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Rays Trade Shane Baz To Orioles

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The Orioles bolstered their rotation with an intradivision swap netting them right-hander Shane Baz from Tampa Bay, the teams announced Friday. In return, the Rays receive outfielder Slater de Brun, catcher Caden Bodine, right-hander Michael Forret, outfielder Austin Overn and a Competitive Balance Round A draft pick. Baltimore designated lefty Josh Walker for assignment to open a roster spot for Baz (more on that move here).

Baz, 26, will step right into Baltimore’s rotation. As is the case with the recently traded Grayson Rodriguez, Baz once ranked as one of the sport’s top pitching prospects. In fact, a look back at Baseball America’s top 100 prospects of the 2022 season shows Rodriguez at No. 6 and Baz right behind him at No. 8.

Baltimore, of course, traded Rodriguez and his remaining four years of club control to the Angels in exchange for the final year of club control over slugging corner outfielder Taylor Ward. Rodriguez hasn’t pitched in a big league game in nearly 18 months due to injuries. Baz has his own lengthy injury history but pitched a career-high 166 1/3 innings across 31 starts for Tampa Bay last season. The two are different pitchers with different skill sets and different levels of risk, and both are projects (to varying extents). But it’s nevertheless notable that the O’s shipped out one former top-10 pitching prospect and just weeks later effectively replaced him by acquiring another.

In 2025, Baz worked to a 4.87 earned run average but drew more favorable reviews from metrics like SIERA (3.95) and FIP (4.37). He fanned 24.8% of his opponents, issued walks at a 9% clip and kept the ball on the ground at a better-than-average 46.7% rate. Home runs were the biggest problem for Baz, who saw 15.6% of the fly-balls against him clear the outfield fence and allowed an overall average of 1.41 homers per nine innings pitched.

Specifically, Baz was homer-prone in right-on-right matchups. The Rays played last year’s “home” games at Tampa’s Steinbrenner Field (the Class-A affiliate for the Yankees) while Tropicana Field was undergoing repairs after significant damage at the hands of Hurricane Milton. Steinbrenner Field played as the second most homer-friendly venue in MLB for right-handed hitters, per Statcast’s Park Factors; Baltimore’s Camden Yards was still homer-friendly to righties, but not nearly to the same extent.

If Baz can rein in the home run woes and continue to stay healthy, he has the makings of a mid-rotation starter. Those aren’t trivial caveats, however — particularly the health one. Baz had arthroscopic elbow surgery prior to the 2022 season, returned to pitch 27 innings that summer, and then went back on the injured list due to an elbow sprain. He underwent Tommy John surgery that September and missed all of the 2023 season and the first half of the 2024 campaign.

Injury concerns notwithstanding, Baz sat 97 mph with his four-seamer this past season and got strong results on a new knuckle curveball that he hadn’t previously used in the majors. Opponents hit just .214 and slugged .321 against that newly implemented breaking pitch. Baz also works off a changeup and a cutter (getting better results with the former in 2025), rounding out a four-pitch arsenal.

The Orioles will control Baz for another three seasons. He’s a Super Two player who’s eligible for the second of his four arbitration raises this offseason. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected an eminently affordable $3.1MM salary for the right-hander. That bumps the Orioles’ projected payroll, per RosterResource, north of $140MM and gives them more than $178MM of luxury tax considerations. They’re still nearly $70MM from the first tax threshold.

Baltimore entered the offseason in clear need of rotation help. Baz adds a capable arm with some yet-untapped upside but isn’t the clear playoff-caliber starter Baltimore has sought (though he has the potential to become that). He joins Trevor Rogers, Kyle Bradish and Dean Kremer as rotation locks. Tyler Wells, Cade Povich, Brandon Young and Chayce McDermott are all candidates for the fifth spot who are already on the 40-man roster.

That’s solid depth, but the Orioles’ rotation still feels like it’s one veteran arm short. The team’s aggressive signing of Pete Alonso (plus acquisitions of Ward and Baz) are clear signals of a win-now mindset as they look to put an ugly 2025 season behind them. Adding a proven starter would go a long way toward realizing that goal. Baltimore has been linked to prominent free agents like Framber Valdez, Ranger Suarez and Tatsuya Imai — all of whom remain unsigned. Even after adding Alonso, Baz, Ward and free agent closer Ryan Helsley, their projected payroll is more than $20MM shy of last season’s Opening Day mark. There should be room to make another splash on the starting pitching front.

In exchange for the final three years of control over Baz, Tampa Bay is getting several of the Orioles’ top-30 prospects and a well-placed pick in the 2026 draft. Baseball America recently re-ranked the top-10 prospects in Baltimore’s system, placing Forret eighth among the bunch and calling him a potential No. 3 or 4 starter. The 21-year-old righty has strong command and a deep repertoire of six pitches, highlighted by a pair of above-average to plus breaking balls (curveball, sweeper). He split the 2025 season between High-A and Double-A, logging a combined 74 innings with a pristine 1.58 ERA, a huge 32.3% strikeout rate and a tidy 7.4% walk rate.

Forret is the only of the four prospects ranked inside BA’s top 10, though both de Brun and Bodine were top-10 names in the system on MLB.com’s midseason re-ranking of the bunch. The 18-year-old de Brun, in particular, is a big addition. He was selected with the No. 37 overall draft pick — coincidentally enough, a Competitive Balance Round A selection — just this past summer. De Brun didn’t play professionally following that lofty selection. He’ll head to the low minors in Tampa Bay’s system and make his professional debut there in 2026.

Baseball America called de Brun the top high school outfielder in last year’s draft class, lauding his plus-plus speed, above-average hit tool, strong throwing arm and good instincts in center field. He’s listed at just 5’9″ and has below-average power. He’ll be a yearslong development project, but if all goes well, the end result could be a table-setting center fielder with plus base-stealing ability and plus defense.

Bodine, 22, was selected seven picks ahead of de Brun in last summer’s draft. The former Coastal Carolina University standout got his feet wet with 11 games for the Orioles’ Class-A affiliate following the draft and hit well in that small sample. He’s a 5’10”, 200-pound, switch-hitting catcher who draws praise for a plus hit tool and good defensive skills. Like de Brun, he has below-average power. And, as one might expect for a catcher, his speed gets below-average ratings as well. Bodine hit .337/.440/.528 with nearly twice as many walks as strikeouts during his three NCAA seasons and began his pro career with a 14-for-43 showing (13 singles, one double), five walks and eight strikeouts in 49 A-ball appearances.

As with both Bodine and de Brun, Overn is another recent, lofty draft pick for the Orioles. Selected out of USC with the No. 97 pick in 2024, he’s a blistering runner with good defensive skills but fringe power and strikeout concerns. Overn hit .249/.355/.399 between Baltimore’s Class-A and Double-A affiliates in 2025, connecting on 13 homers, 13 doubles and four triples. He also went 64-for-72 in stolen base attempts over just 114 minor league games. MLB.com ranked him 30th in Baltimore’s system following this year’s trade deadline, tabbing him as a potential fourth outfielder or, in a best-case scenario, a speed- and defense-oriented regular. He’ll likely need to improve his hit tool and/or add some more power to get to that ceiling.

The Rays also add a notable draft pick. Baltimore won the fifth pick in Competitive Balance Round A during this month’s lottery. The exact draft order isn’t set yet — draft compensation surrounding free agents who rejected qualifying offers could still impact it — but in 2025 that was the No. 37 overall selection. Coincidentally, that’s the very pick that the Rays traded to the O’s in exchange for reliever Bryan Baker. Baltimore used that pick to select de Brun. It now trades de Brun back to Tampa Bay alongside what could very well end up being the No. 37 pick in the subsequent season’s draft. Last year’s No. 37 pick had a $2.63MM slot value, though de Brun signed for an over-slot $4MM. The Rays are likely adding around $2.7MM in pool space to next year’s draft budget with the acquisition of this pick.

Subtracting Baz depletes a Rays rotation that already looked like it might be one arm short. At the moment, Tampa Bay’s rotation figures to include Drew Rasmussen, Ryan Pepiot, Shane McClanahan and Steven Matz. Joe Boyle, Joe Rock, Ian Seymour and top prospect Brody Hopkins are among the internal candidates to step into the five spot. The first three are already on the 40-man roster.

However, the Rays will also surely have McClanahan on an innings limit after he missed the past two full seasons due to UCL and nerve surgeries. They’ll need to add some more innings to this group one way or another. By shipping out Baz and second baseman Brandon Lowe in separate trades this morning, the Rays trimmed more than $14MM off their projected payroll for the upcoming season. Per RosterResource, they now sit at about $78MM. That’s right in line with last year’s Opening Day mark.

Coming off a season in which they missed the playoffs and played their home games in a minor league park, the Rays may not be anxious to add a starter making $10MM+ per year. But Tampa Bay ran an Opening Day payroll of $98MM as recently as 2024 and is now under new ownership. It stands to reason that there could be some room to add a modestly priced starter in free agency. Alternatively, the trades of Baz and Lowe have only revitalized a perennially solid Tampa Bay farm system. The Rays could turn to the trade market to bring in some more help in the weeks ahead.

The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal first reported that the Orioles were nearing a deal to acquire Baz. ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the agreement and the Rays’ return.

Rays Claim Osvaldo Bido

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The Rays have claimed right-hander Osvaldo Bido off waivers from Atlanta, according to announcements from both clubs. Atlanta designated him for assignment earlier this week when they signed  Ha-Seong Kim. Tampa Bay had 40-man space and didn’t need to make a corresponding move.

Atlanta had only claimed Bido off waivers last week. The 30-year-old righty had spent the 2025 season with the A’s. Bido made Mark Kotsay’s season-opening rotation. He was hit hard over nine starts and pushed to Triple-A in the middle of May. The A’s brought him back up a couple weeks later but used him in long relief for the remainder of the season. He only made one more start, a three-inning appearance against the Tigers in which he gave up four runs.

Bido didn’t pitch especially well in either role. He struggled to a 5.87 earned run average across 79 2/3 innings spanning 26 appearances. He did manage to strike out an impressive 27% of batters faced after the All-Star Break, but even that promise was undercut by a massive 2.30 home runs allowed per nine innings. Bido has a little under 200 career big league innings between the A’s and Pirates. He owns a 5.07 ERA with a 20.9% strikeout rate.

The Rays traded Shane Baz this afternoon. They have a top three in the rotation of Drew Rasmussen, Ryan Pepiot and Shane McClanahan. They signed Steven Matz with an eye towards building him back as a starter. Ian Seymour and Joe Boyle would compete for the fifth starter role as things stand, though it’s possible they reinvest some of the money they cleared in the Baz and Brandon Lowe trades into another free agent pickup in the Matz mold.

Bido isn’t likely to win a rotation spot out of camp. He could have an uphill battle to securing a long relief role either, as the Rays have the out-of-options Yoendrys Gómez lined up for multi-inning work. Bido himself is out of options, so the Rays would either need to carry him on the MLB roster or send hm back into DFA limbo.

Rays Trade Tristan Peters To White Sox

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The Rays traded outfielder Tristan Peters to the White Sox for cash or a player to be named later, according to announcements from both clubs. Tampa Bay had designated Peters for assignment on Tuesday when they finalized their two-year deal with Steven Matz. Chicago had a couple openings on the 40-man roster and didn’t need to make another move.

Peters, 26, entered the professional ranks as a seventh-round pick by Milwaukee in 2021. The lefty-hitting outfielder was traded twice as a prospect — first to the Giants for reliever Trevor Rosenthal, then to Tampa Bay for infielder Brett Wisely. Peters got his first major league call this past August. He spent a week on the active roster and got into four games, going 0-12 with seven strikeouts. He otherwise spent his second straight full season with Triple-A Durham, batting .266/.355/.429 with 15 home runs across 555 plate appearances.

That was an improvement over Peters’ first season at the top minor league level. He’d hit .238/.344/.402 and connected on 12 homers in 2024. Peters has posted subpar exit velocities but shown solid strike zone awareness while making a decent amount of contact. He’s capable of playing anywhere in the outfield and has a couple minor league options remaining. The Sox can keep him in Triple-A without exposing him to waivers so long as they continue carrying him on the 40-man roster.

Barring a surprise trade of either player, the White Sox will open 2026 with Andrew Benintendi and Luis Robert Jr. as their respective left and center fielder. The out-of-options Everson Pereira, himself an offseason trade pickup from Tampa Bay, probably enters Spring Training as the favorite in right field. Chicago has journeyman speedster Derek Hill penciled in for a bench role, while utilityman Brooks Baldwin could factor into either corner spot. It’s one of the weakest outfield groups in MLB and would be especially barren if the Sox finally line up a Robert trade by next summer’s deadline.

Giants Have Shown Interest In Nico Hoerner

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The Giants are known to be looking for upgrades at second base. Earlier this week, they were reported as one of the frontrunners for Brendan Donovan of the Cardinals and were also connected to Ketel Marte of the Diamondbacks. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that they have checked in on Nico Hoerner of the Cubs. She also lists Brandon Lowe of the Rays as one of their targets.

It’s an understandable target for the Giants. Most of their playing time at the keystone went to Tyler Fitzgerald, Casey Schmitt and Christian Koss in 2025. All three of those guys had underwhelming seasons at the plate. Schmitt was the closest the league average offensively but with the weakest defensive grades.

Free agency doesn’t offer huge upgrades over that group. Bo Bichette is out there and reportedly willing to play second, but the Giants have downplayed their desire to sign another long-term deal this winter. Ha-Seong Kim, Jorge Polanco and Gleyber Torres are all off the board. Utility types like Ramón Urías, Willi Castro and Isiah Kiner-Falefa don’t move the needle much over the in-house options.

On the trade market, Marte has been in plenty of rumors but it’s still unclear if the Diamondbacks will move him. Even if they decide to pull the trigger, it would be a surprise to see him sent to their division rivals in San Francisco. Donovan is widely expected to move since he is on a rebuilding club and two years from free agency, but the asking price should be huge. Since he can play all over the diamond, he can fit on many clubs and the demand is widespread. Though the Giants are apparently one of the finalists, half the teams in the league have shown in interest.

Hoerner and Lowe have very similar contractual situations. Both players are only signed through 2026 and would therefore be rentals. Lowe will make a $11.5MM salary next year and Hoerner $12MM.

But they have opposite profiles and their team situations are very different. Lowe is injury prone, doesn’t run well and isn’t a great defender. His strikeout and walk profile has been poor in each of the past two years. However, he’s a clear source of power. He has hit 21 home runs four separate times, including a 31-homer season in 2025. It’s common for the Rays to trade away players as they get more expensive and closer to free agency. Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Tommy Pham are some of the many examples.

Hoerner, however, does not have huge power. He has never hit more than ten home runs in a season. However, he’s better than Lowe in basically every other aspect. He hasn’t been on the injured list in years. He’s one of the faster guys in the game and is generally good for 30ish steals a year. He’s one of the toughest guys in the game to strike out. He’s a good enough defender to play shortstop. The only reason he’s at second is because the Cubs have Dansby Swanson.

The Cubs shouldn’t be especially motivated to move him. He is affordable and has been good for about four to five wins above replacement per year, according to FanGraphs. He has reportedly drawn trade interest but the Cubs should be able to set a high asking price since he’s valuable to them as well. His salary isn’t onerous and the Cubs don’t appear to have any kind of payroll crunch.

It’s at least possible to imagine a scenario where the Cubs think about it. As mentioned, Hoerner is an impending free agent. The Cubs could extend him again but he also could get more interest elsewhere. Looking at next year’s free agent class, Hoerner could potentially market himself as the best available shortstop. His competition would be J.P. Crawford and Kim. Crawford is a decent player but his glovework has been poor in recent years and he’ll be going into his age-32 season in 2027. Kim could bounce back from an injury-marred 2025 but he has a similar profile to Hoerner and is a year older. Kim will be 31 in 2027. Hoerner will turn 30 in May of that year.

Perhaps Hoerner expects to get paid big shortstop bucks next winter and the Cubs don’t see a path to keeping him with Swanson signed through 2029. They have been connected to free agent third basemen Alex Bregman and Eugenio Suárez. In that scenario, perhaps Matt Shaw becomes available on the trade market or he could move to second with Hoerner traded. Shaw mostly played third in the majors this year but has second base experience. He got six big league innings at the keystone in 2025 and has close to 300 minor league innings there in his career.

Trading Hoerner and moving to Shaw to second would be a defensive downgrade. That’s not really a knock on Shaw, who graded out well at third this year, just a reflection of Hoerner being arguably the best defensive second baseman in the game today. But adding a big bat like Bregman or Suárez could make up for the Cubs losing Kyle Tucker to free agency. Whether that upgrades the club in 2026 would be debatable but it would certainly help in the long run if the Cubs don’t expect to retain Hoerner beyond 2026.

It’s unknown whether the Cubs have any interest in such a scenario. It also doesn’t seem like the Giants are primarily focused on second base. Slusser writes that pitching and the outfield are the club’s current priorities. Since Donovan can also play the outfield, the Giants probably have him above Hoerner on their target list. With the number of moving pieces in the second base trade market, perhaps someone needs to blink and knock over the first domino. If the Cardinals pull the trigger on Donovan, for instance, teams could then pivot to the other options.

Photo courtesy of Sergio Estrada, Imagn Images

Rays, Shane McClanahan Avoid Arbitration

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The Rays announced that they’ve signed left-hander Shane McClanahan, who’d been arbitration-eligible, to a contract for the 2026 season. The new deal avoids an arbitration hearing for the two parties. He’ll be paid $3.6MM, per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.

McClanahan, 28, hasn’t pitched in either of the past two seasons due to injury but was one of the game’s brightest young arms prior to undergoing Tommy John surgery in Aug. 2023. The former first-rounder carries a career 3.02 ERA, 28% strikeout rate and 7.1% walk rate in 404 2/3 innings. His 2022 campaign, in particular, was dominant. McClanahan was on a Cy Young trajectory, with a 2.20 ERA and a strikeout rate north of 30% through 24 starts before missing four starts due to a shoulder impingement. He returned to allow 11 runs in his final 19 frames, bumping his ERA up to 2.54. That injury layoff and rocky finish caused him to “fall” to sixth in the voting. (Justin Verlander won that year’s AL Cy Young Award.)

McClanahan had hoped to return from that 2023 UCL procedure this past season, but a nerve injury in his pitching arm halted his minor league rehab assignment over the summer. There was originally hope that he could still make it back to the mound late in the season, but in August it was announced that he’d require season-ending surgery.

Players who miss an entire season due to injury typically just repeat the prior season’s salary in arbitration. The Rays bought out the first of McClanahan’s four arbitration seasons (he’s a Super Two player) on a two-year, $7.2MM deal that paid him $3.6MM annually. Accordingly, MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected a $3.6MM salary for the upcoming 2026 season.

The obvious hope will be that following a two-year layoff, Tampa Bay will have its top starter back in the rotation for Opening Day 2026. The Rays still haven’t given a firm timetable for the southpaw’s recovery, though they also haven’t indicated that Opening Day is in jeopardy, either. McClanahan will surely be on some kind of limited workload in 2026 even if he’s able to make it back to the mound. The Rays control the left-hander through the 2027 season.

Steven Matz To Compete For Rotation Spot With Rays

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The Rays finalized their two-year, $15MM deal with Steven Matz on Tuesday afternoon. The veteran lefty came out of the bullpen for all but two of his 53 appearances this past season, but he’ll have a chance to win a rotation spot out of Spring Training.

“There’s a real desire on his end to want to start and give that a real shot again, despite his success last year out of the bullpen, and we just believe that he has the the ability to do it,” president of baseball operations Erik Neander told Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times. “So we’re going to give him the opportunity to prepare as a starter, to come in and try to lock down a day.”

Matz signed as a starter with St. Louis over the 2021-22 offseason. He battled injuries in each of the first three seasons of that four-year contract. He suffered a shoulder impingement and a knee sprain in ’22. A lat strain shelved him the following season, while it was his back that proved problematic in 2024. The stop-and-start seasons and inconsistent production quickly pushed him into a swing role. Matz wound up making just 35 starts — compared to 48 relief outings — over three and a half seasons with the Cardinals. He pitched to a 4.68 ERA despite solid strikeout (22.6%) and walk (6.4%) rates out of the rotation. The Red Sox used him in short relief after picking him up at last summer’s trade deadline.

The 34-year-old Matz held up as a starter earlier in his career. He topped 150 innings each full season between 2018-21. He allowed around four earned runs per nine in each year, generally performing at a league average level. Matz still has plus command and hasn’t much changed his repertoire even when pitching in shorter stints. He leans most heavily on a 94 MPH sinker while mixing in a curveball and a changeup, the latter pitch almost exclusively against right-handed batters. Righties have posted a .276/.322/.446 line over the past four seasons, while he has held same-handed opponents to a .225/.280/.339 mark.

At the moment, Matz projects as the fifth starter behind Drew Rasmussen, Ryan Pepiot, Shane McClanahan and Shane Baz. Virtually none of that is set in stone. Rasmussen is a top-of-the-rotation caliber starter but has a lengthy injury history. McClanahan hasn’t thrown a major league pitch in two seasons. Pepiot and Baz have come up in trade rumors. The former has only been mentioned in the context of a potential Ketel Marte blockbuster, but the Rays could be more open to a change-of-scenery deal on Baz given his inconsistency. It’s possible the Rays acquire another starter via trade or free agency. Second-year lefty Ian Seymour would be Matz’s top competition for a rotation spot if they don’t make any further moves.

Rays Designate Tristan Peters For Assignment

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The Rays announced that outfielder Tristan Peters has been designated for assignment. That’s the corresponding move for their signing of left-hander Steven Matz, whose two-year deal is now official.

Peters, 26 in February, got to make his major league debut in 2025. The Rays added him to their 40-man roster in August but he was mostly kept on optional assignment. He only got into four games with 12 plate appearances in total. He didn’t get a hit or a walk and struck out seven times.

That’s obviously a small sample size. In the minors, Peters has done a lot of things well without a standout tool. His 11.7% walk rate and 18.1% strikeout rate are both a bit better than average. He has hit a few home runs but never more than 15 in a season. He can also steal about 15ish bases a year. He can play all three outfield slots.

The total package was enough to get him up to the big leagues but the Rays don’t view him as a key building block. Now that he’s been bumped off the 40-man, he’ll be in DFA limbo for a week at most. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Rays could take five days to see if there’s any trade interest. Peters still has a couple of options and just a handful of service days. If any club acquires him, he could be a depth outfielder with roster flexibility and years of cheap control. If he is passed through waivers unclaimed, he would stick with the Rays as non-roster depth.

Photo courtesy of Steven Bisig, Imagn Images

Rays Sign Steven Matz

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December 16th: The Rays have now officially announced the Matz signing. Outfielder Tristan Peters has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move. Per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times, it is indeed a $15MM guarantee, with a $7.5MM salary in each year. There’s also a $500K assignment bonus if he’s traded.

December 9th: The deal is for $7.5MM per year, according to Brittany Ghiroli and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Unless there are other factors such as bonuses or options, it seems to be a $15MM guarantee.

December 8th: The Rays are reportedly in agreement with free agent left-hander Steven Matz on a two-year contract. The signing is pending a physical, and salary terms for the VC Sports Group client have yet to be reported. Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times first reported the sides were closing in on what was likely to be a two-year contract. The Rays’ 40-man roster is full, so they’ll need to designate someone for assignment once the contract is finalized.

Matz spent the 2025 season working out of the bullpen. The 11-year big league veteran split the season between the Cardinals and Red Sox. He combined for 76 2/3 innings of 3.05 ERA ball. Matz has a long background as a starter and worked in a swing role with St. Louis as recently as 2024. He could compete for a rotation spot or work multiple innings out of Kevin Cash’s bullpen.

The 34-year-old just wrapped up a four-year, $44MM free agent deal that he’d signed with St. Louis. That didn’t go as the Cardinals planned. Matz had a difficult time staying healthy. He missed most of the 2022 season to a shoulder impingement. A lat strain shelved him in the second half of the following season, and a lower back injury wiped out much of 2024.

Matz combined for just 197 1/3 innings over the first three seasons. He posted a 4.47 ERA with an average 21.9% strikeout percentage. The Cards only gave him a pair of spot starts this year. He still frequently worked into a second inning out of the bullpen but wasn’t tasked with as significant a workload. Matz managed to stay healthy and turned in arguably his best season since 2021.

Over his first 55 innings, the southpaw turned in a 3.44 earned run average while striking out 20.7% of batters faced. The Cards dealt him to Boston at the deadline. His already middling strikeout rate dropped another six points with the Red Sox, though he managed to outperform his peripherals with a 2.08 ERA through 21 2/3 innings. Matz ranked among the bottom 10 relievers (minimum 50 innings) with a 7.8% swinging strike rate. He succeeded with excellent control, issuing walks at a career-low 3.6% clip. He pitched particularly well as a specialist, holding left-handed batters to a .211/.242/.341 batting line in 129 plate appearances.

Tampa Bay has a pair of power lefty relievers in Garrett Cleavinger and Mason Montgomery. Cleavinger is quietly one of the best in the game. Montgomery has the stuff to be an impact arm in his own right, but his control remains a significant question. He still has a pair of minor league options and can bounce between Tampa Bay and Triple-A Durham. Matz provides a different look as a control specialist but has decent velocity, averaging 94.5 MPH on his sinker.

There’s a decent amount of uncertainty in the rotation behind Drew Rasmussen and Ryan Pepiot. The Rays have Shane McClanahan and Shane Baz lined up for spots. McClanahan will be on an innings limit after consecutive missed seasons. Baz was inconsistent and is at least a theoretical trade candidate. Ian Seymour is probably the in-house favorite to work as the fifth starter, but Tampa Bay is likely to add a veteran innings eater or two. It remains to be seen if the Rays will give Matz an opportunity to compete for a back-end rotation job.

Image courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images.

Rays Have Discussed Pepiot, Baz In Ketel Marte Trade Conversations

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The Rays are among a number of teams that have been tied to Diamondbacks star Ketel Marte. Arizona general manager Mike Hazen has consistently downplayed the chance of a deal coming together on their MVP-caliber second baseman, but he hasn’t slammed the door shut given the team’s need for starting pitching.

Nick Piecoro of The Arizona Republic reports that conversations with the Rays have kicked around a framework that would send both Ryan Pepiot and Shane Baz to the desert. Piecoro writes that nothing is believed to be close on that front and the Rays are not necessarily any kind of frontrunner. Indeed, he adds that the Diamondbacks have had conversations with another team interested in Marte that would be built around a bigger-name starting pitcher.

Whether or not talks with Tampa Bay progress, the mention of multiple controllable starters hammers home the high asking price which the Diamondbacks have set. Pepiot landed in Tampa Bay as the centerpiece of the Tyler Glasnow return two offseasons ago. He’s the team leader with 297 2/3 innings pitched since the start of 2024.

The former third-round pick owns a 3.75 earned run average while striking out a little more than a quarter of opposing hitters. He’s a decent strike-thrower who sits around 95 MPH with his heater and has a plus changeup. Pepiot’s slider is a distant third offering, and the changeup has made him a reverse splits pitcher. He has held left-handed hitters to a .192/.287/.354 batting line with a near-28% strikeout rate over the past two seasons. Righties have hit .243/.303/.420 while punching out at a 23% clip.

Pepiot is unlikely to develop into an ace, but he’s an established mid-rotation starter who turned 28 in August. He has a little over three years of service time, so he’s under arbitration control through 2028. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him for a $3.7MM salary. Teams place a premium on an affordable #3-type starter. The Rays presumably aren’t shopping Pepiot, but it’s a testament to Marte’s offensive impact that the righty would be on the table in those conversations.

Baz, 26, has also come up in trade talks with the Astros. The 6’3″ righty is a former top prospect who has yet to reach his upper mid-rotation ceiling. That’s partially due to some early-career injuries, including Tommy John surgery that wiped out his 2023 season. He posted a 3.06 ERA across 14 starts when he returned in ’24. That earned him a spot in Kevin Cash’s rotation this year, but Baz had an up-and-down performance. He concluded with a 4.87 ERA across 166 1/3 innings. That’s despite a solid 24.8% strikeout percentage and 11.6% swinging strike rate.

The pure upside might be higher with Baz than it is with Pepiot. He sits 97 MPH and gets above-average movement on an 85 MPH knuckle-curve and 90 MPH cutter. Baz has plus stuff and is a decent enough strike thrower. He has been held back by a lack of start-to-start consistency. He allowed one run or fewer 10 times (including seven scoreless appearances) but also had 10 outings in which he gave up five or more runs.

Baz also has between three and four service years and is eligible for arbitration through 2028. He’s projected for a $3.1MM salary. Teams are probably divided as to whether they’d prefer Pepiot’s stability or Baz’s raw stuff, but both pitchers have significant trade value. They’re two of the three returning Tampa Bay pitchers (alongside Drew Rasmussen) who topped 100 innings. The Rays are likely to give Steven Matz a starting opportunity, but they’d certainly need to backfill the rotation if they traded two starters. Shane McClanahan hasn’t pitched since 2023. Joe Boyle and Ian Seymour have limited track records.

The Diamondbacks would require a monster return built around MLB starting pitching to move Marte. He’s coming off a .283/.376/.517 showing with 28 home runs. Marte is the best second baseman in the league and is signed for a bargain $102.5MM over the next six seasons (the final of which is a player option year).

“I think it’s a risky deal when you’re talking about trading really, really good players at all,” Hazen told Piecoro. “It’s something that we have to at least listen to in our job. It’s not something that you really look forward to, necessarily, when you have the players that we do. But it’s also the reality of our team and where we are that I have to consider some things.”

Arizona agreed to terms with Michael Soroka on a one-year deal this week. He’ll be in the rotation alongside Ryne Nelson, Eduardo Rodriguez and Brandon Pfaadt. (They’re unlikely to get Corbin Burnes back from Tommy John surgery before August.) Nelson was the only one of that trio who found much success this year. The D-Backs need to add another two starters and don’t have a ton of payroll space to address that via free agency. They’re also looking for bullpen help and could upgrade at third base or in the outfield.

While Marte is the best second baseman at least loosely available on the trade market, the Rays ironically have the second-best such option. Brandon Lowe is coming off a 31-homer season in which he hit .256/.307/.477 over 553 plate appearances. Lowe is entering the final season of his contract and is set to make $11.5MM. The Rays have reportedly gotten hits from the Pirates and Reds (surely among others) about his availability.

President of baseball operations Erik Neander touched on Lowe’s trade candidacy from the Winter Meetings (link via Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times). He called the two-time All-Star an “important, impactful player who provides power at a position that is hard to find.” Neander acknowledged the Rays’ history of shopping players whose control windows were closing but praised both Lowe and Yandy Díaz as longtime contributors.

“Our history is our history. We’ve made (trades) with players that are established, that are impactful contributors that as they get their way closer to free agency, we’ve made plenty of those decisions. But we’ve also made decisions the last few years to kind of continue to roll forward with these guys. We greatly appreciate them and are more than happy to ride in the next year and see what this team can do.”

Both clubs could go in a few different directions over the coming weeks. There’s no guarantee either will end up moving their star second baseman, but the trade market has yet to really pick up as most of the top free agent hitters continue weighing their options.

Phillies Acquire Yoniel Curet

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3:31pm: Both clubs have now officially announced the swap.

1:50pm: The Phillies are going to acquire right-hander Yoniel Curet from the Rays. Right-hander Tommy McCollum is going the other way. The Rays designated the Curet for assignment recently to open a roster spot when they signed outfielder Cedric Mullins. Philadelphia’s 40-man roster count jumps from 34 to 35. Reporter Mike Rodriguez first noted that Curet was going to Philly. Matt Gelb of The Athletic reported on McCollum’s inclusion.

Curet, now 23, joins a new organization for the first time. The Rays signed him as an amateur out of the Dominican Republic. By the end of 2023, he was eligible for the Rule 5 draft. He hadn’t even climbed as high as Double-A yet and had shown clear control problems, but he also racked up strikeouts. From 2021 to 2023, he logged 197 innings across various levels with a 2.97 earned run average. He walked 15.3% of batters he faced but also punched them out at a 31.7% clip.

The Rays didn’t want to risk losing him in the Rule 5, so they gave him a 40-man spot. His 2024 season was quite strong. He made 26 starts between High-A and Double-A, throwing 119 innings with a 2.95 ERA. His 11.9% walk rate was still high but an improvement for him, while his 31.5% strikeout rate was relatively unchanged. He had enough hype that Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs ranked him as the #61 prospect in the whole league going into 2025.

But this year was a bit of a setback for him. He was on the injured list for most of the first half due to an injury in his throwing shoulder. Once healthy, he tossed 55 1/3 innings with a 3.90 ERA, 12.8% walk rate and 25.5% strikeout rate. FanGraphs now lists him as the 11th-best prospect in the Rays’ system.

Due to his control problems, Curet might end up getting pushed to the bullpen. However, he still young and has an option remaining. The Phils can send him to Triple-A and either keep him stretched out or see if his stuff plays up in a relief role.

The Rays squeezed Curet off their roster but are getting a non-roster player in return. McCollum was available in today’s Rule 5 draft but wasn’t selected. According to JJ Cooper of Baseball America, this trade wasn’t able to be finalized until the draft was completed with McCollum going unselected.

McCollum, 27 in June, was an undrafted free agent in 2021. The Phils signed him and he has been pitching as a reliever in their system since then. Somewhat similar to Curet, he has a history of striking guys out while also giving them free passes. From 2021 to 2024, McCollum threw 134 innings with a 3.56 ERA, 31.8% strikeout rate and 15.6% walk rate. In 2025, he reduced the walk rate all the way down to 6.9% but his strikeout rate also fell to 25.5%. He posted a 3.07 ERA in 55 2/3 innings.

Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images

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