Pillar is someone who derived all of his value from his defense, and that doesn't traditionally age very well. We can debate the merits of extending Grichuk, but extending Pillar would not have been wise.
Meh, good pitcher, the 3rd baseman was well back. I don't mind it in that situation. He was clearly bunting for a base hit, and worse case you still move the runner. If he placed it better, he would have easily been safe.
The Rays really work their pen, and they have a good one, so I think the idea is to make sure they can't match up as effectively. I would argue that Vladdy and Gurriel should be swapped in this instance though.
Agreed. We basically have a few bullpen days right now that I'd much rather see actual starters take. Matt Harvey is still out there. Who knows, maybe something clicks and they decide they want to stay? We need some sort of bodies to bridge the gap.
By the way, I'm not trying to discredit the rest of your rant about relievers coming in too early. It's actually really interesting. This year, starters are actually putting up a better xFIP than relievers. It feels like maybe the extra innings the pen has to cover is causing "shuttle" pitchers with worse stuff than the starter to get more meaningful innings.
I'm pretty sure they weren't worried about the risk a blister might form, they were worried about the one that WAS forming. They want him to be able to make his next start.
Well, yeah, but not easily if they have to get all the way across. I'm just as happy to see our guys going in there feet first anyway, even if it means the odd out.