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Long List Of Teams Interested In AJ Ramos

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MONDAY: In addition to the Rockies and Cubs, the Nationals are said to be “expressing strong interest” in Ramos, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter). Ramos has previously been tied to the Nats, though those talks reportedly took place before the team’s recent addition of a pair of late-inning relievers. Of course, Washington is still said to be looking at yet more relief targets.

SATURDAY: The Diamondbacks, Rockies, Rays, Red Sox, Cubs, Brewers and others all have interest in Marlins closer AJ Ramos, FanRag’s Jon Heyman tweets. ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick and others tweeted earlier this week that the Marlins were taking calls on Ramos.

The Marlins, of course, recently traded reliever David Phelps to Seattle for a package including outfield prospect Brayan Hernandez, and Ramos could potentially be an even more desirable trade target. The 30-year-old has a 4.08 ERA and 4.8 BB/9 this season, but with a strong 11.5 K/9. He also has 89 career saves and a long history of success in the ninth inning, making him a strong late-inning option for a contender. (Of course, many clubs on Heyman’s list of interested teams, including the Rockies, Red Sox, Cubs and Brewers, appear set at closer, but that wouldn’t preclude them from having interest in another good late-inning arm.) Ramos can be controlled through 2018 via the arbitration process.

With Phelps gone, the Marlins are expected to lean harder on Junichi Tazawa, as MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro recently explained. Tazawa has pitched nine scoreless innings this month. The team also has Kyle Barraclough, Nick Wittgren and Dustin McGowan to pitch in the late innings. It’s not yet clear, however, who would take over the closer role should Ramos depart.

Rays Release Rickie Weeks

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The Rays have released infielder Rickie Weeks to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for newly acquired Sergio Romo, the team announced. Weeks had been on the disabled list with a shoulder injury, though he’d been on a rehab assignment in Triple-A. Andrew Kittredge has been optioned to Triple-A Durham to clear a spot on the 40-man roster.

Weeks, 34, hit .216/.321/.340 in 112 plate appearances with the Rays earlier this season, totaling 90 innings at first base in his lone action on defense. Weeks was brought in largely due to his track record of success against left-handed pitching, but he stumbled to a .176/.333/.275 through 63 plate appearances. Weeks had a solid campaign at the plate as recently as 2016 with the D-backs (.239/.327/.450) and has handled lefties well throughout his career, so he could latch on elsewhere as a minor league signee.

Romo, who had been designated for assignment by the Dodgers, was acquired by the Rays on Saturday in exchange for cash considerations or a player to be named later.

Latest On Rays' Deadline Plans

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  • The Rays are seeking an “impact reliever” and perhaps some offensive help leading up to the trade deadline, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The club did add to its bullpen when it acquired Sergio Romo from the Dodgers on Saturday, but the 2017 version of the ex-Giants closer doesn’t inspire much confidence. As such, he won’t be their last relief addition, tweets FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal. The Rays will take a “responsible” approach to the deadline, writes Topkin, but a willingness to add salary and deal “good” prospects still exists. They’re also not ruling out trading someone from their major league roster, suggests Topkin.

Rays Acquire Sergio Romo

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The Rays have acquired reliever Sergio Romo and cash considerations from the Dodgers for cash or a player to be named later, per an announcement from Los Angeles.

Sergio Romo

After an excellent stint with the Giants from 2008-16, Romo drew offseason interest from the Rays before heading to LA on a one-year, $3MM deal. Staying in the National League West didn’t go well for the 34-year-old Romo, who pitched to a 6.12 ERA (with a less-than-encouraging 5.75 FIP) in 25 innings as a Dodger. He also posted a career-worst walk rate (4.32 per nine) and yielded home runs on 26.9 percent of fly balls – an enormous increase over his 13.9 percent mark from last season. As a result, the Dodgers designated Romo for assignment on Thursday.

Given his woes this year, Romo hardly looks like a cure-all for the Rays, who have been in the market for relief help leading up to the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. Still, he’s a low-cost pickup who did show some promising signs as a Dodger. Romo struck out 28.7 percent of batters in LA, matching his career mark, logged a 14.8 percent swinging-strike rate that betters his lifetime figure (14.2) and helped offset a low ground-ball rate (35.4 percent) by inducing pop-ups with regularity. At 15.4 percent, Romo’s infield fly rate places him among the majors’ upper echelon when it comes to relievers.

Even with Romo on hand, it stands to reason the Rays will continue to scour the market for relief upgrades over the next week-plus. While the 51-47 club is 1.5 games up on a wild-card spot, Tampa Bay’s success hasn’t come because of its bullpen. Rays relievers entered Saturday 22nd in the majors in ERA (4.37) and 23rd in fWAR (1.4), though the now-departed duo of Danny Farquhar and Jumbo Diaz contributed heavily to those unremarkable numbers before the team jettisoned them in recent weeks. The right-handed Romo hasn’t been any better this year, and he’ll now look to bounce back among a relief corps that includes more stable righty options in Alex Colome, Chase Whitley, Brad Boxberger, Tommy Hunter and Erasmo Ramirez.

Ken Gurnick of MLB.com first reported the trade (on Twitter). Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Rays Notes: Neshek, Kiermaier

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The Yankees had scout Brandon Duckworth in attendance to watch Texas’ game in Tampa Bay on Friday, leading to speculation that the Bombers are interested in Rangers ace Yu Darvish, writes George A. King III of the New York Post. New York is one of many potential suitors for Darvish, who struck out 12 Rays in eight innings Friday. For the Yankees, Darvish would more than make up for the loss of Michael Pineda to Tommy John surgery and give the playoff hopefuls another front-line starter to join Luis Severino. However, it’s unclear whether they’d be willing to pay what figures to be a heavy price for a rental.

  • The Rays are interested in acquiring reliever Pat Neshek from the Phillies, so Philadelphia is heavily scouting Tampa Bay’s farm system, according to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter link). Neshek is among a host of relievers the bullpen-needy Rays have been eyeing with the deadline approaching.
  • While the Rays are currently looking for outside help, they have an in-house reinforcement on the way in center fielder Kevin Kiermaier, who suffered a hip fracture June 8. Kiermaier is eligible to return from the DL on Aug. 9, and he expects to do just that if all goes well on a rehab assignment, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). Even though Kiermaier is one of the Rays’ cornerstones, their outfield has fared nicely in his absence, with Mallex Smith and Peter Bourjos filling in well in center.

Jumbo Diaz Elects Free Agency

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  • Righty Jumbo Diaz is a free agent after rejecting an outright assignment from the Rays, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports on Twitter. The bulky 33-year-old had a solid 2016 campaign but scuffled upon arriving in Tampa Bay. In his thirty innings, he was touched for a 5.70 ERA with 8.4 K/9 and 4.5 BB/9.

Rays Release Danny Farquhar

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The Rays have released righty Danny Farquhar, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). He had previously been outrighted off of the 40-man roster and was pitching at Triple-A Durham.

Farquhar, 30, turned in a strong 2016 season with Tampa Bay, although he was quite prone to the long ball. But he stumbled in his first 35 frames in the current campaign. While Farquhar reversed the dinger problems, he allowed 5.7 free passes per nine while recording only 8.5 K/9 after topping eleven per nine in the prior year.

That said, there were reasons to hope for improvement. In particular, Farquhar was still getting swings and misses on over 14% of his pitches. But he went on to allow three earned runs and three walks over his four appearances at Durham.

The Rays are looking for relief options, but evidently felt Farquhar wasn’t a possible solution. In a move that likely holds at least some connection to today’s decision, the team just picked up Chaz Roe — who carries a generally similar profile — to stash at Triple-A. Other organizations, though, may still see the potential in Farquhar, who has at times been quite effective at the game’s highest level.

Rays Interested In AJ Ramos, May Not Have Upper Hand In Justin Wilson Market

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With David Phelps now officially a Seattle Mariner, the Marlins could look to make AJ Ramos the next piece they deal. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that while the Fish had about 10 teams express interest in Phelps, they currently have three teams expressing serious interest in Ramos. One of those clubs appears to be the Rays, as FanRag’s Jon Heyman tweets that Tampa Bay is among the clubs with interest in the Miami closer. Ramos has also been linked to the Rockies, and was previously linked to the Yankees and Nationals before each of those clubs acquired two relievers in a single trade. (Though the New York Post’s Joel Sherman tweets that the Yankees never had any interest in him.)

  • While the Nationals are in on Tigers left-hander Justin Wilson, they won’t part with top prospects Victor Robles, Juan Soto or Erick Fedde in a trade to acquire him, tweets MLB Network’s Ken Rosenthal. Per Rosenthal, the Red Sox, Dodgers and Astros are all still in the mix for Wilson. Heyman tweets that the Rays are still looking at Wilson, to whom they were linked earlier this week, but at this point it seems that other teams are likelier to land him. MLB.com’s Jon Morosi, meanwhile, adds the Brewers to the substantial group of teams looking into Wilson (Twitter link).

Rays To Acquire Chaz Roe

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The Rays have struck a deal to acquire righty Chaz Roe from the Braves, per Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com (via Twitter). Cash considerations will go to Atlanta in return, per Tommy Stokke of Fan Rag (Twitter link).

This move likely won’t satisfy Tampa Bay’s desire for a bullpen upgrade. But the 30-year-old will add another option to the relief corps. He’ll presumably head to Triple-A Durham; the Braves had previously outrighted Roe off the 40-man roster after activating him from a lengthy DL stint.

Roe made only three appearances before he was felled by a lat strain. He has seen action in each of the last five seasons, typically delivering appealing strikeout rates but also too many free passes. Over his 97 1/3 career MLB innings, Roe owns a 4.16 ERA.

Rays Interested In Pat Neshek

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  • There’s still a wide market for Phillies reliever Pat Neshek, per Ken Rosenthal of MLB Network (Twitter link). Among the teams in pursuit are the Brewers, Rays, and Yankees, but it seems there’s no favorite at the moment. While Tampa Bay has been tied mostly to southpaws, the team is also interested in righties such as Neshek, ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick noted today on Twitter.

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