The Rays remain one of the tougher teams to pin down around five hours until the trade deadline. Last night, they shipped out impending free agent starter Zack Littell to the Reds in a three-team trade that netted catcher Hunter Feduccia from the Dodgers. While that could be the beginning of a broader sell-off, it’s also possible they viewed Littell — their only pure rental — as a unique case.
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported in the early-morning hours that the Rays, at least to that point, had put talks involving Yandy Díaz and Brandon Lowe on the back burner and were focused on other pursuits. While it’s possible things have changed in the roughly 12 hours since Rosenthal’s report, Franycs Romero describes the Rays’ talks on Díaz as “currently stalled.” He suggests the club is holding to a high asking price on the veteran first baseman/designated hitter.
The Red Sox have been mentioned most frequently as a potential Díaz suitor. Even if the Rays were willing to trade the 2023 AL batting champ, talk with Boston would be complicated by the divisional factor. The Red Sox currently occupy the second Wild Card position in the American League. The Rays have played terribly this month but remain within three games of a playoff spot. They’re hardly buried.
Díaz is signed for next season at a $12MM rate; his deal contains a $10MM club option for 2027 that could vest at $13MM depending on his plate appearance tally next year. Lowe is in the final guaranteed year of his deal but under club control on a bargain $11.5MM option that comes with a $500K buyout. Tampa Bay reinstated him from a minimal 10-day IL stint (left ankle tendinitis) yesterday.
Joel Sherman of The New York Post tied the Astros and Mets to Lowe earlier in the week. Houston has since added the righty-swinging Ramón Urías to handle third base but presumably remains in the mix for left-handed bats. The Mets are now focused on offense after making a trio of late-inning additions: Ryan Helsley, Tyler Rogers and Gregory Soto. This morning, ESPN’s Jorge Castillo listed Lowe as a hitter the Mets are considering.
Beyond Díaz and Lowe, the Rays have gotten a lot of hits on closer Pete Fairbanks. He’s playing on a $3.667MM salary and has a club option for next season. Lefty reliever Garrett Cleavinger, who is eligible for arbitration for another two years, is a player to watch. The Rays were also reportedly listening on 24-year-old starter Taj Bradley earlier this month.
Diaz is almost the perfect combination of semi-expensive controllable years and age for most of TB’s “it’s time to trade this guy” type moves of late. Whether that’s today at the deadline or this coming winter it’s highly likely he gets moved at some point.
LOVE this trade for the Rays. Who’d they give up? And who’d they get?
Huh? There’s no trade yet.
I see what you did there
If the Rays don’t sell, then the entire FO should be looking for new jobs. Rays are under .500 and about to go on a 12 game road trip to the West Coast where they often play at a .500 level or worse. This season is over. Be smart Rays and trade Diaz, Fairbanks, Cleavinger, etc…
I think what you are saying would be true if all their contracts were expiring, but they are all contrable beyond this year. If they don’t get a good deal at the deadline, it would be better to wait for the offseason.
Fairbanks is expiring in the sense that the Rays aren’t going to pay him $10 million next year (which is about what his contract will be if he keeps hitting his escalators). Diaz needs to be traded because the under the hood numbers are very concerning. For example, his ISO in away games this year is largely what his ISO was last year (home and away games) while his Steinbrenner Field ISO this year is a full .1 higher, giving him a 134 wRC+ at home this year and a 108 wRC+ in away games. Next year the Rays return to the Trop and the smart money would bet heavily that Yandy is going to struggle to hit above 110 wRC+ (and probably 100 wRC+ with a bit more age regression). DHs who barely clear the 100 wRC+ bar aren’t players who should receive 8 figure salaries, particularly from the small market Rays.
Everything you’re saying can still be done in the offseason. Pete can be traded during the offseason so they don’t have to pay the $10 mil for the 2026 season. Yandy’s padded Steinbrenner numbers are still going to be padded during the offseason. The worst thing they can do is dump players at the deadline for far below their market value (like they did with Paredes last season).
Feel like Fairbanks will get traded. Idk about Yandy Diaz or Brandon Lowe
Littell made sense to trade for obvious reasons…but the return is a 28 year old catcher who has never made it to the bigs? great. Let me guess–he frames the pitches well. They had a potential starter from the Reds…then forwarded him for this guy? Hope I am wrong, but this smells like most other recent Rays trades: we give away assets for potential, or in this case a guy who has probably hit his ceiling. Whereas the Rays FO used to win more trades than they didn’t, this FO is looking worse with each trade deadline. (I remember the “Morel is going to be awesome!” crowd…who had obviously not seen the guy play in a couple years; supposedly so many good young players for Randy, but can any of us even remember those guys’ names?)
This season had hope for about a month, but otherwise it has been a disaster. This FO is not building well.
Aroz Deal gave the Rays their #3 prospect (Hopkins) and #5 prospect (Smith). It was a good trade at the time it was made. The problem was the RFO should have traded him during the offseason when he had 3X the trade value. The Paredes trade was awful though (and I’m a big fan of T.Johnson, who the Rays got in that trade). I never wanted Morel or to lose Paredes.
I’d love to see the Tigers grab Diaz and Bradley. Of course they haven’t had the best luck trading with TB in the past 😉
I’d love to see the Tigers grab Diaz
Rays better sell, but I’m scared they do nothing.