Rays Claim Chase Whitley From Yankees

The Rays now have a full 40-man roster, with several moves still needing to be made in order to make room for notable top prospects who need protection.

Friday was the deadline to add players to the 40-man roster ahead of the Rule 5 Draft, which will be held on December 10.

Barbato, 23, was originally a sixth-round pick of the Padres out of high school in 2010, and he was acquired by the Yankees from San Diego in exchange for RHP Shawn Kelley last December.

They Yankees had three spots to fill after the Tampa Bay Rays claimed Chase Whitley off waivers earlier in the day. The righty finished second among all Yankee minor leaguers in strikeouts in 2015, posting a 3.86 ERA in 130.1 innings in Single and Double-A.

Davis, 22, was the most likely candidate to be protected by the Yankees.

He joins a crowded pile of right-handed relievers with options who could either help the Yankees in the bigs or return to the RailRiders next season, a group that includes Branden Pinder, Nick Goody, Nick Rumbelow and Caleb Cotham. Whitley would make his season debut towards the end of April, and he delivered five solid innings against the Rays.

Whitley, 26, underwent Tommy John surgery on May 14 after tearing his UCL at the beginning of the 2015 season. Last season, he started to mix in a curve as well. In 95 major league innings he has struck out 76 batters (7.2 K/9-IP) and walked 23 (2.2 BB/9-IP).

Whitley went 4.2 and didn’t allow a run against the Mets before he got pulled due to his pitch count.