The non-waiver trade deadline for Major League Baseball is quickly approaching. This weekend promises to see a lot of transactions as buyers and sellers look to load up or dump salary accordingly. On Thursday, the Tampa Bay Rays appeared to make a move to improve their chances in both the AL East pennant race and the AL's Wild Card race. They acquired a relief pitcher from the chicago white sox in Dan Jennings and gave up an AAA player in Casey Gillaspie.

Dan Jennings is a dedicated reliever that has basically no starting-pitcher potential. In six seasons in the Major Leagues, Jennings has appeared in 281 games and all of them have been relief appearances.

A short-term reliever, he has averaged less than one inning of work in his career appearances. He has a 2.81 ERA for his career, a career WHIP of 1.39, and a record of 12-13.

Jennings' 2017 season so far

This season for the Chicago White Sox, Jennings appeared in 48 games with an ERA of 3.45. His WHIP has been very good at 1.22, however, he has yielded more home runs than he has at other points in his career (6 this season compared to 10 total in his other five seasons combined). In making the move the White Sox appear to be dumping salary in a continued fire sale. Given that they are the last-place team in the NL Central division, they have very little potential to make the post-season.

While the Sox did get Gillaspie, at this point in his career he's not a clear candidate to make the Major Leagues thanks to an OPS of .653 in AAA.

Rick Hahn, the GM of the White Sox, argued that Chicago did get something of substance back in return for Jennings.

“Casey is a recent first-round pick who has shown a quality approach at the plate with some power throughout his minor-league career,” Hahn claimed. “He gives us yet another highly touted hitter who has stood out at every level in the Rays system and increases our organizational depth as we continue to add prospects to the system.”

Rays make push for the post-season

The move for the Rays certainly signifies an interest in their current season. Tampa Bay entered Thursday playing .520 baseball and they are just one game out of the Wild Card race. Furthermore, the Rays are just 2.5 games back of the AL East leading Boston Red Sox.

The New York Yankees are also in the mix in both races, a team that the Rays trail by just a game and a half. With a big weekend series coming up against the Yankees, Tampa Bay probably did not want to wait any longer before adding a quality relief arm like Jennings. The Yankees are a core competitor of the Rays in both the Wild Card race and the AL East's pennant race.
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