The Rays waiver acquisition of Chase Whitley may be paying unexpected dividends. He and Alex Cobb are both recovering from Tommy John surgery:

In fact, according to Cobb, Whitley thinks that the only reason the Rays signed him was to be a rehab buddy for Cobb.

“We joke a lot — he jokes about it more than I do — but he’s convinced that they let me bring him in as my little pet to kind of motivate me and play along with me to keep me focused,” Cobb told Solondz. “If every organization could somehow do this or somehow pull this off it would definitely help both of those guys going through it.”

The Rays always are looking for an edge.