AL East Notes: Westburg, Yankees, Rays
Orioles third baseman Jordan Westburg has been no stranger to injuries over the first few years of his time in the majors, and his latest ailments are a partially-torn UCL and oblique soreness. The oblique issue appears to be fairly minor, but he’s received a platelet-rich plasma injection in his elbow in hopes of rehabbing his UCL and will be out until at least May due to the issue. Setbacks of this sort have become all too common for Westburg in recent years. Since making his big league debut in 2023, he’s missed time due to a broken hand, a sprained ankle, a strained hamstring, and an index finger sprain.
When on the field, there’s no question that Westburg has proven to be one of the Orioles’ most talented young players. An All-Star in 2024, Westburg is a career .264/.312/.456 hitter in just over 1,000 career plate appearances and can play capable defense at both second and third base. The .269/.317/.497 slash line Westburg posted in 101 games prior to the aforementioned broken hand during the 2024 season is even more impressive and shows that the 27-year-old has the potential to be a star for Baltimore when he’s healthy enough to take the field at full strength.
Those times have been increasingly uncommon over the past few years, however, and when asked about it by Orioles reporters Westburg seemed frustrated. He told MASN’s Roch Kubatko that he doesn’t know when he’ll be able to play again after his latest PRP injection, and Matt Weyrich of The Baltimore Sun relays that Westburg admitted the constant injuries have taken a mental toll on him.
“I’d like to sit here and say, ‘extremely confident,’ but some of this wears on you mentally,” Westburg said (as relayed by Weyrich) when asked about his ability to stay healthy and be an everyday player for the Orioles. “So, there are doubts, but like I said, I’m going to do my best to kind of see what avenues that I can go down to maybe help bulletproof my body a little bit more. I don’t know if there’s a way to do that, but I’m going to try.”
While Westburg looks to push through the obstacles currently standing between him and a return to the field, the Orioles will be looking to open the season without either him or second baseman Jackson Holliday. That could open the door for Coby Mayo to return to third base and recent trade acquisition Blaze Alexander to see time at they keystone. Utility man Jeremiah Jackson and third baseman Bryan Ramos are among the other players currently on the 40-man roster who could compete for additional time on the infield while Westburg and Holliday are unavailable.
More from around the AL East…
- The Yankees are bolstering their international scouting department with the addition of longtime Cubs front office member Nao Masamoto, according to a report from Patrick Mooney and Brendan Kuty of The Athletic. The pair note that Masamoto has been instrumental to the Cubs’ recruitment efforts with players coming over from Nippon Professional Baseball and their ability to provide a smooth transition for the players (like Seiya Suzuki and Shota Imanaga) who do wind up signing with them. Chicago has emerged as a destination for Japanese talent during Masamoto’s tenure with the club, while the Yankees have struggled to court players like Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki in recent years. While they were once a top choice for NPB talent themselves, they haven’t rostered a Japanese player since Masahiro Tanaka departed MLB following the 2020 season.
- A pair of Rays players are facing some restrictions as Spring Training games get underway. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reported recently that right-hander Steven Wilson, who Tampa acquired from the White Sox in a trade during the offseason, has been slowed by a back injury entering camp. Wilson enjoyed a solid season with Chicago last year where he pitched to a 3.42 ERA across 59 appearances despite middling peripherals. Also sidelined at the moment is shortstop Taylor Walls, who Topkin notes was scratched from the Rays’ lineup due to oblique tightness. That sounds worrisome for Tampa, but the club has fortunately described Walls’ removal from today’s lineup as purely precautionary. Carson Williams would likely be the next man up to handle shortstop if Walls were sidelined during the regular season.
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’ Neander Discusses Outfield, Catcher
As the Rays map out their offseason plans, the front office has an area of the roster they’re highlighting as the priority. “The outfield is three spots we’ve got to get right. … I’d probably lean toward the outfield being the area that we’re spending the most time and energy, just trying to make sense of how to best put it together for next year,” president of baseball operations Erik Neander told Mark Feinsand of MLB.com at the GM Meetings (relayed by MLB.com’s Adam Berry).
That’s not to say all three positions will be filled externally. Neander said the club needs to both “(assess) the players we have” while keeping an eye outside the organization for upgrades. They’ve already shuffled the mix in the first two weeks of the offseason. Kameron Misner was traded to Kansas City, while they’ve taken fliers on Ryan Vilade and Jake Fraley. It’s still not a lock that Fraley will be tendered an arbitration contract, which MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects to land at $3.6MM.
Tampa Bay has a lot of semi-interesting outfielders but no one locked into an everyday position. Chandler Simpson, Jake Mangum, Jonny DeLuca and Josh Lowe would probably get the majority of the playing time as things stand. Simpson is the sport’s best base stealer and has elite contact skills, but there’s zero power and he probably doesn’t have the defensive feel to play a good center field. Mangum has a similar contact-only offensive profile. He’s a very good base stealer in his own right and a more natural defender than Simpson, but he feels more like a fourth outfielder than a regular.
DeLuca is yet another speed and defense outfielder with minimal power. He has a little more pop than Mangum provides but has a similarly aggressive approach. DeLuca lost most of the ’25 season to right shoulder and left hamstring injuries. Lowe has a typical right field profile and hit 20 homers a couple seasons ago, but he’s coming off a career-worst .220/.283/.366 showing across 435 plate appearances. He’s entering arbitration and projected at $2.9MM.
Richie Palacios, Christopher Morel and Tristan Peters all occupy 40-man roster spots as well. Palacios bounces between second base and the outfield corners. He was limited to 14 MLB games by a knee sprain. Morel has been a disappointment since coming over from the Cubs in the Isaac Paredes trade. He’s a poor defender who has hit .208/.277/.355 in 495 plate appearances with Tampa Bay. He’s projected for a $2.6MM arbitration salary and could be traded or non-tendered. Peters is a 26-year-old rookie with four MLB games under his belt and unspectacular numbers in Triple-A.
The front office needs to decide whether anyone from that group projects as a long-term everyday player. Rays outfielders hit .251/.306/.356 last season overall. They were last in MLB with 35 home runs. It’d be a surprise if they didn’t add someone who can provide more stability via free agency or trade, even if Neander indicated the heavy lifting probably needs to come internally. “You’re banking on the group you have — a little better health, a little more performance, and then maybe it’s supplemented from the outside,” he told Feinsand.
Neander touched upon two other uncertain positions: shortstop and catcher. He told MLB.com that the club will keep an eye on both markets but broadly expressed confidence in the internal options, especially behind the plate. The Rays are well-positioned defensively at both spots but have limited offensive ceilings.
Taylor Walls and Carson Williams are set to compete for the shortstop job. Walls is well established as a plus-plus defender who isn’t going to provide anything at the plate. Williams, 22, is one of the organization’s top prospects. He’s highly regarded defensively and certainly has more power upside than Walls, but it’s an open question whether he’ll make enough contact to be a regular. Williams struck out at an untenable 34% clip in Triple-A this year and fanned in 44 of his first 106 MLB plate appearances. He hit .172 over 32 games and should probably begin next season in the minors.
Neander said they’d look for ways to make that “a little bit stronger competition than we (have) now.” It’s a weak free agent class, though. They’re obviously not signing Bo Bichette or bringing back Ha-Seong Kim. They’re left with mostly glove-first utility types like Walls behind that. There aren’t many obvious trade candidates available either, but it’s possible they’ll look to waivers or minor league free agency to at least bring in another depth piece.
Nick Fortes and Hunter Feduccia are lined up behind the dish. Neander praised Fortes as a defender and expressed confidence there’s more in the tank with Feduccia, who hit .151 in 36 games after being acquired from the Dodgers as part of the three-team Zack Littell deadline deal. The 28-year-old Feduccia is a career .278/.387/.452 Triple-A hitter who never had an opportunity behind Will Smith in Los Angeles. It’s not surprising the Rays aren’t moving off him after two bad months in his first real look against big league pitching.
“If we can find a way to be better at that position, we will, but those are two guys we appreciate. If we roll into next year and that’s where we are — a lot of players, we’re counting on development from where they were, and that certainly applies to those two and [we] think that they can give us more than they did this year,” Neander said. J.T. Realmuto and Victor Caratini are the only real options on the free agent market, assuming they don’t bring Danny Jansen back. Trade candidates include Jonah Heim, Luis Campusano and J.C. Escarra.
Rays Exercise Option On Taylor Walls
The Rays and infielder Taylor Walls are in agreement on a deal for the 2026 season, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The team will be exercising the $2.45MM club option that covers Walls’ second arbitration season but is also adding a club option that proactively covers his third year in 2027. That option is valued at $3.1MM, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports. Walls is represented by Vayner Sports.
The 29-year-old Walls led the team in shortstop appearances last season, providing quality glovework but little to no production in the batter’s box. The 2017 third-rounder was credited with a superlative 17 Defensive Runs Saved but turned in an anemic .220/.280/.319 line (66 wRC+) at the plate. He did draw walks at close to a league-average clip and has been well above average in that regard throughout his career as a whole. Walls also provided a bit of value on the bases, though his 14-for-20 showing in stolen base attempts wasn’t nearly as efficient as in the earlier years of his career; he entered the season with 52 steals in 62 tries.
Heading into 2026, Walls gives Tampa Bay some cover at shortstop in the event that top prospect Carson Williams needs more time in Triple-A. Williams made his big league debut this year but hit poorly in his first 32 games/106 MLB plate appearances, slashing only .172/.219/.354 with an alarming 41.5% strikeout rate. Williams spent the rest of the season in Triple-A and didn’t exactly light things up there either (.213/.318/.447), though he was just 21 years old for most of his time at the top minor league level.
Williams will head to spring training squarely in the mix for Tampa Bay’s Opening Day shortstop job, but if he struggles in Grapefruit League play, the Rays can send him back to Triple-A Durham for more seasoning and turn shortstop back over to Walls, knowing he’ll at least provide a quality glove and a bit of speed out of the ninth spot in the batting order while Williams rounds out his development. If Williams does nab the shortstop job from the jump next year, Walls can fill a utility role; he’s also drawn strong grades for his defense at second base and third base.
Walls’ 2026 club option contained a $50K buyout, so it was a net $2.4MM decision for the team. He’d have remained under club control even if the Rays had declined the option. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz had projected Walls for a $2MM salary, so the Rays either projected a higher number for Walls or picked up the option at a marginally higher-than-expected rate as a trade-off to secure another club option year at a relatively low rate.
That same scenario will hold true next winter as well. The Rays could decline the option and still keep Walls for a lesser amount in arbitration, depending on how his season plays out. Today’s deal doesn’t buy out any potential free agent seasons. Walls is still under club control through 2027 and is slated to become a free agent in the 2027-28 offseason.
Rays Select Cole Wilcox
The Rays have selected the contract of righty Cole Wilcox from Triple-A Durham, per a team announcement. He’ll join the bullpen and make his major league debut the first time he gets into a game. Infielder Taylor Walls was transferred from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL to open a spot on the 40-man roster, while right-hander Joey Gerber was optioned to Durham to clear space on the active roster.
Wilcox, 26, was a third-round pick by the Padres in 2020, though that undersells his stock at the time of the draft. Wilcox “slid” into the third round due primarily to signability concerns. A draft-eligible sophomore at the University of Georgia, Wilcox was widely regarded as a first-round talent. San Diego plucked him with the No. 80 overall pick and swayed him with a $3.3MM signing bonus that was a record for a third-round pick at the time. Just five months later, he was traded to the Rays alongside Francisco Mejia, Luis Patiño and Blake Hunt in the Blake Snell blockbuster.
Things haven’t panned out for Wilcox in the years since. He was dominant for the Rays’ Class-A club in 2021 but made just 10 starts before incurring an elbow injury that eventually led to Tommy John surgery. He returned late in the 2022 season but totaled just 16 innings between the Rays’ Class-A and Rookie-level affiliates.
Wilcox spent the 2023 season pitching out of the rotation with Tampa Bay’s Double-A affiliate but struggled to a 5.23 ERA while showing far worse command than he had prior to surgery. He repeated the Double-A level in 2024 and found better success in terms of his bottom-line run prevention numbers; Wilcox dropped his ERA all the way to 3.18, but he did so with a below-average 18.9% strikeout rate. That still prompted a promotion to Triple-A, but Wilcox again struggled with shaky command and diminished stuff. His fastball, which had previously sat 94-97 mph and scraped triple digits, instead sat at 92.5 mph that season.
Tampa Bay moved Wilcox to the bullpen in 2025, and the results are more encouraging. He’s pitched to a 3.70 ERA in 58 1/3 innings. His 10.8% walk rate is still too high, but he’s averaging 95.8 mph on his sinker now that he’s moved into a short relief role. He’s also scrapped his changeup and now relies on a pure two-pitch mix featuring that sinker and a sharp slider that always graded as his best pitch in scouting reports. Wilcox has kept 50.3% of his opponents’ batted balls on the ground, and his 12.3% swinging-strike rate is better than average as well.
At the time of the Snell trade, the Rays had surely hoped that Wilcox would develop into a key member of their rotation. That no longer appears to be in the cards, but with a sinker approaching 96 mph and a quality slider that’s averaging 86.1 mph, he still has the makings of a potentially useful reliever. He’ll get his first opportunity in the majors in the final weeks of the 2025 campaign, but now that he’s on the 40-man roster, Wilcox will have a full slate of three minor league option years and ample runway to prove himself as a member of manager Kevin Cash’s relief corps in subsequent seasons.
Taylor Walls Undergoes Sports Hernia Surgery
Rays infielder Taylor Walls underwent season-ending sports hernia surgery, manager Kevin Cash tells Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times. Walls has been on the injured list since August 12 with what was initially diagnosed as a left groin strain. He’s expected to be ready for Spring Training.
This has been a typical season for Walls, a light-hitting defensive specialist. He hit .220/.280/.319 with four home runs through 317 plate appearances. The Florida State product owns a .195/.286/.298 batting line in more than 1500 career trips. Walls’ value comes entirely from his glove. While Statcast’s Outs Above Average has him as a roughly neutral defender, Defensive Runs Saved grades him as a plus gloveman at each of second base, third base and shortstop.
Walls was the starting shortstop with Ha-Seong Kim on the injured list for a good chunk of the season. Tampa Bay traded José Caballero and waived Kim. They’ve promoted top prospect Carson Williams to take over at shortstop and would have used Walls as a utility player if he’d been healthy. Williams and Junior Caminero are the hopeful long-term pairing on the left side of the infield. The Rays have another club option on Brandon Lowe but could field trade offers over the winter.
The Rays have a $2.45MM club option or $50K buyout on Walls’ services for next year. They could decline the option and go through the arbitration process. He’s controllable for two more seasons in either case.
Rays Place Taylor Walls On 10-Day IL With Groin Strain
The Rays have placed shortstop Taylor Walls on the 10-day injured list with a left groin strain, the team announced. In a corresponding move, outfielder Tristan Peters was recalled from Triple-A.
Walls has been Tampa Bay’s primary shortstop this year, with 77 starts and 94 appearances at the position. It was particularly noteworthy that he still got his fair share of starts at shortstop when both he and Ha-Seong Kim were healthy. Kim signed a two-year, $29MM deal with the Rays over the offseason (a sizeable deal by their standards) with the expectation that he would become the starting shortstop. While injuries have limited Kim to just 18 games this year, the fact that Walls has shared the position with Kim lately shows how highly the Rays must think of Walls’ defense. Indeed, Walls was scheduled to start at shortstop on Saturday before he was scratched from the lineup. Kim has since started at shortstop in each of the team’s last three games.
Manager Kevin Cash explained that Walls still felt “closer to 75% rather than 100%” before today’s matchup with the Athletics, so the team decided he needed “a couple days to let [his groin injury] continue to calm down” (per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times).
Tampa Bay will be just fine in the middle infield in Walls’s absence. Kim can play shortstop full-time (with Tristan Gray around as a backup), and All-Star Brandon Lowe can return to playing second base on a daily basis. Lowe had recently started a handful of games at first base and DH to make room for Kim at second base when Walls was starting at short. The problem is that with Lowe at second base and Yandy Díaz at first, the Rays are left without a good option to DH. All-Star Jonathan Aranda is on the IL with a broken wrist (hence Díaz’s return to first base). He remains hopeful he’ll return this season (per MLB.com’s Joey Johnston), but it’s far from a guarantee. For as long as Aranda is out of the equation, the Rays are at their best with Walls and Kim sharing middle infield duties while Lowe and Díaz cover first base and DH. They have not yet offered a timeline for Walls’s return, but they will hope his groin strain proves to be minor.
Entering play today, the Rays are 5.5 games back of the last AL Wild Card spot. They’re a talented team, with a +43 run differential that is far more impressive than their sub-.500 record. However, they’re running out of time to make a comeback. Both FanGraphs and PECOTA have their postseason odds below 5%. With Aranda out indefinitely and Shane McLanahan officially done for the season, they can’t afford for much else to go wrong.
Latest On Yankees’ Deadline Plans
The Yankees nearly had their season upended when reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge suffered a flexor strain in his right elbow. The issue required a trip to the injured list, but fortunately for the Bronx Bombers their superstar is expected to avoid the operating table and could be back in the lineup as a DH shortly after the trade deadline. Even so, there are some signs that the Yankees may not be fully all-in this summer. Andy Martino of SNY reported yesterday that the Yankees actually “seriously considered” a pivot towards selling this summer if Judge was out for the remainder of the season.
It goes without saying that Judge, who has emerged as the consensus best hitter in the sport with an absurd .312/.436/.681 slash line over the past four seasons, is a transformational player. With that being said, baseball is a team sport and for a team to be willing to pivot from buying to selling based on an injury to one player suggests a level of uncertainty that might not otherwise be expected from a club that’s already gone out and acquired third baseman Ryan McMahon and utility bat Amed Rosario within the past week. Martino even wonders if a Yankees club that’s 8-12 in the month of July and 22-28 over their last 50 games could still consider selling off rental players like Cody Bellinger and Devin Williams, even in spite of Judge’s expected return to the lineup.
That seems very unlikely to actually happen at this point, and even Martino acknowledges that such an outcome is an “extreme longshot.” Still, the fact that there’s any reason to doubt the Yankees’ status as buyers at this point could suggest that they won’t be the most aggressive suitors for high-end talent on the market. Gerrit Cole will be back next year, Judge will presumably have moved past his elbow issues, and the club could hope for better health for an arm like Luis Gil as well, not to mention further development from young pieces both at the big league level (Ben Rice, Jasson Dominguez) and in the minors (Spencer Jones, George Lombard Jr.).
All of that could be enough to opt for lower-cost additions rather than shopping aggressively in the most impactful tiers of the market. We’ve already seen them take that approach in their efforts to upgrade at third base. It’s well-known that the Yankees were engaged with the Diamondbacks on third baseman Eugenio Suarez in recent weeks, but Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com reports that talks between the sides stalled when New York balked at the price tag Arizona hat set, which Romero reports consisted of one MLB player, one prospect from the upper levels of the minors, and at least one prospect from the lower-levels of the minors.
It must be cautioned that proximity to the big leagues, while an attractive factor in a player’s profile, does not necessarily indicate trade value. Oswald Peraza, for example, is much less valuable on the trade market now as a struggling big leaguer without options remaining than he was a few years ago when he was a consensus top-50 prospect in the game with only eight games at the Triple-A level. That means Romero’s report does little to pin down the exact quality of the return Arizona requested from the Yankees, but it does seem likely that New York thought it was giving up less value by surrendering Clayton Beeter, Browm Martinez, Griffin Herring, and Josh Grosz to acquire the combination McMahon and Rosario than they would have had to in order to land Suarez.
Could that apparent hesitance to trade at the top of the market impact New York’s pursuits on the pitching side of things? Joel Sherman of the New York Post indicates that the Yankees are looking to add two relievers (including one lefty) and a starting pitcher “at minimum” this summer. If the Yankees were turned off by the price tag associated with Suarez, it’s possible they could prefer to shop at the lower levels of the market to avoid meeting Arizona’s asking price on Zac Gallen or Merrill Kelly. On the other hand, maybe the prospect capital they saved by passing on Suarez could be used to gun for an even more significant piece with multiple years of control like Jhoan Duran or Emmanuel Clase for the club’s bullpen.
Regardless of how big the Yankees decide to go on the pitching side of things, Sherman reports that the club may not be done augmenting its positional corps just yet. He writes that the Yankees have talked to the Rays about infield pieces Jose Caballero, Taylor Walls, and Ha-Seong Kim. The Rays rarely make any player on their roster off limits and Cabellero specifically came up in the rumor mill recently, so it’s not necessarily a shock to hear that Tampa would listen on some of its infield depth. Sherman suggests that players like Willi Castro of the Twins, Isiah Kiner-Falefa of the Pirates, and David Hamilton of the Red Sox could also be of interest to the Yankees as they look to upgrade the speed and versatility of their bench, preferably with a player who can be relied upon to back up shortstop Anthony Volpe.
Sherman suggests that the Yankees have “long-liked” Castro in particular and suggests that it would be “ideal” for the club to acquire him as part of a package that includes one of Minnnesota’s relievers. Danny Coulombe is a pending free agent who would make plenty of sense if New York hopes to stick with lower-cost acquisitions, but he doesn’t rule out a pursuit of a more expensive, controllable impact piece like Duran and Jax. Minnesota’s relief arms are getting plenty of attention on the trade market, however, and Castro himself would be an excellent fit for not just the Yankees but also teams like the Cubs and Astros. Given the Yankees’ possible reluctance about going all-in on 2025, it seems likely that they’ll continue examining a wide array of options at varying price points over the coming days.
Rays, Taylor Walls Avoid Arbitration
The Rays announced Wednesday that they’ve signed infielder Taylor Walls to a one-year deal with a club option for the 2026 season. In doing so, the two parties avoided an arbitration hearing. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports that Walls will earn a $1.4MM guarantee: a $1.35MM salary this coming season with a $50K buyout on a $2.45MM option for the ’26 campaign. The price of that option would be bumped by $50K, to $2.5MM, if Walls tallies 450 plate appearances, Topkin adds. Walls is represented by Vayner Sports.
Walls and Tampa Bay had exchanged figures last week, with the shortstop filing for a $1.575MM salary to the team’s $1.3MM submission. (MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz had projected a $1.3MM salary for Walls.) It’s the first trip through the arbitration process for the infielder, who’s under team control through 2027 regardless of the outcome of that 2026 option.
The 28-year-old Walls had a brutal season at the plate in 2024 but is a talented infield defender capable of handling multiple positions. In 252 plate appearances, he slashed only .183/.282/.248 with one homer, five doubles, three triples and 16 steals (in 20 attempts). Walls did continue to show a disciplined approach, walking in 12.3% of those 252 turns at the plate — right in line with his career 12.1% mark. His contact profile was sub-par, however. Walls averaged only 86.2 mph off the bat with a bleak 24% hard-hit rate, and he punched out in 26.6% of his plate appearances.
Defensive metrics are divided on Walls, who’s primarily been a shortstop (1983 big league innings) but also has ample experience at second base (524 innings) and the hot corner (419 innings). Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating think he’s a flat-out plus with the glove. DRS, in particular, credits Walls with a whopping career mark of +35 at shortstop alone (plus another 15 DRS between second and third). Statcast has generally favored his work at third base but is down on Walls at shortstop, pegging him at two outs below average in each of the past two seasons.
The Rays clearly feel Walls is better than Statcast measures him to be. At least insofar as making the plays he’s supposed to, there’s good evidence to back that up. Walls was charged with only three errors in last year’s 625 innings of defense. He made a combined eight errors across three positions in 792 innings in 2023.
Even if the Rays decline Walls’ option for the 2026 season, he’d be under team control and arb-eligible a second time. They’d likely only do so if they felt Walls comfortably projected for less than the 75% raise his option value represents — although in that scenario, he’d be a potential non-tender candidate as well.
For now, Walls is the favorite to open the 2025 season at shortstop, though he’ll have some competition from fellow middle infielder Jose Caballero. In all likelihood, one will start the year at short and the other will fill a utility role, although Osleivis Basabe could get himself back into the mix if he shows signs of a rebound from a dreadful 2024 season this spring.
The Opening Day assignment doesn’t necessarily carry as much weight as who’ll finish the season at shortstop, though. Walls, Caballero and to a lesser extent Basabe will all be in the mix, but all eyes will be on 2021 first rounder Carson Williams, whom Baseball America just this morning tabbed as MLB’s No. 11 overall prospect. Williams, regarded as a plus defender at short, posted a .256/.352/.469 slash in a pitcher-friendly Double-A setting this past season, putting him about 42% better than average in that league, by measure of wRC+. The 21-year-old (22 in June) is likely ticketed for Triple-A to begin the season and could make his MLB debut at some point this summer, depending on how he fares early on.
Rays Notes: Boyle, Springs Trade, Shortstop, Soto
The Rays swung a prominent trade with the Athletics yesterday, bringing in three players and a Competitive Balance Round draft pick in exchange for left-handers Jeffrey Springs and Jacob Lopez. Tampa president of baseball operations Erik Neander told MLB.com’s Adam Berry and other reporters that the decision to move Springs was “really, really difficult,” and that the trade was “a situation where the A’s really stepped forward and really wanted Jeffrey.”
On paper, it was widely assumed that the Rays would be dealing from their rotation depth this winter, with Springs and Zack Littell viewed as the likeliest trade candidates since they were the two highest-paid of the rotation candidates. The surplus is still technically in place since they still have six starters (Shane McClanahan, Shane Baz, Ryan Pepiot, Taj Bradley, Drew Rasmussen, and Littell) on the roster, plus now Joe Boyle acquired in the Springs trade. Berry writes that that despite all these available arms, the Rays aren’t expected to trade any more starting pitching.
“Right now, we’re looking at more starters than we have rotation spots and kind of navigating the different ways to resolve that while also knowing you can never have enough,” Neander said.
Boyle has big league experience in the form of 63 2/3 innings with the A’s over the last two seasons, but of the seven potential starters, he seems like the clearest candidate to begin the season in Triple-A. The hard-throwing Boyle has battled his control in both the major and minors, and Neander suggested that the Rays view him as a bit of a work in progress, with plenty of potential.
“Joe Boyle is somebody that has the physicality and the stuff to fit at the front of the rotation,” Neander said. “I think there’s signs of progress on the strike-throwing, and he doesn’t need to be a sharpshooter to be really effective….The upside, I think, is something that warrants great patience when it comes to his development.”
Trading from the rotation depth was one of the top checkpoints on Tampa’s offseason to-do list, and it remains to be seen what else Neander has in store to upgrade the roster ahead of what will be an unconventional season at George M. Steinbrenner Field rather than Tropicana Field. In terms of lineup help, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times feels the Rays will mostly look within their organization, but they could add outfield depth and the team is “at least open to a more offensive-oriented shortstop.”
Since Wander Franco‘s time with the Rays is almost surely over, Taylor Walls is penciled in as the starting shortstop, and Walls is still looking for a breakout at the plate. Over parts of four MLB seasons, Walls has hit only .188/.288/.293 over 1243 plate appearances — Walls’ 71 wRC+ is the fourth-lowest of any player with at least 1000 PA since Opening Day 2021.
What Walls brings to the table is glovework, though public defensive metrics aren’t unanimous in their approval of Walls’ work at shortstop. The Outs Above Average metrics has given him negative grades in each of the last three seasons and he drew negative UZR/150 scores in 2022 and 2023 before a huge +15.3 UZR/150 last season. The Defensive Runs Saved metric, meanwhile, has given Walls +35 DRS over his 1983 2/3 career innings at shortstop.
The Rays seem to lean more towards the DRS view, as Topkin notes that the club has a “fervid appreciation” for Walls’ glovework. As such, a trade offer or free agent opportunity would have to pass “a high bar” to inspire Tampa Bay to reduce Walls’ playing time. Any kind of acquisition at shortstop would also be a short-term add anyway, since top prospect Carson Williams could be in line to make his MLB debut at some point later in the 2025 season.
Still, Neander and his front office can never be ruled out for making a creative move. We saw evidence of this in early November when reports indicated that the Rays were one of the many teams who had been in contact with Juan Soto at the opening of the free agent market. The check-in was perhaps largely but due diligence, but Topkin reports that “the Rays pitched a short-term deal…supposedly with opt-outs after each season.”
It is probably safe to assume that this offer didn’t gain much traction within Soto’s camp, but there was no harm in floating a unique offer Soto’s way to see if there was any interest. It was just last season that several other Scott Boras clients signed shorter-term, player option-heavy contracts after not finding the long-term deals they were hoping to land in free agency, though there was much less chance that Soto would come up short in his bid for a record-setting contract.