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Nationals Hire Blake Butera As Manager

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Just weeks after hiring Red Sox assistant GM Paul Toboni as their new president of baseball operations — thus making the 35-year-old the youngest front office leader in MLB — the Nationals announced the hiring of 33-year-old Blake Butera as their new manager. Butera had spent the past two seasons as the Rays’ senior director of player development. Like Toboni, he’s the youngest in the sport at his position.

“I’ve always believed that you win with people, and from our very first conversation, it was clear that Blake is the right person and the right leader for this role,” Toboni said in a press release. “Blake comes into this position with experience in a variety of roles in player development, including as a successful manager, making him uniquely qualified to get the most out of the players in the clubhouse and help us reach the next level. He possesses a strong baseball acumen and has a reputation for building strong relationships with players and staff, making him a great fit for us in Washington, D.C. We’re so excited to welcome him to the Nationals family.”

Butera, who’s already spent four years as a minor league skipper, will be the youngest manager since Frank Quilici in 1972. It’s been a theme for the former Rays farmhand. After a couple of seasons as an infielder in the low minors, he moved to the coaching side, taking over as skipper of High-A Hudson Valley in 2018. At 25 years old, Butera was the youngest manager in organized baseball that season, per Baseball Reference.

After two seasons with Hudson Valley, Butera became the manager of Single-A Charleston. After winning a league title in 2021, he was named Low-A East Manager of the Year. Tampa Bay promoted Butera to Minor League Assistant Field Coordinator in 2023.

Butera also has coaching experience at the international level. He worked for the Perth Heat in the Australian Baseball League from 2019 to 2020. He served as a quality control coach with Leones del Escogido in the Dominican League in 2021. Butera was also a bench coach for Italy in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

Washington fired manager Dave Martinez in July. He had been at the helm since 2018. Martinez won a World Series with the team in 2019, but the team had struggled since then. The Nationals had lost 90+ games in four straight seasons heading into 2025. They were 37-53 when Martinez was dismissed.

Bench coach Miguel Cairo took over as interim manager. He was a candidate to take over full-time in 2026, but was removed from consideration earlier this week. Cairo, Brandon Hyde, and Craig Albernaz were the only three candidates known to have interviewed for Washington’s vacancy. Albernaz ended up landing the Baltimore job.

Washington also moved on from longtime president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo during the season. Assistant general manager Mike DeBartolo took over as interim general manager to close the year. The Nationals then hired former Red Sox assistant general manager Paul Toboni as their president of baseball operations in late September.

With Butera now installed in D.C., seven of the offseason’s incredible ten managerial vacancies have been filled. Colorado, San Diego, and Atlanta are still in the market for a new skipper. Minnesota (Derek Shelton), Baltimore (Albernaz), San Francisco (Tony Vitello), Texas (Skip Schumaker), and the Angels (Kurt Suzuki) have all filled the position this offseason.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported that the Nationals had chosen Butera and were finalizing a contract.

Angels Hire Mike Maddux As Pitching Coach

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10:10am: The Angels have confirmed that Maddux will be their new pitching coach, per Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register.

9:38am: Pitching coach Mike Maddux won’t return to the Rangers in 2026 and will instead be hired to new Angels manager Kurt Suzuki’s staff in Anaheim, reports Jeff Wilson of DLLS Sports. It’s expected to be a one-year deal. The Angels haven’t formally announced the hiring, but Wilson adds that the Rangers have confirmed they were unable to reach a new deal with Maddux. Texas granted its division rival permission to speak to Maddux but also made an offer to retain him even after the Halos had inquired about his availability, per the report.

Rangers president of baseball ops Chris Young tells Wilson that his club is “forever grateful” to Maddux, who “played a major role” on the team’s first-ever World Series victory during the 2023 season and oversaw a dominant Texas pitching staff in 2025. Rangers starters led the majors with a 3.41 ERA this past season. Their bullpen’s collective 3.62 mark placed fifth in MLB despite being composed almost entirely of short-term free agent acquisitions from the prior offseason.

Following the season, Young expressed interest in retaining Maddux, whether in a new contract as pitching coach or another role within the organization. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News adds that the team indeed discussed alternative roles in addition to extending an offer to return as pitching coach. Instead, he’ll head west and join the fifth team of his lengthy coaching career.

Maddux, who turned 64 in August, had a 15-year career as a big league pitcher but has had an even more notable run as one of the most prolific pitching coaches in the league. He pitched for nine teams during his decade and a half in MLB, compiling a 4.05 ERA in 861 2/3 innings while working both as a starter and a reliever.

Lengthy as his career was, Maddux has now been a big league coach for an even longer stretch of time. He’s spent the past 23 seasons as a major league pitching coach, beginning with a six-year run in Milwaukee from 2003-08. Maddux then jumped to his first of two stints in Texas, spending the ’09-’15 seasons as pitching coach in Arlington, primarily under Ron Washington (who only just departed the Angels’ managerial role). That was followed by two years in D.C. as Nationals pitching coach and a five-year run in St. Louis. Maddux returned to the Rangers in 2023, Bochy’s first year on the job, and guided the staff en route to that year’s World Series championship.

Maddux will have a tough task ahead. The Angels don’t boast nearly the same level of pitching talent as their division rivals. Yusei Kikuchi and Jose Soriano are solid arms locked into the rotation, but the rest of the starting staff is a question mark. Former first-rounder and top prospect Reid Detmers will move back to a rotation role after a successful 2025 in the bullpen, and the Halos will hope that former top prospect Caden Dana can break through this season. Other rotation candidates include Mitch Farris, Sam Aldegheri and prospect George Klassen, but starting pitching figures to be a focus for GM Perry Minasian this winter.

In the bullpen, things are even shakier. Flamethrower Ben Joyce underwent shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum in May. Robert Stephenson, the team’s big-ticket addition in free agency two winters ago, missed all of 2024 due to Tommy John surgery and pitched just 10 innings late in the ’25 season. Lefty Brock Burke had a nice season, but closer Kenley Jansen is a free agent and the rest of the staff is lacking in both experience and sustained MLB success.

Of course, Maddux is one of many voices who’ll be working with the staff. The game has evolved in many ways since the pitching coach was the primary influence on a team’s staff. Maddux may be the lead voice for the group, but he’ll have assistant coaches, advance scouts and input from the team’s analytic department as well in trying to reshape a Halos staff that posted MLB’s third-worst ERA (4.89) in 2025.

The Opener: World Series, Managerial Vacancies, Trade Candidates

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Here are three things for MLBTR readers to keep an eye on as we head into the final weekend of the 2025 season:

1. World Series comes to a head:

The World Series will wrap up this weekend, with Game 6 scheduled for this evening and Game 7 scheduled for tomorrow if necessary. As the clubs head back to Toronto, the Blue Jays are up 3-2 and need just one more win to secure their first World Series championship in more than 30 years, while the Dodgers will need to win both games if they’re going to successfully defend their title from last year. Right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto (2.49 ERA) is set to take the mound for L.A. tonight as he goes for his third consecutive complete game this postseason. Those sterling outings lowered his ERA this postseason to just 1.57 across four starts, though his three runs surrendered to the Phillies across four innings in the NLDS show he’s not invulnerable. Yamamoto’s opponent tonight will be Blue Jays veteran Kevin Gausman (3.59 ERA), who has a 2.55 ERA this postseason but did take the loss when he last matched up against Yamamoto in Game 2.

Neither team has announced starters for a hypothetical Game 7, although Tyler Glasnow and Max Scherzer would be in line to take the ball for the Dodgers and Blue Jays respectively. Of course, with the Dodgers fighting for their playoff lives tonight it will surely be all hands on deck if Yamamoto doesn’t dominate like he did during Game 2. That could involve Glasnow, although manager Dave Roberts teased the possibility that Shohei Ohtani could be available in relief if needed as well. Will the full force of the Dodgers dynasty be enough to beat the Blue Jays in back-to-back games on their home turf?

2. Managerial vacancies dwindling:

After an offseason where a third of the league’s teams had managerial vacancies to fill, only a few remain. The Padres appear to be the closest to a decision of those remaining, as they’ve narrowed their search down to a small group of finalists headlined by future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols. While there’s been plenty of transparency about the search in San Diego, the same can’t be said for Atlanta as the Braves have kept their plans close to the vest. Dodgers bench coach Danny Lehman, Cubs bench coach Ryan Flaherty, and Tigers bench coach George Lombard have been floated as possible options, but it’s unknown what stage in the process the club is at or even if any of those potential candidates have interviewed. The third managerial vacancy left unfilled is that in Colorado, but that search for a new manager won’t even begin until they have a new front office boss to lead it.

3. Top 40 Trade Candidates list:

The end of the World Series will mark the start of the 2025-26 offseason, and here at MLBTR we’ll be celebrating by publishing our list of the top 40 trade candidates for the offseason the day after the World Series concludes. More than half the league has at least one player who they could consider dangling on a list that digs deeper than the most obvious rebuilding clubs and midseason trade candidates, so be sure to check back in the day after MLB crowns its next champion to prime yourself for what could be a busy winter all around the league!

Giants Notes: Vitello, Hyde, Coaching Staff

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The Giants officially introduced new manager Tony Vitello at a press conference on Thursday. San Francisco hired the 47-year-old away from the University of Tennessee, where’d been arguably the best college baseball coach in the country. He signed a three-year contract that reportedly pays $3.5MM per season and comes with a vesting option for 2029. According to Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area, the option would vest if the Giants make the playoffs in 2028.

The hire will cost the Giants quite a bit more than $3.5MM in the first season. Maria Guardado of MLB.com was among those to note that the Giants also covered Vitello’s $3MM buyout to get out of his contract at Tennessee. John Shea of The San Francisco Standard observes that they’re also eating $4MM in dead money after exercising their 2026 option on Bob Melvin’s contract in July.

Moving on from Melvin to Vitello will wind up costing the Giants $10.5MM in year one. Of course, firing Melvin and hiring Vitello were two separate decisions. Pavlovic writes that president of baseball operations Buster Posey had decided to move on from Melvin well before the end of the regular season, even though they didn’t make the move until the first day of the offseason.

The Giants picked up Melvin’s option on July 1 but went into a tailspin over the next six weeks. They sold at the deadline after a 9-15 showing in July, and it seems that more or less sealed Melvin’s fate. Pavlovic suggests that the Giants might have made a change even if they’d manage to snag the final Wild Card spot (though one imagines a deep playoff run would have changed the calculus). The Giants finished the season at .500, and the Mets’ collapse allowed an 83-win Reds team to sneak into the postseason.

Posey credited general manager Zack Minasian with first suggesting the possibility of making a run at Vitello. “There were some rumors (in 2024) that teams were wanting and trying to talk to him, and I thought about it for us just as we started to get to work on building the list,” Minasian told reporters, including Pavlovic. “It was a name that I thought would be interesting to talk to Buster about individually, as opposed to just sending over ’here are the 30 names we have.’ I mentioned to him that I think Tony would be really interesting to talk to. I don’t think it took him long to respond with, ’Yeah, I think he would be.'”

That didn’t ensure Vitello would get the job. The Giants are known to have also interviewed Rangers special assistant Nick Hundley, Royals third base coach Vance Wilson, and future Angels managerial hire Kurt Suzuki. Shea reports that they also conducted a formal interview with former Orioles skipper Brandon Hyde. It was already known that Posey and Hyde had spoken but wasn’t clear until today whether that was an official managerial interview or a chat about some other potential role. Hundley was widely viewed as the early favorite, but he took himself out of consideration because of family commitments.

Vitello told reporters that he has had preliminary conversations as he puts together his first MLB coaching staff. Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic covers a few possibilities. He notes that Vitello was a college teammate of Twins bench coach Jayce Tingler, who’d managed the Padres between 2020-21.

Tingler was Rocco Baldelli’s top assistant in Minnesota for the past four seasons, but the Twins fired Baldelli and tabbed Derek Shelton as their manager. Meanwhile, Baggarly relays that the Giants could look to bring back former outfield/first base coach Antoan Richardson. Richardson held that role for four seasons before leaving to take the first base coach job with the Mets in 2024. It was reported this week that he would not be back in Queens because the sides were unable to agree on a new contract.

A’s Could Pursue Relievers With Closing Experience

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The A’s go into the offseason prioritizing starting pitching and help at one or both of second and third base. They might also be in the market for a late-game reliever. Martín Gallegos of MLB.com writes that the A’s are likely to target a pitcher who has closing experience.

Manager Mark Kotsay used a committee approach in the ninth inning after the A’s traded Mason Miller at the deadline. Hogan Harris, Sean Newcomb, Michael Kelly and Tyler Ferguson each picked up at least one save. Osvaldo Bido got one as well, but that was of the ’three innings to finish a blowout’ variety.

The patchwork relief group pitched well. Only the Guardians had a lower bullpen ERA than the A’s 2.99 mark over the final two months. They surrendered only three leads, tied with Miller’s new team in San Diego for the fewest in MLB. It’s nevertheless understandable that the front office would prefer a more proven arm at the back end.

The quartet of Harris, Kelly, Newcomb and Ferguson had a combined four career saves before August. Newcomb, who had two of them, is headed to free agency. The A’s don’t have many relievers with significant big league experience of any kind. They won’t have a single reliever with even two years of MLB service time once Newcomb, José Leclerc and Scott McGough hit free agency.

The A’s tried to add a proven back-end arm last offseason, signing Leclerc to a one-year deal with a $10MM salary. He was supposed to be the team’s top setup man in front of Miller. Leclerc made 10 appearances before suffering a shoulder injury that required season-ending surgery. He’s highly unlikely to be back. It stands to reason they’ll try to retain Newcomb, who pitched to a 1.75 ERA in 51 1/3 innings after being acquired from the Red Sox. He’s got a shot at a two-year contract after that strong showing but won’t command much on an annual basis. The A’s aren’t going to sign Newcomb as a closer, though, so there should be room for a bigger move in the ninth.

There are no shortage of free agent relievers who have closing experience. The A’s aren’t signing Edwin Díaz, of course. It’s highly unlikely they’ll win the bidding for Robert Suarez either. Any of Kyle Finnegan, Raisel Iglesias, Emilio Pagán, Kenley Jansen or Ryan Helsley should be within the price range. There’s a chance Devin Williams settles for a pillow contract. Each of Seranthony Domínguez, Gregory Soto, Kirby Yates, Taylor Rogers, Paul Sewald and Michael Kopech have past closing experience as well. No one from the latter group seems likely to sign as a closer this offseason, however.

The A’s could have issues selling some of those pitchers on signing with a fringe contender that plays its home games in a hitter-friendly minor league stadium. They’d have no such need if they trade for a closer, so players like Pete Fairbanks, JoJo Romero and Dennis Santana could be targets on that front.

Staff Notes: Rockies, Baker, Kiekhefer, Tigers

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The Rockies’ search for a front office leader will drag into the offseason. Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post reports that the Rox don’t intend to announce their baseball operations hire until next week. The World Series will end on Saturday at the latest, but the Rockies are apparently content to go at least a few days into their offseason activity without a GM in place.

Colorado doesn’t have any free agents who’d receive consideration for a qualifying offer. Their option decisions are easy calls to buy out Kyle Farmer and Thairo Estrada. It’s not a big deal not to have a GM for either of those moves. However, the first five days of the offseason see plenty of waiver activity as teams are required to get their rosters down to 40 without the injured list. Colorado has top waiver priority as the worst team in the league. It would be ideal to have a permanent baseball operations leader for those opportunities, but it doesn’t appear they’ll be in place for that rush. The GM will also need to oversee a managerial search process that could take weeks. Guardians assistant general manager Matt Forman and Diamondbacks AGM Amiel Sawdaye are among the finalists to replace Bill Schmidt in the GM chair.

While we await Colorado’s decision, let’s turn to a few teams that have made minor front office or coaching moves.

  • The Pirates parted ways with vice president of player performance John Baker, reports Jason Mackey of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. A former big league catcher, Baker had been with the Bucs for the past five seasons. He spent his first four years as the organization’s farm director before moving to the more nebulous player performance role last winter. Michael Chernow replaced Baker as the player development director in January.
  • There are a couple changes coming to Oli Marmol’s coaching group with the Cardinals. Katie Woo of The Athletic reports that assistant pitching coach Dean Kiekhefer and game-planning coach Packy Elkins will be reassigned to strategist roles. Woo notes that the Cards intend to hire an assistant pitching coach and an assistant hitting coach later in the offseason. She also writes that the club will add new hires in international scouting and player development. Cardinals fans will want to read the full column, which includes quotes from new president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom on building their front office infrastructure without replacing most of the key staffers from the John Mozeliak era.
  • The Tigers are hiring Alex Smith away from the Cubs to work as their vice president of baseball strategy, report Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney of The Athletic. Smith had been on Craig Counsell’s staff with the somewhat vague title of strategy coach. Smith had spent three seasons on Chicago’s MLB staff — one under David Ross and two with Counsell. Sharma and Mooney write that he was largely tasked with helping the coaches integrate data into their preparation. The Cornell product returns to a front office after working in the Cubs’ analytics department between 2015-22, overlapping with Detroit president of baseball operations Scott Harris for two years. Harris had worked as Chicago’s assistant general manager in 2018-19.

Super Two Cutoff Expected To Be Around 2.140 Years Of Service

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This offseason’s cutoff for Super Two arbitration eligibility is likely to land around two years and 139 or 140 days of service time, MLBTR has learned. MLB should finalize the cutoff within the next few weeks.

The Super Two this year should be a slight increase from last offseason, when the cutoff was 2.132 service years. Players automatically qualify for arbitration when they reach three years of service time and don’t already have a guaranteed contract. The top 22% of players in service between two and three years also qualify (so long as they spent at least 86 days of the preceding season on the active roster or MLB injured list).

Qualifying for early arbitration is a nice boost for a player’s earning potential. He gets to earn a salary above the MLB minimum a year earlier than most other players in the 2-3 year bracket. Arbitration salaries are also designed to escalate as a player builds service, so there are compounding benefits in future years from working off a bigger platform.

Here are the official thresholds from prior offseasons:

  • 2024: 2.132
  • 2023: 2.118
  • 2022: 2.128
  • 2021: 2.116
  • 2020: 2.125
  • 2019: 2.115
  • 2018: 2.134
  • 2017: 2.123
  • 2016: 2.131
  • 2015: 2.130
  • 2014: 2.133
  • 2013: 2.122
  • 2012: 2.140
  • 2011: 2.146
  • 2010: 2.122
  • 2009: 2.139

Matt McLain is the only player in MLB who ended the year with exactly two years and 140 days of service. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects the Cincinnati second baseman for a $2.6MM salary. Next year’s league minimum is $780K, so it’s likely McLain will earn close to an extra $2MM by a matter of days (to say nothing of the escalating benefit if the Reds tender him contracts in future years).

There are three pitchers at 2.139 service years: Cincinnati starter Brandon Williamson, Seattle reliever Jackson Kowar, and Tampa Bay reliever Manuel Rodríguez. Their status won’t be known until MLB finalizes the cutoff, but none of those players are going to command much more than the league minimum regardless. They all spent most of this past season (all of it, in Williamson’s case) on the injured list.

No one in MLB has exactly 2.138 or 2.137 service years. It thus appears that the three players at 2.136 years — Lucas Erceg, Patrick Bailey, and Ryan Walker — will be the closest misses. They were each projected between $1.9MM and $2.5MM had they been eligible for arbitration. That’d be a nice development for the Giants, who would save around $4MM from an already light arbitration class if Bailey and Walker indeed are in for another season around the minimum.

Blake Perkins, Kody Clemens, Bryan Hoeing and Zack Kelly are the other players who would’ve qualified for Super Two at last year’s cutoff but are likely to fall short with the slightly higher threshold. Grayson Rodriguez (2.129), Reese Olson (2.123), Bryan Woo (2.121), Andrew Abbott (2.119) and Elly De La Cruz (2.118) are among the notable players who came up a couple weeks short.

Notable players who did qualify for Super Two status beyond McLain include Zach Neto (2.170), Maikel Garcia (2.168), Mason Miller (2.166), Brice Turang (2.165) and Francisco Alvarez (2.164). MLBTR’s projections for all arbitration-eligible players are available here.

Astros Promote Connor Huff To Assistant GM

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The Astros are promoting vice-president of business and baseball operations Connor Huff to the role of assistant general manager, reports Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. He will work under general manager Dana Brown, replacing the departing Andrew Ball.

The Astros are coming off their most disappointing season in years. They faded down the stretch and ended up 87-75, missing the postseason for the first time since 2016. To get back on track next year, there is going to be some shake-up.

Brown and manager Joe Espada are staying but it was reported a few weeks ago that several other changes are being made. Hitting coaches Alex Cintrón and Troy Snitker, catching coach Michael Collins, head athletic trainer Jeremiah Randall and Ball are not coming back. In recent days, pitching coach Bill Murphy was poached away by the Pirates.

There will be challenges in upgrading the club for next year. Per RosterResource, the club’s competitive balance tax number is about $20MM shy of the tax line, even before making any offseason moves. The Astros have crossed the line at times but are generally reluctant to do so. Turning to the trade market will also be tough since Houston’s farm system is considered one of the worst in the league. Huff will step up to see if he can help Brown navigate the choppy waters.

Photo courtesy of Troy Taormina, Imagn Images

Offseason Outlook: Houston Astros

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The Astros missed the postseason for the first time in a decade, and now they'll enter the offseason in the unfamiliar position of underdogs in the AL West.

Guaranteed Contracts

Option Decisions

  • None

Total 2026 commitments: $155.85MM
Total future commitments: $407.35MM

Arbitration-Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; salary projections via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)

Non-Tender Candidates: Dubon, Garcia, Urias, De Los Santos, McCormick, Sanchez, Trammell

Free Agents

The Astros finished the season with an 87-75 record and missed out on the final AL Wild Card spot after losing the season series tiebreaker to the Tigers. As far as seasons that don't end in a postseason berth go, Houston's year certainly could've been worse. Yet there's plenty of work for GM Dana Brown and the rest of the front office to do this winter.

The elephant in the room is the impending departure of southpaw Framber Valdez. It's a safe bet that he will be pitching elsewhere come Opening Day, as Houston has rarely made a full-scale effort to retain their free agents over the years. Alex Bregman walked in free agency last winter, and Kyle Tucker was traded before his final year under team control so that he wouldn't do the same. Gerrit Cole previously left for New York after reaching free agency after the 2019 season. Justin Verlander and Carlos Correa both signed elsewhere on two separate occasions, though both did return to Houston in trades after their respective departures.

Jose Altuve is the only one of the club's stars they've managed to keep in town consistently, and comments from Brown haven't offered much reason to expect Valdez's free agency to reverse that trend. Brown said that he expected to have "some conversations" with Valdez's camp, but otherwise largely focused on the emergence of Hunter Brown as a legitimate ace and the club's other internal options when asked about the possibility of a reunion. Valdez is sure to be well outside the club's typical comfort zone even as he enters free agency marketing his age-32 season, and Brown has suggested that the club could look to the trade market in any efforts to bolster its rotation.

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Poll: Will The Rays Trade Brandon Lowe This Winter?

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It’s no secret that the Rays operate differently from virtually every other team in baseball. They trade from and reshape their roster aggressively at virtually every opportunity in order to keep the team from ever needing to rebuild, and it’s a system that’s worked for quite some time at this point. From Willy Adames to Tyler Glasnow to Randy Arozarena, most players don’t stay in Tampa for long and get traded before they’d actually have a chance to sniff free agency and walk away for nothing.

The conventional wisdom for quite some time has been that as a Rays star nears free agency, a trade is inevitable. That would seemingly spell the end of Brandon Lowe’s time with the team. He can be retained via a $11.5MM club option in 2026 but is set to reach free agency after that. Tampa is coming off an 85-loss season in 2025, a worrying sign for a team that hasn’t lost more games than that since 2007. For most clubs, that would further reinforce the need to trade Lowe and focus on the future. With that being said, the Rays aren’t most clubs. Could they continue to zag where other teams would zig and view a tough 2025 season as all the more reason to keep Lowe in the fold?

The 31-year-old is coming off his second All-Star appearance but had a fairly typical season by his standards. In 134 games this year, Lowe slashed .256/.307/.477 with 31 homers and 19 doubles. That performance was good for a wRC+ of 114, and he’s typically been around 15 to 25% better than league average by that measure throughout his career. Pretty much any team that doesn’t employ Ketel Marte would happily take that sort of offensive production from the keystone, but Lowe’s offense is especially important for Tampa given that he was one of just four above-average hitters on the roster in 2025 alongside Jonathan Aranda, Junior Caminero, and Yandy Diaz.

That left the Rays as a below average offensive club despite banner seasons from both Aranda and Caminero, with a collective wRC+ of 98 as a team. They also ranked in the bottom half of the league in home runs this year, with the aforementioned four players accounting for 115 of the club’s 182 bombs. Tampa’s offense is one in need of addition rather than subtraction, and it’s hard to imagine the Rays getting more production out of the second base position by trading Lowe away.

Perhaps if the Rays had an elite option waiting in the wings to take over, as they did when they traded Paredes to clear the deck for Caminero, trading Lowe would be an easy call. But it’s more difficult to stick to the typical Tampa playbook when internal options to replace him are somewhat lackluster. Christopher Morel hasn’t panned out since being acquired in the Isaac Paredes trade, and while Carson Williams is a top prospect with a chance to impact the club in 2026, the Rays would be better served allowing him to push Taylor Walls back into a bench role than moving Lowe to make room for him at the keystone. Richie Palacios could be an interesting solution, but moving him to second would only further weaken an outfield that already needs reinforcements.

While the arguments for keeping Lowe in the fold are clear, there is reason to at least consider trading him despite those concerns. Lowe is arguably on the downswing at the moment. His .307 on-base percentage this year was the worst of his career. After walking at a reliable 10%+ clip throughout the majority of his career, he’s now seen his walk rate drop precipitously in back-to-back seasons. He went from 11.5% in 2023 to 7.8% and 6.9% in the two most recent campaigns.

This year was his worst defensive season at second base, and an infield with Williams at second base and Walls at shortstop would be a massive improvement defensively. While that combination wouldn’t hit as well as Lowe and Williams, an outfield that generated a paltry 85 wRC+ this year would be relatively easy to improve and make up for the loss of Lowe’s bat.

Looking at the team’s situation more broadly, Aranda and Caminero are under team control through 2029 and 2030 respectively while Williams figures to be controlled through 2031. That’s an exciting core of young talent, but they’ll need reinforcements as players like Lowe, Pete Fairbanks, Diaz, Shane McClanahan, and Drew Rasmussen depart the organization over the next two seasons. Letting Lowe walk for nothing would be a big risk for the team’s long-term competitive future, especially if the team’s new ownership group isn’t interested in escalating a bottom-of-the-barrel payroll.

On the other hand, Lowe’s apparent decline might make potential suitors hesitant to give up significant value for him. Installing Lowe in an outfield corner, where he already has 50 career appearances, would be an alternative way to both mitigate the concerns about his defensive ability on the infield while also getting more offensive production from the outfield next year. However, Lowe hasn’t played on the grass since 2022.

The Rays also don’t find themselves hurting for payroll flexibility this offseason as much as they do most years after offloading Ha-Seong Kim, Danny Jansen, and Zack Littell from their books during the season. They could even still recoup value for Lowe at the deadline if they find themselves in position to sell for the third year in a row.

How do MLBTR readers think the Rays will handle Lowe this offseason? Will he still be with the team come Opening Day, or will they trade him before then? Have your say in the poll below:

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