Reviewing the Tampa Bay Rays' offseason

The Rays typically make at least one significant trade that sends out a veteran player to reduce spending and acquire controllable talent. Tampa Bay did that again in a major deal with the Dodgers, but it was otherwise a relatively quiet winter at the Trop.

Major league signings

• RHP Phil Maton: One year, $6.5M (including buyout of 2025 club option)
• SS Amed Rosario: One year, $1.5M
• RHP Chris Devenski: One year, $1.1M (including buyout of 2025 club option)

2024 spending: $8.75M
Total spending: $9.1M

Option decisions

• None

Trades and claims

• Traded minor league C Blake Hunt to Mariners for minor league C Tatem Levins
• Traded minor league RHP Michael Mercado to Phillies for minor league RHP Adam Leverett
• Claimed LHP Tyler Alexander off waivers from Tigers
• Traded RHP Calvin Faucher and 2B Vidal Bruján to Marlins for minor league INF Erick Lara, minor league RHP Andrew Lindsey and a player to be named later (announced as minor league OF Jake Mangum)
• Traded RHP Tyler Glasnow, CF Manuel Margot and $4M to Dodgers for RHP Ryan Pepiot and LF Jonny DeLuca
• Acquired SS José Caballero from Mariners for RF Luke Raley
• Acquired LF Richie Palacios from Cardinals for RHP Andrew Kittredge
• Traded CF Greg Jones to Rockies for minor league LHP Joe Rock

Notable minor league signings

• Garrett Acton (two-year deal), Rob Brantly, Yu Chang, Alex Jackson, Francisco Mejía, Jake Odorizzi, Erasmo Ramírez, Burch Smith, Edwin Uceta, Naoyuki Uwasawa, Jacob Waguespack (later selected to 40-man roster)

Extensions

• Signed LHP Shane McClanahan to two-year, $7.2M deal to avoid arbitration (remains eligible for arbitration through 2027)

Notable Losses

• Jalen Beeks (lost on waivers), Christian Bethancourt (lost on waivers), Bruján, Cooper Criswell (non-tendered), Jake Diekman, Faucher, Josh Fleming (lost on waivers), Glasnow, Tristan Gray, Kittredge, Margot, Raley, Robert Stephenson, Cole Sulser, Raimel Tapia

It’s a near annual tradition that the Rays face two big questions going into each offseason. How will they keep their spending in check, and will they lose anyone from a key leadership position on the coaching staff or in the front office?

This winter, the seemingly inevitable front-office departure came first. General manager Peter Bendix, who had worked as Erik Neander’s top lieutenant in baseball operations, left the organization to serve as president of baseball ops for the Marlins. The Rays didn’t immediately name a new No. 2 executive, instead divvying up Bendix’s former responsibilities among assistant GMs Will Cousins, Chanda Lawdermilk, Carlos Rodriguez and Kevin Ibach (the latter of whom was promoted to that role in January).

While the Rays lost Bendix, they’ve solidified their main leadership duo of Neander and manager Kevin Cash. Each signed contract extensions in February that run at least beyond the 2028 season. Terry Francona’s retirement means Cash is now the longest-tenured manager in MLB as he enters his tenth year at the helm. Neander has been at or near the top of baseball operations for even longer, as he’d taken on a lead role in the front office around Andrew Friedman’s departure in October 2014.

Neander and his staff entered the winter with a slate of payroll commitments that seemed lofty by organizational standards. They had just shy of $77M in guaranteed contracts and an arbitration class projected for upward of $45M. A few obvious cuts (e.g. Raimel Tapia, Jalen Beeks, Josh Fleming, Cole Sulser and Christian Bethancourt) reduced the arbitration outlay, but it seemed as if the Rays would again need to turn to the trade market to cut spending. Tampa Bay had opened the 2023 season with around $73M in player commitments. Even with that number going up, ownership was never going to be comfortable matching the payroll projection from the beginning of the offseason.

Tyler Glasnow was set for a $25M salary that would’ve been the largest in franchise history, thus making him the most apparent trade candidate. Yet, that was complicated by Glasnow’s strong relationship with Rays’ higher-ups and, more meaningfully, an uncharacteristically thin rotation mix. Tampa Bay lost Shane McClanahan and Jeffrey Springs to Tommy John surgeries last season. Drew Rasmussen underwent a flexor repair and will miss a good portion of 2024.

Aside from Glasnow, the Rays were down to Zach Eflin and ’23 deadline pickup Aaron Civale as their only healthy, proven big league starters. Taj Bradley is a recent top prospect but struggled to a 5.59 ERA over 23 appearances as a rookie. Zack Littell had shown signs of becoming the Rays’ next successful reliever-to-starter conversion, yet that only really kicked into gear in the final two months of last season. Shane Baz would face workload restrictions in his first season back from a 2022 Tommy John procedure. Eflin and Civale, while currently healthy, have had injury concerns in the past.

That presumably made a Glasnow trade difficult even for a front office accustomed to making those kinds of tough decisions. Ultimately, it proved the clearest way for Tampa Bay to get their payroll closer to a typical level while bringing back two controllable MLB players. The Rays and Dodgers agreed to a deal sending Glasnow and veteran outfielder Manuel Margot (who was set for a $10M salary in the final year of his contract) to L.A. for righty Ryan Pepiot and outfielder Jonny DeLuca.

Neither Pepiot nor DeLuca have reached arbitration. Pepiot is under club control for five seasons, while the Rays control DeLuca for six years. Tampa Bay kicked in $2M on Margot’s salary and agreed to pay the $2M buyout on his 2025 mutual option. The deal saved them around $33M this year. Glasnow agreed to a four-year extension with the Dodgers as a condition of the trade. (Los Angeles later flipped Margot to the Twins in February.)

Pepiot won’t match Glasnow’s ace-level ceiling, but he’ll step directly into the rotation. The Butler product owns a 2.76 ERA over 17 MLB appearances. He’s regarded as a potential mid-rotation arm thanks to a mid-90s fastball and excellent changeup. Pepiot may well have established himself as a key piece of the Dodger rotation last year had he not suffered a significant oblique strain at the end of spring training. That kept him under 65 innings between the majors and Triple-A in 2023. The Rays may need to keep an eye on Pepiot’s workload, but he slots in behind Eflin and Civale in the starting staff.

DeLuca, meanwhile, is a replacement for Margot. They’re each right-handed hitting outfielders with good contact skills and the ability to play all three outfield positions. DeLuca has only 24 games of major league experience but is coming off a .294/.390/.566 line in the upper minors. He was on track for a fourth outfield spot before breaking his hand this spring, so he’ll likely be on the injured list until the early part of the summer.

Glasnow and Margot turned out to be the highest-profile players whom the Rays would move. There were a few rumors about other stars who are into their arbitration years, namely Randy Arozarena and Isaac Paredes.  There’s nothing to indicate the Rays ever got close to trading either.

It’s a bit surprising they didn’t deal righty-hitting DH/corner bat Harold Ramírez, who is making just under $4M and is down to two seasons of club control. Ramírez, a good but not elite hitter with defensive limitations, is the kind of player whom the Rays typically shop as their arbitration prices climb. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported in January that Tampa Bay had floated him on the trade market, but they apparently didn’t find an offer to their liking. Barring a surprise move in the next five days, he’ll open the season as their top option at DH.

While they didn’t trade Ramírez, the Rays did flip one player from their corner outfield mix. Tampa Bay sent Luke Raley to the Mariners in a one-for-one swap to bring in versatile infielder José Caballero. Raley has yet to reach arbitration so this deal didn’t have anything to do with the payroll, but Tampa Bay added some roster balance in swapping offense for a more valuable defensive player.

Caballero appeared in 104 games for Seattle as a rookie. While he hit a modest .221/.343/.320 over 280 plate appearances, he stole 26 bases and rated as a plus defender at second base. Seattle didn’t have much shortstop time to offer him thanks to the presence of J.P. Crawford. The Rays have already declared Caballero their expected starter at short, forming a middle infield tandem with Brandon Lowe. Defensive stalwart Taylor Walls will begin the year on the IL as he works back from last fall’s hip surgery.

(The Rays still haven’t provided any update on Wander Franco. MLB and the team are awaiting results of a criminal investigation in the Dominican Republic after multiple minors came forward with allegations of sexual abuse toward Franco. He remains on the roster but will very likely be placed back on administrative leave once the regular season begins.)

On the same day as the Caballero trade, the Rays partially back-filled the outfield depth lost by dealing Raley when the team Bay acquired lefty-hitting Richie Palacios from the Cardinals for reliever Andrew Kittredge. Palacios was available in a DFA trade as recently as last June but turned some heads with a .258/.307/.516 showing in 32 games for St. Louis late last year. His major league track record is limited, but Palacios has posted an excellent strikeout and walk profile in the upper minors. He has hit well this spring and could break camp, although a remaining minor league option affords the front office roster flexibility. Neither Caballero nor Palacios has reached a full year of service time. They’re both controllable for at least six seasons.

The rest of the Rays' trades were relatively minor, as they moved on from a pair of former top prospects who haven’t clicked. The Rays shipped Vidal Bruján alongside reliever Calvin Faucher to the Marlins for a trio of minor leaguers in November. They made a similar move just Friday, sending speedster Greg Jones to the Rockies for non-roster southpaw Joe Rock. Tampa Bay also dealt Blake Hunt and Michael Mercado (to the Mariners and Phillies, respectively) after determining they weren’t going to add them to the 40-man roster to prevent them from reaching minor league free agency.

While most of the Rays’ roster maneuvering always comes via trade, they did make a trio of low-cost free-agent pickups. The Rays brought back swingman Chris Devenski on a $1.1M deal with a club option early in the offseason. That was their only major league free-agent acquisition until February, when they jumped on a pair of players whose prices came in south of expectations.

Reliever Phil Maton inked a one-year, $6.5M pact that includes a team option for 2025. He generates plenty of whiffs and soft contact behind a high-spin curveball that enables his 89 mph fastball to play beyond its velocity as his “secondary” pitch. Maton doesn’t have the traditional power arsenal that gets relievers paid in free agency, yet he’s coming off a career-low 3.00 ERA and has run above-average strikeout rates in four straight years. The Rays’ preference for building a bullpen comprising pitchers with varying arm angles and repertoires has been well-chronicled in recent seasons. More often than not, it works.

While it was a little surprising that Maton couldn’t secure a two-year pact, the Rays’ other February free-agent signing was very unexpected. Amed Rosario isn’t coming off a good season, but few would’ve anticipated he’d settle for a $1.5M guarantee. He’d been a durable and roughly league average performer for Cleveland in 2021-22 before his defensive grades tumbled last year.

Rosario reportedly turned down a $4M offer from the Yankees because the Rays presented a clearer path to everyday reps at shortstop. That might be the case throughout the season given Caballero’s inexperience, but Cash stated after the Rosario signing that the latter would begin the year in a multi-positional role off the bench.

That rounds out the MLB position player mix for now, although there’s at least one move coming before Opening Day. After placing Bethancourt on waivers, the Rays dropped to one catcher on the 40-man roster. They’ve stuck with that arrangement throughout the offseason. René Pinto is their clear No. 1 option after hitting six homers in 39 games. The Rays will obviously need to make another move to add a backup.

For now, it seems that minor league signee Alex Jackson, who has played all of five MLB games in the last two seasons, is the favorite to grab that job. That’s despite a .143/.194/.179 batting line this spring. Jackson’s longstanding strikeout troubles at least open the door for old friend Francisco Mejía, who returned on a non-roster pact after being released from a minor league deal with the Angels. There’s clear room for an upgrade from outside the organization. The Rays should evaluate the catching market as veterans opt out of minor league deals over the next few days. Former top prospect Joey Bart has long stood as a speculative trade possibility, as he’s out of options and has been kicked down the depth chart with the Giants.

Caballero, Lowe and Rosario should see the bulk of the work in the middle infield. Paredes is back at third base, while Yandy Díaz is in line for the majority of the first base reps. Curtis Mead could play a bat-first role throughout the infield. That would’ve also been the case for Jonathan Aranda, but he broke his finger this week and is headed to the IL. Top third base prospect Junior Caminero looms in the upper minors but will begin the season in Triple-A.

Arozarena is back as one of the game’s best left fielders. Jose Siri will get the bulk of the playing time in center field. Josh Lowe should be the starter in right field when healthy, but he’s also going to begin the year on the shelf rehabbing an oblique issue. That could open right field reps for Ramírez or Palacios. The DeLuca injury could create a bench spot for Jake Mangum, who has impressed this spring. A college standout at Mississippi State, the 28-year-old Mangum was the third piece in the return from the Marlins for Bruján and Faucher. He’s a potential fifth outfielder.

There’s a fair bit of position player talent, as is customary for an organization that annually runs a strong prospect pipeline. The aforementioned lack of rotation depth is probably the biggest question mark. A pectoral strain is sending Bradley to the IL. There’s an opening for the No. 5 starter behind Eflin, Civale, Pepiot and Littell. The Rays are stretching Devenski and waiver claim Tyler Alexander out as multi-inning options who could contribute as abbreviated starters. They brought back Jake Odorizzi and added former NPB righty Naoyuki Uwasawa on minor league deals.

Any of Devenski, Alexander or even Odorizzi could also find themselves in the bullpen. Minor league signee Jacob Waguespack has already earned a 40-man roster spot, putting him in a good spot to secure a middle relief role. They’ll need a few other arms to bridge the gap between the rotation and the likes of Maton, Pete Fairbanks and Jason Adam in the late innings.

Cot’s Baseball Contracts projects the Rays to enter the season with a $98.4M player payroll. That’s both easily a franchise high and firmly in the bottom third of the league. They face their ever-present challenge of going against bigger spenders in the Yankees, Blue Jays and Red Sox, as well as a Baltimore team awash in young talent that chased the Rays down to win the AL East a year ago. The division is always an uphill battle, but the Rays typically find ways to overcome it.