Dodgers Interested In Randy Arozarena
The Dodgers have made clear they’re looking to make a splash at the top of the trade market. Most of the focus has been on the pitching side — general manager Brandon Gomes said just last night the front office is seeking “an impact-type arm” — and it seems they’re taking a similar approach to the position players.
Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports that Los Angeles is seeking a significant offensive upgrade in the outfield. The Dodgers have already been tied to White Sox star Luis Robert Jr. Feinsand writes that Rays left fielder Randy Arozarena is also on L.A.’s radar. The Dodgers had been loosely linked to Arozarena over the offseason.
The fit is rather straightforward. Teoscar Hernández could handle right field if the Dodgers added an everyday player in left. Andy Pages could play center field regularly while Jason Heyward would move into a fourth outfield role. Each of Hernández, Arozarena and Pages hit from the right side, meaning Heyward should be able to rotate in against right-handed pitching fairly frequently to keep everyone fresh.
Arozarena started the season terribly. The former All-Star carried a .158/.257/.312 batting line into June. He has caught fire over the past couple months, raking at a .286/.392/.514 clip through his most recent 166 plate appearances. The dreadful spring is taking a toll on Arozarena’s season line, which sits at a pedestrian .211/.313/.395 mark. Considering he’d been a well above-average hitter over his first three and a half years in the big leagues, most teams will probably view his April/May performance as an anomaly.
That’s also true of the Rays, who are shaping up as one of the most interesting teams to watch over the next week. Tampa Bay isn’t out of playoff contention, but they’re sitting at .500 with a 5.5 game deficit in the Wild Card race. A playoff push this year is possible but unlikely. While the Rays aren’t going to orchestrate a complete teardown, they’ll likely consider offers on a host of productive veterans (e.g. Brandon Lowe, Zach Eflin, Zack Littell, Isaac Paredes, Pete Fairbanks). Whether to trade Arozarena is one of the biggest questions facing the front office.
The 29-year-old outfielder is playing on an $8.1MM salary, a little less than $3MM of which is yet to be paid. He’s set for two more arbitration raises before getting to free agency during the 2026-27 offseason. The Dodgers are in the highest tier of luxury tax penalization and face escalating penalties for exceeding the CBT threshold in at least three straight years. They’d owe a 110% tax on any contracts they absorb.
Giants Claim Derek Hill From Rangers
The Giants are claiming outfielder Derek Hill off waivers from the Rangers, as first reflected on the MLB.com transaction log. Texas designated the speedster for assignment over the weekend. San Francisco already had an opening on their 40-man roster, so they won’t need to make a corresponding move until Hill reports to the team.
Texas signed Hill, a former first-round pick of the Tigers, to a minor league deal over the winter. They gave him a pair of stints on the big league roster. He connected on three home runs in 16 games, though he also struck out 14 times while drawing only two walks. The 28-year-old has had an excellent season in Triple-A, hitting .350/.415/.631 with eight home runs through 176 plate appearances.
Hill can play all three outfield positions. He hasn’t hit much at the MLB level, running a .232/.280/.334 line over parts of five seasons. He’s a career .300/.360/.502 hitter over 224 Triple-A contests, making him an intriguing depth piece. Hill has exhausted his minor league options, so the Giants will need to keep him on the big league roster or designate him for assignment themselves moving forward.
Angels Reinstate Luis Rengifo, Designate Keston Hiura
The Angels are designating infielder Keston Hiura for assignment, reports Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register (X link). The move opens an active roster spot for the reinstatement of Luis Rengifo from the 10-day injured list. The Halos now have two vacancies on their 40-man roster.
Rengifo missed around three weeks with inflammation in his right wrist. It doesn’t seem all that serious. The Halos fortunately managed to get him back a week before the deadline, giving him a few games to demonstrate he’s at full health. The switch-hitting Rengifo is one of the better offensive options who should be available this summer. He’s hitting .315/.358/.442 across 269 plate appearances.
While he’s unlikely to maintain a .349 average on balls in play, Rengifo should still be an above-average hitter. He makes a ton of contact and topped 15 homers in 2022 and ’23. Over the past two and a half seasons, he owns a .275/.325/.437 line over more than 1200 trips to the plate. He has destroyed left-handed pitching while turning in league average results against righties. Rengifo isn’t a great defender anywhere, but he’s capable of bouncing around the infield and occasionally logging corner outfield reps.
Rengifo is making $4.4MM this season. He’s controllable through arbitration for one more season. MassLive reported yesterday that the Red Sox have shown some interest, though they’re likely one of many teams that’ll be in touch with the Halos. Speculatively speaking, the Yankees, Pirates and Royals are a few others that would make sense as suitors for Rengifo.
Hiura got the call in conjunction with Rengifo’s IL placement. The former #9 overall pick went 4-27 (all singles) and struck out 10 times in as many games. That was Hiura’s first major league work since 2022. Since an excellent rookie campaign five years ago, he’s a .203/.287/.384 hitter with a 38.5% strikeout rate at the MLB level.
The UC Irvine product has continued to hit well against Triple-A pitching, but he hasn’t carried that over against MLB arms. He owned a solid .270/.346/.536 slash over 68 minor league contests with the Tigers and Angels before being called up. He’s out of options, so the Halos couldn’t send him back to the minors without taking him off the 40-man roster. It’s unlikely they’ll find a trade partner, so Hiura is likely to hit the waiver wire this week. He has already cleared outright waivers once in his career and could elect free agency if he goes unclaimed again.
Hoyer: Cubs Prioritizing “2025 And Beyond” At Deadline
This morning, The Athletic reported that the Cubs did not anticipate buying at the deadline. President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer essentially confirmed as much in a chat with reporters just before tonight’s matchup with the Brewers.
Hoyer said the front office will approach the deadline with an eye toward to the future. “Where we are right now, I would have to say that moves only for 2024 – unless things change over the next week – we probably won’t do a lot of moves that only help us for this year,” Chicago’s baseball ops leader said (link via Jesse Rogers of ESPN). “If moves help us for 2025 and beyond I think we’re exceptionally well positioned.”
While Hoyer left open the slight caveat that the situation could change this week, there’s not much ambiguity in how he expects to handle the deadline. He spoke frankly about the team’s “poor position” with regards to this season. “We simply dug a hole with underperformance for two months. That doesn’t affect how I view the organization or how I view things going forward but it certainly affects 2024,” Hoyer said.
It’s clear the Cubs aren’t going to pursue any impending free agents. Hoyer didn’t term Chicago’s approach as buying or selling. That leaves open the possibility of trying to acquire MLB talent that is under team control beyond this season. While that’s not unprecedented (the Reds’ acquisition of Trevor Bauer and the Mets’ deal for Marcus Stroman in 2019 are examples of teams acquiring controllable players at the deadline despite being out of contention), it’s not common. The Cubs would need to outbid teams that are motivated to land those players for both a potential playoff push this summer and future seasons.
Chicago’s farm system is regarded as one of the strongest in the league. That gives Hoyer and his staff the ammunition to make a deal for a controllable player of note, but the likelier outcome is that the Cubs will just move a few short-term veterans. Hoyer shot down any suggestion of a complete teardown, saying it’s “not going to be an option so (there’s) no point in going through the hypothetical.” That makes it unlikely they’d deal core pieces who are under contract or team control beyond this season (e.g. Justin Steele, Shota Imanaga, Ian Happ, Michael Busch).
Prioritizing 2025 would ordinarily put a team’s rentals on the table, but the Cubs don’t have much to offer in that regard. Kyle Hendricks, Drew Smyly (whose deal contains a $2.5MM buyout on a $10MM mutual option) and recent minor league signee Jorge López are the only true rentals. Hendricks is playing on a $16.5MM salary and has an earned run average pushing 7.00. While he has pitched better lately after a dismal start to the season, there’d be minimal interest. The Cubs could try to pay down almost all of the contract to find a trade partner. Hendricks also has full no-trade rights after reaching 10 years of MLB service (at least the last five of which have been with his current team) earlier this season.
Smyly has a 2.92 ERA across 37 innings in a long relief capacity. That solid run prevention isn’t supported by mediocre strikeout and walk rates (21% and 10.2%, respectively). Between his $8.5MM salary and the aforementioned option buyout, there’s likely to be limited interest in the veteran left-hander.
Cody Bellinger has the ability to opt out of the final two years and $50MM on his contract. He has had a fine but unexceptional season, hitting .269/.331/.410 across 344 plate appearances. That’d be a difficult contract to move even if Bellinger were healthy, and he went on the injured list a couple weeks ago with a broken finger.
If the Cubs wanted to more or less run things back in 2025, they’d be in for a very quiet deadline. Yet even if they’re not likely to move long-term core pieces, Chicago could entertain offers on role players who are controllable beyond this season. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported over the weekend that the Yankees and Red Sox were looking at starter Jameson Taillon, who’ll make $18MM annually between 2025-26. Rogers reports that the Cubs have also gotten interest in third baseman/DH Christopher Morel and relievers Héctor Neris, Mark Leiter Jr. and Tyson Miller.
Morel, 25, is under team control through 2028. He’ll be a borderline candidate for the Super Two cutoff for early arbitration next offseason. The Cubs are certainly under no financial pressure to move him, but it’s possible they’re prepared to move on if another team views Morel as a regular. Morel is a good athlete with big power upside who has never found a defensive home. Chicago has unsuccessfully tried him in second base and throughout the outfield in previous seasons. They’ve given him 562 innings at third base this year, hoping his top-of-the-scale arm strength would work at the position. Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast’s Outs Above Average have each given him very poor grades for his stint at the hot corner.
This also hasn’t been a great season for Morel at the plate. While he has 18 homers, he’s hitting .202 with a .304 on-base mark. It’s a step down from the .241/.311/.471 career slash line that Morel carried into the season. While that’s clearly not ideal, it belies some intriguing developments from a process perspective. Morel has upped his walk rate by a couple points while dramatically slicing his strikeouts. After fanning in over 30% of his plate appearances for his first two seasons, he’s striking out 23.8% of the time this year. An unsustainably low .221 average on balls in play has kept that from materializing into better results.
Even if the Cubs expect Morel’s offensive performance to normalize with an uptick in his average on balls in play, the lack of a defensive fit makes him a difficult player to value. The Cubs could hope to turn third base over to last year’s first-round pick Matt Shaw as soon as next season. They don’t have much in the way of short-term alternatives. If the Cubs traded Morel, they’d probably rely on Miles Mastrobuoni and Patrick Wisdom to cover the position for the rest of the season.
The Cubs should be open to offers on anyone in their bullpen. Neris has handled the ninth inning since Adbert Alzolay went down with a forearm strain. The offseason signee has been shaky, walking 16.1% of opponents and blowing four saves in 17 attempts. Neris had a 1.71 ERA for the Astros last season, but that’s up two runs this year thanks to his control woes. The 35-year-old righty is playing on a $9MM salary and has a matching option for next year. That’s currently a team option but would convert to a player option if Neris pitches in 24 more games.
Given his inconsistency, the Cubs aren’t likely to want Neris back at that price point. They’d presumably be happy to find a trade partner, but the potential for being saddled with a $9MM player option if Neris hits his vesting marker could make other teams wary. There’s less risk with regards to Leiter and Miller. The former is striking out 34.4% of opponents with a 50.6% grounder rate across 34 innings. He’s playing on a $1.5MM salary and is under arbitration control through 2026. Miller, whom the Cubs acquired from Seattle in May, has broken out with a 2.04 ERA while striking out nearly 26% of opponents across 35 1/3 frames.
Whether the Cubs get compelling enough offers to move anyone from that group remains to be seen. They’re not entirely buried in the Wild Card standings, sitting 3.5 games back of the last playoff spot (currently held by the Mets). With four intervening teams to jump, the front office has decided they’re at best a long shot to make the postseason. How much they’re willing to reshape the roster with the ’25 campaign in mind will be one of the bigger questions of the upcoming week.
Notable Draft Signings: 7/22/24
We’ve already covered a few significant draft bonuses this evening. A few more $2MM+ signings from Monday:
- The Phillies are signing second-rounder Griffin Burkholder for $2.5MM, reports Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline (X link). Philadelphia had to go well beyond the approximate $1.35MM slot value associated with the 63rd overall pick to sign him away from a commitment to West Virginia. Burkholder is a righty-hitting outfielder out of a Virginia high school. Pre-draft scouting reports at Baseball America (where he ranked #50 in the class) and from Keith Law of the Athletic (who ranked him 71st) credit Burkholder with excellent speed and the potential for plus raw power at his peak. The question is whether he’ll develop an adequate hit tool in pro ball. He’s a developmental flier for the Phils.
- Royals second-round pick David Shields landed a $2.3MM bonus, Callis reports (on X). That’s in line with the 41st overall pick’s $2.28MM slot value. Shields is a 6’2″ left-handed pitcher from a Pennsylvania high school who had been committed to Miami. One of the younger pitchers in the class, Shields is a projection arm with good athleticism and low-90s velocity at present. Law ranked him 43rd on his pre-draft list, crediting the southpaw with good curveball feel and a loose arm action.
- The Rockies agreed to a $2MM bonus with 42nd overall pick Jared Thomas, reports Carlos Collazo of Baseball America (X link). That’s slightly under slot, which was around $2.22MM. Thomas is a lefty-hitting outfielder from the University of Texas. He hit .349/.435/.635 with 16 homers and 18 steals as a draft-eligible sophomore. Thomas split most of his defensive work in Austin between first base and center field, though he’ll likely get a shot at the latter position in pro ball. FanGraphs and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel each had him as a top 50 player in the class. Thomas draws praise for his solid power and athleticism, although BA’s scouting report raises questions about his propensity to chase pitches off the plate. Thomas struck out in 20.6% of his plate appearances during his draft year. While that’s a little better than the MLB average, it’s likely to rise in pro ball.
White Sox Agree To Terms With No. 5 Pick Hagen Smith
The White Sox have deals with their top two draft picks. Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline reports (X links) that Chicago agreed to an $8MM bonus with fifth overall pick Hagen Smith and a $3MM sum with second-rounder Caleb Bonemer.
Smith, a left-hander from the University of Arkansas, was the second pitcher off the board. He and Wake Forest righty Chase Burns were 1-2 among pitchers in some order on virtually every pre-draft rankings. Cincinnati selected Burns with the second pick and signed him to a record $9.25MM bonus. Smith, the final top five draftee to agree to terms, lands the fourth-largest bonus of the class.
The 6’3″ southpaw worked from the rotation in all three seasons in Fayetteville. He had his best season as a junior, turning in a 2.06 earned run average across 84 innings in the SEC. Smith trailed only Burns among Division I pitchers with 161 strikeouts, an incredible 48.6% rate. Even with an elevated 10.3% walk rate, he was far too dominant for most college hitters.
Prospect evaluators credit Smith with a mid-upper 90s fastball and a plus or better slider. Baseball America notes that Smith’s 3/4 arm slot allows his fastball to generate a tough angle at the top of the strike zone. BA raises some questions about the infrequency with which Smith used his changeup in college, while The Athletic’s Keith Law noted that his setup on the first base side of the rubber made it difficult for him to attack right-handed batters on the inner half. Those quibbles (plus a Tommy John surgery which Smith underwent in high school) lead to some risk, but there’s also massive upside given the quality of his top two pitches.
Bonemer is a righty-hitting infielder from a Michigan high school. He’d been slated to attend the University of Virginia but will head to pro ball on an overslot deal. The 43rd overall selection comes with a $2.17MM slot value. Bonemer’s bonus pays him like a late first-round talent. Evaluators praise his power upside and give him a good chance to play somewhere in the infield. Law and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel each raise some concern about his pure hitting ability, with Law’s pre-draft report pointing to Bonemer’s tendency to get pull-oriented in his swing.
A’s Sign First-Round Pick Nick Kurtz
The Athletics announced they’ve signed fourth overall pick Nick Kurtz. MLB.com’s Jim Callis reports (on X) that the former Wake Forest first baseman receives a $7MM bonus. That’s well shy of the approximate $8.37MM slot value, freeing up a decent chunk of money for Oakland to spend on their later picks.
Kurtz has been regarded as one of the best offensive players in the class for the last two years. The left-handed hitter reached base at an absurd .510 clip over his college career. He’s coming off a .306/.531/.763 slash line in his draft year. Kurtz walked at a massive 30% clip while striking out 16.2% of the time as a junior. He popped 22 home runs in 54 games.
Listed at 6’5″ and 240 pounds, Kurtz has obvious power potential. He’s an exceptionally patient hitter, although FanGraphs wrote in their pre-draft report that his approach borders on passive. FanGraphs ranked Kurtz as the #17 prospect in the class. Baseball America, Kiley McDaniel of ESPN and The Athletic’s Keith Law each had him in the back half of the top 10. The primary concern is in Kurtz’s limited defensive profile. While he’s a quality defender at first base, he’s already at the bottom of the defensive spectrum. The recent track record for highly-drafted college first basemen (i.e. Andrew Vaughn, Spencer Torkelson) hasn’t been great.
Rockies Place German Marquez On Injured List
The Rockies placed starter Germán Márquez on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to July 19, due to elbow inflammation. Colorado recalled right-hander Noah Davis to take the open spot on the active roster.
Márquez heads back to the shelf one week after making his return from Tommy John surgery. The right-hander only made one start, tossing four innings of three-run ball against the Mets the day before the All-Star Break. A quick return to the injured list with another elbow issue is cause for concern, but it seems the Rox expect to avoid the worst. Manager Bud Black told reporters that the team hopes to have Márquez back within a couple weeks (link via Kyle Newman of the Denver Post).
Colorado is well out of playoff contention, so the priority is making sure Márquez gets through the ’24 campaign healthy. The Rockies signed the Venezuelan hurler to a two-year, $20MM contract last September. Márquez is making $10MM annually on a deal that was mostly geared towards 2025. Colorado knew that the former All-Star would miss a good chunk of this season as he finished his rehab. This season is largely about building his innings count so he can hold up over a full schedule next year.
This bout of elbow inflammation represents an obvious setback, although it’s possible Márquez returns in August and can pitch for a few weeks down the stretch. There was never much of an expectation that Colorado would trade the 29-year-old this closely removed from surgery. Today’s IL placement seemingly slams that door shut.
Austin Gomber takes the ball tonight against the Red Sox in the series opener at Coors Field. Márquez had been slated to go on Tuesday. Newman writes that left-hander Ty Blach is likely to get the start instead. Blach has started nine of 16 appearances on the season, turning in a 5.46 ERA through 59 1/3 innings. He could step into the starting five behind Cal Quantrill, Kyle Freeland, Gomber and Ryan Feltner. The Rockies are reportedly willing to consider trade offers on Quantrill and Gomber, potentially opening up another rotation spot or two in the next week.
Tigers Agree To Deal With First-Round Pick Bryce Rainer
The Tigers are in agreement with first-round draftee Bryce Rainer on a $5.8MM bonus, reports Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com (X link). That’s narrowly above the approximate $5.71MM slot value for the 11th overall pick.
A 6’3″ high school shortstop from Southern California, Rainer had been committed to the University of Texas. He was the second prep player off the board — Pittsburgh selected Konnor Griffin at #9 — in a college-heavy first round. Rainer was arguably the top high school talent in the class. ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel ranked the lefty-hitting infielder as the best high schooler and the #6 draft prospect overall. He ranked ninth or tenth on pre-draft rankings at FanGraphs, Baseball America and on Keith Law’s list at The Athletic.
Evaluators credit Rainer with the potential for plus power and the chance to stick on the left side of the infield. Scouting reports universally praise his excellent arm strength which would play at third base even if he outgrows shortstop. There’s some trepidation about his hit tool — Law notes that Rainer doesn’t have great bat speed and hasn’t handled plus velocity well — but there’s clearly significant upside if Rainer sticks at shortstop and can tap into 20+ homer power annually.
Detroit has five prospects in Baseball America’s most recent Top 100 update, including three players (Jackson Jobe, Max Clark and Kevin McGonigle) in the top 30. Rainer might not immediately jump into the upper half of that list, but he adds another high-upside talent to the farm system.
Latest On Rays’ Deadline Approach
The Rays are among the more interesting bubble teams with the deadline eight days off. Tampa Bay entered today’s series finale with the Yankees at 50-49. They dropped the game 9-1, putting them back to .500.
Today’s loss knocked Tampa Bay five games behind the Royals, who hold the final Wild Card spot in the American League. The Red Sox and Mariners also sit between the Rays and the last playoff spot. They’re 10.5 back with three teams to jump in the AL East, so it’s almost certainly Wild Card or bust. A five-game deficit certainly isn’t insurmountable, but it’s not an easy gap to close either (especially with multiple teams to jump).
MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand tweeted last night that the Rays are expected to both buy and sell at the deadline. Presumably, that’d take the form of shopping players on more expensive salaries and/or a dwindling control window while exploring acquisitions of MLB-ready talent that could aid the Rays in a longer shot playoff push this season and contribute to the 2025 roster. Tampa Bay’s front office is plenty familiar with trying to strike that balance as they look to remain annually competitive despite bottom five player payrolls.
The Rays have no shortage of veterans who’d generate interest. The Rays had five players on MLBTR’s initial list of Top 50 trade candidates last week: Zack Littell, Zach Eflin, Pete Fairbanks, Randy Arozarena and Jason Adam. There’d be a ton of interest in Isaac Paredes if the Rays genuinely considered moving their All-Star third baseman. SNY’s Andy Martino wrote last week that the Rays are willing to listen on Paredes, though there’s nothing to suggest that’s more than the organization’s standard openness to talking about every player.
Brandon Lowe and Yandy Díaz are each making between $8MM and $9MM and would be appealing targets in a light infield market. Amed Rosario has had a nice rebound season after signing a surprisingly low $1.5MM free agent deal. He’s headed back to free agency next winter and offers multi-positional versatility and plus contact skills from the right side. Virtually every contender could squeeze him onto the roster and in their payroll ledger.
Tampa Bay certainly isn’t going to trade everyone from that group. The Rays have never been keen on completely tearing down the roster and embarking on multi-year rebuilds. They’re not far enough from the playoff mix to make that advisable regardless. Yet it’d be surprising if the Rays didn’t at least move one or two veterans. Rosario, as their only impending free agent of note, is the most obvious candidate. The front office is clearly willing to deal some players under team control beyond this season, as evidenced by their trade of starter Aaron Civale (who is eligible for arbitration for the final time next winter) to Milwaukee.
Patrick Mooney, Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of the Athletic wrote this morning that the Rays could be more apt to trade players who are going yearly through arbitration than to deal those playing on guaranteed contracts. Arozarena, Paredes, Littell and Adam fall into the first bucket. Fairbanks, Díaz and Lowe have signed extensions, while Eflin joined Tampa Bay on a three-year free agent deal. There’s not much difference between players on guaranteed contracts versus arbitration salaries in practice, but The Athletic writes that the Rays could feel more of an obligation to hold the players who have committed to the franchise for multiple seasons.
While that’s a possible factor, it’d be surprising if the Rays drew too rigid a distinction. Tampa Bay traded Tyler Glasnow and Manuel Margot — each of whom had signed an extension — to the Dodgers last winter. Glasnow’s deal sent him close to home on the West Coast and came in conjunction with another extension with L.A.; the Dodgers flipped Margot to Minnesota within a few weeks. Tampa Bay traded Blake Snell within two years of signing him to a five-year extension back in December 2020.
Eflin ($11MM), Lowe ($8.75MM) and Díaz ($8MM) have the highest salaries among players on multi-year deals. Arozarena’s $8.1MM salary is by far the highest of Tampa Bay’s group of players on arbitration deals. Eflin will make $18MM next year in the final season of his backloaded contract. Díaz is set to make $10MM next season on a deal that has a $12MM team option for 2026. The Rays hold club options on Lowe (valued at $10.5MM and $11.5MM, respectively) for the next two seasons.
Arozarena is set to go through arbitration twice more, while Paredes is eligible for arbitration through the ’27 campaign. He’ll certainly be in line for a lofty raise on this year’s $3.4MM salary. Fairbanks, Adam, Rosario and Littell are all on modest salaries; Fairbanks’ $3.666MM figure is the highest of the bunch. All but Rosario are under contract or club control for at least another season.
If the Rays ultimately straddle the line between buying and selling, they’re fairly well positioned to deal from their rotation and infield. Shane Baz’s return from Tommy John surgery was one motive for the Civale trade. The Rays could welcome back Jeffrey Springs and Drew Rasmussen over the next couple months and will get Shane McClanahan back in 2025 — perhaps lessening the sting of a deal involving Eflin or Littell. Upper level infielders like Curtis Mead and top prospect Junior Caminero could make it easier to part with Lowe. That’s arguably also true of Paredes, although it’d have been an easier sell if Caminero hadn’t had two extended injured list stints in Triple-A this year because of quad issues.
Tampa Bay doesn’t have as much long-term stability in the outfield, particularly if they move Arozarena at some point. At catcher, they’ve gotten good production this year out of Ben Rortvedt but could still look for a clearer long-term answer. Tampa Bay’s typically excellent bullpen has been an unexpected issue this season, so that’s another area where the Rays may look to add.