Rays only if he can get on base, and his skills in that area have severely deteriorated following his first major league promotion in 2000. In 1999 at AA Binghamton in the Eastern League, Tyner had a 62:46 BB:K in 162 AB. The following season at AAA Norfolk in the International League, he posted a 30:32 BB:K in 105 AB. However, his strike zone judgment in the majors fails to reflect his prior skills. In 688 big league at-bats between the New York Mets and Tampa Bay, Tyner has a 27:77 BB:K. Tyner won't deserve a major league roster spot until he can carry his AAA on-base skills with him upon promotion.

Tampa added insult to injury by timing his demotion five days before the Jason Tyner Bobblehead Giveaway. The May 26th promotion has now been postponed indefinitely, and the Devil Rays have offered refunds to fans who no longer want to attend without the prospect of taking home the doll. No action has been taken with regards to Toby Hall's Bobblehead night, scheduled for September 8th. I have little doubt that the catcher will return to the majors before that time, particularly in light of expanded September rosters.

The Rays activated Aubrey Huff to fill Tyner's roster spot. Huff was hitting .325 with a .386 OBP and .486 SLG in 126 at-bats at AAA on 41 H, 9 2B, and 3 HR, with a 12:13 BB:K. He missed the first month of the season after a ball thrown during a practice in late March broke his cheekbone, though the Devil Rays had already decided that he would start the season in AAA at the time of the injury.

Reportedly, Huff's extremely poor defensive skills led to the injury. Consequently, the club appears to have abandoned plans of using him at third and is prepared to have him DH while in the majors. As a result, Greg Vaughn will move to left field. Huff will need to hit well in the majors to justify pushing Vaughn to the outfield and may lose his roster spot quickly if he enters an extended slump. He had upside as a third baseman, but there aren't many roster spots available for players unable to field any defensive position.

Early in the month Tampa released Bobby Smith and called up Jared Sandberg. Smith had 11H, 2 2B, and 1 HR in 63 AB with a 3:25 BB:K for a .175 BA, .212 OBP, and .254 SLG. While he has both speed and power potential, Smith's never had good plate discipline. Unfortunately for the Devil Rays, Sandberg has extremely similar skills though with even less recently displayed power and speed. Sandberg has assumed the starting third base duties, usurping Russ Johnson who has more plate discipline but little speed or power.

Smith recently signed a minor league contract with the Milwaukee Brewers. He'll serve as injury insurance at AAA, though if the Brewers are committed to limiting their strikeouts this season, they should leave him in the minors.

Last Wednesday, Tampa signed Dave McCarty to a minor league contract following his departure from the Royals after Kansas City DFA'd him on May 13th. He'll provide the Rays with similar AAA insurance while likely filling Aubrey Huff's slot for the Durham Bulls.

The Devil Rays made several changes to their pitching staff this month. Esteban Yan official lost and then unofficially regained his position as the Tampa closer. In early May, Manager Hal McRae decided to discontinue use of Yan as the primary closer and moved to a closer-by-committee after Yan blew a save in late April and had a poor outing in his first May appearance.

They tried using Jesus Colome and Victor Zambrano to close out games but neither had any more success than Yan. Colome actually received three opportunities in April while the position was still Yan's. McRae used him to finish the game in which he decided that Yan would no longer be the primary stopper. Colome blew all four opportunities. He had a 13:14 K:BB with 25 H and 1 HR allowed in 14 IP when the Devil Rays sent him back to AAA in mid-May after a miserable outing in New York in which he walked four and allowed four hits in less than an inning of work.

Zambrano allowed homers in both his save opportunities, failing to earn the saves. In 31 IP, he's compiled a 17:18 K:BB while allowing 28 H and 5 HR. Doug Creek had one opportunity in April, but also failed to convert it for a save. He has a 15:10 K:BB with 13 H and 2 HR allowed in 14.1 IP.

Yan has a 9:7 K:BB with 20 H and 4 HR in 19.1 innings, accumulating 8 saves in 9 opportunities. While Tampa Bay should be able to find a substitute among their young relievers, the club should really officially restore Yan to his former position so that they can receive good value for him in trade before making a permanent switch.

Tampa called up Jason Standridge when they demoted Colome. The 23-year-old's minor league stats show little upside as he has severe control problems, no dominance, and no command. The only thing he really hasn't struggled with in the minors is an overabundance of home runs, though he let 5 dingers fly in only 19.1 major league innings last season. Standridge returned to the minors three days later with a 1:4 K:BB, 7 H, and 1 HR in 3 IP when they decided to carry one less pitcher, recalling infielder Jason Smith.

Tampa also placed Delvin James on the DL May 18th retroactive to May 9th. Lee Gardner replaced James on the roster. James missed a start due to shoulder stiffness later diagnosed as an inflamed rotator cuff. Tampa decided to proceed with caution by allowing him to rest the shoulder on the DL. He was throwing without pain last week so should be able to rejoin the team sometime after this weekend.

The 27-year-old Gardner has split the last two seasons between AA Orlando in the Southern League and AAA Durham in the International League. The right-handed reliever doesn't have great stuff but his skills are acceptable for middle relief. Since his call up, he has 2 strikeouts and no walks with 2 H in 3 IP. Travis Harper took James' place in the rotation and has pitched well in both his starts.