Given the loss of Kevin Kiermaier for upwards of three months and an ugly 4-12 start to the season, the Rays ought to be open to selling veteran pieces right now rather than waiting until the summer, opines Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. While there’s some logic to hold onto Chris Archer until later this year, particularly given his advantageous contract, Topkin argues in favor of trading other veterans such as Wilson Ramos, Adeiny Hechavarria, Alex Colome and Denard Span in the near future. Beyond that, however, Topkin posits that the Rays should make those moves as a means of paving way for well-regarded prospects like Willy Adames, Christian Arroyo and Jake Bauers, rather than just swapping out their veteran assets for stopgaps and replacement-level fillers. With the Rays already 9.5 games out of first place in the division, Baseball Prospectus pegs Tampa Bay’s postseason odds at just seven percent, while Fangraphs’ projections give the Rays a minuscule 0.2 percent chance of even securing a Wild Card berth.
- WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford takes a look back at the Red Sox’ efforts to sign Shohei Ohtani out of high school back in 2013, chatting with then-Red Sox scouts Jon Deeble and Eddie Romero about their initial meeting with Ohtani. (Deeble is now the Dodgers’Pacific Rim director, while Romero is an assistant GM in Boston.) Both men recall Boston’s tireless pursuit of the player who Romero describes as “the best pitching prospect I had ever seen.” Ben Cherington, the Red Sox’ GM at the time, gave Deeble and Romero the green light to pursue Ohtani as aggressively as possible — including an agreement to let him develop as a two-way player if he signed with Boston. The Red Sox and Dodgers, Deeble suggests, would likely have been the finalists for Ohtani had he signed with a big league club out of high school, but NPB’s Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters were ultimately able to convince Ohtani to begin his professional career in his home country. Bradford’s column is full of quotes from Deeble and Romero on Ohtani as an amateur and a very interesting pursuit, which makes for a fun look back at what might have been.
- Jonathan Schoop’s injury could push the Orioles to look outside the organization for some infield depth, writes Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. Kubatko notes that the O’s have held interest in Erick Aybar in the past, and the longtime Angels shortstop is currently unsigned after spending much of Spring Training with the Twins. Kubatko also indicates that the Orioles had interest in bringing Jace Peterson aboard after his DFA from the Yankees, but the Yanks were able to bring him back on board by offering a more lucrative split contract to the utilityman. “A number of teams” had interest in Peterson, per Kubatko, but he’ll remain in the Bronx for the time being.
“but the Yanks were able to bring him back on board by offering a more lucrative split contract to the utilityman.”
Just the other day a commentator was asking if the Yankees were still doing this (offering AAA fillers more money than other clubs can, in an effort to stack the deck.) Looks like he might have his answer
I would not say adding Peterson to a major league/AAA split contract is “stacking the deck.” His numbers will not scare anyone! Maybe he just likes New York vs. other clubs or clubs’ offer.
Padres should trade for Archer. Perdomo, Jankowski, Lloyd, Spangenberg, Naylor, Gettys
Junk for Archer. No
I wouldn’t call Naylor “junk”, but the Rays could definitely get more.
Also I don’t understand why The Padres would be interested in Archer right now. Most of their top prospects are a good 2-3 years away from being ready.
Some of them are two years away from being 2 years away.
Archer’s been terrible his last three starts….now is not the time. The other guys? Sure, why not. The Rays might be the biggest train wreck in MLB right now; 50% “tank”, 50% treading water trying to win 70 games. They’re already down to 10,000 a night at the Trop (can’t blame the weather for that one), and that number will decrease as the weeks go by.
Even KK’s contract now looks like an albatross; guy can’t stay on the field.
A train wreck on its way to a dumpster fire……
I’m beginning to wonder whether Archer is any good anymore.
I’ve been wondering that since the beginning of last season. strikes people out, but gives up a ton of runs in the process
Archer would find success leaving the AL East and pitching in the NL.
Pirates should extend Corey Dickerson and use Austin Meadows to headline a package for Archer. Adding Archer to the Pirates rotation makes them a much more legit contender.
I would love to see The Pirates acquire Archer, but I think the bullpen needs more work than the rotation. I’m not saying the rotation is fantastic, but the bullpen is in worse condition. Maybe they could get Colome instead of Archer.
Going after Colome wouldn’t be a bad idea, but I’m not giving up Meadows for him.
Do you think Meadows+Glasnow+a mid-tier prospect for Colome and Hech too little or too much? It would be nice to see them bring in a good back-end piece, and a middle infielder since Harrison will be out over a month.
A bit too soon to start thinking about these kinds of moves. Good start for Pitt but they can’t jump the gun the way the White Sox did a couple years back.
The problem for the Rays, Mr. Topkin, is that no one wants those guys. Ramos has not been very good since before his injury, Hechy is a defense-only ss which no one really needs right now, Colome can be decent but hasn’t been for a while…the list goes on. This FO has been awful since Friedman et. al. left, and now we are seeing the results. And no shock here–now Duffy is injured too. You can’t rely on that guy, so why try? Thank goodness Brad Miller will be back soon! (tongue planted firmly in cheek)
Why would you not want Brad Miller back? Since joining the Rays he has been a league average bat which is the same as Chris Davis, Adam Jones, Logan Forsythe and Jason Kipnis during that span. That includes last year where he played much of the season with a core injury that required surgery in the offseason. He might not be an exciting player, but he has played at a 2 WAR rate for his career. That brings value to a team. Especially in a utility role.
The reference was regarding Miller’s knack for being injured.
As a long time Rays fan, this feels like we are finally back to the Devil Ray days. We had that awesome run from 2008-13. Then the past few years we have just been trying to hit .500 with subpar players. Now I think it’s time to enter the rebuilding phase.
It’s a bummer Archer isn’t playing well. Hopefully he can go on a bit of a run this summer and up his trade value.
But yeah, I’m afraid the next few years may be rough. However, it’s possible in 3-5 years our top picks/minor league players will be MLB ready and we may even have a new stadium! Then we may be ready to compete again. That seems like a realistic thing to hope for right now.