FEB. 22: Hunter’s deal comes with a $1.4MM base in the Majors and another $1.5MM worth of incentives available to him, tweets FanRag’s Jon Heyman.
FEB. 16, 9:41am: The two sides have an agreement in place, reports SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo (on Twitter).
9:28am: The Rays are closing in on a minor league contract with right-handed reliever Tommy Hunter, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (on Twitter). An agreement with the Moye Sports Associates client could be finalized today, he adds.
The 30-year-old Hunter, long a member of the division-rival Orioles’ bullpen, split last season between Cleveland and Baltimore, pitching to a combined 3.18 ERA with 6.1 K/9, 2.1 BB/9 and a 49.5 percent ground-ball rate. Hunter opened the 2016 season on the shelf due to offseason surgery to repair a sports hernia, and he also missed a stretch of time this past summer after suffering a non-displaced fracture in his back in a fall at his home during the 2016 All-Star break.
Over the past four seasons, Hunter has worked to a collective 3.24 ERA and averaged 6.8 strikeouts against 1.8 walks per nine innings across 241 1/3 frames with the Orioles, Indians and Cubs. He’d bring another experienced right-handed arm to a crowded Tampa Bay bullpen mix. Currently, the Rays are set to deploy Alex Colome, Brad Boxberger, Danny Farquhar, Shawn Tolleson and Erasmo Ramirez as right-handed options out of the ‘pen, with Xavier Cedeno lined up as the team’s primary left-handed option.
Minor League Deal?! Thats shocking!
Not really he’s still out there during spring training he paniced. He had a good shot at making the team.
This is a good signing. No risk. Let him be the Roogy.
What a brilliant move. Still upgrading bullpen without having to spend much unlike some people on the other forum saying we need to spend big money this proves we don’t. Also Rays internally looking at knuckleballing Wilson
You like conflating. I get that. Again, if Weiters is 10 million, for a small market team with cheap ownership, that money could easily be spent better by adding several players at various needs than doubling down on a good but flawed Weiters.
Where else do we need help. We have so much depth it’s not even funny. Where else do we need help please break down where else 10 mil could go and if it’s justified to fill that more than curt casali being our everyday Catcher
1: replace Nick Franklin with a lefty masher (besides Weeks)
2: more bullpen options, the pen was a disaster and Cash is terrible at managing one
3: DH, Alvarez is a big upgrade vs righties
Take off the homer glasses for a second. Rays have been awful for 3 seasons and apart from hoping for bounce backs and returns from injury, they are worse than last year.
Okay and who do you suggest is available for all those needs? And how is that gonna equal 5-10 million dollars? And by the way say besides weeks but his numbers are above average against lefties so I’m not too sure what the deal is there. We got a guy on a minor league deal who is filling a need for us but that’s not good enough because we didn’t give him the title of a major league deal with hefty price. Still has good value
We do not need any more lefties we have too many as it is.
The only real depth I see is how far deep the rays will be in the standings
Well when the Yankees and Orioles are below us it can’t be too deep??
Why do you see the Rays as worse than last year? A full season of KK, Duffy and Snell and partial season of Ramos, as well as, expected improvement from Archer and BP depth should all lead to an improved team. Moving Miller to 2B should help offset the loss of Forsythe. Otherwise, what did the Rays lose from last year.
I don’t know why you argue with that thing, ducksnort. I think you’re wrong about the Rays this year, but arguing with what appears to be the least informed Rays fan in existence seems like a waste of your time.
Sandy, do you think the Rays are a worse team this year compared to last year? I’m a little surprised by this.
Both this year and last year were better than the record. Baseruns had them at a .500 record last year, but some shenanigans down the stretch saw the losses mount. Good on them to recognize an opportunity to get a better pick. Rather do that one year than three. I think right now they’re an 83-84 win team playing in what is still the most difficult division in the game. I would have put them at 84-86 if they had added Carter, which puts them front and center in the WC discussion. I like this club, but still think that 2018 will be the year it all comes together.
I see a lot of parallels between 2016 and 2007 and hope that 2017 looks a lot like 2008, when we also thought they were a year early. It’s a good team that is doing their best to cover weaknesses. I would have liked one more right-handed thumper, but maybe that comes from Gillaspie/Adames/Robertson. People cry about losing a good player like Logan Forsythe, but I think Robertson looks an awful lot like him at the plate, and is a better defender. I hope I’m right.
I’m right there with you. I have them as an 82 win team that could get up to 86-87 with some luck and/or break outs. I also really thought Carter as a mostly DH sometime 1B was what this team’s lineup really needed. I asked because I thought you were saying that you disagreed with me about the Rays being improved. I know we’re usually on the same page when it comes to the Rays and that’s why I was surprised at first.
Don’t forget Mallex Smith could come up at any time and be a really nice spark plug to go along with all the full season’s your gonna get from the guys you mentioned. You didn’t even mention Alex Cobb either. Could be a sneaky good team.
Rays about to swoop in on all the rest of the FA’s – this is a smart move, I wish Oakland was doing it but they seem determined to not be interesting this offseason.
The Rays didn’t want to sign them it was just their turn
Good pickup for a guy that should help against righties. With Farquhar and Boxberger being better against lefties due to their very good change ups, and two spots going to multi-inning guys there is a real need for someone that can get righties, situationally. Tolleson was a good start, and I like that he has an option, Hunter would not be in the same boat. There’s a chance to keep both if they pitch well. Here are my wOBA projections for the full pen (guys with any sort of MLB track record):
pbs.twimg.com/media/C4zTLATWQAIlAkj.jpg
Not to mention that if Cobb bounces back and can be close to what he was pre-injury and you get the normal Chris Archer back you’re looking at a rotation of:
1. Archer
2. Odorizzi
3. Cobb
4. Deleon
5. Snell
W/ Erasmo and Andriese as fill-in guys. Not too shabby.
Deleon is gonna start in aaa this year.
Really?