The Rays have agreed to a one-year contract to bring first baseman/designated hitter Logan Morrison back to the organization, the team announced. To make room for Morrison on the roster, lefty Enny Romero has been traded to the Nationals in exchange for minor league right-hander Jeffrey Rosa (more details on that deal here).
Morrison, a client of ISE Baseball, will reportedly be guaranteed $2.5MM and can earn an extra $250K if he does not spend any time on the 60-day DL due to a specific set of injuries. He can also reportedly gain up to $1MM worth of incentives to boost the value of the deal.
Morrison, 29, posted a fairly pedestrian .238/.319/.414 batting line in 398 plate appearances with Tampa Bay last season, but that overall line is weighed down by a dreadful stretch early in the year. Morrison posted a .364 OPS through his first 95 plate appearances last season (in part due to a staggering .182 BABIP, though strikeouts were also an issue) but somewhat quietly enjoyed an excellent rebound beginning in mid-May.
From May 16 forth, the he totaled 303 plate appearances and logged a hefty .275/.350/.498 batting line and belted all 14 of his home runs. Given that finish and his relative youth, Morrison could likely have scored a larger payday were it not for an ill-timed September wrist injury that required surgery (and, obviously, ended his season prematurely).
Bringing Morrison back into the fold could very well mean that Brad Miller, who for much of the season was on track to be the team’s primary first baseman, will shift over to take the reins at second base on a regular basis. The Rays created a vacancy at second base last month when they traded Logan Forsythe to the Dodgers in exchange for young right-hander Jose De Leon, and Miller’s versatility allowed them to pursue myriad avenues to adding a bat to the lineup.
The Rays are still said to be pursuing a right-handed bat, though two of their reported targets — Chris Carter and Mike Napoli — agreed to one-year deals with the Yankees and the Rangers earlier today.
Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports first reported the agreement (Twitter link). Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reported the deal’s incentives total (via Twitter). FanRag’s Jon Heyman tweeted about the health clause.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
I guess this pretty much rules out Chris Carter
Wrong
Where is there room for him ?
1B – Logan/Miller
DH – Logan/Miller/Dickerson
You really think they will have a 3rd 1B/4th DH?
Would be nice to hear an argument instead of just saying “Wrong”
Miller is playing 2B this year. Still room for a right handed stick. Park makes the most sense
Him signing with the Yankees pretty much rules him out. They wouldn’t trade for him
Good move. LoMo had a really good stretch sandwiched between cold spells IIRC. Wish the guy luck.
My guess is Tim Beckham is as good as gone and he should just book a flight to San Diego as soon as he can because that’s probably where he will end up.
No, signing a 1B/DH is not going to squeeze out a MI
Weeks will.
Or he may end up as the RH DH/1st Baseman come ST. After the ASG he hit very well albeit a small sample size, maybe he is finally starting to ‘get it’, hopefully! Looks like Miller will definitely be 2nd Baseman.
Mentioned that possibly the other day, makes a lot of sense
Platoon of Morrison and Park anyone?
Worth noting that Rays beat reporter Marc Topkin said in one of his articles that the Rays could go with a platoon at first base, so this may not completely rule out Chris Carter.
“Here’s another possibility: They could actually go get two first-base types, one that hits from each side, creating platoon advantages, a more potent bench and — depending on who — potentially a better glove. Among lefties, think Brandon Moss, the return of Logan Morrison (recovering from wrist surgery) or maybe Pedro Alvarez.”
tampabay.com/sports/baseball/rays/rays-weigh-optio…
One fields ok and one hits dingers and both don’t hit for crackers … so take your pick
Morrison was a .275 hitter after his horrid first month. That’s exceptional
That’s relatively exceptional, but not overall exceptional
I like this, could see Nick Franklin and Lomo splitting time at first.
What does their IF currently look like? Longoria is obviously a lock at 3B. Miller at 2B or is he a platoon with Beckham? Then they also have Duffy and Franklin and will probably still add a right-handed bat to the 1B/DH mix.
1B – LoMo and RH platoon mate (if they sign one)
2B – Miller
3B – Longoria
SS – Duffy
Beckham will probably get the bulk of his playing time at 2B against lefties (Beckham .792 OPS against lefties last year, Miller .682), and Franklin is capable of playing pretty much everywhere but it looks like he’s gonna get most of his playing time at 1B and the outfield
Beckham is gonna be gone. I think weeks makes the 25 man
Beckham may be gone, but it won’t be because of Weeks. Weeks hasn’t played 2B since 2014 and even then it wasn’t pretty
Beckham was a league average hitter who was an average to slightly above average defender last year playing all 4 IF positions and has 4 years of team control remaining. Barring injury, I’d be very surprised to see him not make the 25 man this year.
He will be the starting SS for the Padres this year.
Where’s pepesilvia with “This wuz alreddy reproted by MLBBR and who carez cuz its stinkin Lobo Morristown ennyways” ?
Beat me to it lol
Solid move by the Rays he is a guy that knows the system and was finally getting his stuff together before he got hurt. I could now see them going after someone like Richie Scheffer or Chris Collibello who are both now on the Indians but neither are on the 40 man roster but both could do pretty well. Scheffer especially since he knows the system. But my dark horse Brandon Durrey from the D-Backs he is still young and could transition to first easily. While we are talking about the D-Backs I am surprised the Rays didn’t go after O’Brian when he was let go
Can it still be possible for Chris Carter to be in a Rays uniform this year?
Absolutely
Nope
Carter and Napoli is off the board. So much for a platoon.
Agree with “alufkin21”, adding a lefty hitting multi-faceted ultility-type player for 1B adds a whole other dimension. Watch out for Shane Peterson this ST as he looks to unite with fellow dirtbag Longoria. Peterson is in his prime & never really got a fair look at Oakland or Milwaukee. Strong stats, save whiffs, & and adept anywhere in the OF. This kid somehow always ends up on the 1st base bad despite where he plays. Despite an excellent start in Colo Springs last season, a mid-season foul off his foot cut him short & he’s be itchingn to play. Kid’s got wheels, great baseball sense & I’d love to see 2 dirtbags @ the corners!