Newly promoted Rays general manager Erik Neander isn’t ruling out a rebuild “if the interest and market dictates,” he told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. But, on the heels of a 68-win campaign, it seems Neander is more focused on immediately returning the Rays to relevance.
“There’s a certain belief that we have in the core of our team, that it’s not out of the question that we can compete deep into the season,” Neander said.
As Topkin previously reported, it’s unlikely the Rays will subtract their best starter, Chris Archer, from that core. But they continue to discuss left-hander Drew Smyly with other teams, and right-hander Alex Cobb is also a candidate to end up elsewhere via trade. Dealing one of those two would leave the Rays with a still-capable group that would also consist of Archer, Jake Odorizzi, Blake Snell and perhaps Matt Andriese. They’re mulling adding free agent starter Nathan Eovaldi to the mix, but he underwent Tommy John surgery in August and wouldn’t become a factor until 2018.
In order to complement what should be a respectable 2017 starting staff, the Rays are considering outside help for their bullpen and lineup, per Topkin. Specifically, the team would like to add an adept defensive outfielder and a first base/designated hitter type to its collection of position players. With the latter need in mind, Tampa Bay has discussed such left-handed free agent hitters as Pedro Alvarez, Ryan Howard, Brandon Moss, Luis Valbuena and 2016 Ray Logan Morrison. If they opt for a right-handed batter, which could make more sense given that first baseman Brad Miller and DH Nick Franklin struggle against left-handed pitchers, 2016 National League home run co-champion Chris Carter and Billy Butler are on their radar.
However, of greater intrigue than securing any of the aforementioned names is the possibility of signing Jose Bautista. While he seems like a longshot pickup for the low-payroll Rays, they could be in position to pounce on the Tampa Bay-area resident if his market doesn’t develop as hoped this offseason. Plus, because the Rays finished in the bottom 10 of the standings last season, they wouldn’t have to give up a first-round selection to sign Bautista, who rejected the Blue Jays’ qualifying offer. The Rays would instead surrender their competitive balance pick (currently No. 31 overall) in next year’s draft to ink the longtime AL East rival.
Regardless of whether they’re able to reel in Bautista, it does seem the Rays are aiming to compete next year. Last season’s subpar record notwithstanding, the club has a bevy of quality players in the fold, and free agent signing Wilson Ramos should further help matters if the catcher is able to return from a torn ACL in early 2017.
Chris Carter please…..Jose Bautista would be pretty nice as well. Everyone else on that list….hard pass
Draft pick tagged to Jose and his price tag make him unappealing. Carter and Souza in the same lineup would be good for opposing pitchers strikeout totals.
Don’t the ray have a protected pick, I’m not sure.
Just checked and the Rays are 4 so they won’t lose a pick.
They lose the comp pick recently allotted to them, number 31. Says it in the article.
People on this App are so dumb!!!!
You’re right…just like yourself. If you’re going to sling insults, stick to Facebook. Leave the baseball to the adults
I disagree. For every person that says something unintelligent on here, there are 50 more conducting intelligent back and forth conversation. I’m not even sure who you are referring to as “dumb”.
While they might not agree it’s still good conversation. Often it’s old school (gut feeling eye test) fans debating with sabermetrics based logic fans and a lot of in between.
Personally I love reading a posting by a fan where they’ve gone into some long analysis of a situation or player. It’s nice to get the different perspectives and not just the writers.
Perhaps he was referring to those who post without reading the story. We get more and more information, but reading ain’t what it used to be…..
What I was referring to was them not being able to lose the #4 pick so I your arguments about not reading the article arnt even true because there is no way you could have any idea of what I was talking about.
Nick Franklin is not their DH. As of now, he is bench/utility. Dickerson is the DH/LF.
Correct. They are setting him up to be a super utility player. He’ll get reps everywhere in ST.
His bat actually came alive last year and just adds to the question marks about these guys. If they get lucky and nobody stinks as bad as they did last year they can compete.
Starters sunk this team in April and May last year. Middle pen was horrible. Hitters missed way too many pitches. I don’t like Cash as a Manager but his hands were totally tied. If he hit and ran last year more frequently they would have set a record with caught stealing.
Yeah, it would be nice to have Carter as the platoon RH bat to pair with Miller at 1B. Low averages, but between the two, could hit 45-50 HRs.
Really wanna pass on Bautista. If the pick compensation wasn’t there, I’d be just as on board as I am with Carter (even being the 31st pick.)
They wouldnt hit that many together in a platoon, because they wouldn’t be getting the same amount of ABs.
I think what he’s saying is leave Miller at 1B and platoon Carter as the righty DH. Both get in the lineup vs righties….even though I’d personally bench Miller against lefties if power is the decision. Carter had 29 HR and Miller 27 vs righties in 2016. Its legit to envision they hit 50 together in the same lineup. They both also combined for 18 against lefties…12 eom Carter and 6 from Miller.
They probably would.
About 700 PA’s vs same handed pitchers always. I’m on my phone, otherwise I would look at last three year platoon stats for each and pro-rate them to 700 pa with 70% of PA going vs right handed pitchers.
Plus pinch hitting, days off etc
wait a second, you don’t want one of the best power hitters in the game on your favorite team because of a 31st overall pick who may or may not pan out in 3-4 years??? really?
To a small market, low payroll team like the Rays that #31 pick is worth so much more than one year of Bautista.
Tampa’s going to be better surely, but it still doesn’t make a lot of sense to be making those exchanges where they are on the win curve.
1. bautista isnt a top anything. he’s old, declining, and expensive. hence why no one wants him at the price he thinks hes worth (the price he would have gotten 5-10 years ago).
2. yea…a 31st overall pick isnt bad. you want as much young upside as possible. crippling your org by simultaneously wasting payroll on an aging slugger in his mid 30s and pissing away draft picks is the exact opposite of what they should do.
1. bautista isnt “one of the best” anything. he’s old, declining, and expensive. hence why no one wants him at the price he thinks hes worth (the price he would have gotten 5-10 years ago).
2. yea…a 31st overall pick isnt bad. you want as much young upside as possible. crippling your org by simultaneously wasting payroll on an aging slugger in his mid 30s and pissing away draft picks is the exact opposite of what they should do.
think you forgot to add to Joey Bats reputation; Jerk, Ego-Maniac self-centered Jerk, Horne-dog , etc Can’t 4-get those enduring qualities…
He’s a horne dog?? What are you smoking??
For one I’m not a huge Bautista fan but for you to say he’s not one of the what power hitters because of an injury plagued bad year, you’re an idiot. I love the Rays and couldn’t know any more about them. Bautista would add a known fear factor, the Rays haven’t had any known players sign with us since Johnny Damon and manny. Wilson Ramos I jumped over joy about and if we could add Joey bats with the firey personality and slot his big bat behind longo. You bet I’m giving up that 31st pick. It’s about culture and nobody on the Rays has that fire and desire to win and they aren’t like brothers anymore. Back been Sean Rodriguez and price and those guys were here they had their back they were tight like family. I don’t see that anymore and we need a true leader when longo has come out and said he doesn’t want to be that guy for us
You wouldn’t lose you first rounder as it’s protected.
31st pick, comp one, would be lost. That and his high salary for a cheap franchise makes zero sense. Plus, if his price went down enough for the Rays he would end up somewhere else or Toronto again.
Why platoon Carter and Miller? They both ravage righties to a tune of 29 and 27hr each in 2016 vs righties. Miller only had 6 on lefties. Do you mean swap them defensively between 1b/dh in the same lineup?
Well this stat can’t be correct because miller only hit 30 all year. So he only hit 24 off righties if your lefty stat is correct.
Fangraphs says he hit 27 off righties and 3 off lefties. This was in roughly 115 abs vs lefties…only hit them for about .225 as well in straight avg. That’s the platoon split to have….but it also means he needs a platoon partner. Carter isnt it. They’d rake on righty starters….but they need a solid lefty masher who can take the weak side platoon and hit against the pen.
Yeah, that stat startled me too. I had to go back and verify. I assume fangraphs has it right.
The Rays still won’t compete no matter who they sign, so why not roll with what they have and wait until the next few free agencies when there are some difference makers available. Although, the Rays seem to be a turn off to free agents, that’s why they haven’t signed a big name player in years.
Rays haven’t signed a big name player in years because they’re so cheap, not because they’re a turn off to free agents. Big names cost big money
You sound like me, when I’m talking about my Cardinals. The best thing the Cardinals could do is keep the team they have and fire their GM and Mike Mathaney, their Manager! Ha! Sad, but true!
That’s because you don’t know what you’re talking about. You never think about the future in any move. If people like you ram the team trading for players or signing free agents now wouldn’t be possible because you’d have already traded away every asset for marginal upgrades in past years. It would be a team like the Tigers
You have no idea what you’re talking about. They are “hellbent” to compete per the front office. Ramos is a sign and we haven’t traded any pitchers yet. In fact free agents love signing with this team. Pearce didn’t wanna be traded at the deadline and he said he would’ve loved to return this offseason. The money went to Ramos but I’m just saying players love playing in Tampa. But I’m not sure why everyone wants to bring in more lefties. In my opinion the more lefties the worse your team is. Lefty on lefty is so much harder than right one right. We have a couple lefties already I say Carter and Bautista are our best bet for this team. I don’t like moss. I would take a cheaper Alvarez. Look at the lefty heavy dodgers. You can bring in a lefty any time of the game and it’s like done. And their lefties are superstars. They aren’t a miss or Alvarez. We do not need lefties. Leave miller alone
Rays need someone who can mash a righty. Only 3 of Miller’s 30 HR came off of lefties per fangraphs. Alvarez does nothing more than create a need for a platoon partner. In theory Bautista solves a couple issues…but the money is real. Get me someone who can hit lefties and wont need to be lifted late in a close game or leave guys stranded.
Ryan Raburn is still out there. With his versatility, ability to sign for cheap, and reputation of a left hander’s nightmare, is he not what the Rays are (or should be) looking for?
Possibly…but it also depends on how legit they want to go in 2017. Do they deal an arm for a Colorado OF? Rays seem to be in a situation where the could move sideways basically and build a little for the future.
Brandon Moss fits the Rays the best IMO. Can play a decent OF/1B and has a consistent bat. Nice veteran for this young team as well. Although, I will say the presence of an elite bat will COMPLETELY change this team.
Change for the better!
Given the choices listed, Moss makes more sense to me as well. Even grabbing LoMo again makes more sense. More lefty bats in the lineup. The “right handed strikeout machine with power” role is filled with Souza.
I wonder if the Rays and Rockies can pair up on an outfield bat. It’ll cost the Rays something.
I actually picked Bautista to the Rays in the contest; I know it’s a longshot, but I thought they could be a darkhorse team to get him
Rays could sign Bautista if they trade Chris Archer and bring back a haul of young players. Maybe go for the Nationals who seem to want everyone. The Rays are sitting nicely, if the team upped the pay roll they would be in a great position.
Same with Trumbo,Edwin E,Mike Napoli could use them. Could just Trade a starter to Rockies for Blackmon or Gonzakez.
I’ve been saying the Rockies have been lurking for a front end type starter.
There’s no scenario where the team trades Archer AND signs Bautista. They’ve said if they trade Archer they’ll go into a mini-rebuild, and giving up what’s basically a first round draft pick for a year of Bautista completely goes against that
to up the payroll, fans have to show up at games. I try to make at least a half dozen games (1/mo) a year and I live on Florida’s east coast, 3 hours away. it shames me how few Rays fans show up each year…I think more Red Sox fans come per year than Rays…
What’s the point of signing Ramos if you aren’t willing to go for it in 2017 and/or 2018?
Ramos is out the first half of 2017, it was more about 2018 from the start with that signing.
Tampa might be a landing spot for Colby Rasmus, ya think? Underrated all around player, finds different ways to create value, sneaky upside. Seems to me like he’d fit their motif and budget.
Underrated? Underrated? Have you see him composite batting line? He’s bad at hitting for contact, he cannot get on base, he barely hit for average power, he can’t run, he can barely play corner defense.
Sneaky upside my fanny man, the astros made a mistake offering him a QO, he totally flubbed and was injured all year. Sure he’s been an alright player in the past, but over the past year he has been a well below average player who has zero of the basic baseball skills.
It’s not all about 2016, he had some weird medical stuff that may explain the downturn at the plate.
You’re wrong about some stuff here. He’s actually an outstandingly efficient baserunner and good outfielder which helps set the floor for him to be useful despite recent volatility in his bat. He still came up with 1.4 fWAR this year despite having a disasterous offnsive season.
His career batting line is a 102 wRC+ and the 3 seasons preceeding 2016 were 130, 104, and 117.
Yeah, I’d say that’s sneaky uspide if you think he’s a pile of garbage, he’s still just 30 and was worth 5.1 WAR in 2013. Has higher career WAR than Dexter Fowler, Jon Jay, or Josh Reddick. Great buy low.
He’s stated that he wanted to play in Houston to be near his ranch and family..and he wants to retire young…so there’s more to Rasmus than just the stat data. At this point Im not sure thereis really an opinion on him….he’s grossly underplayed his perceived potential and at times been a mercurial clubhouse presence.
I believe that but Tampa is not too far from there
Wealthy people that can hire jets are essentially always close to home. Im not sure what close is….tampa to Texas is halfway across the country. This scenario of relative closeness only eliminates the northeast teams and the west coast.
I took it from an interview i read that he wanted to finish it out in houston. He seemed to almost want to retire after Toronto.
I guess I would consider the Rangers as close.
How bout Cobb to Pitt for Josh Harrison ????
Cobb’s value right now is kind of a mystery. 1 year of control. Cheap. Post surgery uncertainty.
Cobb could still have 2-3 starter potential tbh
Rays tried to get either Soler or Baez from Cubs last winter for Cobb. Harrison for Cobb is win-win, but with little pitching out there Rays might ask for money to offset the $6M difference