The Rays have interest in right-hander Chris Flexen, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Topkin notes that familiarity with Tom O’Connell, Flexen’s agent who’s based in Tampa and also represents offseason signing Zach Eflin, could give the Rays a leg up in a potential pursuit of Flexen. The right-hander was released by the Mets last week shortly after the club acquired him from the Mariners alongside Trevor Gott.
Flexen came into the 2023 season looking like a solid swingman or a serviceable back-end rotation arm. Across the 2021 and 2022 campaigns, Flexen posted a 3.66 ERA (8% better than league average by measure of ERA+) with 4.15 FIP in 317 1/3 innings of work. He appeared in 64 games during that time, starting 53 of them and finishing the other 11. While those results were certainly solid, his 16.5% strikeout rate left something to be desired even when paired with his excellent 6.8% walk rate.
Unfortunately, the wheels have come off for Flexen in 2023; in 42 innings of work this season, the righty has allowed a ghastly 7.71 ERA. That number surely has some bad luck factored into it. Flexen’s BABIP is a whopping .350 this season, far above his career mark of .303, and he’s allowed 21.6% of his flyballs to leave the yard for home runs. Not only is that a huge spike over his career mark, which stood at 10% entering the 2023 campaign, but it comes as Flexen’s underlying batted ball data is largely improved over last year. His barrel rate has dropped from 9% last year to 8.1% in 2023. In addition, he’s generating more groundballs and soft contact than last year, while allowing fewer flyballs and less hard contact.
Of course, everything about Flexen’s difficult season can’t be simply chalked up to bad luck. His walk rate has jumped all the way up to 9.7% while his strikeout rate has dipped to just 14.8% in 2023, leaving him with a K-BB% of just 5.1%, bottom ten in the majors among those with at least 40 innings pitched this season. Of the nine pitchers below Flexen, just two are having an average or better season by measure of ERA-.
Still, given Flexen’s improved contact numbers and seemingly fluky home run rate, it’s not hard to see why the Rays would have interest in the 28-year-old righty. The club announced yesterday that right-hander Drew Rasmussen won’t return in 2023, joining Jeffrey Springs in missing the rest of the current campaign. Lefty Shane McClanahan is also currently on the injured list, and the Rays have little in the way of depth beyond their current starting four of Tyler Glasnow, Eflin, Taj Bradley, and Yonny Chirinos.
In addition, the Rays are well known for being able to maximize the performance of pitchers who had once been on the fringe of big league rosters. Jason Adam owned a career ERA of 4.71 in 78 1/3 innings with the Royals, Blue Jays, and Cubs before joining the Rays in 2022. Since then, Adam has become a fixture at the back of the club’s bullpen with a 2.08 ERA and 3.39 FIP in 99 2/3 innings of work.
What’s more, Tampa has plenty of experience working with pitchers who have similar K-BB% issues to Flexen. Of the aforementioned nine players with lower K-BB% figures than the righty, two of them- Chirinos and Josh Fleming– are current Rays. Chirinos is having the best season of the entire group, with a 3.88 ERA in 58 innings of work. Fleming meanwhile, has by far the best advanced metrics of the group with a 4.62 xFIP and 4.80 SIERA. Every other pitcher in the group sports a figure above 5.00 in both categories.
Considering Tampa’s need for additional starting pitching depth and their success in working with pitchers who sport a similar profile to Flexen as recently as this season, it’s no wonder the Rays have interest in Flexen’s services. Of course, only time will tell if the sides will ultimately be able to come together on a deal. Flexen is still due $3.9MM from the Mets on his current contract, meaning that any club who signs him would only be on the hook for a prorated portion of the big league minimum.
It seems too early for the Rays to be giving up on their season already. Why not just ask Texas for Martin Perez at this point? Texas is collapsing big time.
How is signing a pitcher giving up on your season?
7.71 ERA
You’re right. Taking a minor league flyer on a pitcher with an already established track record of success by an organization famous for turning around struggling pitchers is giving up on the season. LOL.
Ah, exactly what “struggling pitchers” have the Rays turned around….just interested in hearing the list…….
Zach Eflin, Jeffrey Springs, Drew Rasmussen, Jason Adam, JP Feyereisen, JT Chargois, Jake Diekman, Shawn Armstrong, I could continue if I wanted to but 8 names is already 8 more than you deserved.
“8 names is already 8 more than you deserved” all-time comment haha
Ehhh, the Mariners turned JT Chargois around. He pitched very well for them before he was dealt to the Rays for Fernando Rodney 2.0
?
Seems too early for the rangers to give up on their season too.
Either that, or they buy buy buy! They are hoarding their prospects like idiots. Look what they could have had for Profar, Perez, Mazara, etc. They need 2 BP guys, 1 average starter, and maybe some outfielder to try to go deep in the playoffs. Otherwise, they need their guys to keep getting lucky to make the playoffs with the way they are playing. of late. I hope they don’t pull a stunt in the draft. I get the feeling that Texas will blow it by passing up on Crews or Langford, even if they are available after the mess last year with Rocker. I would honestly be happy with any of the top 5 (Crews, Langford, Clark, Jenkins, or Skenes in that order) since I don’t trust them to stick to the best guy. There are rumors they go for Bradfield. The organization either needs to sell or buy, but doing nothing is not okay. They must dump Duran before he turns into Odor/Mazara.
Informed comment but probably should be saved for the Rangers subreddit ?
I love how CY didn’t botch this draft like he did the last time. Langford buys him 6 more months of immunity from criticism.
But it never seems too late for the Rays to flex and show they can rebuild, and develop players better than most teams.
And he’ll go back to pitching a mid 3.00 era as soon as they sign him!
It’s as if they immediately take these guys into the training room, hook him up to some sensors and diodes, turn on whatever device they have, and he comes out pitching like Sandy Koufax in his prime. Seriously, someone needs to go undercover and see how TB does it with these guys.
Maybe it’s not that Tampa Bay has any magic at all. Plenty of teams seem really good at screwing up talented players. So there’s that.
Just look at Fatse and Bush in Boston as an example of how a coaching staff can screw up players.
Yes, not as if Flexen hasn’t been successful…his Seattle days are a good example…..his failed year aside, maybe a pitcher who obviously pitches to contact regardless of a mid to high 3+ ERA needs a solid defense behind him which the Rays can provide plus a change in scenery may very well re-direct him back to success….but the Rays turning him into Sandy K is way over the top……
> how TB does it with these guys
2 Aleve and an Icy Hot patch
Tampa Bay is like the Ellington Band. Each guy gets a part where he can thrive. You look at the player, not some preconceived role. I don’t expect anyone to get the Ellington comparison unless you really know your jazz history.
Basically, parts were written for the specific player, not Trumpet 2 or Bass Trombone or what have you. They were written to the strengths of the player in that chair at that time.
So, “your part” was actually your part, not someone else’s. That’s why the band always sounded good even if the players changed.
I think that’s what Tampa Bay does better than most teams.
If anybody could get the best out of this guy it would probably be the Rays.
I can see him turning it around in TB this year then blowing his arm out next year and we never hear from him again. Just another disposable arm to this organization.
He’ll pitch in blowouts for a few weeks then get cut
What’s kind of annoying is that nowhere is it mentioned that Seattle is not too shabby developing pitching or fixing broken relievers either. I’m sure Seattle tried every trick in the book to fix Flexen but ultimately it may be a change of scenery & change of role that will do the trick, if anything.
True…..not sure where this Rays being pitcher whisperers thing got started…..while they have a unique organizational style rooted in a low payroll commitment that has continually worked, they also were doormats for so many years that helped build up their farm system….
They haven’t consistently been doormats since they were the devil rays back in 2007. Their farm system now has nothing to do with how bad they were back then. They’ve had 2 bad years since then with a couple middling years and a lot of successful years.
Seattle has more young starting pitching than most teams and didn’t need him there. They shifted Flex’s role, which was the beginning of the end for him, since he’s no reliever. Since Seattle had better, ready replacements, I’m not sure how hard they tried in “fixing” Flexen. I think they just decided to move on.
Anyone else pick up Eflin for their Roto league at the beginning of the year?
I did
Jeez, can this Nick Deeds guy learn how to use the word “meanwhile?” This is so wrong:
“Fleming meanwhile, has by far the best advanced metrics of the group with a 4.62 xFIP and 4.80 SIERA.”
Who is Fleming meanwhile?
“Meanwhile, Fleming has by far the best advanced metrics of the group with a 4.62 xFIP and 4.80 SIERA.”
It’s really not that hard to get this right, but Deeds continually gets this wrong.