Injury Notes: Simpson, Freeman, Junk, Pereira
Outfielder Chandler Simpson is experiencing left hamstring tightness in early camp, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The Rays will keep him out of the first few exhibition games to allow him time to rest. “Right now, we’re going to slow play him, just get his legs underneath him,” said manager Kevin Cash on Friday. Cash went on to emphasize the value of Simpson’s speed and the importance of getting him back to 100% rather than risk further injury.
Indeed, Simpson is one of the fastest players in the game. His 29.6 MPH sprint speed ranked in the 97th percentile according to Statcast. Meanwhile, his 44 stolen bases in 2025 tied with the Guardians’ Jose Ramirez for second in the majors, with Simpson achieving that in 49 fewer games. That said, while he has value as a speed and contact guy, he’s also limited by on-base and defensive issues. His outfield glovework was viewed negatively by Defensive Runs Saved (-9) and Outs Above Average (-5) in 2025. Continued hamstring issues might hamper his defense even more, so it makes sense for the Rays to ease him into game action.
A few other injury updates around the game:
- Rangers infielder Cody Freeman will be out for 4-6 weeks with a lower back fracture, according to manager Skip Schumaker (link via Shawn McFarland of Dallas Morning News). Freeman felt some discomfort a few days ago that lingered into yesterday, at which point scans revealed the fracture. The 25-year-old made his big-league debut last year, though his line of .228/.258/.342 in 121 plate appearances was underwhelming. He did much better at Triple-A, grading out 31% better than average by wRC+. Freeman was set to compete for an Opening Day roster spot but will now be out until late March at best. He’ll be re-evaluated at that point and will obviously need time to ramp up, so he won’t be ready for Opening Day.
- Marlins right-hander Janson Junk rolled his ankle in team workouts earlier this week. He was diagnosed with a Grade 1 sprain after undergoing testing, though he is now out of his walking boot and playing catch (video from Christina De Nicola of MLB.com). For his part, Junk said on Thursday that he doesn’t expect to miss multiple weeks. The 30-year-old impressed in a swingman role last year, accruing 2.5 fWAR in 110 innings thanks to his sweeper (+8 run value according to Statcast) and a microscopic 2.9% walk rate. He had been building up as a starter thus far. Manager Clayton McCullough confirmed that is still the case and that the team will “just see how this setback… affects what he can end up getting to by the end of camp” (link via De Nicola).
- White Sox outfielder Everson Pereira is currently day-to-day with right side tightness, per James Fegan of Sox Machine. The 24-year-old was acquired in a four-player trade with the Rays in November which saw the team part with a solid reliever in Steven Wilson. On that basis, the team was expected to carry the out-of-options Pereira on the roster as a backup outfielder. That may still be the case since Pereira is merely day-to-day and hasn’t been placed on the injured list. Luisangel Acuña is also on hand, though he will split time between the infield and outfield and shouldn’t affect Pereira’s roster spot if the latter is healthy by the end of camp.
Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images
The Rays’ Second Base Options
The Rays made a pair of significant trades last month, shipping Shane Baz to Baltimore and Brandon Lowe to Pittsburgh on the same day. The Baz move probably means they’re going to dip back into free agency for a cheap back-end starter after signing Steven Matz to a two-year deal. It’s less clear what they have planned at second base, a position that Lowe has locked down (when healthy) for the past seven years.
Free agency doesn’t offer much excitement. It seems safe to assume the Rays aren’t signing Bo Bichette. The open market options beyond that include Willi Castro, Ramón Urías and Luis Rengifo. The biggest swings they could take are on the trade market.
Tampa Bay hasn’t been prominently tied to Brendan Donovan. They’ve had conversations with the Diamondbacks about Ketel Marte going back to the Winter Meetings. Those preliminary talks involved both Baz and Ryan Pepiot. That framework is obviously no longer an option, and while the Rays could make a compelling package involving Pepiot and controllable relief help, Arizona GM Mike Hazen indicated earlier this week that they could soon cut off talks regarding Marte altogether. Each of Jake Cronenworth, Nico Hoerner and Jazz Chisholm Jr. feel like long shot trade candidates.
If the Rays don’t find a clear answer outside the organization, where could they turn at the keystone?
Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times wrote last month that Palacios was likely to be the top internal option. Acquired from the Cardinals over the 2023-24 offseason, the left-handed hitter turned in a .223/.346/.318 line over 316 plate appearances in his first season with the club. He batted .333 with a .396 on-base percentage last year but was limited to 17 games. Palacios fractured his right ring finger during Spring Training and began the season on the injured list. He returned in April but quickly suffered a right knee sprain that kept him out until September.
Palacios had missed two months late in the ’24 campaign with a sprain of the same knee. He has played in barely more than a third of the team’s games over the past two seasons. “(He’s) a player we really appreciate, but he’s got to prove healthy,” president of baseball operations Erik Neander told Topkin in December. “He’s certainly a candidate internally, but we’re going to give ourselves a little bit of time to sort through it.”
At his best, Palacios shows the makings of a potential high-OBP bat. He takes a lot of pitches and has good contact skills with solid line drive rates. Palacios doesn’t have huge power but has a .370 on-base percentage over five Triple-A seasons. While the Rays haven’t given him much of a look against lefty pitching in the big leagues, he has more than held his own in his limited opportunities.
Walls is a more well-known commodity. He’s a 29-year-old who owns a .195/.286/.298 career batting line in more than 1500 plate appearances. He’s not going to produce at the plate. The Rays love Walls as an up-the-middle defensive player. Public metrics have been bizarrely divided on his work. Statcast’s Outs Above Average grades him below average, yet Defensive Runs Saved annually rates him as a Gold Glove caliber infielder.
The Rays’ internal evaluation must align much more closely to the DRS view. They wouldn’t continue bringing Walls back via arbitration if they didn’t consider him a defensive asset. He’ll play next season on a $2.45MM salary and is controlled for 2027 via $3.1MM team option. Walls will get a lot of action in the middle infield, but he’s likely to begin the season on the left side of the bag.
Tampa Bay waived Ha-Seong Kim in August and used rookie Carson Williams as their shortstop for the final month of the 2025 season. The 22-year-old was overmatched, striking out 44 times and batting .172 in 32 games. Williams also struck out in more than 34% of his Triple-A plate appearances. He has power and is a plus defensive shortstop but is likely to head back to Triple-A to continue working on getting his contact rate to a manageable level.
That’d leave Walls as the only real choice to play shortstop in the early going. Free agency and the trade market are even thinner there than they are at second base. Walls could kick over to second base midseason if Williams plays his way back to the majors.
Position Change Hypotheticals
While the Rays generally have a stockpile of multi-positional players, that’s not so much a strength of the current roster. Jonathan Aranda came up as a second baseman but moved off the position for defensive reasons. He has only played 141 innings there in the big leagues and was a full-time first baseman last year. Aranda is a below-average athlete and runner who probably isn’t moving back up the defensive spectrum.
Chandler Simpson was a middle infielder in college but has been a full-time outfielder since being drafted in 2022. Topkin notes that the 25-year-old took some pregame infield drills late in the season, though it’s not clear if the Rays will continue that next year. Despite being one of the fastest players in the sport, Simpson isn’t an especially gifted defensive outfielder. Maybe that’ll lead the coaching staff to give serious consideration to testing him on the dirt in 2026. Simpson stole 44 bases while batting .295/.326/.345 with zero home runs in 109 games as a rookie.
Rays Option Chandler Simpson
The Rays optioned top prospect Chandler Simpson to Triple-A Durham this afternoon. That opens a spot on the active roster for Jake Mangum, who was reinstated from the 10-day injured list. Mangum is back after a five-week absence due to a left groin strain.
Simpson heads back down after a six-week run on the big league roster. The Rays selected his contract in the middle of April. The lefty-hitting outfielder appeared in 35 games, hitting .285/.315/.317 through his first 133 plate appearances. There was no power production and a low walk rate, but he kept his strikeout rate below 11% to post a strong batting average.
As expected, he was a menace on the bases. Simpson stole 19 bags in 22 attempts, already launching him to third in MLB (behind Luis Robert Jr. and Bobby Witt Jr.). Those players have been in the big leagues all season, of course. No other player has stolen more than 15 bases since Simpson’s call-up on April 18.
It’s the same profile that the Georgia Tech product has shown throughout his minor league career. Simpson is an elite contact hitter and among the fastest players in the sport. He’s an otherworldly baserunner who successively swiped 94 and 104 bases during his first two full minor league seasons. His 198 combined steals led all minor league players by 68 over that stretch.
The question is how much value Simpson can wring out of that approach when he has zero power. He’s hit one professional home run, an inside-the-parker at Double-A last season. He only collected four extra-base hits in his first MLB look, all of which were doubles. He’s last among MLB hitters (minimum 100 plate appearances) in hard contact rate. A lot could come down to how well he develops defensively. Scouting reports haven’t been enamored with his reads and routes. His speed certainly gives him the potential to be a rangy defender, but he did not grade well over his first 284 MLB innings between center and left field.
Tampa Bay has used Kameron Misner in center with Simpson in left for the past two weeks. Mangum, who was hitting .338/.384/.397 in 21 games before his injury, figures to take over as the starting left fielder. Jonny DeLuca was expected to feature prominently this year as well, but he’s been out since late March with a right shoulder strain. DeLuca revealed this week that he suffered a setback as he continues to feel pain in his rotator cuff, primarily on throws (link via Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times). There’s no suggestion of surgery but he was pulled off the rehab assignment that he’d begun over the weekend.
MLBTR Podcast: Justin Steele, Triston McKenzie, And Tons Of Prospect Promotions
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 Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- The Cubs’ rotation outlook after Justin Steele’s UCL surgery (1:15)
- The Guardians designating Triston McKenzie for assignment (7:30)
- The Athletics promoting prospect Nick Kurtz (16:10)
- The White Sox promoting prospect Edgar Quero (20:55)
- The Rays promoting prospect Chandler Simpson (26:45)
- The Marlins promoting prospect Agustín Ramírez (33:30)
- The Twins promoting prospect Luke Keaschall (38:30)
Plus, we answer your questions, including…
- Can high-caliber early-career players like Paul Skenes demand trades or are they stuck where they are? (44:45)
- With constant injuries and DFAs, could the new CBA lead to some changes in roster rules? (49:25)
Check out our past episodes!
- Free Agent Power Rankings – listen here
- Vlad’s Massive Deal, Extensions for Merrill and Marte, And Quinn Priester Traded – listen here
- Garrett Crochet’s Extension, Problems In Atlanta, And Other Early-Season Storylines – listen here
The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!
Photo courtesy of Matt Marton, Imagn Images
Rays Select Chandler Simpson
The Rays announced that they have selected the contract of outfielder Chandler Simpson. Outfielder Richie Palacios is heading back to the injured list with a right knee sprain. Right-hander Alex Faedo has been transferred to the 60-day IL as the corresponding move to get Simpson onto the 40-man. Faedo started the season on the 15-day IL due to shoulder inflammation. His current status is unclear but he’s now ineligible to return until late May at the earliest. Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times reported the moves prior to the official announcement.
Simpson, 24, is one of the most interesting prospects in baseball on account of his base-stealing acumen. The Rays drafted him with the 70th overall pick in 2022, a Competitive Balance Round B selection. In his first full professional season in 2023, he stole 81 bases in 93 attempts, appearing in just 91 games. Last year, he got into 110 minor league games and swiped 104 bags in 121 attempts. He is 8 for 11 so far here in 2025.
His work at the plate has been competent enough, in a powerless sort of way. He has 1,120 minor league plate appearances thus far across various levels. He has just one home run, which was of the inside-the-park variety. But has walked more than he has struck out, a 9.6% rate of free passes compared to an 8.8% rate of punchouts. That has helped him produce a bizarrely level slash line of .324/.389/.371. That translates to a 123 wRC+, indicating he’s been 23% above league average overall.
It’s a very intriguing combination. Many recent speed specialists have had their production undercut by an inability to put the bat on the ball and/or get on base. Billy Hamilton spent many years as baseball’s fastest man but he hit just .239/.292/.325 in his big league career. While he was a good bet for 50-plus steals annually and some highlight-reel catches, the lack of offense made him difficult to roster. Guys like Juan Pierre, Rajai Davis and Dee Strange-Gordon were somewhat similar, swiping hundreds of bags but with subpar hitting.
If Simpson can get on base a bit more than guys in that group, perhaps he can be a bit more of a difference maker. Though even if not, a player with elite speed and can still be plenty valuable on the basepaths and in the outfield.
Prospect evaluators are a bit split on what kind of big league impact Simpson can make. FanGraphs is one outlet that is especially bullish, as they ranked him the #72 prospect in all of baseball heading into this season. They noted that his contact ability is almost at the level of guys like Luis Arráez and Steven Kwan, though a smidge below. However, they also caution that speed-and-defense players like Myles Straw and Nick Madrigal offer a sort of cautionary tale of how things could go wrong for Simpson with little offensive impact.
The report from FanGraphs also adds that the defense is a work in progress. Simpson was a second baseman in college and is still getting used to the outfield. They note that his routes aren’t always great but his speed gives him a lot of room for error. If he can continue to develop his routes, there’s a tremendous ceiling there.
ESPN gave Simpson the #91 spot heading into the season but Simpson didn’t crack the top 100 with Baseball America, MLB Pipeline or Keith Law of The Athletic. BA ranked him #8 in the Rays’ system coming into the year, seemingly with a bit more concern about the defense and lack of power.
The divisive scouting reports mean that the prospect promotion incentive is not at play here. To be PPI eligible, a player must be on two of the BA/ESPN/MLB Pipeline lists and Simpson only cracked one. It’s too late in the season now for Simpson to get a full year of service time. Even if he’s up for good, he won’t be able to qualify for free agency until after 2031, though he has a chance to reach arbitration after 2027 as a Super Two player.
The Rays have three outfielders on the IL in Palacios, Jonny DeLuca and Josh Lowe. Their outfield playing time has been going to Kameron Misner, Christopher Morel, Jake Mangum and José Caballero lately. Simpson will slot into that group and test his mettle against big league pitching.
Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images
Rays Getting Jose Caballero, Richie Palacios Work In Center Field
Defensive versatility is a hallmark of the Rays organization, and they’re expanding the role for utilitymen Jose Caballero and Richie Palacios this spring, writes Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Caballero, who played plus defense at shortstop, second base and third base in 2024, is getting reps across all three outfield spots in camp. He played two innings in left field last season. Palacios already played five positions last year and is also getting reps in center. Topkin calls him the leading candidate to back up presumptive starter Jonny DeLuca.
Caballero, 28, came to the Rays in a Jan. 2024 trade sending Luke Raley to the Mariners. He doesn’t provide much offense, hitting just .225/.308/.338 in 243 MLB games and 763 plate appearances, but he’s been a plus defender around the infield and piled up 70 steals in 89 tries through a season and a half’s worth of games. Caballero logged the lion’s share of playing time at shortstop last year, but with Ha-Seong Kim now in the fold and Taylor Walls healthy, he’ll move into more of a jack-of-all-trades utility role.
The 27-year-old Palacios was acquired from the Cardinals — in exchange for Andrew Kittredge — on the same day the Rays picked up Caballero. He split the bulk of his time between second base and the outfield corners in his first season with Tampa Bay and drew solid or better defensive grades across those positions. Like Caballero, he didn’t hit for much average or power. Also like Caballero, he adds value to his offensive game with another skill, though not his speed; Palacios walked in a massive 14.2% of his plate appearances last season. He chased only 22.3% of pitches off the plate, per Statcast, ranking in the 87th percentile of hitters (min. 300 plate appearances).
That both players are getting looks in center field is of extra note given the lack of an established player at the position. DeLuca is in line to see the bulk of playing time there, but the 26-year-old hit just .217/.278/.331 in 362 plate appearances last year. DeLuca spent more time in right field than in left, and fielded the corner spot quite well (6 Defensive Runs Saved, 5 Outs Above Average). His work in center was graded closer to average (-1 DRS, 2 OAA).
If DeLuca doesn’t provide more offensively and/or prove to be a standout defender in center, it’s feasible that either Caballero or Palacios could get more looks there. Tampa Bay also has outfielders Kameron Misner and Jake Mangum on the 40-man roster, each of whom has experience in center. More broadly, whoever ends up seeing the bulk of the early time in center could prove a placeholder for fleet-footed prospect Chandler Simpson.
Simpson is still relatively new to center field — the 24-year-old was a middle infielder in college ball — but he hit .355/.410/.397 between High-A and Double-A last season and is an 80-grade runner who’ll be one of MLB’s fastest players if and when he debuts. Simpson only hit one home run in 2024 but swiped a staggering 104 bases in only 110 games played — all while fanning in only 8.5% of his plate appearances.