Rays bullpen could have used a shot in the arm from the unvaccinated

His teammates have not blamed him. At least not publicly.

There have been no fingers pointed from ownership or management or anywhere else from within the Rays organization. As far as I can tell, no one involved with the franchise is harboring accusatory words toward Rays reliever Brooks Raley.

But here’s what I wonder:

Does Raley blame himself?

Does the Rays reliever feel any guilt about skipping a critical five-game series against Toronto this week because he opted not to get a COVID vaccination? It’s the second time this season he has had to skip a series with the Blue Jays because Canadian authorities bar unvaccinated visitors in their country.

So does Raley feel like he let his teammates down? Does he regret not being available to do his job in the middle of a pennant race?

It would certainly be understandable if Raley was struggling with a raging bout of remorse. The Rays went to Toronto with a half-game lead over the Blue Jays for the No. 1 wild-card spot, but found themselves a half-game behind on Tuesday after losing two of the first three games of the series.

And these weren’t just run-of-the-mill defeats. The Rays held a slim lead in both losses but saw their bullpen collapse in the eighth inning on Monday and the seventh inning on Tuesday. In other words, right around the time Raley might have been called on to get crucial outs.

Now, if you’re feeling charitable, you might argue that Raley’s absence had no effect on the two games. Jason Adam blew one save and Colin Poche blew the other, and they are both among Tampa Bay’s most trusted, high-leverage relievers. So, no, it’s not as if a Triple-A replacement was on the mound.

But that’s a myopic view of the situation. The deployment of a bullpen can be a complicated formula. It involves the score. The number of innings to be covered. Which hitters are due up. Whether a reliever is right-handed or left-handed. Who is rested in the bullpen. How long before the next day off.

So it’s difficult to predict how, or if, manager Kevin Cash would have used his bullpen differently had Raley been available.

What we do know is this:

• Raley is Tampa Bay’s highest-paid reliever at $4.25 million.

• He is third on the team in appearances, and third in saves.

• The Rays bullpen had an ERA of 15.00 in the seventh and eighth innings in the first three games of the series.

It’s not a stretch to say the Rays are in the middle of their biggest series of the season. It is five games in four days against a team that could stand between the Rays and the No. 1 wild-card spot.

And how important is that wild-card position? It’s the difference between three home games or three road games in the first round of the playoffs. Considering the Rays are 47-24 at Tropicana Field and 32-38 on the road, that seems like a pretty important distinction.

Now, just to be clear, Raley is not alone in this decision. USA Today research indicated that 9.2 percent of the roughly 400 players who were scheduled to go to Toronto before the All-Star break had to be put on MLB’s restricted list because they were not vaccinated, including Rays reliever Ryan Thompson, who is currently on the injured list.

But if you flip that percentage around, more than 90 percent of MLB’s players have been vaccinated with seemingly no effect on their careers. The CDC estimates more than 250 million Americans have had at least one COVID vaccination, which would seem to suggest a fairly high degree of safety.

All of which made it seem like a cruel coincidence that the digital advertising behind home plate at the Rogers Centre was promoting Moderna’s latest vaccine in the seventh inning Tuesday night — Our NEW booster is here. Choose to BOOST — while Poche was giving up the game-winning, two-run double to Whit Merrifield.

(Merrifield, by the way, was unvaccinated when he began the season with Kansas City but opted for the shot when his $7 million salary was jeopardized by a trade to Toronto.)

In the end, it’s admirable that Raley’s Tampa Bay teammates have quietly accepted his decision to remain unvaccinated. It is, after all, a personal choice.

Even if that choice leaves the Rays bullpen short-handed at the most critical time of the year.

John Romano can be reached at jromano@tampabay.com . Follow @romano_tbtimes.

• • •

Sign up for the Rays Report weekly newsletter to get fresh perspectives on the Tampa Bay Rays and the rest of the majors from sports columnist John Romano.

Never miss out on the latest with the Bucs, Rays, Lightning, Florida college sports and more. Follow our Tampa Bay Times sports team on Twitter and Facebook.