The Rays have signed old friend Jake Odorizzi to a minor league contract, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The Excel Sports Management client already in camp. Odorizzi tells Topkin that he’d been throwing teams throughout the winter in search of a big league contract, but his familiarity with the organization and a clear opportunity in an injury-plagued rotation paved the way for the current agreement. Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that Odorizzi will be paid at a $1.5MM rate in the big leagues with $500K bonuses available for reaching 25, 50, 75, 100 and 150 innings on the season.
Tampa Bay already entered the season knowing that Shane McClanahan is likely to miss the season due to last August’s Tommy John surgery, while both Drew Rasmussen (internal brace surgery last July), Jeffrey Springs (Tommy John surgery last April) and Shane Baz (2022 Tommy John surgery) are midseason additions at best. This week, they learned that young right-hander Taj Bradley will open the season on the injured list due to a pectoral strain that still doesn’t have a definitive timetable for his return. Unsurprisingly, they’re bringing in some veteran rotation depth.
Odorizzi himself is on the mend from an injury. He was traded from the Braves to the Rangers in the 2022-23 offseason but wound up requiring arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder in early April, which knocked him out for the entire season. He never threw a pitch for Texas.
It’s been an up and down few years for Odorizzi, who from his peak with the Rays and Twins was a durable and quite effective mid-rotation arm. In a six-year span from 2014-19, the right-hander tossed 991 2/3 innings of 3.88 ERA ball, striking out 23% of his opponents against an 8.2% walk rate. Odorizzi has never been a flamethrower but has typically posted solid spin rates on his 91-95 mph heater and missed bats at the top of the zone. He was an All-Star with the Twins in 2019 when he pitched 169 innings of 3.51 ERA ball with a career-high 27.1% strikeout rate.
That season prompted the Twins to issue a qualifying offer, which Odorizzi accepted. He returned to Minnesota for the shortened 2020 season but wound up only making four starts due primarily to an intercostal strain. Odorizzi returned to free agency, inked a two-year deal with the Astros, and split the 2021-22 seasons between Houston and Atlanta, combining to toss 211 innings with a 4.31 ERA and diminished 19.8% strikeout rate. A flexor strain in his right arm in 2021 and a tendon strain in his lower leg in 2022 cost Odorizzi more than three months of action during that two-year period.
It’s not entirely clear when Odorizzi will be game-ready, but he could very well emerge as an option at some point in the season’s first few weeks. The Rays currently project to deploy right-handers Zach Eflin, Aaron Civale, Zack Littell and Ryan Pepiot in the top four spots of the rotation. Other options for starts include swingmen Tyler Alexander and Chris Devenski, both of whom were being stretched out to three innings during camp anyway. Prospect Jacob Lopez is also on the 40-man roster, while non-roster options of note include prospect Mason Montgomery, NPB signee Naoyuki Uwasawa and journeyman righty Jacob Waguespack.
Armchair GMs unite…
This season is really going to test the whole “Rays are somehow competitive no matter what” thing.
They need arms so if he’s even remotely decent, he makes the big league roster and eats innings for them.
We’ll be just fine we’re doubted every year by people like yourself. 87ish wins fighting for a wildcard
Everyone doubts the Rays and they find ways to stay relevant nearly every year. They pull new young and good pitchers out like they’re a factory. I’m not counting them out at all and actually picked them for the division, as crazy as I may be.
@ Chaim
You mean the team that Chaim Bloom help build. Lol.
To be clear, I’m not really doubting! I’m an O’s fan and at this point just assume the Rays are going to be right there in the hunt for the division every single year, no matter what kind of roster they trot out. It never fails.
That said, they got worse on paper this year. Will it matter? Probably not!
There’s a bit of flawed group-think amongst fans in regards to the Rays.
They come into every year with a misshapen roster that seems unlikely to win and they manage to win sometimes, so it feels like they win all the time.
They finished below 500 for 4 straight years between 2014 and 2017 and missed the playoffs for 5 straight years including the 2018 season.
They go through the same ebb and flow that many teams do with successful windows. They just do it with less money.
With the critical loss of their kiddy-diddling star and a handful of other losses this off-season, it’s reasonable to think they’re entering their next down phase.
@Canuckleball you have a good point, but I wouldn’t put 87 wins by the Rays. They usually win games with their bullpen rather than starters.
They’re a team that just knows how to turn dirt into gold when it comes to pitching.
I’ve been a Rays fan since the beginning, and they can’t let the bad memories of when they signed Canseco, Vaughn, Castillo, and Grieve keep them from spending on decent free agents and keeping guys on the team past their first time as free agents. I think this year is going to bit them in the butt because they worship spin rate, and that is going to cost them Prepiot and perhaps Eflin and they’ll be out for the year with Tommy John, and their lack of signing anyone in the off-season will keep them from having a chance at a wild card spot. They could’ve signed Snell to fortify the rotation, Chapman could’ve played 3rd, moving Paredes to short, and tried to pry away either Soderstrom or Langliers from Atlanta in a trade, and they might have had a shot this year. Instead, a decimated pitching staff, nobody at catcher, and an unproven SS until Walls is healthy, and he will just be a no hit good field guy. I wish it were different, but the owner is cheap and we just have a pitching coach on the wrong end of the SABRmetrics/just let them throw the ball argument. Rays up!!
Season hasn’t even started yet, bro.
I know. Just mark my words. Eflin and Pepiot will end up needing TJS. Can’t avoid it with all of the focus on spin rate. It is ruining pitchers arms.
Very low risk move. Why not?
I could see this move working out quite well for Tampa. Jake also hasn’t been sitting around at home waiting he’s been playing all winter.
If I was a pitcher I might just go ahead and get a preemptive internal brace installed even if healthy. Thickest, sturdiest brace they have.
Odorizzi is done.
This is the year I’m confident there will be 0 rays magic, and they will finish under 500
Same story every year
I was wondering where the Keebler elves went.
Cheap low risk starting pitching depth is always a plus.
This is a solid depth move for the Rays, at a price point which fits their budget.. He only costs about twice the minimum, so if he’s ineffective it’s easy to move on. His cost will only rise if he gives the Rays some innings, and the incentives in the contract give Odorizzi something to shoot for.
I’m expecting him to be a solid back-of-the-rotation guy. The Rays need innings, and anything extra is just gravy. Projections have him with an ERA around 5.00. Of course he’s older now, but I think that’s is a little high given his body of work. If he can give them an ERA around 4.50 and chew up a bunch of innings, that would do. If the Ray’s pitching wizards can get him to 4.00 or lower, so much the better..
You again? This guy! Ahahaha!
Love the move. Good to see him back in a Rays uniform. Incentive deals are the way to go for small market teams. Keeps the player motivated to perform at his highest along with fitting the budget of the team. Go Rays!
With better options available count on the Rays to pick the cheapest one. I like Odorizzi but his track record is pitted with IL trips…
Did you honestly think they were looking in the Snell and Montgomery cupboard?
There has to be a way to increase attendance in Tampa, Averaging 17,000 isn’t going to do anything to increase payroll. They’ve put up playoff caliber numbers through the years and fans still ghost them. The Buccaneers and Lightning sell out and it’s not like Tampa St Pete is a small market, or the sport of baseball just doesn’t do well in Florida.
I mean, unfortunately, it kind of doesn’t.
How about an easier to get to stadium that doesn’t look like a concrete igloo outside and an eyesore inside? That might help
Well I’m of those who don’t “ghost” the Rays. Outside of 2013 (I was out of the area for a bit) where I still went to 6 games I have been buying a partial season ticket plan since 2008.
How many games? (Seriously, no sarcasm). I think this is how a lot fans for any of the teams do it. I mean, first off who can really afford a full season ticket package in this day and age, and second who has nothing else to do that they can dedicate 81 days/nights to going to every game? I have a friend who used to buy NBA season tickets, go to a third of the games (on a good year) and sell the rest. Usually took a beating on most games with the handful of “money makers” but still never getting his money back
I’m from Tampa. The fans watch from home instead of going to an oversized recycling water tank with catwalks to see the game. Open air stadium w/ a retractable roof during the Tampa rainy season is what they need.
Bucs and Lightning are in Tampa. Studies have shown that the most fans that come to MLB games are within a 50 mile radius. For the Rays, half of the radius is in the ocean. It would’ve made more sense to move to Tampa where it’s not as run down and littered with bums begging for money, or just go ahead and move to Orlando/Disney area. The St. Pete people would still come, and it wouldn’t be a murder of a drive for someone like me who is 3 hours north. It would do well if they spent money and put a high caliber team out there instead of misfits, but no matter how good the team, St. Pete just isn’t the ideal place for a team.
That is a missed White Sox opportunity. Wake up Chris.
I was kind of hoping the Sox would take a minor league flier on Odorizzi, because why not? But perfectly understandable why he went back to Tampa to get his career back on track
No idea why the Rangers didn’t do this. He was theoretically on our team last year but never threw a pitch.
The Phantom Ranger.
TB Rays ……I mean the “TJ surgery Rays”
MacC and Baz were/are 2 of the best young pitchers to enter the MLB recently.
TJ surgeries abound.
The PLAYER and the players’ agent need to make the call as far as how they pitch and what they pitch. Longevity and health vs pushing the limits on the human body.
Agents should have references to not only accountants and money managers but also some health/conditioning/medical professionals.
It really up to the player,in his pursuit of the Almighty Dollar.
All I can think is, “That’s a lot of money”.
Would you shoot yourself in foot for $100 MILLION DOLLARS?
As Mike Tyson, genius, pointed out; you build your biceps with the wrist as well.
Curveball.
I like this move. Almost no risk, decent potential reward. If he’s healed and can throw innings at a 4.00 era clip it will be a great signing, if not send him to aaa or cut him at no great loss. Surprised other teams didn’t offer similar deals, pitching is in such demand right now with all the TJ surgeries popping up nearly daily.