Rays put Farnsworth on DL with sore elbow

As expected the Tampa Rays placed closer Kyle Farnsworth on the 15 day disabled list Thursday and called up right hander Josh Luke.

Farnsworth, who had a career high 25 saves last season, is suffereing from an elbow strain. There are a lot of estimates on how long he will be out for one. At the worse one scenario has the right hander sidelined for six weeks.

Rays manager Joe Maddon is not one to panic and he didn't sound any alarms. He said the Rays never officially had a closer and that role would be filled by committee for the time being.

That means any of a number of Rays could be closing; the most likely are Jose Peralta, newly acquired Fernando Rodney, J.P. Howell and Jake McGee. There is also the distinct possibility Wade Davis, a starter for two years who has been assigned to the bullpen could wind up closing games.

The 27 year-old Lueke was acquired from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for catcher John Jaso. The right hander made his Major League debut last season and appeared in 25 games. He had an 8.06 ERA in 32.2 innings and struck out 29.

In 2010 pitching for four minor league teams had 94 strikeouts in 63 innings and his 13.43 strikeouts per nine innings ranked seventh among Minor Leaguers.