TORONTO -- The Rays added right-hander Chase Whitley to their bullpen prior to Monday's series opener against the Blue Jays in a move to protect their starting pitching and bullpen depth.
Whitley, who was optioned to Triple-A Durham on Aug. 1, made two Minor League outings and last pitched Aug. 9. Of his 31 MLB appearances, Whitley pitched more than one inning in 15.
"When we had to option Chase out, that wasn't the ideal scenario given he's pitched really well for us," manager Kevin Cash said. "[He was] kind of an odd man out, I tried to explain that to him."
Left-hander Jose Alvarado was optioned after Sunday's game to make room for Whitley. Alvarado has a 4.76 ERA with 23 strikeouts over 22 2/3 innings and 26 appearances this season.
Rays notes
• Adeiny Hechavarria and Mallex Smith were left out of the starting lineup in Monday's opener at Toronto, as the Rays plan to rest their everyday starters.
"We're in the long part of the season and we've got to get guys off their feet," Cash said. "We've asked a lot of Hechavarria, we've asked a lot of Mallex [Smith], and you're going to see throughout this series that some guys are going to get some days off or DH days, however we design it."
• Alex Cobb played catch Sunday as he tries to work back from turf toe, but did not progress to throwing off of a mound for a bullpen session.
"He went out and played catch, and didn't even need to get on the mound to know that the toe is not right," Cash said. "Just by playing catch you get a pretty good sense, just from the finish and the follow through and how he kind of pounds that foot."
Cash mentioned Cobb played catch Monday and left feeling better.
• Right-hander Matt Andriese threw 50 pitches over three innings for Class A Advanced Charlotte on Sunday, allowing two runs on four hits and striking out two.
"He said it was hot but he got his workload in," Cash said. "We wanted him to go three-plus actually, which he did, so he's on schedule to make another start. We haven't discussed where that's going to be, whether it's Charlotte or Durham."