Rays Rumors

AL Notes: McKay, Rays, Angels, Rendon, Mariners

By Anthony Franco | November 2, 2021 at 8:54pm CDT

The Rays are expected to receive a fourth option year on left-hander/first baseman Brendan McKay, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. If that indeed proves to be the case, Tampa Bay would be able to option McKay to the minor leagues through the end of next season.

Most players can be optioned for three seasons. After a team exhausts those option years, they have to keep a player on the active roster or remove him from the 40-man roster entirely (thereby allowing other clubs an opportunity to trade for or claim that player off waivers). However, for players who have accrued fewer than five full professional seasons — defined as years with at least ninety days on a major league or minor league active roster — teams may be granted a fourth option year.

Fourth options most often come into play for players who have missed a significant amount of time in their careers on account of injuries. McKay is no exception, as he has barely pitched at any level over the past two seasons. After missing all of 2020 and the first half of this season recovering from shoulder surgery, the southpaw suffered a flexor strain in August that ended his 2021 campaign after just seven minor league outings.

Latest On Mets’ Front Office Search

By Mark Polishuk | November 1, 2021 at 5:15pm CDT

NOVEMBER 1: The Red Sox are expected to grant Ferreira permission to interview with the Mets, assuming she’s interested in doing so, reports Jon Heyman of the MLB Network (on Twitter).

OCTOBER 30, 1:23PM: Brewers VP of baseball operations Matt Kleine is another candidate the Mets have discussed, as per Martino (Twitter link). With both Kleine and Rodriguez, however, the Mets are wary about approaching the Brewers and Rays since both teams have repeatedly denied New York’s requests to interview other front office personnel in the past. Kleine is believed to be interested, and his hiring could help set the stage for the Mets to land Stearns as a free agent a year from now (or after the 2023 season, depending on the reported vesting option in Stearns’ deal with Milwaukee).

OCTOBER 30, 8:05AM: The Mets’ attempts to hire a new president of baseball operations or general manager has hit its share of roadblocks, and Dodgers assistant GM Jeff Kingston is the latest executive to decline an interview with the team, according to The New York Post’s Mike Puma. However, several other prospective candidates remain, as it seems as though the Mets now could be specifically looking for a general manager, rather than someone to fully take the entire reigns of the baseball ops department.

To this end, Puma writes Rays VP of player development Carlos Rodriguez, and assistant GMs Daniel Adler (Twins), Randy Flores (Cardinals), and Ben Sestanovich (Braves) are all “on the Mets’ radar” as possible candidates. The Mets have also asked the Red Sox for permission to speak with assistant GM Raquel Ferreira, SNY’s Andy Martino reports.

Any of these five executives would be a first-time GM, and ostensibly in charge of the baseball operations department even without the official “president” label. The unusual nature of the Mets’ front office dynamic has led to some questions about how much authority a new GM would have, as team president Sandy Alderson is remaining with the club and has said he’ll be shifting over to focusing on the team’s business matters once a new baseball ops head is in place.

Had Mets owner Steve Cohen been successful in luring one of his big-ticket initial targets (i.e. Billy Beane, Theo Epstein, David Stearns) to New York, it would’ve made for a smoother transition, as any of those execs would’ve been the PBO and had the sway to make their own choice for a general manager to act as their chief lieutenant. However, it is perhaps understandable why Kingston and others have opted out of what could be considered as something of a glorified one-year trial period. If the Mets play well in 2022, a newly-hired GM could be entrusted to become the president of baseball operations; if the Mets struggle, Cohen could resume his search for a major name as PBO, leaving the general manager as perhaps something of a lame duck.

Cardinals GM Michael Girsch, Giants GM Scott Harris, newly-promoted Brewers GM Matt Arnold, and another Dodgers assistant in Brandon Gomes have all declined to be considered for the Mets’ job. For the five names mentioned by Puma and Martino, it is possible any of the Rays, Twins, Cardinals, Braves, or Red Sox could deny New York permission to interview their personnel, though teams usually don’t stand in the way of their executives being offered a promotion.

Kingston technically has experience as a general manager, as he served as the Mariners’ interim GM for the last month-plus of the 2015 season after Jack Zduriencik was fired. Kingston has worked as an assistant GM for the last six seasons (three with the Mariners, three with the Dodgers) and he has been considered for other front office openings in recent years. The Phillies and Angels each had interest in Kingston for their most recent GM vacancies, and Kingston was a finalist for the Angels’ position before the team hired Perry Minasian.

East Notes: Mancini, Rojas, Bendix

By Mark Polishuk | October 31, 2021 at 11:43am CDT

With Trey Mancini entering his final year of arbitration eligibility, there has been much discussion over whether the first baseman will remain with the Orioles or head elsewhere, either via trade or as a free agent next winter. It isn’t clear if the O’s are willing to sign any veteran player (even the beloved Mancini) to a long-term extension as they continue their rebuilding process, though MASNsports.com’s Steve Melewski suggests that the team could split the difference by pursuing a shorter-term extension with Mancini. Inking Mancini to a deal of two or three years would be especially beneficial if the Orioles became competitive earlier than expected, and an extension wouldn’t necessarily mean that the team couldn’t still trade Mancini down the road. Indeed, teams might be more interested in acquiring Mancini if they knew they’d have him for more than just the 2022 season.

Of course, it isn’t known if Mancini himself would be open to such a shorter-term arrangement, though he has often said that he loves playing in Baltimore. Mancini turns 30 years old in March, so in the event of a short-term extension, he would be delaying his free agency until at least the start of his age-32 season. While a short-term deal would lock in some more money immediately, Mancini might prefer to bet on himself in 2022 and wait for a more lucrative, longer-term contract next winter. Mancini has earned $4.75MM in each of the last two seasons and is projected to earn $7.9MM in his final arb year, so he already banked some financial security throughout his career.

Nick Anderson Undergoes Elbow Surgery, Will Miss At Least First Half Of 2022 Season

By Mark Polishuk | October 28, 2021 at 1:09pm CDT

Rays right-hander Nick Anderson underwent a UCL brace procedure on his right elbow, according to Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). Anderson will miss the majority of the 2022 season recovering from the surgery, as he isn’t expected back until after the All-Star break.

Elbow problems already cost Anderson virtually all of the 2021 campaign, as he suffered a partial ligament tear during Spring Training last March and then didn’t pitch until September, eventually tossing only six innings. Anderson also missed about two weeks of the 2020 season due to forearm inflammation, but didn’t seem any worse for wear, allowing only one earned run in seven regular-season innings after returning from the 10-day injured list.

It is fair to wonder, however, whether Anderson’s heavy usage in the 2020 postseason led to his current issues. Anderson pitched 14 2/3 innings over 10 playoff games and lacked much of his effectiveness from the regular season, delivering only a 5.52 ERA after allowing runs in eight of those appearances.

Anderson is already 31 years old and didn’t make his MLB debut until he was 28, but he achieved definite late-bloomer status with his big strikeout numbers out of the Marlins and Rays bullpens. Anderson posted a stunning 42.2% strikeout rate over his first 81 1/3 Major League innings, complementing all those missed bats with some strong control (6.5% walk rate). Tampa Bay acquired Anderson from Miami at the 2019 trade deadline, and quickly made the righty a featured member of their ever-shifting relief corps.

Unfortunately for Anderson, his abbreviated 2021 season came just before he became eligible for salary arbitration, so he is projected for a modest $900K salary in his first trip through the arb process. Given how the Rays operate within such a tight budget, it now seems possible that they could potentially non-tender Anderson, if the team has any doubts about how he might recover from this latest setback. Or, the Rays might just figure that $900K could be better allocated towards a player who could help them for the entire season, rather than just the last two-plus months.

Organizational Notes: Wiley, Rockies, Padres, Rays, Prieto

By Mark Polishuk | October 23, 2021 at 2:57pm CDT

Rockies director of pitching operations Mark Wiley is retiring, MLB.com’s Thomas Harding reports. Wiley has worked in his current position since 2012, though he previously worked for Colorado’s organization as a player personnel director (in 2000) and as a front office assistant (2006-07). Wiley might be best known for his seven stints as a big league pitching coach, serving in the role on two separate occasions with each of the Orioles, Indians, and Marlins, and coaching once with the Royals.

All in all, the 73-year-old Wiley has been in baseball for 52 years in many different roles. Apart from his pitching coach gigs and his three jobs with the Rockies, Wiley has also worked as a scout, a minor league manager and coach, special assistant to former Marlins GM Michael Hill, and he had an 11-year playing career that included 21 Major League games. We at MLBTR wish Wiley all the best in retirement, and congratulate him on a fine career.

Injury Notes: Sawamura, Tigers, Chirinos

By Darragh McDonald | October 22, 2021 at 5:24pm CDT

In pregame scrum before tonight’s ALCS game six, Red Sox manager Alex Cora told reporters that reliever Hirokazu Sawamura is dealing with a hamstring injury was potentially going to be removed from the roster. (Twitter links from Chris Cotillo of MassLive and Alex Speier of the Boston Globe.) However, Ian Browne of MLB.com later relayed word from Cora that Sawamura will be sticking around.

The Red Sox have their backs against the wall, as they are down 3-2 in the ALCS and will have to win in Houston tonight and tomorrow in order to survive. The health and effectiveness of every pitcher on the staff will be integral to their success in that regard. News of this hamstring issue is certainly concerning, though the fact that Sawamura has held his roster spot implies that the club still feels he’s a better option than bringing in a fresh arm, such as Matt Barnes. Sawamura has been a solid contributor out of the pen this year, as he had an ERA of 3.06 over 53 innings in the regular season, with a strikeout rate of 26.2% and 13.7% walk rate. He wasn’t on the team roster for the ALDS but has appeared three times in the ALCS so far, logging two innings in total.

Other injury notes…

Chris McCosky of The Detroit News relays some updates on a few Tigers prospects from the Arizona Fall League. Infielders Spencer Torkelson and Ryan Kreidler will both miss the remainder of the league due to an ankle injury and calf injury, respectively. Meanwhile, outfielder Riley Greene has completed his concussion protocol. It had already been announced last week that Greene would miss the AFL because of a concussion sustained at the end of the Triple-A season. For a Tigers club that has been rebuilding in recent seasons, their prospects are incredibly important to turning the corner into being competitive, and that includes these three. MLB Pipeline has Torkelson, Greene and Kreidler as the club’s first-, second- and tenth-best prospects. Baseball America has the same 1-2 punch at the top but has Kreidler at 12th. FanGraphs also starts out with Torkelson and Greene at the top but has Kreidler at 25th. All three players reached Triple-A this season for at least 40 games, meaning they are right on the doorstep and knocking on the door of the majors.
Rays’ righty Yonny Chirinos won’t be ready for next year’s opening day, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Chirinos has been out of action for more than year after undergoing Tommy John surgery in August of 2020, but has suffered a setback that will keep him out even longer. Topkin’s report says that the hurler fractured his elbow last month and that the best case scenario for his recovery would be for him to be on a rehab assignment in April or May. Before this extended absence, Chirinos was looking like he could be a foundational piece for the Rays. From 2018 to 2020, he threw 234 1/3 innings with an ERA of 3.65. Even without Chirinos, the rotation should be in decent shape, with the presence of arms such as Shane McClanahan, Drew Rasmussen, Ryan Yarbrough, Luis Patino, Shane Baz, Josh Fleming, Brendan McKay and Dietrich Enns. The Rays have never had an opening day payroll higher than $77MM, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, and Jason Martinez of Roster Resource estimates their payroll for next year to already be above $70MM. That doesn’t leave a lot of room for reinforcements, though they will surely non-tender a few of their arbitration-eligible players and bring that down a tad. The Rays are also always a candidate to figure out a way to move some money around, such as the contract of Kevin Kiermaier, whose name has been floated in trade talks for years and is entering the final guaranteed year of his contract, valued just over $12MM.

Latest On Mets’ Front Office Search

By Mark Polishuk | October 20, 2021 at 8:37am CDT

As the Mets continue to look for a new president of baseball operations, there is still some uncertainty about the current role of team president Sandy Alderson. When Alderson was brought back to the Mets by new owner Steve Cohen in September 2020, the idea was for Alderson to focus on the team’s business operations once a new baseball ops head was eventually hired. That is still the Mets’ plan now, though their initial efforts to hire a big name PBO have thus far not panned out, as Billy Beane and Theo Epstein each removed themselves from consideration, and the Brewers denied the Mets permission to speak with David Stearns.

That leaves the Mets perhaps looking at hiring a first-time president of baseball operations, which could create an unusual dynamic considering Alderson’s continued presence and Cohen’s propensity for public criticism of his team. As Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic puts it, “Who, some wonder, would really hold the power to make organizational decisions?”

Obviously the owner has the ultimate final word in any organization, though most team presidents of business operations don’t have a long history (as Alderson does) of running a Major League front office. The presence of Bryn Alderson, Sandy’s son, adds another wrinkle, as the younger Alderson and Ian Levin were each promoted to assistant GM roles back in July. It isn’t uncommon for assistant general managers to remain with a team through the tenures of multiple general managers or PBOs, but it does present a bit of an unusual dynamic for a newly-hired president of baseball ops to be essentially slotted between a father and son on the organizational depth chart.

The elder Alderson tells Ghiroli that Bryn Alderson’s presence “will not be an issue, I can assure you,” to the autonomy of any new hire. As Ghiroli notes, however, the likes of a Beane or an Epstein would require complete authority over all baseball-related matters before taking the job, while “a first-time president may not feel as comfortable” insisting on such free reign. It would also seem like Alderson would naturally have some level of unofficial mentorship over an executive taking over a front office for the first time, to “phase the new hire into the role.”

On the other end of the spectrum, however, is the question about how much influence Alderson might still have. The New York Post’s Mike Puma writes that some around baseball are wondering if “Alderson is empowered to hire or even identify candidates to become the next leader of the Mets front office or if Cohen has essentially pushed aside his team president and is leading the search.” Considering the controversy associated with Alderson’s two hires as general manager (Jared Porter and Zack Scott), it could be that Cohen wants to personally handle the process.

Adding another name to the list of possible candidates, Puma writes that Rays VP of baseball development Peter Bendix is “potentially on the radar.” Bendix has been with the Rays since 2009, beginning as an intern and working his way up to his current role, which he has held for the last two seasons. Given Tampa Bay’s success at finding and developing talent on a limited budget, it isn’t surprising that Rays executives have been considered for many of the front office vacancies around baseball in recent years, with Andrew Friedman (Dodgers), Chaim Bloom (Red Sox) and James Click (Astros) all running teams still in contention for this year’s World Series.

Jordan Luplow Undergoes Ankle Surgery

By Sean Bavazzano | October 19, 2021 at 9:00pm CDT

Rays first baseman and outfielder Jordan Luplow successfully underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left ankle today, tweets Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Tampa Bay expects Luplow to be recovered in time for the start of 2022 Spring Training.

The Rays acquired Luplow along with reliever DJ Johnson in a midseason deal with Cleveland to deepen their bench down the stretch. Luplow’s health status at the time hinted at this offseason procedure, as he was rehabbing in the minors with a left ankle sprain when the trade took place.

The trade proved fruitful, but perhaps in unexpected ways for the playoff contending Rays. Luplow, who to this point in his Major League career only appeared in the three outfield positions and DH, primarily manned first base and garnered positive marks there for the Rays. His resume continued to expand as he also went on to make cameos at second and third base, in addition to contributing an inning of one-run ball as a pitcher.

Further, the right-handed Luplow made his mark in the Cleveland organization for being a lefty masher, sporting an OPS of .899 when holding the platoon advantage in his career. In both Tampa and the year on the whole, however, Luplow’s skillset reversed, as he pulverized right-handed pitching but stumbled to a sub-.700 OPS against lefties. The resulting overall .202/.326/.454 slash on the year was good for an OPS+ of 115 when factoring in Luplow’s pitcher-friendly home parks, but newfound success against same-handed pitchers may add a wrinkle to how the team evaluates him moving forward.

Yankees Have Options With Joey Gallo

By TC Zencka | October 16, 2021 at 8:05am CDT

Joey Gallo has long been one of the most inconsistent stars in baseball. If you see him on the right day, he’s a surefire MVP, a towering power hitter with surprising range in the outfield. He looks like a designated hitter, but he can passably cover centerfield.

See him on the wrong day, however, and you’ll be surprised to hear that he ever makes contact (36.9 percent career strikeout rate). He can seem passive at the plate, and when you see his sub-Mendoza-line batting average come across your TV screen, you may wonder why he’s even in the lineup.

For 58 games, the Yankees got a much heavier dose of Gallo version two as he slashed .160/.303/.404 in 228 plate appearances with a 38.6 percent strikeout rate. He did hit 13 home runs with a .245 ISO, but Yankees fans might be wondering if he’s worth the $10.2MM he’s projected to make in his final season before free agency. Joel Sherman of the New York Post explores some trade possibilities for Gallo, should the Yankees look that way this winter.

It would be a tough turnaround to flip Gallo, as they almost certainly wouldn’t be able to get as much as they gave up to get him. Besides, the short porch in Yankee Stadium still offers a tantalizing advantage for Gallo over a full season. Had he played the entire year in New York, public sentiment might be different. For the year, Gallo posted 3.5 fWAR with a .199/.351/.458 line with 38 home runs and 90 RBIs. Though you might not love the shape of it, those are solid bottom-line numbers.

In all likelihood, the Yankees hold onto Gallo for the final season of his contract. Despite their relative health this season, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton still come with a lengthy injury history, and Gallo provides significant power/patience insurance for a lineup that faltered at times.

If they do want to move him, however, they could start with the clubs that explored a trade for him at the deadline. Sherman provides that list: the Rays, White Sox, Braves, Brewers, Giants, Padres, and Phillies. The list of teams would almost certainly grow if the Yankees put him out there this winter. There’s a deal out there for the Yankees if they want it, but Gallo version one might still be the guy the Yankees want and need in the middle of their order.

Quick Hits: Hess, Washington, Padres, Black, Strom

By Mark Polishuk | October 13, 2021 at 10:56pm CDT

Rays reliever David Hess announced today (via his Twitter feed) that he will be undergoing chemotherapy after doctors discovered a cancerous germ cell tumor in his chest. “As we’ve started on this journey we’ve had people circle around us and shower love, prayers, and support in ways that have been so amazing I don’t think we can even put into words how grateful my family and I are,” Hess wrote. “As we get ready to go into this treatment time, we are confident this will all be gone from my body and I’ll be back doing what I love on a baseball field soon and be healthy while doing it.” We at MLBTR wish all the best to Hess in his treatment and we’re hoping for a full and quick recovery.

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