Drew Rasmussen

Poll: Can Drew Rasmussen Keep Pitching Like An Ace?

By Leo Morgenstern | June 10, 2025 at 2:22pm CDT

Drew Rasmussen has pitched into the fifth inning in every start he’s made in 2025. That might not seem so impressive, but Rasmussen is one of just 28 pitchers to have recorded an out in the fifth in 13 or more starts this year. That’s fewer than one per team. Not to mention, he’s coming off internal brace surgery, the third major elbow procedure of his career. Few major leaguers have ever returned from a third such surgery, let alone returned and thrived as the kind of arm a team can count on for five innings every five days.

Even better for Rasmussen and the Rays, his innings stand out for their quality as much as their quantity. In 12 of his 13 starts, he has thrown at least five frames whilst allowing no more than seven baserunners and four runs. No other pitcher – not Paul Skenes, not Jacob deGrom, not Zack Wheeler – has made as many starts that fit that description. All told, the 29-year-old has a 2.22 ERA, the eighth-lowest among qualified AL starters, right in between preseason Cy Young favorites Tarik Skubal and Garrett Crochet. His 0.90 WHIP ranks third, just behind Skubal’s and just ahead of deGrom’s. Underlying those strong results are a 5.3% walk rate, a 50.8% groundball rate, and a 4.8% barrel rate, all of which rank him among the AL’s best. None of his ERA estimators (3.43 SIERA, 3.16 xERA, 3.23 FIP, and 3.31 xFIP) is quite as strong as his low-2.00s ERA, but they’re all still excellent numbers, and only four qualified AL starters have him beat in all four metrics: Skubal, Crochet, Kris Bubic, and Hunter Brown. Those are four of the most exciting young hurlers in the league.

Rasmussen has often flown under the radar, but his ace-like performance this year is hardly coming out of nowhere. Since he arrived in Tampa Bay as part of the Willy Adames trade in 2021, he has pitched to a 2.62 ERA in 347 1/3 innings. He has also compiled 8.2 FanGraphs WAR and 8.8 Baseball Reference WAR in that time. That works out to roughly four wins above replacement per 162 innings, an All-Star-caliber clip. Just as impressive is his consistency. In parts of five seasons with the Rays, he has never had an ERA higher than 2.84. Of course, injuries have severely limited his playing time – he threw 59 innings for Tampa Bay in 2021, 146 in 2022, 44 2/3 in 2023, 28 2/3 in 2024, and he’s thrown 69 so far in 2025 – but his steady excellence is remarkable all the same. Before and after each stint on the IL, Rasmussen has remained dominant. We’re also talking about a guy with the underlying metrics and phenomenal stuff to back up his great results. Since he joined the Rays, only three pitchers have thrown more innings than Rasmussen with a lower SIERA, xERA, FIP, and xFIP: Skubal, Chris Sale, and Spencer Strider. Meanwhile, the comprehensive pitch models at FanGraphs, PitchingBot and Pitching+, both suggest his arsenal has been well above average in every season of his Rays tenure.

So, on the one hand, we’re looking at a pitcher who has excelled at every turn over the past five years. On the other hand, that same pitcher has never thrown more than 146 innings in a season. His second-highest single-season innings total at the MLB level is 76. Both of those campaigns came before his third major elbow surgery. In other words, all of Rasmussen’s stats come from a relatively small sample. Furthermore, we have no way to know for sure that he is capable of pitching a full, qualified season without tiring down the stretch. Most important of all, he’s an injury risk, and he will carry that label for perhaps the rest of his career. So, even in a best-case scenario in which Rasmussen continues to shine and shows no sign of slowing down, the Rays will have to manage his workload carefully. At some point, Kevin Cash might stop him from pitching into the fifth inning every start. It’s not out of the question that Rasmussen could eventually move to the bullpen if the Rays are particularly worried about his innings.

Rasmussen has pitched like an ace so far in 2025. Indeed, on a per-inning basis, he’s been one of the most effective arms in the game since he landed with the Rays in 2021. Yet, it’s far from a guarantee he can keep this up over the next several months. So, what do MLBTR readers think? Has Rasmussen done enough to prove he’s one of the game’s premier starting pitchers? Or will his injury history and lack of experience catch up with him as the season wears on? Have your say in today’s poll:

Could The Rays Still Move A Starting Pitcher?

By Steve Adams | March 11, 2025 at 12:05pm CDT

The Rays entered the offseason with at least seven rotation-caliber arms on the roster. Each of Shane McClanahan, Taj Bradley, Drew Rasmussen, Zack Littell, Shane Baz, Jeffrey Springs and Ryan Pepiot has had success in a big league rotation, though injuries have hobbled several of that group in recent years. Tampa Bay already thinned out that stock of arms (and, naturally, trimmed payroll) by shipping Springs and lefty Jacob Lopez to the A’s in a deal netting them righty Joe Boyle, minor leaguers Will Simpson and Jacob Watters, and a Competitive Balance (Round A) draft pick in 2025.

The Rays now have “only” six starters with proven (to varying levels) track records in the majors. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes that they’re still planning on a five-man rotation, however, adding that trading a starter in the late stages of spring training is “not out of the question.” At best, that very lightly leaves the door for a trade propped open. There’s nothing to strongly suggest the Rays are planning to deal from the rotation. Still, it’s nonetheless worth examining the team’s options if it comes to that point.

The veteran Littell would be the most obvious candidate to change hands. Tampa Bay moved the now-29-year-old righty from the bullpen to the rotation midway through the 2023 season, and the results have been better than anyone could’ve reasonably predicted. Littell solidified the staff in the second half of ’23 and pitched a career-high 156 1/3 innings with a 3.63 ERA over 29 starts last season. Since moving to a starting role after the Rays claimed him from the Red Sox, Littell has started 40 games and logged a combined 3.65 ERA with a lower-than-average 20.4% strikeout rate but a sensational 4.1% walk rate.

Each of the Rays’ other starting pitchers is signed or controlled via arbitration through at least the 2027 season. Littell is a free agent following the 2025 campaign. He’s being paid a reasonable $5.72MM. He’s not an ace by any stretch of the imagination, but based on how he’s fared since July 2023, the right-hander could step into the third, fourth or fifth spot in most big league rotations.

Trading anyone from the rest of the group is tougher to envision. McClanahan has pitched at a Cy Young level when healthy but missed all of 2024 recovering from Tommy John surgery. He’s controlled through 2027. Moving him right now would mean moving their most talented starter at a time when they’d be selling low. Rasmussen signed a two-year deal with a club option earlier this offseason. That bought out his remaining arbitration seasons and gave Tampa Bay control over his first free-agent year by way of that 2027 club option. Flipping him so soon after signing him to that deal is extremely difficult to envision; MLB teams simply don’t sign a player to extension and then trade him prior to ever appearing in their jersey under the terms of that new contract.

Baz and Pepiot are under club control through 2028. The former is earning $1.45MM in 2025, while the latter has yet to reach arbitration. (Baz did so as a Super Two player.) Bradley can’t become a free agent until the 2029-30 offseason. We’re talking about the Rays, so the “never say never” caveat always applies to some extent, but acquiring four or five seasons of anyone from that bucket would very likely come at a steep price and require a team to part with MLB-ready bats that are both high-upside and controllable for a similar or even lengthier window.

Any team even contemplating a trade from the rotation at this stage of the calendar will be wary, of course. As we’ve seen throughout the league — most prominently up in the Bronx — perceived starting pitching “surpluses” can turn into deficits quickly this time of year. The Rays won’t move someone just to trim payroll, but they have depth even beyond the six arms mentioned here.

The previously mentioned Boyle, for instance, is having a nice spring and has experience in a big league rotation already. Following his acquisition in the Springs trade, president of baseball operations Erik Neander called the 6’7″ righty someone who has “the physicality and the stuff to fit at the front of the rotation.” Boyle averages nearly 98 mph on his heater but has severe command issues that need to be ironed out. Righty Jacob Waguespack might be Triple-A bound but has 105 2/3 big league innings under his belt. Prospects Joe Rock and Ian Seymour both had some success in Triple-A last year (the latter in particular). There’s no such thing as “too much” rotation depth, but that group could further embolden the Rays to listen on Littell or another big league starter if a team makes a compelling offer.

Rays Sign Drew Rasmussen To Extension

By Steve Adams | January 7, 2025 at 11:58pm CDT

The Rays finalized a two-year extension with right-hander Drew Rasmussen on Tuesday afternoon. The Beverly Hills Sports Council client is guaranteed $8.5MM for what would have been his final two arbitration years. The deal includes a 2027 club option that has a base value of $8MM.

He will receive a $500K signing bonus, a $2MM salary next season, and a $5.5MM salary in 2026. The option comes with a $500K buyout. Various escalators could increase the option value by another $12MM. The price could increase anywhere between $1.5MM and $6MM based on Rasmussen’s health over the next two seasons. He could unlock another $6MM based on his start totals in 2026: $500,000 for eight starts, $750,000 for 12, $1MM each for 16 and 20, $1.25MM for 24 and $1.5MM for 28.

Ramussen, 29, missed the bulk of the 2023-24 seasons recovering from an internal brace procedure to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. That surgery tamped down his workload in both seasons as well as his expected price tag in arbitration. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected a modest $2MM salary for the talented righty in the upcoming season. By virtue of his salary and that signing bonus, he’ll top that sum under this new multi-year arrangement while also sacrificing a year of free agency to lock in some immediate earnings.

It’s an understandable trade-off for Rasmussen, who didn’t get a full look in a big league rotation until his age-26 season (2022) and has since missed ample time due to injury. A sixth-round pick of the Brewers back in 2018, Rasmussen signed for just a $135K bonus and didn’t make his big league debut until 2020. In total, he’s earned under $4MM in his career thus far.

Rasmussen was traded from Milwaukee to Tampa Bay in the 2021 deal that sent Willy Adames to the Brewers. He was sharp down then stretch in a hybrid role for Tampa Bay but had a full-fledged breakout in 2022, That season, Rasmussen pitched a career-high 146 innings and turned in a 2.84 earned run average with a slightly below-average 21.4% strikeout rate against a terrific 5.3% walk rate. He kept the ball on the ground at a strong 46.6% clip. Rasmussen averaged 95.5 mph on his heater, deftly avoided hard contact and recorded a 12.1% swinging-strike rate that suggested more punchouts could be in the tank down the road.

That indeed looked to be the case early in 2023, too. Rasmussen notched an even better 2.62 ERA but saw his strikeout rate spike to 26.6%. He maintained plus command (6.2%) and also saw his ground-ball rate surge to 52.6% — an increase of six percentage points over the prior season. For a span of 36 starts from 2022-23, Rasmussen pitched like a genuine No. 1 or 2 starter — a clear playoff arm who could pitch near the front of any rotation.

Injuries, however, had other ideas for the talented righty. The Rays announced on July 8, 2023 that Rasmussen would require surgery. He wound up missing 13 months of action, returning to a big league mound on Aug. 7 of this past season. The Rays used him primarily as a reliever. He “started” four games but did so throwing only two innings apiece and working as an opener. The results, however, were excellent. In 28 2/3 frames, Rasmussen posted a 2.83 ERA, 30.2% strikeout rate, 5.2% walk rate and 53.3% grounder rate.

The plan now is for Rasmussen to return to the rotation. He’ll join Shane McClanahan (returning from Tommy John surgery), Ryan Pepiot, Taj Bradley, Shane Baz and Zack Littell in a very talented mix of arms. Each of McClanahan, Rasmussen and Baz could face some form of workload limitations, as Baz has yet to pitch a full season since returning from his own ligament surgery in 2022 — though he did pitch 118 2/3 innings combined between Triple-A and the majors in 2024.

For the Rays, there’s little to no impact on their 2025 budget. Rasmussen will only earn a nominal $500K more than his projected arbitration price, thanks to that signing bonus. They’ll also lock in the right-hander’s 2026 salary, gaining some cost certainty. It’s possible that Rasmussen could’ve outpaced that $5.5MM salary in arbitration with a big year, but likely not by much, given the low platform from which he’d be starting. The concession for locking in that ’26 salary is giving up a would-be free-agent season — his age-31 year. So long as he’s healthy, that option will pay him at least $8MM, though with good health there’s a good chance it’ll be a fair bit higher.

While it’s not quite to the same scale as the Rays’ extension with former ace Tyler Glasnow, there are some parallels here. Tampa Bay is putting down some guaranteed money on a talented but oft-injured righty. Glasnow’s $25MM salary in the final season of his own extension was guaranteed, whereas Rasmussen will have to remain healthy to push close to that number. Still, it’s a potentially weighty salary by the Rays’ standards, and one that could render Rasmussen a trade candidate down the road. The extension gives the Rays some extra control over a potential frontline arm but also a viable trade candidate down the road. It’s perhaps cynical to point out the manner in which an extension boosts a player’s trade value in the immediate aftermath of the agreement, but the Rays have a track record of operating in this manner.

For the time being, Rasmussen will head into the season as a locked-in member of a deep and talented rotation. The Rays haven’t done much to improve their middling lineup — though Danny Jansen provides a potential notable upgrade behind the plate. Rather, they’ll apparently hope for big strides from ballyhooed third baseman Junior Caminero and rebounds from Josh Lowe and Christopher Morel, both of whom experienced notable drops at the plate following very productive 2023 campaigns.

Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times first reported that the Rays and Rasmussen were nearing a two-year, $8.5MM extension with an $8MM option for 2027. Topkin reported the presence of escalators in the option, which The Associated Press specified.

Rays Reinstate Drew Rasmussen

By Darragh McDonald | August 7, 2024 at 1:05pm CDT

The Rays announced that right-hander Drew Rasmussen has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. Righty Joel Kuhnel was optioned to Triple-A Durham in a corresponding move. The club had a couple of vacant 40-man spots after their deadline dealings and their count in that regard now climbs to 39.

Rasmussen, now 29, has been on the IL all season after undergoing internal brace surgery on his ulnar collateral ligament in July of last year. It’s not the first time that doctors have done work in that area of his elbow, as he underwent Tommy John surgery twice in college.

Those continual issues with his elbow have played a role in his circuitous journey. The Rays actually drafted him in the first round of the 2017 draft, between his two Tommy John surgeries, but didn’t sign him due to concerns in his physical. After he returned to college and went under the knife a second time, he was signed by the Brewers after that club selected him in the sixth round of the 2018 draft.

He worked his way up through the farm and then broke into the majors as a reliever with Milwaukee in 2020 and 2021. It was in May of 2021 that the Rays traded Willy Adames and Trevor Richards to the Brewers to get Rasmussen and J.P. Feyereisen. Though the Rays had walked away from the chance to sign him a few years prior, it seems they kept an eye on him and were encouraged by his progress.

They stretched him out after that deal, giving him ten starts in the latter half of the 2021 campaign. He was then able to fully grab hold of a rotation job in 2022 by making 28 starts with a 2.84 earned run average, 21.4% strikeout rate, 5.3% walk rate and 46.6% ground ball rate. He kept things rolling with a 2.62 ERA in eight starts last year before landing on the IL and eventually requiring yet another surgery.

Coming back from so many operations will be a challenge but it seems he and the Rays will take it a bit easy by keeping him in a multi-inning relief role for now. He started a rehab assignment last month and made five minor league appearances, none longer than two innings. Earlier this week, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reported that Rasmussen would be coming back in a relief role rather than getting fully stretched out.

Despite recently trading away Aaron Civale and Zach Eflin, the Rays have a strong rotation mix that currently consists of Taj Bradley, Shane Baz, Jeffrey Springs and Zack Littell. They also have Tyler Alexander doing solid work as a bulk guy behind an opener. Ryan Pepiot is on the injured list with a knee issue but could be back shortly.

For now, the club will assess Rasmussen out of the bullpen and decide how to proceed. He is making $1.8625MM this year, his first arbitration season, and can be controlled via arb for two more campaigns after this one. Each of those aforementioned rotation options projects to be a part of next year’s rotation mix, when Shane McClanahan will also return from his own Tommy John surgery layoff.

The Eflin and Civale deals have shown that the club is not afraid to deal established guys and then replace them with their own internal options, as Baz and Springs were also coming back from surgeries as those deals were lined up. Whether they decide to move Rasmussen back to the rotation next year or not, it seems fair to expect trade rumors around their pile of potential starting pitchers this offseason.

AL East Notes: Crochet, Red Sox, Yankees, Rasmussen, Tiedemann

By Mark Polishuk | July 20, 2024 at 1:11pm CDT

While Garrett Crochet has been a popular trade candidate heading into the deadline, the Red Sox are one team that doesn’t appear to be in the mix for the White Sox left-hander. In a recent edition of the Fenway Rundown podcast, MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo said that Boston has “not talked about Crochet at all….That is, at this point, not something they’ve aggressively tried to do.” Since the Red Sox are loath to move any of their top three prospects (Marcelo Mayer, Roman Anthony, Kyle Teel) in trades, it seems hard to imagine that Chicago would accept a offer from Boston that didn’t include at least one of those three minor league stars.

The Yankees may also be limited participants in the Crochet sweepstakes, as Jon Heyman of the New York Post hears from a source who says the Bombers “are not that into” Crochet as a trade target. Since Heyman also wrote a couple of weeks ago that the Yankees “very much like Crochet,” this could indicate a change in New York’s plans, or perhaps the Yankees’ interest has been tempered by Chicago’s asking price. The White Sox are understandably asking for a huge return for Crochet in any trade, and Chicago’s particular interest in Spencer Jones as part of a Crochet trade package may have clashed with New York’s inclination to keep one of its top hitting prospects.

Rays Could Make Multiple Starters Available On Trade Market

By Steve Adams | June 28, 2024 at 11:57pm CDT

The 40-41 Rays are one of many key teams to keep an eye on as the trade deadline draws near. While they’re buried in the American League East and unlikely to close their current 10.5-game deficit, they’re also only four games out of the final American League Wild Card spot. At the same time, Tampa Bay could soon find itself with a growing number of big league starters — more than it has room to plug into its rotation.

Katie Woo, Patrick Mooney and Will Sammon of The Athletic report that Tampa Bay is anticipating righty Shane Baz and left-hander Jeffrey Springs will be ready to rejoin the rotation before long; both pitchers are on the mend from Tommy John surgery — Baz’s performed in late 2022 and Springs’ performed early last season. Baz already completed a minor league rehab assignment and has continued building up in Triple-A.

Once regarded as perhaps the top pitching prospect in the game, the 25-year-old Baz got out to a rough start during his rehab stint but has now rattled off five starts with a 1.57 ERA and 35-to-10 K/BB ratio in 23 innings. Springs has been on rehab for several weeks as well but has yet to pitch more than 2 1/3 innings in an outing. Prior to his Tommy John procedure, the now-31-year-old Springs had emerged as the latest in a long line of diamond-in-the-rough pitching finds for the Rays.

Tampa Bay acquired Springs and righty Chris Mazza in a trade that sent catching prospect Ronaldo Hernandez to Boston. At the time, Springs was a journeyman lefty who’d posted a 5.42 ERA over three partial big league seasons. With the Rays, he broke out to the tune of a 2.53 ERA, 29.5% strikeout rate and 6.3% walk rate in 196 innings. Tampa Bay rewarded that breakout with a four-year, $31MM extension — but Springs unfortunately went under the knife just three starts into the 2023 campaign.

With that pair of arms on the mend — to say nothing of righty Drew Rasmussen, who underwent an internal brace procedure just under one year ago — the Rays indeed have a mounting stock of arms. The Athletic trio notes in their report that of the team’s current starters — Zach Eflin, Aaron Civale, Zack Littell, Taj Bradley and Ryan Pepiot — Civale and Littell are the likeliest to be available in trades. Both pitchers are in their second year of arbitration eligibility and controlled through the 2025 season. Civale, whom the Rays acquired last summer in a trade sending first base prospect Kyle Manzardo to the Guardians, is earning $4.9MM this year. Littell, yet another product of the Rays’ almost comical hidden-gem factory (he was claimed off waivers from Boston), is earning just $1.8MM.

Of the two, Littell is enjoying the stronger season but also has the shorter track record. He’s pitched 86 1/3 innings of 4.17 ERA ball with a roughly average 22% strikeout rate against an exceptional 4.3% walk rate. Since the Rays took the former starter-turned-reliever and plugged him back into a rotation role last July, he’s given them 27 starts with a 3.98 earned run average, 20.2% strikeout rate and even more impressive 3.6% walk rate. (I profiled Littell’s breakout in depth earlier this season in a piece for MLBTR Front Office subscribers.)

Civale’s time with the Rays hasn’t gone as the team had hoped when acquiring him last year. He’s posted strong strikeout and walk rates alike, but his sharp K-BB profile has been undercut by a penchant for serving up home runs. The 29-year-old righty has started 26 games for Tampa Bay dating to last summer’s trade but logged a disappointing 5.26 ERA. Despite upping his strikeout rate from 21.1% with the Guards to 25.4% with the Rays and maintaining his terrific command (6.1% walk rate in Cleveland; 6.2% with Tampa Bay), Civale’s ERA has spiked from 3.77 with his former club to 5.26 with his current one. After yielding 1.19 homers per nine frames in five seasons with Cleveland, Civale has been tagged for a troubling 1.56 big flies per nine since heading to St. Petersburg.

There hasn’t been a major change in Civale’s repertoire that’s clearly prompted that flaw. He’s throwing more sliders this year at the expensive of his cutter, but it’s not an overwhelming change in usage rates and the righty is still using the same blend of six pitches (four-seam, cutter, sinker, slider, curveball and the very occasional splitter) that he used late in his Guardians tenure. His velocity has held up as well.

Despite Civale’s struggles this season, there’d be no shortage of teams interested in adding him and/or Littell to their staff for the next season and a half. Both arms are affordable — particularly for teams with CBT concerns — and there established rotation arms in general will be in short supply. That’s all the more true given recent injuries to trade candiates Jesus Luzardo, Braxton Garrett and Patrick Sandoval. The leaguewide arm shortage could position the Rays to deal from their current rotation and then replace whichever starter is traded with an in-house arm that’s returning from injury.

Darragh McDonald and I discussed this possibility with the Rays on this week’s episode of the MLBTR Podcast, also touching on the possibility of the Rays drawing interest in right-hander Zach Eflin. He’s arguably more important to the team’s staff than either Civale or Littell, but he’s also the most expensive starter on the roster. Eflin inked a three-year, $40MM deal in free agency prior to the 2023 season. It’s a heavily backloaded pact that will pay Eflin $18MM in 2025 — a hefty number by the Rays’ typically thrifty standards. With Springs, Baz and Rasmussen all on the mend and able to join young arms like Baz, Bradley and Pepiot in next year’s rotation, the always cost-conscious Rays will presumably be open to listen on Eflin while pondering a similar gamut to the Littell/Civale scenario laid out in The Athletic’s report.

It bears emphasizing that even if the Rays end up selling — or, as they often have in the past, operating on both the “buy” and “sell” side of the market — Sammon, Woo and Mooney report that the front office is not interested in a large-scale rebuild. Even if the Rays fall out of the 2024 race, the plan will be to reload and take aim and contending again in 2025. Given the wealth of young and/or cost-controlled pitching and a perennially deep farm system that keeps churning out interesting young hitters, the Rays likely feel they have the foundation of a contending club largely in place.

As is so often the case this time of year, the Rays appear positioned as one of the teams who will in many ways dictate a fair bit of the deadline’s dealings. Whether they rattle off several wins and thrust themselves into Wild Card position, maintain the status quo as a bubble team or drop further down the standings, their slate of rehabbing quality arms gives them the flexibility to shop current big league arms — be it for other big leaguers in areas of need or near-MLB prospects who can help in 2025.

Rays Sign Amed Rosario To One-Year Deal

By Darragh McDonald | February 20, 2024 at 11:59pm CDT

The Rays added to their infield on Tuesday afternoon, signing Amed Rosario to a one-year contract. The Octagon client is reportedly guaranteed $1.5MM and can unlock an additional $500K in incentives. Tampa Bay placed Drew Rasmussen, who is recovering from flexor surgery, on the 60-day injured list in a corresponding move.

Rosario, 28, has been an everyday big league shortstop for many years but is coming off a challenging season. He started the year with the Guardians but was hitting just .265/.306/.369 when the deadline was approaching, with that production translating to a wRC+ of 87. His shortstop defense had always been questionable but it became downright problematic in 2023. He was tagged with grades of -16 Defensive Runs Saved and -15 Outs Above Average with Cleveland.

The Guards flipped him to the Dodgers for Noah Syndergaard, and Rosario’s new club moved him to the other side of the bag most of the time. He seemed to take well to the position switch, at least in a small sample of 190 innings, producing 3 DRS and OAA at an even zero. His bat was roughly the same, as he hit .256/.301/.408 as a Dodger for a wRC+ of 93.

He was a notably better in the two prior seasons. He hit 11 home runs in both 2021 and 2022, a modest number but much better than the six he hit in 2023. He slashed .282/.316/.406 in those two years with Cleveland for a 103 wRC+, not walking much but also avoiding strikeouts, 4.5% walk rate and 18.4% strikeout rate.

Defensively, he had a positive grade from DRS in 2022 but has otherwise always been subpar. OAA has had him in negative territory in each full season of his career. He probably won’t be an everyday option for the Rays at shortstop but he might see some occasional time there.

The Rays love flexibility and have a big hole at shortstop thanks to the absence of Wander Franco, who has an uncertain future as he’s under investigation for having a relationship with an underage girl. In addition to that, Taylor Walls is recovering from hip surgery and will miss at least part of the season. President of baseball operations Erik Neander recently suggested that José Caballero could be the starter to begin the year.

The club also has prospect Junior Caminero, who is generally considered one of the top 10 prospects in the sport and has already made his major league debut. But his bat is considered superior to his defense and some evaluators expect him to wind up at third base rather than short. Osleivis Basabe is in the mix but he didn’t hit much in his first taste of the majors or Triple-A. They added Yu Chang on a minor league deal earlier today to provide some non-roster depth.

Caballero, acquired from the Mariners in the Luke Raley deal, has just 280 MLB plate appearances and slashed just .221/.343/.320 in those. He has some speed, having swiped 26 bags in 29 tries last year, and the defense seems to be good, 4 DRS and 2 OAA thus far. But overall, the Rays don’t have a ton of solid answers for their shortstop position and Rosario could perhaps factor in there.

But if his days at that position are no more, there are still ways for him to be useful for the Rays. The right-handed hitter has wide platoon splits in his career, having hit .298/.339/.467 against lefties for a 121 wRC+ but just .262/.296/.374 the rest of the time for a wRC+ of 84.

The Rays have a left-handed hitting second baseman in Brandon Lowe and he also fares better with the platoon advantage. He’s hit .220/.284/.437 against southpaws, 99 wRC+, but produced a huge line of .253/.349/.499 and 135 wRC+ against righties. He’s also had notable injury setbacks in his career, with 2021 being his only season in the big leagues where he played in more than 109 games. A platoon of Lowe and Rosario at the keystone could perhaps be best for both players.

Players like Josh Lowe and Jonathan Aranda are also lefties with notable issues when southpaws are on the mound. That could perhaps lead to Rosario getting some time as the designated hitter or even taking a corner outfield role on occasion. He has just 171 1/3 innings of outfield experience at the big league level but the Rays could perhaps try to rotate him through if they think it will help their versatility.

Despite his rough season and generally poor defensive track record, Rosario still generated plenty of interest this winter. The free agent market for middle infielders was on the weak side but plenty of teams were in need of help there. The Angels, Marlins, Red Sox and Blue Jays were connected to him at various points in the offseason. The Jays pivoted to Justin Turner and Isiah Kiner-Falefa as their infield additions while the Red Sox filled their second base position by trading for Vaughn Grissom. The Marlins are still looking to upgrade at shortstop but reportedly have made an offer to Tim Anderson. The Angels are known to have interest in bringing back Gio Urshela as a multi-positional infield upgrade.

Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported the Rays and Rosario had agreed to a one-year, $1.5MM contract. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reported the $500K in incentives.

Drew Rasmussen To Undergo Season-Ending Surgery

By Nick Deeds | July 8, 2023 at 11:00pm CDT

Rays right-hander Drew Rasmussen is set to undergo an internal brace surgery that will end his 2023 season, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Rasmussen has been out with a flexor strain since mid-May, though the club initially hoped he could return this season. The 27-year-old hurler now is not expected return until midway through the 2024 campaign, per Topkin.

The news is yet another blow to a Rays rotation that lost left-hander Shane McClanahan to the injured list at the end of June. Rasmussen will now join left-hander Jeffrey Springs, who underwent Tommy John surgery back in April, in missing the remainder of the 2023 campaign. The Rays are currently leaning on a rotation of Tyler Glasnow, Taj Bradley, Zach Eflin, and Yonny Chirinos as they await McClanahan’s return from the IL. While that’s a solid group who has combined for a 3.99 in 252 1/3 innings this season, it’s hard to deny to that both Rasmussen (2.62 ERA in eight starts) and Springs (0.56 ERA in three starts) would be major upgrades to the current group if healthy.

News that Tampa will be without Rasmussen for the rest of the season comes just three weeks before the August 1 trade deadline. The Rays are the top team in the AL with a 57-34 record even as they’ve not been able to field their five best starters at the same time for a single turn through the rotation all season. Still, without Rasmussen to help bolster the pitching staff down the stretch and into the playoffs the club’s already-acknowledged need to add pitching in the coming weeks is only intensified.

Of course, the market for starting pitchers is always a competitive one, and GM Peter Bendix previously indicated the club was unlikely to participate in a bidding war for the most highly sought-after hurlers. While it’s possible the recent news on Rasmussen has increased the club’s urgency to make impactful additions, the Rays may still prefer to stick to less sought-after options like Jack Flaherty or Michael Lorenzen rather than pursue top-of-the-market arms like Lucas Giolito.

Looking beyond the 2023 campaign, the Rays are currently set to enter the 2024 campaign without the services of either Rasmussen or Springs. Glasnow, McClanahan, Bradley, Eflin, and Chirinos are all controlled through at least 2024, giving them a plausible Opening Day rotation still under contract, but with minimal depth outside of that group, it would hardly be a surprise if the club pursued additionally starting depth during the coming offseason- that is, unless they add an arm with multiple years of control this summer.

Drew Rasmussen Shut Down For Two Months With Flexor Strain

By Anthony Franco | May 12, 2023 at 4:53pm CDT

4:53pm: Rasmussen will be shut down from throwing entirely for two months, Topkin reports (on Twitter). If all goes as planned, he could restart a throwing program in the middle of July. That’d be a multi-week process involving bullpen sessions, batting practice and likely multiple minor league rehab starts. It’d be a surprise if he’s back on an MLB mound before August, but it at least appears the club is hopeful he’ll be able to return for the stretch run.

3:04 pm: The Rays have been dealt another huge blow to their rotation. As first reported by Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, Tampa Bay placed starter Drew Rasmussen on the 60-day injured list after the righty was diagnosed with a flexor strain in his forearm. He’ll be out until at least the All-Star Break.

It’s an out-of-the-blue development. Rasmussen pitched just yesterday and didn’t show any signs of being hampered. He twirled seven shutout innings in a win over the Yankees, striking out seven while allowing just two baserunners. The velocity on each of his fastball, slider and curveball was right in line with his previous work this season.

Surprising as it is, Rasmussen apparently came down with a severe forearm issue from that appearance. Topkin tweets that he’s hopeful of avoiding surgery but he’s obviously in line for a notable absence in any event. The Rays wasted no time in putting him on the 60-day IL, indicating they didn’t feel there was any chance of him being back on an MLB mound before July.

It’s horrible news for the 27-year-old hurler. Rasmussen has a checkered injury history. He underwent Tommy John surgery midway through his sophomore year at Oregon State in 2016. The Rays drafted him in the first round the following year, but issues with his post-draft physical led the team to decline to sign him. Rasmussen subsequently underwent a second Tommy John surgery and didn’t pitch as a senior, causing him to fall to the sixth round of the 2018 draft.

Selected by Milwaukee, Rasmussen debuted in the majors as a reliever with the Brew Crew in 2020. The Rays acquired him alongside J.P. Feyereisen for Willy Adames and Trevor Richards in May 2021. Tampa Bay began to stretch him back out to starting at the end of that season and has seen him blossom into an excellent starting pitcher over the past couple years.

Rasmussen started 28 games and tallied 146 innings last season. He worked to a 2.84 ERA with a decent 21.4% strikeout rate and an excellent 5.3% walk percentage. He’d been off to an even better start this year. Last night’s performance brought him to 44 2/3 frames of 2.62 ERA ball over eight outings. He punched out 26.6% of batters faced and upped his ground-ball rate to a strong 52.6% clip.

His stellar early-season work was among the reasons the Rays have sprinted to a 30-9 start. They’re remarkably five games up in a division in which every team is at least three games above .500. It has been an incredible first few weeks for Tampa Bay, but they’re navigating a mounting number of rotation injuries. They were always going to be without Shane Baz for the bulk of the season after last year’s Tommy John procedure. Tyler Glasnow has been out all year after a Spring Training oblique strain. He’s on a minor league rehab assignment and should be back within the next couple weeks, but left-hander Jeffrey Springs is out for the season after undergoing a Tommy John procedure of his own.

Rasmussen’s injury leaves Shane McClanahan as the last starter who has been a constant all year. Offseason signee Zach Eflin missed some time with low back tightness but returned a couple weeks ago. He’s been excellent through six starts. Tampa Bay has gotten their first look at top pitching prospect Taj Bradley, who seems likely to return from Triple-A Durham to eventually take Rasmussen’s rotation spot. Josh Fleming and Calvin Faucher have worked in a swing capacity and could take some starts, as could one-time starter Yonny Chirinos. Cooper Criswell and Luis Patiño are on the 40-man roster and working out of the rotation in Durham.

Depending on Rasmussen’s long-term prognosis, it’s possible the Rays eventually look outside the organization for rotation depth. They’re going to be left to rely mostly on internal options until the trade deadline draws nearer, though.

Rasmussen will be paid around the MLB minimum rate and collect big league service while on the injured list. He’s slated to be eligible for arbitration for the first time at the end of this season and is controllable through 2026. He and the organization will obviously hope he’ll be able to avoid another serious arm procedure and return to the mound without too extended of an absence.

Revisiting A Win-Win Trade Between The Brewers And Rays

By Darragh McDonald | April 18, 2023 at 11:55am CDT

It’s generally rare for a significant trade to happen in the first few months of a season. Teams have just finished a winter of assembling their rosters for the campaign and don’t give up and start selling so early. Some teams dealing with injuries might want upgrades, but it’s not the time of year to send out a top prospect just to patch a temporary hole in the lineup or rotation. Front offices these days seem to like to push whatever time limits they have, saving their moves until the last moments before the trade deadline, non-tender deadline or what have you.

But there are exceptions, including one prominent one that occurred just shy of two years ago. In May of 2021, the Rays sent shortstop Willy Adames and right-hander Trevor Richards to the Brewers in exchange for righties J.P. Feyereisen and Drew Rasmussen. The trade was rare not only because of the timing, but the significance. Three of the players involved were relief pitchers, but Adames was established as a solid everyday shortstop who still had three-plus years of control. Trades of such players are rare at any time and especially so at at that part of the season.

What’s also of note is that both teams were in contention. The Rays had made the postseason in the two previous years, going to the World Series in 2020. They were 27-19 when this deal was struck, just a game behind the Red Sox in the AL East. The Brewers had made the playoffs three straight years and were struggling a bit in early 2021, but their 21-23 record still had them in the mix, four games behind the Cardinals in the NL Central.

There were a few stars that aligned to make this happen. On the Rays’ end, they had a middle infield surplus that was inevitably going to lead to some kind of move. Wander Franco was the top prospect in the game and on a path to take that shortstop job from Adames. Franco was at High-A in 2019 but jumped to Triple-A in 2021 after the pandemic wiped out the minor leagues in between. At the time of the deal, Franco was hitting .283/.333/.533 for a wRC+ of 126. The Rays had other prospects of note, Taylor Walls and Vidal Bruján, in line for middle infield jobs. Walls actually got called up in the immediate aftermath of the Adames deal, but Franco was up a month later.

On the Brewers’ end, they were in a bit of a bind at shortstop. They had Orlando Arcia at the position for many years but decided it was time to move on. His defensive marks were okay but he had a career batting line of .244/.295/.366 at the end of 2020 for a wRC+ of 71. They opened the season by moving infielder Luis Urías to short, but that went sideways pretty quickly. He had already made nine errors in the first few weeks of the season and wasn’t hitting much either.

Those factors all contributed to bring this rare trade to fruition, which was since gone well for both clubs. Adames fortified the shortstop position immediately and has been a fixture there since. He was out to a slow start at the time of the trade, hitting .197/.254/.371 as a Ray, but he hit 20 home runs for the Brewers in the remainder of the 2021 campaign and produced a batting line of .285/.366/.521 in that time for a wRC+ of 136.

The Brewers ended up winning the division by finishing with a record of 95-67, five games up on the Cards. They just missed the playoffs last year, but that was no fault of Adames. He hit 31 home runs and slashed .238/.298/.458 for a wRC+ of 109. His speed and defense helped him tally 4.6 wins above replacement, per FanGraphs, tying Corbin Burnes for the team lead. He’s still with the club this year and can be retained via arbitration for 2024.

As for Richards, he was only with the club for about six weeks, getting flipped to the Blue Jays in July alongside Bowden Francis, with first baseman Rowdy Tellez coming the other way. Tellez has also been a key contributor for the Brewers, tallying 35 home runs last year and hitting .219/.306/.461 for a wRC+ of 110. Though that was very similar production to Adames at the plate, he doesn’t provide nearly as much in terms of speed or defense, leading to lesser tally of 0.8 fWAR on the year.

From the Rays’ point of view, they got more than just a few relievers, as they almost immediately started stretching Rasmussen out into a larger workload. Three of his first five outings as a Ray were of the single-inning variety, but he ramped up as the campaign went along. He eventually made 10 starts on the year, including eight to finish the season. And these weren’t just as an opener in the Tampa style. Those eight starts to end the year were all at least four innings long, with Rasmussen completing five innings in five of them.

This was a surprising development as it seemed like Rasmussen’s starting days were over, mainly due to health concerns. He had required Tommy John surgery in college in 2016, but was still drafted by the Rays in the first round, 31st overall, in 2017. They didn’t end up signing him due to concerns over that elbow, so he returned to Oregon State but needed a second TJS in August of 2017.

Despite those two surgeries, the Brewers grabbed him in the sixth round of the 2018 draft. He returned to the mound in the minors the following year, pitching mostly as a starter but logging just 74 1/3 innings. In 2020, with the minor leagues wiped out by the pandemic, Rasmussen was pitching out of the bullpen with the big league club. He tossed 15 1/3 innings over 12 appearances, posting a lackluster 5.87 ERA. He continued in that relief role early in 2021, logging 17 innings over 15 appearances with the Brewers with a 4.24 ERA.

It seems the Rays hadn’t given up on the pitcher they liked so much that they used a first-round pick on just a few years prior. They nabbed him in the Adames deal and, as mentioned, stretched him out as the season wore on. With pitchers like Tyler Glasnow and Chris Archer on the injured list and alternatives like Michael Wacha, Josh Fleming and Ryan Yarbrough posting middling results, the rotation was in need of some help. Rasmussen eventually tossed 59 innings for Tampa that year over 10 starts and 10 relief appearances. He posted a 2.44 ERA, striking out 20.9% of batters faced, walking 5.7% and getting grounders at a 51.5% clip. The Rays finished 100-62 that year, eight games ahead of the Red Sox and Yankees for the division crown, though Boston would eliminate Tampa in the ALDS.

It would have been fair to wonder at that time if Rasmussen’s success with the Rays was sustainable. It was still a small sample and his total workload in the three years since his second Tommy John procedure was light, 177 innings between the majors and minors over the 2019-2021 period. But last year, he pushed those doubts aside, tossing 146 innings over 28 starts. His 2.84 ERA came with a 21.4% strikeout rate, 5.3% walk rate and 46.6% ground ball rate. He’s looked sharp through three starts here this year as well, currently sporting a 2.60 ERA with his strikeout rate up to 29.2% in the early going. He won’t reach arbitration until after this season and can be controlled for three more seasons beyond that.

Feyereisen was no slouch himself. He posted a 2.45 ERA for the Rays after the deal and then tossed 24 1/3 innings last year without allowing a single earned run. Unfortunately, he landed on the injured list in early June and wasn’t able to return, eventually undergoing shoulder surgery in December. The recovery from that procedure required a four-month shutdown period, which meant the club would be without him for the start of the 2023 campaign. He was still under club control through 2026, but the Rays were dealing with a roster crunch and designated Feyereisen for assignment shortly after that surgery, with a deal seemingly already in the works at that time. He was dealt to the Dodgers the next day in exchange for minor league lefty Jeff Belge, who posted a 3.66 ERA in High-A for the Dodgers last year. He’s started his Rays tenure with three scoreless outings in Double-A this year.

In the end, the Brewers shipped out some talented pitchers who weren’t the most essential arms on their roster. Even without Rasmussen and Feyereisen, they’ve still had excellent pitching from Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, Freddy Peralta, Devin Williams and others. In exchange, they received an excellent everyday shortstop and, indirectly, a potent bat in Tellez. The Rays parted with that excellent shortstop, but replaced him easily from within and were able to bolster their rotation and overall pitching depth.

Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.

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