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Rays Place Shane McClanahan, Richie Palacios On Injured List

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The Rays placed left-hander Shane McClanahan on the 15-day injured list and utilityman Richie Palacios on the 10-day IL today, with both placements retroactive to March 24.  McClanahan is dealing with a nerve problem in his left triceps, while Palacios has a fracture in his right ring finger.  Righty Hunter Bigge and outfielder Kameron Misner were called up from Triple-A and will be part of the Opening Day roster.

Palacios has missed the last week of Spring Training action due to the fracture, which is at the tip of ring finger.  Tampa skipper Kevin Cash told reporters (including Ryan Bass) last Friday that the injury was considered minor and that Palacios would miss “probably…a couple days,” but it appears as though the club has opted to sideline Palacios for a week into the season to give him a bit more time to heal up.

The left-handed hitting Palacios appeared in 92 games for the Rays last season, hitting .233/.346/.318 over 316 plate appearances (285 of them against right-handed pitching).  As one would expect from a part-time Rays player, Palacios saw action at multiple positions, primarily at second base and the two corner outfield slots plus a couple of games at third base and shortstop.  Misner is an outfield-only player, but he is another lefty bat who can provide more help in that department while Palacios is out.

It was known earlier this week that McClanahan’s nerve issue would send him to the season-opening IL, and delay his return to the big leagues after he missed all of 2024 recovering from Tommy John surgery.  No timeline has been provided for when McClanahan might be ready to pitch, which isn’t unusual given the unpredictable state of nerve-related injuries.  McClanahan and the Rays can only wait for the nerve to calm, and once that happens, a ramp-up plan can be devised to plot out the southpaw’s official return to action.

In other Rays injury news, Cash told reporters (including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times) that catcher Danny Jansen’s pulled rib muscle is feeling a bit better, but a simulated game today will determine whether or not Jansen can be available for Opening Day.  If Jansen is still feeling discomfort through the 5-6 simulated innings, Tampa Bay will likely put him on the 10-day IL and use Kenny Piper as the new backup catcher to Ben Rortvedt.  An 18th-round pick for the Rays in the 2021 draft, Piper has yet to make his MLB debut, and the Rays would have to select his contract into their open spot on the 40-man roster.

Shane McClanahan To Start Season On Rays’ Injured List

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TODAY: McClanahan will begin the season on the 15-day injured list, Rays manager Kevin Cash told John Romano (multiple links) and other reporters, but tests revealed that the left-hander is suffering only from a nerve problem in his triceps area.  The plan is to “calm the nerve down and then see how he progresses, get a ball back in his hand.  Probably the best news we could have heard,” Cash said.

MARCH 22: The Rays suffered a major injury scare this afternoon when southpaw Shane McClanahan exited his start in the third inning due to what the Rays later announced as triceps tightness. John Romano of the Tampa Bay Times relays that the issue is not thought to be related to his recent elbow surgery and that the lefty will undergo imaging on Sunday to determine the severity of the issue.

It’s a concerning situation for any pitcher, but a serious injury would be particularly devastating for McClanahan given that he missed the final two months of the 2023 campaign and the entirety of the 2024 season while rehabbing his aforementioned Tommy John surgery. When healthy, the soon to be 28-year-old hurler is on the shortlist for the best young arms in the sport, with a career 3.02 ERA (130 ERA+) and 3.36 FIP in 404 2/3 innings of work since he made his big league debut back in 2022. The southpaw’s career 28% strikeout rate and 7.1% walk rate further solidify him as a clear top-of-the-rotation arm, and the Rays currently have him poised to serve as the ace of a loaded rotation that also features arms like Ryan Pepiot and Drew Rasmussen.

Those plans appear to have now been scuttled, however, depending on what’s next for McClanahan. The severity of the issue and a potential timetable for his return won’t be completely clear until McClanahan’s tests come back. Even so, it should surprise no one if the Rays decide to proceed cautiously with their prized left-hander coming off of surgery. Even if the issue proves to be relatively insignificant, it would be understandable if the club decided to play it safe and place McClanahan on the injured list to open the season. They’re reasonably well equipped to do so if they choose, with Rasmussen, Pepiot, Taj Bradley, Zack Littell, and Shane Baz all healthy and ready to contribute to the rotation. Beyond that quintet, the club also has depth options such as Joe Boyle and Joe Rock in the fold as well as non-roster veteran Connor Seabold.

Even with that depth in place to handle an absence from McClanahan, a significant injury would be a gut punch for a Rays club that will already need to exceed expectations to compete in an AL East division that figures to be dominated by the Orioles, Yankees, and Red Sox this year after big offseasons for all three clubs. Comparatively, the Rays’ offseason was somewhat modest as they added only Ha-Seong Kim and Danny Jansen to the fold while shipping out Jeffrey Springs in a deal that brought back Boyle. Strong as the club’s rotation looks on paper, the Rays figure to lean on it heavily this year after losing both Isaac Paredes and Randy Arozarena from the lineup at last year’s trade deadline, leaving extra weight on the shoulders of Yandy Diaz and Brandon Lowe as the only established veterans left in an otherwise young and unproven lineup.

If the injury proves serious enough that the Rays need to consider adding from outside the organization to deepen their rotation mix, a handful of viable options such as Lance Lynn and Spencer Turnbull remain available in free agency. With that being said, any big league signings could be pushing it for the perennially low-budget Rays and they might instead prefer to wait and see if a non-roster invitee like Chris Flexen or Ross Stripling returns to the open market after opting out of a minor league deal.

White Sox Claim Mike Vasil Off Waivers From Rays

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The White Sox announced this afternoon that they’ve claimed right-hander Mike Vasil off waivers from the Rays. Right-hander Prelander Berroa was transferred to the 60-day injured list in order to make room for Vasil on the club’s 40-man roster.

Vasil, who celebrated his 25th birthday last week, has had a busy offseason. The longtime Mets farmhand was plucked from the club in the Rule 5 draft by the Phillies but was traded to the Rays for cash considerations shortly thereafter. He spent Spring Training with his newest club in Tampa, posting a 5.91 ERA in 10 2/3 innings of work, but ultimately did not make the club’s Opening Day roster. That led the Rays to place Vasil on waivers. If he had cleared waivers, he would’ve been offered back to the Mets, but instead the White Sox plucked him off the waiver wire and will now bring him into the fold along with all the roster stipulations that pertain to a typical Rule 5 player.

It’s not necessarily a surprise for a rebuilding club like the White Sox to dedicate roster spots to Rule 5 draftees, and some Rule 5 players like Garrett Whitlock and Anthony Santander have gone on to be valuable pieces for their new clubs after being drafted. With that being said, Vasil is coming off a 2024 campaign where he struggled to a 6.04 ERA in 134 innings of work at Triple-A Syracuse while still in the Mets organization. Providing any sort of major league production after struggling that badly at the highest level of the minors the year prior would be impressive in any context, but it would be especially impressive for a player in Vasil’s situation who cannot be optioned to the minor leagues.

With that being said, Vasil’s been viewed as scouts as a likely future starting pitcher capable of eating innings at the back of a rotation for years, and the White Sox are a club that’s clearly in need of innings. Fellow Rule 5 draft pick Shane Smith is also being carried on the club’s roster to open the season, and Smith appears to be in the mix alongside Bryse Wilson for the fifth spot in the club’s rotation behind Davis Martin, Jonathan Cannon, Martin Perez, and Sean Burke. Of that group, only Perez has made more than 21 starts in a big league season before. With so little experience in the club’s rotation mix, having an innings eater like Vasil available to take on spot starts or even carry the load in a long relief role could be quite valuable.

Braves Acquire Nathan Wiles From Rays

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The Rays announced that right-hander Nathan Wiles has been traded to the Braves for cash considerations. The righty was not on Tampa’s 40-man roster and won’t need to take up a spot on Atlanta’s roster for now.

Wiles, 26, was an eighth-round pick of the Rays in 2019. Since then, he has pitched both out of the rotation and the bullpen in the minor leagues. Overall, he has thrown 325 1/3 innings across multiple levels, allowing 4.98 earned runs per nine. His 20.5% strikeout rate is on the low side but he’s shown strong control with a 5% walk rate.

He’s never been a top prospect but he got an honorable mention on the FanGraphs list of Rays prospects from Eric Longenhagen and Travis Ice in July. “Wiles commands his 90-94 mph fastball well and his 84-88 mph cutter stays off barrels with its late bite,” the FanGraphs reports says. “He throws his changeup to both left- and right-handed hitters and his best ones show significant depth.”

His numbers in the Grapefruit League look quite nice, with obvious small sample caveats. In 6 1/3 innings, he has 11 strikeouts compared to just two walks. 10 hits have led to five earned runs and a 7.11 ERA, but his .556 batting average on balls in play and 58.3% strand rate are both heavily to the unlucky side.

Perhaps Atlanta has seen something they liked from Wiles this spring and sent some cash to the Rays in order to bring him aboard. He’ll provide the club with some non-roster depth for its pitching staff.

Photo courtesy Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images

36 Veteran Players With Looming Opt-Out Dates

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The 2022-26 collective bargaining agreement implemented a new series of uniform opt-out dates for players who qualified as free agents under Article XX(b) of said agreement and sign a minor league deal in free agency. More specifically, that designation falls on players with six-plus years of MLB service time who finished the preceding season on a major league roster or injured list. Some contracts for players coming over from a foreign professional league like Nippon Professional Baseball or the Korea Baseball Organization will also have language written into their contracts allowing them to qualify as an XX(b) free agent despite a lack of six years of service.

The three uniform opt-out dates on those contracts land five days before Opening Day, on May 1 and on June 1. With the regular season set to kick off next week, any Article XX(b) free agents who are in camp on minor league contracts will have the opportunity to opt out on Saturday, March 22. A player triggering one of these out clauses gives his current club 48 hours to either add him to the 40-man roster or let him become a free agent.

There are other ways to secure opt-outs in contracts, of course. Many players who don’t qualify for XX(b) designation will still have opt-out opportunities negotiated into their minor league deals in free agency.

The following is a list of 36 players who are in camp as non-roster invitees and will be able to opt out this weekend. Most were XX(b) free agents, but there are a handful of names who didn’t meet that requirement but had outs negotiated into their respective deals nonetheless. This is not a comprehensive list of all players with opt-out opportunities this weekend.

All spring stats referenced are accurate through the completion of games played Wednesday, March 19.

Astros: LHP Jalen Beeks

Beeks, 31, was a relatively late sign (March 7) who’s since tossed three spring frames — including two scoreless innings just yesterday. He logged a 4.50 ERA in 70 innings between the Rockies and Pirates last season. He struggled to miss bats last year but typically runs strong strikeout rates. Dating back to 2020, Beeks carries a 4.16 ERA in 192 2/3 innings. In Josh Hader, Bryan King and Bennett Sousa, the Astros already have three lefty relievers on the 40-man. Another veteran non-roster invitee, Steven Okert, has rattled off 8 2/3 shutout spring innings with a 14-to-2 K/BB ratio. Beeks might have long odds of cracking the roster.

Blue Jays: RHP Jacob Barnes, LHP Ryan Yarbrough

The 34-year-old Barnes logged a 4.36 ERA in a career-high 66 big league innings last season. He posted an ERA north of 5.00 in each of the five preceding seasons (a total of 115 1/3 frames). He’s been tagged for four runs in 5 1/3 innings this spring.

Yarbrough, 33, had a terrific run with the Jays to close out the 2024 season. Joining Toronto in a deadline swap sending Kevin Kiermaier to the Dodgers, the veteran southpaw posted a 2.01 ERA in 31 1/3 innings. He’s a soft-tosser, sitting just 86.5 mph with his heater, but Yarbrough can pitch multiple innings in relief and has a decent track record even beyond last year’s overall 3.19 earned run average (4.21 ERA in 768 MLB innings). He’s allowed three runs with and 8-to-1 K/BB ratio in 6 2/3 innings in camp.

Braves: RHP Buck Farmer, RHP Hector Neris

Farmer was already reassigned to minor league camp on Sunday, so there’d seem to be a good chance of him taking his out. The 34-year-old turned in a terrific 3.04 ERA in 71 innings for the Reds last year but was probably hampered by his age, pedestrian velocity and subpar command in free agency. With a 3.68 ERA in 193 innings over the past three seasons in Cincinnati, he should find an opportunity somewhere — even if it’s not in Atlanta.

Neris is still in Braves camp. He signed well into camp and thus has only pitched one official inning so far, which was scoreless. (Neris is pitching today as well.) He’s looking to bounce back from a 4.10 ERA and a particularly poor performance in save opportunities last year. Prior to his nondescript 2024, Neris rattled off a 3.03 ERA in 208 innings from 2021-23 between Philly and Houston, saving 17 games and collecting 67 holds along the way.

Brewers: 1B/OF Mark Canha, OF Manuel Margot

He’s had a brutal spring, but the 36-year-old Canha has been an above-average hitter every year since 2018, by measure of wRC+. He’s just 2-for-23 in Brewers camp, but he’s slugged a homer and walked as often as he’s fanned (four times apiece). Milwaukee has Rhys Hoskins at first base, but Canha could chip in at DH and offer a right-handed complement to lefty outfielders Sal Frelick and Garrett Mitchell.

Margot hasn’t hit well in a tiny sample of 35 spring plate appearances, but he’s outproduced Canha with a .250/.314/.375 slash. He’s coming off a dismal .238/.289/.337 showing in Minnesota, however, and hasn’t been the plus defender he was prior to a major 2022 knee injury. Like Canha, he could complement Frelick and Mitchell as a righty-swinging outfielder, but Canha has been the far more productive bat in recent seasons.

Cubs: RHP Chris Flexen

The Cubs reassigned Flexen to minor league camp after just 3 2/3 innings this spring. He was hit hard on the other side of town with the White Sox in 2024, though Flexen quietly righted the ship after an awful start. He posted a 5.69 ERA through nine starts but logged a 4.62 mark over his final 21 trips to the mound, including a tidy 3.52 earned run average across 46 innings in his last eight starts. Flexen may not bounce back to his 2021-22 numbers in Seattle, but he’s a durable fifth starter if nothing else.

Diamondbacks: INF/OF Garrett Hampson, RHP Scott McGough

The D-backs don’t really have a backup shortstop while Blaze Alexander is sidelined with an oblique strain, which seems to bode well for Hampson. He’s hitting .235/.333/.324 in camp and can play three infield spots and three outfield positions. He had a bleak .230/.275/.300 performance in Kansas City last year but was a league-average hitter for the Marlins as recently as 2023.

McGough was reassigned to minor league camp yesterday after serving up six runs in 4 2/3 innings of spring work. That wasn’t the follow-up to last year’s gruesome 7.44 ERA for which the 35-year-old righty or the team had hoped.

Giants: C Max Stassi, RHP Lou Trivino

Stassi is battling Sam Huff, who’s on the 40-man, for the backup catcher’s role while Tom Murphy is injured. The 34-year-old Stassi is hitting .300/.364/.700 with a pair of homers in 22 spring plate appearances. He’s a plus defender with a scattershot track record at the plate.

Trivino hasn’t pitched since 2022 due to Tommy John surgery and a separate shoulder issue. He also hasn’t allowed a run in 8 1/3 spring innings. (9-to-4 K/BB ratio). Trivino’s scoreless Cactus League showing, his pre-injury track record and his familiarity with skipper Bob Melvin — his manager in Oakland — all seem to give him a real chance to win a spot.

Mariners: RHP Shintaro Fujinami, RHP Trevor Gott, 1B Rowdy Tellez

Fujinami’s command has never been good, and he’s walked more batters (seven) than he’s struck out (four) through 5 2/3 spring innings. He’s also plunked a pair of batters. He’s looking to bounce back from an injury-ruined 2024 season but might have to take his first steps toward doing so in Triple-A.

Tellez has had a big camp and looks like he could have a real chance to make the club in a part-time DH/first base role, as explored more yesterday. Gott is on the mend from Tommy John surgery performed last March and won’t pitch until midseason. He’s unlikely to opt out.

Mets: RHP Jose Ureña

Ureña was torched for seven runs in his first 1 1/3 spring innings after signing with the Mets on Feb. 27. He bounced back by striking out all three opponents he faced in an inning this past weekend, but he hasn’t helped himself otherwise. Ureña’s 3.80 ERA in 109 innings with Texas last year was his first sub-5.00 ERA since 2017-18 in Miami.

Padres: 1B Yuli Gurriel, INF Jose Iglesias

Both veterans have a legitimate chance to make the club. Gurriel has had a productive spring (.296/.321/.519) at nearly 41 years of age, while Iglesias is out to a 5-for-18 start since signing in mid-March. Gurriel could split time at first and DH, lessening the need to use Luis Arraez in the field. Iglesias could see frequent work at second base, shifting Jake Cronenworth to first base and pushing Arraez to DH. The Padres probably wouldn’t have put a hefty (relative to most minor league deals) $3MM base salary on Iglesias’ deal if they didn’t see a real path to him making the roster.

Pirates: LHP Ryan Borucki

Borucki was great for the Pirates in 2023 and struggled through 11 innings during an injury-marred 2024 season. The 30-year-old southpaw has allowed one run in eight spring innings. His five walks are a bit much, but he’s also fanned 11 of his 33 opponents.

Rangers: SS Nick Ahmed, RHP David Buchanan, RHP Jesse Chavez, OF Kevin Pillar, RHP Hunter Strickland

Ahmed has more homers in 28 spring plate appearances than he had in 228 plate appearances in 2024 or 210 plate appearances in 2023. He’s popped three round-trippers already and slashed .286/.310/.607. With a crowded infield and versatile backups like Josh Smith and Ezequiel Duran, Ahmed might still have a hard time cracking the roster.

None of the three pitchers listed here has performed well in limited work. Buchanan had a nice run as a starter in the KBO in the four preceding seasons, while Chavez has been a mainstay in the Atlanta bullpen for much of the past few years. Strickland had a nice 2024 in Anaheim but signed very late and retired only one of the five batters he faced during his long spring outing.

Pillar may have the best chance of the bunch to make the team. He’s hitting .273/.333/.394 in 39 plate appearances. Outfielders Wyatt Langford and Adolis Garcia have been banged up this spring, so some extra outfield depth could make sense.

Rays: DH/OF Eloy Jimenez

Jimenez homered for the second time yesterday, boosting his Grapefruit line to .263/.300/.447. He’s coming off a dreadful season in 2024, but from 2019-23 the former top prospect raked at a .275/.324/.487 pace, including a 31-homer rookie campaign (admittedly, in the juiced-ball 2019 season). Durability has been a bigger factor than productivity. If the Rays can get Jimenez to elevate the ball more, he could be a bargain; he’s still only 28.

Red Sox: LHP Matt Moore, RHP Adam Ottavino

Moore signed on Feb. 20 and has only gotten into two spring games so far, totaling two innings. Ottavino has pitched four innings but allowed five runs. He’s walked five and tossed a pair of wild pitches in that time. Both pitchers have long MLB track records, but they’re both coming off lackluster seasons.

Reds: LHP Wade Miley

Miley underwent Tommy John surgery early last season and contemplated retirement upon learning his prognosis. He wanted to return to one of his former NL Central clubs in free agency, and the Reds clearly offered a more compelling minor league deal than the Brewers. He’s not going to be a realistic option until late May, and it seems unlikely he’d opt out while his rehab is still ongoing.

Rockies: RHP Jake Woodford

Woodford isn’t an Article XX(b) free agent, but MLBTR has learned that he still has a March 22 opt-out. He made his fourth appearance of Rockies camp yesterday, tossing 2 2/3 innings with an earned run. Woodford has allowed seven runs on 11 hits and three walks with five punchouts and a nice 47.2% grounder rate in 10 2/3 frames this spring. He has experience as a starter and reliever. The righty doesn’t miss many bats but keeps the ball on the ground and has good command. He’s a fifth starter/swingman who’s out of minor league options.

Royals: C Luke Maile, RHP Ross Stripling

Maile is a glove-first backup who’s had a nice spring at the plate but has done so on a team with a healthy Salvador Perez and Freddy Fermin. His path to a roster spot doesn’t look great. Speculatively, his former Reds club, which just lost Tyler Stephenson to begin the year, would make sense if they plan to add an outside catcher. Maile’s .214/.294/.329 performance over the past three seasons is light, but he’s already familiar with the bulk of Cincinnati’s staff. He’s a fine backup or No. 3 catcher for any club, Kansas City included.

Stripling notched a 3.01 ERA in 124 innings for the 2022 Blue Jays, but it’s been rough waters since. He was rocked for a 5.68 ERA across the past two seasons, spending time with both Bay Area clubs, and has been tagged for 11 runs on 14 hits — four of them homers — with just two strikeouts in six spring frames. He’ll likely need a strong Triple-A showing, be it with the Royals or another club, to pitch his way back to the majors.

Tigers: LHP Andrew Chafin

Chafin surprisingly commanded only a minor league deal this offseason and has struggled to begin his third stint with the Tigers. He’s been tagged for eight runs in four spring innings, walking six batters along the way. It’s a rough look, but the affable southpaw notched a 3.51 ERA in 56 1/3 MLB frames last year and touts a 3.12 mark across the past four seasons combined.

White Sox: RHP Mike Clevinger, INF Brandon Drury, OF Travis Jankowski

The ChiSox signed Clevinger for a third time late this spring and are trying him in the bullpen. He’s responded with four shutout innings, allowing only one hit and no walks while fanning six hitters. His 2025 White Sox reunion is out to a much better start than his 2024 reunion, wherein he was limited to only 16 innings with a 6.75 ERA thanks to elbow and neck troubles.

Drury could hardly be doing more to secure a spot with the Pale Hose. He’s decimated Cactus League pitching at a .410/.439/.821 pace, slugging three homers and seven doubles in only 41 plate appearances. He’s coming off a terrible 2024 showing with the Angels but hit .263/.313/.493 from 2021-23. It’d be a surprise if the Sox didn’t keep him.

Jankowski started the spring with the Cubs, was granted his release and signed with the Sox. The hits haven’t been dropping, but he has six walks in 25 plate appearances. The White Sox already have Michael A. Taylor in a fourth outfield role. Andrew Benintendi, who missed three-plus weeks with a fractured hand, was back in the lineup yesterday, making Jankowski something of a long shot.

Yankees: RHP Carlos Carrasco

With a nice spring showing and several injuries in the Yankees’ rotation, Carrasco looks to have a good chance at making the roster. Jack Curry of the YES Network already reported it’s “likely” Carrasco will be added this weekend. Carrasco has a 1.69 ERA with 15 strikeouts and seven walks (plus four hit batters) in 16 spring innings. He tossed five shutout frames yesterday.

MLBTR Podcast: The Rays’ Stadium Deal Is Dead, Rangers’ Rotation Issues, And More!

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • Who is a more likely trade acquisition for the Mets, Sandy Alcántara of the Marlins or Dylan Cease of the Padres? And who would command a larger trade package? (20:50)
  • Should the Pirates trade one of their catchers? (24:20)
  • How realistic is it that the Mariners have better offense than last year and are in position to use their prospects for deadline upgrades? (28:40)
  • Should the Yankees try to plug holes with veterans or give playing time to younger guys? (34:25)
  • The Tigers are trying Javier Báez and Spencer Torkelson at different positions. Are they trying to increase the trade appeal of these players or delude themselves into thinking they could actually provide value? (38:25)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy Bill Streicher, Imagn Images

Nationals Return Rule 5 Pick Evan Reifert To Rays

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The Nationals have returned Rule 5 Draft pick Evan Reifert to the Rays, per announcements from both clubs. Washington’s 40-man roster is now at 39 players. The right-hander is back in the Rays organization and will not count against Tampa Bay’s 40-man roster. The fact that Reifert is being returned to the Rays indicates that he first cleared waivers after being made available to the league’s other 28 teams.

The 25-year-old Reifert (26 in May) signed with the Brewers as an undrafted free agent in 2020 and was traded to the Rays a bit more than a year later in exchange for infielder Mike Brosseau. He made his way to Double-A in 2024, pitching 41 1/3 innings of 1.96 ERA ball with an eye-popping 40.4% strikeout rate against a 9.9% walk rate. Despite the gaudy strikeout rate, Reifert was left unprotected last November and was the fifth player off the board in December’s Rule 5 Draft.

Last year’s 9.9% walk rate was higher than average but still far and away the best mark of Reifert’s career. He walked 14% of his opponents in 2021, 12.5% in 2022 and 37% in 2023 (in a tiny sample of 7 2/3 innings). Command has long been an issue, and that was again the case during spring training. Reifert issued a dozen walks and tossed three wild pitches in just 6 1/3 innings (39 batters faced).

Reifert has yet to pitch in Triple-A, but he’ll presumably do so this season. If the Rays can get his walk numbers back to even the 10-12% range, he has the potential to be an impactful big league reliever. The 6’4″ righty features a heater in the 94-97 range and an overpowering slider that MLB.com credits as a 70-grade pitch (on the 20-80 scale). FanGraphs touts that slider as a legitimate 80-grade offering … but couples it with 30-grade command.

Rays Exercise 2026 Club Option On Yandy Díaz, Add 2027 Vesting Option

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The Rays and Yandy Díaz have worked out a mini extension of sorts. The club announced that it has preemptively picked up his 2026 club option, which is valued at $12MM, while adding a club/vesting option for 2027. Díaz, an ACES client, would reportedly vest the ’27 provision at $13MM if he reaches 500 plate appearances in 2026. If he doesn’t hit that vesting threshold, it would be a $10MM team option with no buyout.

Back in January of 2023, the Rays and Díaz agreed to a three-year, $24MM extension with a club option for 2026. He had just had his first arbitration season in 2022 and he was set to go through the process twice more. That deal bought out those two final arb years and one free agent year, while the option gave the Rays the chance to extend their window of control with Díaz by yet another season. He made $6MM in 2023, $8MM last year and will be making $10MM this year. The 2026 club option was set at $12MM with no buyout.

Over the course of the deal, Díaz has continued to hit, though the first year was far better than the second. In 2023, he hit 22 home runs and slashed .330/.410/.522 for a wRC+ of 163. His .367 batting average on balls in play was helping him out a bit, but he drew walks at a 10.8% clip and only struck out 15.7% of the time. Last year, his walk rate fell to 8.1% and he only hit 14 homers. His BABIP normalized somewhat to .314. The result was a .281/.341/.414 line and 120 wRC+. His defensive grades at first base also slid a bit. FanGraphs considered him to be worth 5.0 wins above replacement in 2023 but just 1.9 fWAR last year.

Díaz is now 33 years old and will turn 34 in August. The Rays could have waited to see how he performed in 2025 before picking up the 2026 option. By locking it in now, they’re getting a potential club option for the following season at a similar salary.

Díaz is perhaps sacrificing a bit of future earning power, but the trade-off for doing so is that he’s guaranteeing himself another $12MM today. That would protect him against a further decline in performance during the 2025 season. Under his previous contract structure, a bad 2025 campaign would have led to his option being declined and him heading to free agency with no buyout. Now he has the $12MM already locked in.

Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times first reported the news and the contract terms.

Rays Have Pitched Major Renovations/10-Year Lease Extension At Tropicana Field

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The Rays’ long-term home is in doubt after the team pulled out of plans for a $1.3 billion new stadium in St. Petersburg. The future is unclear, as St. Petersburg and Pinellas County officials have expressed frustration with Rays owner Stuart Sternberg.

John Romano and Colleen Wright of The Tampa Bay Times report that the Rays, within the past month, have floated the idea of renovating Tropicana Field beyond the roof repair. Under that plan, the team, city and county would contribute an equal sum — reportedly $200MM each — for large-scale renovations of their longtime home park. According to the report, the Rays would have agreed to a 10-year lease extension to remain at the Trop through 2038 in that scenario.

The city and county were not immediately keen on the idea. The Rays’ lease at Tropicana Field runs through 2028. It had initially been scheduled to expire in ’27, but it was extended by a year after hurricane damage left the stadium unplayable this season. The city, as lessor, is responsible for fixing the Trop after the hurricane ripped off its roof. The Rays are hopeful those repairs will be complete in time for the 2026 season. The city estimated the repair costs at $55.7MM.

Clearly, a $600MM renovation would go far beyond that. It makes little sense for anyone involved to make that commitment for three years, so it’d necessarily be paired with a lease extension. St. Petersburg mayor Ken Welch said yesterday that he “(has) no interest in working with this ownership group” after their decision to pull out of the stadium deal. Regarding the idea of a lease extension, he told The Tampa Bay Times that the city is “looking at a number of options but I don’t want to talk about, at this point, this notion of a 10- or 15-year extension at the Trop.”

Welch left the door open for reconsidering that idea in the future, saying he’d “talk with the council and with the community about the paths forward” once the Rays officially decline the current stadium deal. While the team has already made clear it’ll do so, the Rays need to sign an official termination letter on that project or wait for the bond approval to expire on March 31 (the date for the team to hit construction benchmarks to keep the public funding alive).

Rays team president Matt Silverman reiterated yesterday that the team is not for sale. He said they could reopen discussions with the City of Tampa and Hillsborough County after March 31. Silverman told Romano and Wright today that a lease extension at the Trop was also “one of many possibilities that has been discussed with the city and the county since the hurricanes.” The Rays have played at Tropicana Field since their founding in 1998. They will play this season at Tampa’s George M. Steinbrenner Field.

Rays Will Not Move Forward With Plans For New Ballpark

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As the Rays continue to deal with the lasting impact of damages to Tropicana Field during Hurricane Milton, owner Stu Sternberg announced this morning that his club will no longer be moving forward with the previous tentative plans to construct a new ballpark in St. Petersburg. The team’s statement reads as follows:

“As we all recover from impacts of the hurricanes, we are incredibly grateful for the support from our fans and the wider Tampa Bay community. … After careful deliberation, we have concluded that we cannot move forward with the new ballpark and development project at this moment. A series of events beginning in October that no one could have anticipated led to this difficult decision.

Our commitment to the vitality and success of the Rays organization is unwavering. We continue to focus on finding a ballpark solution that serves the best interests of our region, Major League Baseball and our organization. The City of St. Petersburg is currently advancing plans to restore Tropicana Field for the 2026 season. We are thankful for their efforts and are excited to return to our home field next spring.”

Major League Baseball issued the following statement in the wake of the Rays’ announcement:

“Major League Baseball remains committed to finding a permanent home for the Club in the Tampa Bay region for their fans and the local community. Commissioner Manfred understands the disappointment of the St. Petersburg community from today’s announcement, but he will continue to work with elected officials, community leaders, and Rays officials to secure the club’s future in the Tampa Bay region.”

[Related: Rays Are “Not For Sale,” St. Petersburg Mayor Says “Bridge Has Been Burned”]

Last summer, the Rays reached a tentative agreement to construct a new $1.3 billion stadium — part of a larger $6.5 billion redevelopment project in the historic Gas Plant District site near the existing Tropicana Field. The closed-roof, 30,000-seat stadium was set to open in 2028, and the development plan had been agreed upon by the Rays, Pinellas County and the City of St. Petersburg. The city council and county commission still needed to sign off on the plan, and various benchmarks needed to be hit along the way to ensure the stadium plans would remain on track.

Mother nature, of course, had other intentions. Hurricane Milton wrought immense damage on Tropicana Field, leaving the Rays without a place to play for at least the 2025 season while they evaluated the cost of repairing Tropicana Field’s shredded roof. The Yankees agreed to allow the Rays to host their home games at Tampa’s Steinbrenner Field — home of the team’s Class-A affiliate — for the upcoming 2025 campaign. That plan remains in place.

Even a short-term move to a location outside of Pinellas County rankled some on the county commission, however. The time needed to sort out logistical nightmare stemming from the hurricane damages, coupled with November election cycles that changed the composition of the boards set to approve the necessary bonds to move forward with the project, led to delays in what was already a tightly scheduled development plan for the new facility. Those delays also eventually led to a contentious back-and-forth between the Rays (Sternberg and president Matt Silverman) and Pinellas County that has played out over the offseason. Sternberg acknowledged back in November that relocation was a possible outcome in light of renewed squabbles with local government.

The abandonment of the exiting plan for the 2028 stadium and surrounding development comes against the more recent backdrop of reported pressure from not only other owners but also MLB commissioner Rob Manfred for Sternberg to sell the franchise. Evan Drellich of The Athletic wrote over the weekend that Major League Baseball hopes to keep the Rays in Florida, with a focus on either remaining in St. Petersburg or constructing a new facility in Ybor City near downtown Tampa — a location the Rays have previously explored. Orlando has also been mentioned as an alternative, per Drellich.

At this juncture, the team’s focus is clearly on returning to Tropicana Field for the 2026 campaign. That seems a short-term solution, at best, however. The Rays’ lease at their longtime home originally ran through the 2027 season, though the expiration date was pushed back one season after the Rays were rendered unable to play there in 2025.. The now-scrapped construction of their new Gas Plant District home was set to dovetail with the original expiration of their lease at Tropicana Field. Both Drellich and ESPN’s Jeff Passan have reported within the past week that there are potential buyers lining up in the event the franchise is put up for sale, but Sternberg has in the past made clear that he does not intend to sell the club.

“If it was (for sale), people would know it,” Sternberg told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times last month. “I’ve always been, and I will continue to be, pretty transparent about our intentions. And pretty — not pretty — but very honest about them. And I have been.”

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