Tests on Wander Franco’s biceps and shoulder area didn’t reveal any structural damage, the Rays told reporters (including MLB.com’s Juan Toribio). The star prospect was brought back to the United States from the Dominican Winter League due to soreness and inflammation, though all signs point to Franco being ready to roll for Spring Training. As a precaution, Franco won’t play in any more DWL games.
Widely regarded as the sport’s top prospect, Franco doesn’t turn 20 years old until March and hasn’t played any organized minor league ball above the high-A level. That said, Rays evaluators did get a first-hand look at Franco at the club’s alternate training site during the season, and it wouldn’t be out of the question to see Franco make his Major League debut before 2021 is through.
More from Tampa Bay….
- Blake Snell considered his inclusion in recent trade rumors to be “a little surprising,” even though the southpaw told the Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin that he figured he would eventually be dealt before his five-year, $50MM extension (that runs through the 2023 season) was up. “I know we thought our time was going to be these next three years,” Snell said. “But maybe they feel with what happened with COVID and how they have to spend money, they probably have to hold back a little bit for whatever reason.” $39MM is still owed to Snell over the final three years of his deal, which may be too steep for a Rays organization that rarely spends even in the best of times, and was further hampered by revenue losses and a lack of revenue-sharing funds in 2020. It remains to be seen if another team will come up what is sure to be a high asking price for Snell’s services, but he is preparing himself should a trade emerge relatively soon: “I’m aware it’s going to happen at some point, so I’m ready for whenever that point is. I just hope it’s a couple years away from now, because I love it here.”
- Also from Topkin’s piece, he writes that the Rays had interest in a reunion with right-hander Jake Faria, but Faria will be signing with another team. Faria was released by the Brewers in September. A 10th round pick for Tampa Bay in the 2011 draft, Faria posted some solid numbers throughout his minor league career and then had an impressive rookie season in 2017, with a 3.43 ERA, 2.71 K/BB rate, and 8.7 K/9 over 86 2/3 innings (starting 14 of 16 games). He couldn’t continue that form beyond 2017, however, and Faria was traded to the Brewers in a straight-up swap for Jesus Aguilar in July 2019. After being hit hard in 8 2/3 frames that season, Faria didn’t pitch for Milwaukee at the MLB level in 2020.
Also Snell:
“Y’all gotta understand, man, for me to go, for me to take a pay cut is not happening, because the risk is through the roof. It’s a shorter season, less pay. I gotta get my money. I’m not playing unless I get mine, okay? And that’s just the way it is for me.
“Like, I’m sorry you guys think differently, but the risk is way the hell higher and the amount of money I’m making is way lower. Why would I think about doing that? Like, you know, I’m just, I’m sorry.”
Lol out of context but ok
The context is those comments are why he is now included in trade discussions
Nah poetic justice happen when the team pulled him early. His comments about telling the fans to drop dead that they are worthless was tone deaf. The fact him not MLBPA didn’t apologize shows they are no different than Rob Manfred just on the other side of the aisle.
I’m sorry, what is your issue with these quotes?
Likely one of those fans who think players should play “for the love of the game” and not he happy with any wraps ownership wants to give
*and be happy with any scraps ownership wants to give *
Should have proofread that one
Yea the players shouldn’t have to make any sacrifices considering the circumstances…….no none at all….
I’d be pretty happy with those “scraps”, if not set for life without having to ever work again.
my issue was once they got 100%, the risk all of a sudden went way down…..
The only issue with the quotes is it sounds fine when you use a valley girl voice as you read along.
Lol imagine ragging on someone because they wanted to be well compensated for risking their health while playing a game for your amusement.
Those comments were awesome. You’re probably one of those people that gets mad at anyone with the audacity to have an opinion.
Detroit Tigers. They have the young arms to trade and, Snell will anchor a rotation that brings Motown back into Central contention!
Take on Kiermeier’s deal and it might not cost all that much & none of the premium prospects in the system I would imagine. Maybe someone like a Daniel Cabrera type & a couple other 20’s-30’s in the system and that might get it done for all not that much. Tigers & Royals in the Central are quickly going to surpass the Twins & Tribe in about a season and a half-2 years…
Not a great comment. Won’t have to give up much to get Snell if you take back Kiermaier, too? Kiermaier is also very good. How many franchise players on reasonable contracts have the Rays given up for non-premium prospects? Arguably the best run franchise in sports didn’t become that by giving away valuable players for pennies.
Kiermaier isn’t a bad player. But his contract is more than he’s worth at this point. He’s a below average bat the last 3 years.
@mrsteal… WAR disagrees with you.
Letsgod: ops+ takes the ops and normalizes it across the league to account for differences in ballparks etc.
And ops+ of 100 means normalized to be exactly league average.
Last 3 seasons, kiermaier posted ops+ of 80, 79, and 91 respectively. That means in 2018 he was 20% worse, 2019 was 21% worse, and in 2020 he was 9% worse respectively.
So, I can see how one can claim he was worse than average with the bat. WAR counts many things, but, isn’t the best analysis tool when trying to compare between players on a neutral basis. WAR is subjective, not objective in nature.
@GAsoxfan: the argument made by the commenter is that Kiermaier is not worth his contract. KK might have a below average bat but everybody should know that his value lies in his defence, which has been outstanding throughout these years. He is still worth his contract if you consider the WAR he has put up, being it a subjective stat or not, thanks to excellent work in the outfield.
@GAsoxfan: the argument made by the commenter is that Kiermaier is not worth his contract. KK might have a below average bat but everybody should know that his value lies in his defence, which has been outstanding throughout these years. He is still worth his contract if you consider the WAR he has put up, being it a subjective stat or not.
Commending franchises for being cheap just because they’re successful is such a weird aspect of baseball coverage when it comes to teams like the Rays and A’s. Like why is it a source of pride for fans of these teams that they are notoriously cheap? What do you gain from that?
The Rays let one of their best pitchers walk for nothing over a clear miscalculation of what his market would be.
Everyone treats businesses/teams with money like they are a disease. This is just the inverse scenario. Granted, organizations like the Rays have proven that they are adept at winning with internally developed talent and strategy, rather than FA contracts and high-value target trades.
It’s not all internal. They have a knack for finding talent everywhere. Only something like 7 of their players from their WS team came from the draft.
ChangedName I agree it’s not something to praise, but I do think it’s at least somewhat impressive to see a team like the Rays or A’s front office build up a roster capable of outplaying the Yankees or Dodgers with a fraction of the resources available to them. The Dodgers GM job is definitely easier then the Pirates GM job.
Also, you can’t really change how team owners run their team’s anyway. Unless/until the team is sold, is it what it is and fans can say whatever they want about it.
Rocket.. You are forgetting something in your assessment of which job is easier. The Pirates GM can get away with a few rebuilding seasons. The Dodgers GM doesn’t have that luxury. They are expected to win every year.
@joe, I agree that the Dodgers are expected to win every year, but they have the financial resources, top notch player development, best-in-class scouting/international scouting and ability to sign or extend the top players in the game at any time. With that
mix (and it’s not just their $ I’m talking about) they should win every year.
You say cheap, others say efficient. Just because I have access to a lot of money as an owner/FO doesn’t mean I need to blow it all. Especially not to make internet commenters happy.
Well, look at it the other way around. If they spent a little bit more, they wouldn’t have to field a AAA line-up in the World Series and might have a championship.
The name of the game is to win championships when you have a chance, not to impress internet commenters with your “efficiency”.
Commending teams for spending just for the sake of spending is so weird it’s almost dumb.
Do you know what the %’s are if two playoff teams playing against each are? It’s like 50% if one adds a 4 win player how much of a difference do you think it makes.
I can’t find it in the rules anywhere, where it states you have to spend a certain amount to appease the simpleton fans.
If a team can win and make it to the World Series with the lowest payroll why shouldn’t they be allowed to do so.
I’m so tired of you people calling the owners cheap. Ya’ll should pool your money together and buy a team. Make sure you pool everything you have though. Then once it fails and the team is the most expensive, non winning team and you all go broke and lose everything, you’ll have to all get second jobs and the intelligent people won’t have to hear your ridiculous opinions.
That’s what teams preach on the surface but the reality is fiscally-conservative teams will be happy just making it to the dance which is the playoffs. They know they have a little chance of being the prom queen. While teams operate within an MLB monopoly, with revenue-sharing, they have no fear of a competitor eating up market share and won’t become insolvent if they don’t field competitive team.
Owners aren’t necessarily “cheap.” They are business people. And, if they own baseball teams, or are part of ownership groups, they are very successful business people. The owners who don’t/can’t spend,
make those decisions based on business principles that few fans understand (myself included). Thus, whether we call them “cheap” or “fiscally sound decision makers, we can have our opinions. But, team owners don’t spend to keep fans happy.
They invest in the future of their businesses and let the chips fall where they may.
Now, if no one, literally no one buys tix for games (and doesn’t buy merch at games or online, no hotdogs/beers etc. as they don’t attend) for
any of the small market teams’ games, maybe the owners’ business models might change. But the status quo works (I’m assuming) for all the owners who people call “cheap.” When it stops working, they get out, like the Wilpons.
If their line up was AAA, and made the WS, does that make all the other lineups AA? Me thinks your low opinion is unsubstantiated, and foolish.
Big market teams who have lower payrolls are cheap. I wouldn’t call TB cheap, they struggle at having a fan base even while competitive
It’s awfully convenient for these guys to play the “poor us” card, all the while begging their communities to buy them new stadiums to play in.
If owners like Stu Sternberg can’t afford to put a team on the field AND his own damn stadium, then he can’t afford a baseball team.
His cheapness is strategic. He doesn’t want to shell out money for a stadium. Period.
and some how you miss that this is baseball’s fault as a whole, not the owners of the small market teams.
I think others forget just how expensive it is to run a baseball team. The team’s total payroll is less than 1/2 of the total expenses a club has to pay every year. Just look at Atlanta; their 2019 payroll was right around $150M, but when the released their financials, total operating costs (expenses) for 2019 baseball operations was well over $350M for the season. A lot of people tend to look at total payroll as the club’s sole expense, then they look up TV revenues and game day revenues and believe these teams are making $10’s to $100’s of millions of dollars per year (in a good year). With the draft bonuses, minor league salaries, front office costs, ballpark employee costs, ballpark operating costs, pension payments, real estate taxes, scouting costs, debt service & interest payments etc. even the smallest market teams incur $100M+ in non salary expenses every year. When all clubs lost their day of game revenues last year, this put a huge dent in their revenues, but nearly all of their expenses stayed with the exception of ballpark employee costs, part of the minor league salaries, ballpark operating costs and scouting costs. Banks were not forgiving debt service, players received their full salaries for the games they played, while the only source of revenue for the teams was 37% of their total television contracts and maybe some royalties on merchandise ordered on the internet. Every team took a bath last year and lost a ton of money. It will take some of these teams years to recover from their losses (especially teams like Tampa and Miami with bad tv deals) so it makes sense to me that these teams are looking to cut costs wherever they can for the upcoming season, especially not knowing when or if fans will be allowed back in their ballparks. If they have to go a full 162 game season with no fans, some clubs are going to be in serious financial trouble. Enough where they may be forced to sell their team. Fingers crossed this damn vaccine comes out soon and life gets back to some sense of normal. Until then, I can’t point fingers at one side or the other for being cheap. All sports are taking it on the chin, but baseball and hockey are losing the most as they depend on day of game revenues more than the other sports do.
It’s just ridiculous not to use paragraphs. Do you really expect anyone to read that wall of text? It’s time for you to step it up.
@Cream, once again, your railing on a long time, respected poster on this site for his/her grammar/writing structure. I had no problem following @dorothy’s “wall of text” as you put it. Please take your grammar police elsewhere. Talk baseball here, not grammar and writing styles. Please!
@cream
I followed along just fine. If you don’t have anything of value to say then keep it to yourself.
Its a double edged sword. Praise them for being cheap and successful is sort of the same thing as complaining when big money teams lose. Its not the money that wins its the quality of the players on the field that makes the difference
Personally, teams like the ray and a’s are a bit of a self fulfilling prophecy. Fans are loyal to team, but are drawn their by players. It’s hard for fans to get any emotional investment in the team when their is basically no chance of your favorite player sticking around. If you’re a fan of one of those teams, what player do you get on the back of a jersey? I feel like it is part of their problem and why they have a hard time creating a long term fan base.
Unfortunately the days of players staying with one team is almost a thing of the past. Buying a jersey because of emotional attachment to a player is futile, ask any Patriots fan (myself included) if we ever thought we would see Tom Brady wear another uniform
@xspecBx I’ve never understood that. Basically fans want all the stars to stay with the team that drafted them, but they still want the players to get paid. But they also think players need to reach free agency quicker. But they also complain there favourite team never signs free agents. You can’t have all these things. Here’s a idea. Don’t buy a jersey with a name on it. Buy one and sow the letters on yourself that way when he gets traded like he should because he’s not that good and makes too much money for what the team can afford to stay competitive, you can take them off.
If I were teams I would get guys to change numbers once a year so people like you have to buy new jerseys every year
Rays are good at constantly flipping their best talent for more prospects to develop, and they also do a good job of developing those prospects. But what has it got them? A handful of playoff appearances and two WS losses, and most years, sitting home in October. They have never had an opening day payroll that exceeds $77M. They are also a consistently profitable franchise, $68M in 2019 according to Forbes this past spring. Now they have a team that is good, young, controllable and they are talking about selling off their best pitcher (one of the best in the league). This is the time they should be adding talent, spending to actually win a WS. They don’t have to spend like the Yankees either. Let’s face it, the Rays could spend, they choose not to.
Time to stop fawning over the Rays and call a spade a spade. They are just flat out cheap.
Your ignorance is impeccable
It’s like praising a restaurant for using cheaper products while charging the same price.
ONLY if they get results as good as or better than competing restaurants who spend more on ingredients… Otherwise, said restaurant will not get praised…
1) Forbes estimates profits, but really doesn’t know jack about actual expenses that vary drastically from one club to another.
2) from what has been publicly stated, the teams that went deep into the postseason LOST money from playing in the playoffs.
3) Spending doesn’t guarantee results. Ask the last decade’s worth of yankees teams for example… or the angels… and the list goes on…
Amazing. That’s the same number of WS appearances the Tigers had during their run, but it took Mr I spending over the cap. Then when the run ended, everyone complained that they waited too long to trade their players. Doesn’t matter which way a team operates, there will be ups and down. ( Other than NYY, LAD, and possibly BOS, which have max capital available ). Every fan base complains. That’s the one constant!
If Sternberg starts spending on players, he can’t cry poor and get his city to buy him a new baseball stadium.
One has nothing to do with the other. If the citizens build a stadium for a owner and do it with no language that guarantees a competitive team then that’s on them. How do you guarantee a competitive team? Base the amount of money the city plays for the stadium on wins. Now surely the owner will not want that and will move the team and that’s fine.
I have no problem with how the rays operate but I’m firmly against any city building a stadium for any private team.
Don’t just do what the marlins did and get a promise from the owner. Get them to open the books and look at them. If you build a stadium for them and say you want the books to stay open and you have to spend x amount of profits on the team or something. Of course again the owner isn’t going to agree to this but public is going to wonder why he would balk at the time and realize he’ll have to move or sell.
Ray’s are going to have to make moves.
They like to have flexibility with their 40 man roster.choi and wendle are at the top of the list to open up spaces.
To move kiermaiers at his salary and .230 ba the Ray’s will probably have to add a piece like alvarado to get rid of that contract.
This team is so we’ll run that they have plenty of ways to go this off- season.
Trade snell at his peak of value.
Trade meadows at his peak of value.
Trade for Kyle kendricks.
It is always fascinating to see which avenue they go down.
You think the rays are going to trade KK because he has a low batting average??? And who is Kyle Kendricks?
So does anyone know where Jake Faria signed? Just curious because I haven’t seen any news about t even though it is a minor signing nonetheless. Also, does anyone think it is possible they attach Kiermaier’s contract in a potential trade? Kind of like the Betts/Price trade.
From my understanding of the article, the Rays were interested in signing Jake Faria but he declined and wants to sign somewhere else. He’s currently a free agent.
Oh okay. For a second I thought the article meant the Rays were interested in him but then he signed with another team. Thanks for the clarification.
Per Jon Heyman, “Angels sign Jake Faria to a minor league deal”. Answers my question
MLB needs to do something about the Rays. I don’t think they will, but they should. They can’t even afford three years and $39 million for possibly their best starting pitcher when other teams hand out similar deals for middle relievers. It’s a joke. Ownership needs to spend more or the team needs to be moved to a place that would support them more (or both).
They need to relocate to Tampa Bay and get out of St Pete’s in an area where little is happening. There is complications unfortunately.
The problem with that is they expect freebies, build your own stadium with your own money, Tampa has made it clear they will not finance a stadium for a billionaire owner
The braves signed will Smith to a 3yr 39 million deal and they are not a large market team by any means
Atlanta is the 9th largest metro area in the USA. That seems pretty large to me.
Atlanta has miney, They just don’t spend it like they should
It wasn’t that long ago Atlanta was a revenue sharing recipient.
People who aren’t from the area don’t realize just how FAST the metro has been adding population. Go back 10 years ago and you’d see big changes in density and appearance. 20 years back you wouldn’t recognize a lot of it. And if you went back before the Olympics you’d swear you were somewhere else entirely and never dream of the growth that has happened.
As a ball club it means you’re growing into your revenue. Getting out from under the Fulton County authority helps too.
But, just because you get some money doesn’t mean immediately blow it and tie it up long term. The way AA has used that money has worked pretty well so far …
Why should the Rays act like the big market,deep pocket teams where their gms act like congressmen(they like to spend other people’s money)and lose control of their player’s salaries and can’t maintain their rosters.phillies,red sox,cubs,cards,rockies,angels and nationals are all tied up because they have lost control of maintaining their rosters.
they shouldn’t, your absolutely right. they need to do things better. they, unlike many teams, cannot afford mistakes. The penalty for mistakes is far greater then for the big market teams.
I’m pretty sure Pittsburgh would give Hayes, Keller, Musgrove and the guy they drafted #1 last year for Snell…..
I see what you did there
At this point in time during the Pirates rebuild it would definitely be a “blockbuster” lol. But if the Pirates were contending then I could actually see it. Musgrove and Keller would be nice pieces in that rotation. Pair them up with Glasnow you actually have a good rotation. Hayes wouldn’t be that bad of third basemen for them either.
I’m sure Snell knew he was done soon because of his personal experience with the club’s philosophy of not letting anything go more than 2/3 the way through it’s defined time frame….
That said if they would like a package of Manning, Norris and Trey Cruz, the Tigers are probably listening.
Snell will eventually get traded before season starts. It’ll be for less value than most commentators will expect, they’ll proclaim shock and loss for rays yet when dust settles- rays will be clear winner.
That pretty much sums it up perfectly.
That’s especially true if a pitcher is the main return.
montreal is building a new stadium probably because the rays will move here
but things will be the same small market team whit small payroll
the good thing is covid or not seat are empty lol
Snell to the White Sox for Anderson, Stiever, Sheets and Rutherford.
NO lol
He will be a yankee. Cashman get on that
Let’s just get a jump on things and start calling them what they will be shortly: the Montreal Expos.
Montreal: commit to building the downtown retractable roof stadium, and save this team from the Hell that is Tampa-St. Pete!! Nobody should be forced to endure this. The market is enough to support the Tarpons, and that’s it. It simply isn’t a Major League caliber city. It is an A-ball town in every sense. Backwater. A nice place to buy a cheap house & conserve retirement savings.
Let’s just call this a stupid idea.
No reason to move a team that does not draw to a city that drew LESS than the current city? Why should Montreal earn a baseball team? They didn’t support the team they had. They also do not have the tax money to build a stadium. Citizens will be very angry if public money is used for a stadium in a sport they don’t care about.
projet is already started for stadium in mtl