Some updates from the Dominican League…
- Rays first baseman Nate Lowe has left his Dominican League team in order to prepare for the MLB season, per Escogido Baseball (via Twitter). Officially, Lowe’s departure was a personal decision, but he was reportedly concerned about rising cases of COVID-19 and didn’t want to put his readiness for the 2021 MLB season at risk. Lowe faces stiff competition for playing time with the Rays. He has managed 245 plate appearances over the past two seasons with a capable .251/.322/.447 slash line, but his playing time has largely come with Ji-Man Choi on the shelf. Lowe faces a similar barrier to playing time next seasno, as he currently sits behind Choi and Yoshi Tsutsugo as lefty first-baseman/designated-hitter-types.
- Top MLB prospect Wander Franco is recovering from “discomfort in his right bicep,” per Escogido Baseball (via Twitter). Franco has been excellent thus far with a triple slash of .350/.435/.500 in the Dominican League. The injury does not appear to be more than a day-to-day issue for the highly-touted shortstop. Rays fans are surely hopeful that Franco will find his way to the big-league roster this season. While it’s tough to improve upon a roster that won the American League pennant, adding a 80-rated hit tool from the minors is one way to upgrade. The Rays have shown a willingness to be patient with their prospects, however, and Willy Adames is capably holding down the shortstop spot in the meantime. Beyond Adames, the Rays boast a healthy stable of infielders, even before expanding to include other top Rays’ prospects. Taylor Walls, Vidal Brujan, and Kevin Padlo could soon compete for big-league at-bats, though none threaten Franco’s long-term claim to an infield spot.
I wander how long before Franco makes his Mlb debut.
I’ll show myself out now.
Franco could be traded for the missing piece to win WS
Lol no
Yeah, no. He is untouchable. Heck, he may be the missing piece.
Adames might be the one getting traded instead of Franco
I have written about the Reds as one team in particular that could have interest in Adames. The fit is there for both sides.
https://maxsportingstudio.com/reds-offseason-trade-target-ss-willy-adames/
Definitley not unless they were getting back like both Acuna Jr. and Albies.
No way the Rays turn down a deal of Franco for Acuna, and no way the Braves offer it.
Exactly.
Franco would be making way less & that is the reason the Rays would say no to the Braves on that trade.
Rays have already removed $20+mil from the payroll & they still have not made any trades to improve their roster for next season.
and i could be the Queen of England for all you know
Definitely a queen.
Depends if he wanders off or not….
Bryant for Franco please say yes
yes
Rays would be dumb to make that move but its the kind of move that would of won them the world series, thats the one piece they are missing. Maybe give Nelson Cruz a 1 or 2 year deal. Give morton a 1 year deal or a flyer on jon lester.
you cant just justify trading anyone for that “final piece.” the classic example is Torres, but that point falls appart if, say, the Yankees werent even going to push for a piece of his caliber and the Cubs caved easily.
“but that point falls appart”- one of those isn’t a real word.
I am a Cubs fan, and would LOVE to get Franco for Bryant. But you wouldn’t get Franco for Darvish and Bryant.
Wander Franco in untouchable. He’s probably the best prospect since Mike Trout, way better than Bryant.
In reality, Kris Bryant does not have much trade value. He’s either a salary relief trade with lower-level prospects coming back (no top 100 prospects but maybe one of a team’s top-10 prospect) or another bad contract coming back to the Cubs. He’s not performing at the level he was in 2016-17, and he costs $20 million, which is not affordable for most teams.
Seriously?
In a pandemic there’s not much of a market for an underperforming $20 million contract.
Check out the consistent decline in Bryant’s WAR since 2016, and at $20 million, they’re are a lot of 3B that get you better WAR per million $$$$. That’s how teams think now. It doesn’t matter what you did 4-5 years ago; it matters what teams expect you to do in the future plus the cost $$$$ consideration.
Look at what the Indians got for Kluber. Look at what the Dodgers got for Puig (and Puig was playing well). Look at what the Tigers got for Verlander.
Hahaha. So the Rays trade the best prospect in baseball for one year of an overpaid, hurt, former ROY who had an awful 2020. Now that is hilarious! Even if Chicago agreed to pay 80% of all salaries, Tampa doesn’t do this deal even if Contreas and Schwarber were included. Franco is the closest thing to un-tradable as there is in baseball. But it’s fun to have dreams.
Rays should be in on Lindor, deal Adames and drop a QO on Lindor to give way to Franco in 2022.
Wander should have made his debut in the World Series. Willy was an automatic out.
So were Brandon Lowe, Wendle, Meadows, Zunino, DIaz, Renfroe, etc
So much of what the Rays do depends on if they move KK to somebody; that 24M weighs heavy, especially with no RS money this year or next. I’m sue they’d love to resign Morton, and the feeling is likely mutual. But if there’s no sheckles to be spent….
A good time for any underperforming, well- healed team (DET, SF) to get a decent CF AND some prospects from TB.
And no, Wonder Wander isn’t going anywhere.
They could trade KK , maybe sign JBJ , give Nelson Cruz a 1 year deal. Get Jon Lester to replace Morton?
That 24 million is spread out over 2 years. It’s only 11.7 in 21 and 12.7 in 22. And to the second guy, angels fan (and that’s obvious), they’re not going to move 11.7 in 21 just so they can add 25-30 million.
I think whether they bring back Morton or not depends on if they can move Kiermaier and his salary.
This thread is exactly why MLB should force the Rays to move. $12MM is not big money in this context and if they can’t manage that as part of a decent size payroll then they should be seized by the league for gross mismanagement and business practices detrimental to the game.
No they shouldn’t.
They keep winning. How can you argue they are so incompetent that they should have their business seized for mismanagement when they continually succeed?
If Franco is ready, the Rays should trade Willy Adames and a prospect or two for Zach Plesac. They need another starter due to being too cheap to exercise Morton’s option.
Adames is not that good so they would have to include a top 5 prospect in that deal if they try to acquire Plesac. I don’t see Cleveland moving Plesac since he is so cheap (and good) right now unless they are blown away by the package offered for him. Adames as the headliner doesn’t get that done.
The lack of revenue sharing and Tampa’s below market TV deal really hurts the Rays badly. Even if fans are allowed back in the ballparks in 2021, Tampa’s stadium is in a terrible location that fans don’t want to drive to (let alone how dreadful their stadium is). Tampa has the fan support to keep a team but they need to build a new stadium in a better location in order to start spending like a Top 15-20 team. If they can’t get a new stadium deal done, the owners should really consider moving the Rays to Nashville or another market that will build a stadium for them. I won’t be surprised if their payroll is reduced by $15M+ this offseason. They just won’t bring in enough revenue to support an $80M+ payroll given their current situation.