Rays president of baseball operations Erik Neander told reporters during his season-closing press conference back in October that the club wanted to add a big bat this winter — particularly of the left-handed-hitting variety — after Tampa Bay’s offense managed to score only one run over 24 innings in that marathon two-game Wild Card Series ouster versus the Guardians.
Rays hitters combined for a .686 OPS during the 2022 regular season, which ranked 25th among all 30 major league clubs. And against right-handed pitching, their combined team batting line was just .234/.305/.373 across a sample size of 4,580 total plate appearances.
Nothing overly exciting has come together for the Rays up to this point, and Neander acknowledged in a recent chat with Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times that it’s probably too late to make a meaningful offensive addition from what’s left on the open market.
“As the winter went on, and as we spoke publicly, I think the focus was more on an established player, ideally left-handed, being the right type of player for our group,” Neander told Topkin. “We feel really good about the assortment of breakthrough and bounce-back players we have on our roster currently. It was really more about adding an established, consistent offensive player, and there aren’t that many of them out there that are available.”
There was chatter about a number of possible pursuits to help the cause — the Rays were linked at various points to free agents like Josh Bell and Andrew McCutchen. They were also said to be in the hunt for Sean Murphy before the Athletics dealt him to the Braves as part of a three-team swap that also involved the Brewers. Topkin writes that Tampa Bay also made runs at Michael Brantley and Brandon Belt before those players signed elsewhere.
The hope is that a trade for run-scoring help might come together sometime this spring, or better yet before the Rays even roll into camp in Orlando, Florida. Neander also plans to keep his ear open for in-season moves in 2023, should those “breakthrough and bounce-back players” — think Wander Franco, Josh Lowe, and Jonathan Aranda — fail to come through over the course of the first half.
It’s all quite daunting in an AL East that features the Blue Jays (3rd in combined OPS last year at .760) and the Yankees (4th in combined OPS at .751), but Topkin suggests the Rays could have room to add to a roughly $70MM payroll as the baseball calendar moves toward the summer months.
Maybe there could be a circle-back with the A’s, who always seem to be open for business and would likely listen on Seth Brown even after he cranked 25 home runs in 150 games last year. Or perhaps there might be a match with Twins on Max Kepler given Minnesota’s recent addition of Michael A. Taylor from the Royals. One thing the Rays do have is prospects, both low-level and the more MLB-ready types, and Tampa Bay’s front office has certainly never lacked for creativity in finding ways to pull off under-the-radar improvements.
They could have had Arraez from Minnesota for an arm, given how Minnesota badly just wanted to throw him away for nothing.
I think MIN easily won the trade and wouldn’t want to beat MIA offer.
The Rays “should explore getting out of that dump they call a stadium”.
They have been, so I’m guessing you’re just here to troll and don’t really have a clue what you’re talking about as per usual.
I can definitely see here that drinking the Tropicana has definitely gone to your head. The Trop is crap, open your eyes kid!
The Trop is not that bad. Very reliable and consistent. No rainouts, no rain delays (looking at you Camden Yards) and always 72 degrees. I like the place actually.
It’s actually not a dump. Have you been there? Terrible location but it’s actually a nice stadium.
Naaa, he’s right. It is an embarrassment. The team deserves a real stadium. And yes, I’ve been there since the beginning, and it’d be nice to see a game and see something above my head besides catwalks.
They have they just didn’t like the offers so far. Tampa required more $$ from their side which I don’t blame Tampa tax payers after the Miami and marlins mistake.
In the end the central and west FL market is too good and growing for them to leave. Both sides know it!
I say play your young players and trade in mid season at this point.
Back to trolling? I thought middle school was back in session
Threw him away for nothing? Arraez would not have helped the Rays score runs, which is what they clearly need.
They don’t have a view of the ocean which is what kills everyone about going there. Hard to go from blue skies to the gray roof. If TB had Miami’s stadium or Miami had the Rays’ organization, they would be heavyweights in the game. If you are asking me to choose between living and playing in Miami or TB vs Minnesota or Milwaukee for instance, I’d take a hypothetical pay cut for the better weather. Sure there are hurricanes, but TB doesn’t experience many of them or to the full degree at least and Miami is beautiful enough to ignore that problem. Not many places don’t come with drawbacks.
In the summer time, it is usually too hot or too rainy to enjoy any outdoor/ocean view. Miami rarely keeps their roof open for that same reason.
They got a view of a pool, not an ocean.
@pwndroia- Yeah but let it go, he was traded to the Marlins already.
Explore any longer and the market will narrow down your pick for you…..
Rays rarely play in the FA market. They’re probably scouring the trade market for the next LH Randy Arozarena.
The next LH Arozarena.
Jays got him, names Varsho.
Yeah. Varsho’s a very good player.
The Rays are good at identifying those guys before the breakout and cost top 10 MLB prospects though. We’ll see if they can pull another rabbit out of the hat.
How? Last I checked trades happen up until the trade deadline.
Well, because many trades / FAs have come off the board already. Rays are [likely] behind at least two teams in the ALE alone, so by the time the trade deadline comes around, they’re going to be in a much worse divisional position. In other words, if they continue to wait it’ll be too late.
The problem is how many influential LH hitters there are in baseball. Ohtani, Alvarez, Freeman, Devers, Soto, HRper, Olson, Rizzo, Schwarber, Tucker, and there are a couple I’m probably forgetting, but the list falls off either in terms of power, recent production, some are switch-hitters, or they simply can only hit RHP (Varsho, Chisholm, Belt). Impactful LH hitting is at a low in the majors currently. Most of the good ones are already under contract for some time.
Tyler Naquin, Edwin Rios, NRI for Jason Volser? are some other remaining FA options
trades for Rowdy Tellez, Max Muncy (gets LAD under the luxury tax), Nick Gordon seem semi-plausible
lots of inexperienced bats in MiLB that could qualify too but Rays seem less interested in unproven bats or veteran bats that don’t represent a clear upgrade in the article above
Easy for them to find 700 ops guys. They are probably looking for 800 ops guys. They need to provide incredible value and huge bonus if they are good defensively.
Joey Gallo, where you at?
In Minnesota?
Everyone was looking for left handed bats this off-season. Weren’t a lot and the superteams got what was there.
Cards have bats and need pitching.
Cards have bats? Maybe they can get something for O’Neill? The rest of the OF are marginal AAAA types.
The spreadsheets aligned in 21 nicely for O’Neil He looks like a one year wonder though
Comedian, or just a Cubs fan?
Marginal AAAA players? How can you class young players like Carlson, Nootbar, Burleson and Gorman (if he plays there) as AAAA? And then there’s Jordan Walker! I’d love for the Tigers to go grab some of those AAAA players. I dream on it!
Nolan Gorman, Lars Nootbar, Brendan Donovan, Alex Burleson… That’s a lot of talent (all LH) looking for playing time.
If you’re referring to Dylan Carlson, I’d agree. He has not looked like a major league game-changer.
Why does it have to be a left handed hitter? A platoon/rookie insurance for Aranda at 1B seems almost too obvious. Voit, Sano, Sanchez all make sense as power hitter bounce back candidates. Alas, all are right handed, but roster resource projects them carrying three switch hitters on the bench.
Why am I here?
You gambled away your rent money, you don’t have a job to wake up too, your hungry but your fridge is empty so you found yourself online reading about the hobby you miss and will probably go cry yourself to sleep
Or is that just me?
Jaysfan That’s called projection.
Let him have his moment while he still thinks Varsho is more than a platoon bat and defensive replacement. His rose-colored glasses and joy for quips will come to a halt in April, maybe sooner.
Varsho will have a higher OPS+, higher wRC+, and higher WAR than any Rays OF in 2023.
A question we have all been asking.
Chew bubblegum and kick a$$…you need some bubblegum?
CJ Cron is available. It could thin out the Rockies corner infield logjam and could allow a return engagement for Cron in Tampa where he played very well in his first go around. And at $7.5MM, he is not a huge payroll addition and probably wouldn’t require THAT much of a prospect return.
What’s your source that CJ Cron is available?
COL isn’t known for their love of trading players. Even when it seems obvious and every other team would have traded that player, they keep them.
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/01/rockies-rumors-left-handed-hitting-outfielder-cj-cron-trade.html
States the Rockies are listening to offers
hiflew Thanks for the link.
Cron was rumored to be shopped at the trade deadline last season which stands to reason if he were available then that he would still be available now. A 1B only slugger on an expiring contract probably doesn’t net much of a return in a trade so either the Rockies sell low on Cron or hope the Rays are willing to buy high based on Cron’s previous run with the team (2018).
Oh they will definitely take your call and listen. He is available, just not sure how available. Kuhl Estevez Story Gray were all available. Every single team made a trade last deadline except one. They did trade Joe so it’s possible.
Ji man Choi is comparable, bats from the left side and is cheaper than Cron; they let him walk away. League average hitters at 1B aren’t worth much of anything.
Any team that acquired is giving up a fringe prospect and salary relief. The Rox will probably hold him because that’s what they do anyway.
Walk away? He was traded.
BStrowman;
Don’t think it was a matter of his hitting.
His D in 2022 was terrible, he messed up games numerous times.
@Samuel
Oh yeah. Agreed on Choi. Cron isn’t much of a 1B either though. I was simply comping those 2. The rays moved on from Cron years ago. Highly doubt they want a guy at an advanced age/salary who they’ve already worked with previously.
What are they competing for the top of the draft again?
Those all definitely seem like plausible Rays targets.
The Rays may have the player they need in Kyle Manzardo. 1B that hits LH.
In 3 college seasons in he did well:
.336 / .404 / .533 / .937
Continued that in 2 minor league seasons:
.330 / .427 / .616 / 1.043
Agree this kid has raked at every level of the minors so far. I think he could be at least average in the big leagues right now but he’s still only had limited experience in AA as of yet.
Good luck at MLBTR, Drew. Wishing all the best.
The most obvious places the Rays can upgrade is 1B/DH and the OF. Someone already suggested Tyler Naquin who would be a solid platoon option with the all RH trio of Arozarena/Margot/Siri (Kole Calhoun makes sense in the same scenario). Luke Voit, Yuli Gurriel, old friend Jesus Aguilar, and Miguel Sano are all 1B/DH options. One name that makes sense and offers two things the Rays love (defensive versatility, league minimum salary) is Mike Moustakas. At league minimum there is no reason not to see if Moose has any thump left in his bat
Yuli Gurriel signed elsewhere I believe.
They love defensive versatility but prefer it to be good defense. How’s Mike’s defense doing these days?
Max Kepler would be a nice get for the Rays as a potential breakout candidate. Can’t imagine it would take much to get him either. Josh Lowe should also be given another chance, but man did his swing look long last year.
Rays need to do something. They’re eyeing 3rd or 4th place easily in that division if they don’t get offense. They just barely made it last year.
Just need a placeholder till manzardo is ready
I love these comments that the Rays are a 3rd or 4th place team right now lol… they pretty much lost Franco and lowe the whole year last year so having those guys at least somewhat healthy is a huge bump in offense already. They have the best pitching staff in the division (starters and bullpen) and only one year removed from being top 3 in the AL in runs scored and basically have the same offense. Injuries and horrible baserunning cost this team a lot last year… and hopefully a little more development from guys like lowe and aranda will boost the offense even more. This is a 2nd place team at worst but more than likely the division winner. And it needs to be a left handed bat because they were historically bad last year against RHP…. So some research before commenting
I mean do you expect anything less from the mental giants that frequent the comments here like Captain Moron above?
Ian Happ for Tyler Glasnow makes a lot of sense.
The Cubs have a potential Ace in Steele (assuming he can continue to pitch like he did in his second half) but after him, the rotation is full of middle tier guys. Glasnow would give them the solid 1-2 with Stroman being a well above average three and tallion above average four.
The Rays would save a bit money allowing them to make another move(s) (I believe they’ll spend more when they spend more). Happ upgrades the offense and is a solid defender. I also think Happ is on the verge of putting it all together. Last year was his most consistent but he’s a classic over-corrector then finds balance. This year I expect his power to bounce back some and be in the low-mid 20s with a high batting average and on base.
This might be the worst take of them all. Trade a borderline ace and Allstar for a mediocre utility player? Plus Glasnow is only making $5 million this year which is less than half of Happ’s $10.85 million.
My bad on salary, I remembered Glasnow signing the 25 million extension but thought it was for this year.
Aside from that, Happ was an all-star and gold glove defender last season. He isn’t a mediocre utility player.
As for the borderline ace comment, yes, but a high risk borderline ace coming off tommy johns and only tossing a grand total of 12 innings.
Happ, the mediocre player that he is, posted a 4.4 WAR season… what is Glasnows career WAR btw?
Umm. Can y’all take Ozuna? We don’t need much in return… like…. Idk, some gas money? Too much you say? Ok ok… we’ll sweeten the pot. Forget the gas money and just take him, we’ll pay his salary and even send y’all 1 months worth of clubhouse vending machine snacks on the house?
Trading with St Louis makes a lot of sense for TB. I’d love for the Tigers to match up and pick some young pieces from their shelves but not sure there is a match. Ship both Meadows brothers south for some TB up and comers? Maybe Kerry Carpenter? Greene is off limits and personally I think Baddoo should be off limits too, will have a good year and ends up as the next Randy Arozarena. Unfortunately Austin Neadows had a down year and they likely traded him away for a reason
Send Manuel Margot back to Boston. We could use a true CF.
As much as I would hate trading Alex Verdugo he would fit in nicely with your young talent in Tampa. Those two could be the centerpieces. Keep talking Bloom-you folks could find a nice package to appeal to each team.
I am happy to see MLBTR with a true Trade Segment Including Tampa. I thought you all were very contented–You have produced some great talent.
Manzardo ROY
2024
Nice to see a front office in a small market saying they are still trying to improve their team versus ones saying we’re done without doing anything to begin with.
Basically, they regret trading Nathanial Lowe, yeah?
Huge mistake!
Stupid at the time, stupid looking back, absolutely no reason for them to do it.
They preferred Choi, Lowe had trade value, the rest is history
I mean, the market for free agents has been exhausted. The ever frugal Rays at it as always, but knowing them, they’ll get some nobody and turn him into a solid reclamation project.
Or do nothing and say they will improve…. just because.
Yeah, Ray fans have it tough, but they find ways to squeak into the playoffs. I’d be frustrated if the Cubs or White Sox pulled these excuses that’s for sure. As it is they still have some BS excuses from time to time…
We squeak into the playoffs by competing and winning in the AL East with the big boys. 10-4!
Rays could get off their stack of prospects and trade for Bryan Reynolds.
Forget about an “established” LH bat. Go for one with some pop and potential. The Cardinals are loaded for bear. Make a deal with them for GlasNOW. Tampa could get Noot, Donovan, Carlson, Yepez, Burleson. For GlasNOW, Tampa could get two immediate and controllable offensive (upgrades) starters, a DH, a catcher…
Sure the Cards could give a longer term prospect, but this group (besides maybe Herrera) is ready to contribute to any teams starting lineup right now.
Bellinger, Gallo, Belt, Bell were all available early and relatively cheaply…
Luke Voit abolutley mutilates American League East pitching. Luke Voit would be the perfect injection to this line up and field.
The Rays usually get their guys via trade, so I figure they’ll get a bat or two this way.
“Right type of player” is code for someone willing to play for peanuts. The cheapness of that organization is laughable.