According to lots of people on Twitter and the more reliable source I’ll insert into this post once it’s confirmed, Rocco Baldelli is apparently out of the Rays’ playoff plans due to “left leg fatigue.” He’ll be replaced by Willy Aybar, who has been the Rays' right-handed DH for much of the season.
↵Aybar actually had a lower wOBAr this season (a player’s wOBA regressed to how his batted ball profile usually plays out) than Baldelli, .316 to .320. So not much, but on paper it doesn’t look like the Rays are necessarily improving anything. That said, Baldelli looked pretty lost yesterday and the Rangers like to get beaten by people named Aybar. Any move in the middle of a playoff series is probably going to make me a bit uneasy, so hopefully this is legit and the Rays are pulling anything shady.