Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Rays Rumors

Francisco Mejia Accepts Outright Assignment With Rays

By | at

Catcher Francisco Mejia, whom the Rays designated for assignment last week, has accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Durham after clearing waivers and will remain with the organization, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. As a player with more than five years of service time, Mejia could’ve rejected that assignment in favor of free agency and still retained the remainder of this year’s $2.2MM salary, but he’ll opt to remain with the Rays and hope for a call back to the big leagues. If he’s not added back to the 40-man roster between now and season’s end, Mejia can become a free agent to begin the offseason.

Mejia, 27, was once regarded as one of the top prospects in all of baseball but has not yet seen his offense in the big leagues match his prodigious output in the upper minors. The switch-hitter is a .304/.348/.507 hitter in parts of three Triple-A seasons, but the former San Diego and Cleveland farmhand has produced just a .239/.284/.394 batting line in 1098 plate appearances between his three organizations. Cleveland flipped him to San Diego as part of the 2018 Brad Hand trade, while the Friars sent him to Tampa Bay as part of 2020’s Blake Snell trade.

While Mejia showed some promise in 2021, hitting .260/.322/.416 in his first season with the Rays, he’s batted .237/.262/.387 in 143 games since that time. He’s regularly drawn below-average framing grades, and this year he’s thwarted just four of the 42 stolen base attempts against him. Dating back to the 2018 season, Statcast also grades him 61st of 75 qualified catchers in terms of pitch blocking (-14 blocks above average).

With Mejia now off the 40-man roster (but still in the organization), the Rays are going with the light-hitting but defensively superior tandem of Rene Pinto and Christian Bethancourt behind the plate. Mejia will now be the primary fallback option for that pair, and with rosters set to expand to 28 players on Sept. 1, it could be easier to get him back on the big league roster if the organization wishes to do so.

MLB Trade Rumors Podcast: The White Sox Fire Their Front Office, Injured Rays and Prospect Promotion Time

By | at

The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss:

Plus, we answer your questions, including:

  • With the Reds calling up Noelvi Marte, how do they fit in playing time for all their rookie position players? After keeping Nick Senzel at the deadline, what kind of return could they get for trading him during the offseason? (18:40)
  • Will the Mets pursue any notable free agent pitchers this off season? (24:05)
  • Of the teams that have exceeded the base luxury tax threshold this season, which ones do you see as most likely to dip back below it during this coming offseason? (26:15)

Check out our past episodes!

  • Pete Alonso’s Future, Yankees’ Rotation Troubles and Should the Trade Deadline Be Pushed Back? – listen here
  • The Streaking Mariners, the Struggling Angels and Injured Aces – listen here
  • Trade deadline recap – listen here

Rays Designate Francisco Mejía For Assignment

By | at

The Rays announced that catcher Francisco Mejía has been reinstated from the injured list and designated for assignment. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reported the DFA prior to the official announcement.

Mejia, 27, landed on the injured list about a month ago due to a left knee MCL sprain. He began a rehab assignment just over a week ago but the club evidently didn’t want to bring him back and have cut him loose instead. Since he has more than five years of major league service time, he can no longer be optioned to the minors without his consent.

Once one of the top prospects in the league, Mejía hasn’t been able to live up to the hype at this point. Through 355 career games, he’s hitting .239/.284/.394 for a wRC+ of 87. That includes a fairly similar line of .227/.258/.400 here in 2023. He also hasn’t been graded particularly well on defense, with -3 Defensive Runs Saved so far, as well as negative grades from the framing metrics of FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus.

It’s surely not what was expected during his time as a notable youngster, with Baseball America having ranked him as one of the top 35 prospects in the league in three straight years starting in 2017. Originally signed by Cleveland, he went to the Padres in the 2018 Brad Hand trade before being one of four players sent to the Rays in the Blake Snell deal. Though the Rays have a reputation for winning just about every trade they make, this one hasn’t worked out so far. Luis Patiño struggled for years and was recently flipped to the White Sox for cash. The other two players in the deal, Cole Wilcox and Blake Hunt, could still give Tampa something but neither has reached the majors yet.

With Mejía on the injured list of late, the Rays have been using a duo of Christian Bethancourt and René Pinto. The latter has just 37 games of major league experience to this point, but the Rays evidently like the early results enough to ride with him instead of Mejía. Pinto is hitting .276/.300/.379 this year in a small sample of 30 plate appearances. He’s considered a solid defender and has generally performed well at the plate in the minors.

With the trade deadline now past, the Rays will have no choice but to put Mejía on waivers in the coming days. Though he has struggled in his career thus far, he is still young and isn’t too far removed from being a highly-touted prospect. If any club were to put in a claim, they could retain him for one more season via arbitration. Though if Mejía clears, he has enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency while retaining that remaining salary. In that scenario, the Rays would stay on the hook for the money while Mejia would be free to sign with any club for the prorated league minimum, with that amount subtracted from what the Rays pay.

MLB Places Wander Franco On Administrative Leave

By | at

Major League Baseball announced this morning that Rays shortstop Wander Franco has been placed on administrative leave, as agreed upon by the league and the MLB Players Association. It’s standard procedure for players who are being investigated under the joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy. Administrative leave is not considered punitive, and players continue to be paid and accrue service time while on leave (though both can be rescinded in the event of an eventual suspension). There’s no set length for administrative leave, which can last as long as an investigation into a matter takes. The leave is typically extended week-by-week until the investigation has been completed.

Franco is under investigation by Major League Baseball after allegations of an inappropriate relationship between him and a minor surfaced on social media. The Rays placed him on the team’s restricted list during the recent road trip. Prosecutors in Franco’s native Dominican Republic are also reportedly evaluating the allegations against the star shortstop.

Franco, 22, has pledged his innocence to teammates and also posted a since-deleted video to Instagram wherein he denied the allegations against him. Further details regarding the investigation are sparse. Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred has yet to publicly comment on the status of the investigation.

The Rays issued this statement following today’s announcement from MLB:

“We support Major League Baseball’s decision to place Wander Franco on Administration Leave. The Tampa Bay Rays are dedicated to upholding high standards of integrity both on and off the field. We appreciate the understanding and patience of our fans and supporters as this process unfolds. We will have no further statements on this matter until MLB completes its process.”

Hector Perez Elects Free Agency

By | at

Hector Perez has elected to become a free agent, as per the right-hander’s MLB.com profile page.  Perez cleared waivers after being designated for assignment by the Rays earlier this week, and he opted to test the open market rather than accept an outright assignment to the Rays’ Triple-A affiliate.

Because Perez had previously been outrighted in his career, he has the right to turn down any future outright assignments.  That first outright move came back in April, when the Rays brought Perez to the active roster for a one-day stint, but then designated him (and subsequently outrighted him to Triple-A) before he could appear in a game.

It has been a whirlwind of transactions for Perez just within the last four days, as Tampa Bay only selected his contract from Triple-A Durham on Wednesday.  The 27-year-old Perez tossed one third of an inning in the Rays’ 6-1 victory over the Giants and was then DFA’ed the next day.  This brief outing marked Perez’s first Major League game since his big league debut, when he threw 1 2/3 frames for the Blue Jays in 2020.

These two games represents the entirety of Perez’s MLB resume, as he spent the rest of his nine-year pro career in the minor leagues.  An international signing for the Astros in 2014, Perez has played for five different organizations at the minor league level, and came to the Rays last winter after they selected him away from the Orioles in the minor league version of the Rule 5 Draft.

Trending mostly towards relief pitching over the last few years, Perez has started 82 of his 197 career games in the minors, totaling 583 innings.  He has a respectable 3.78 ERA and a 26.7% strikeout rate over his time on the farm, but control has long been an issue for Perez, with a career minor league walk rate of 14.35%.

Rays Release Ryan Thompson

By | at

The Rays announced that right-hander Ryan Thompson has cleared release waivers and has been unconditionally released. He’s now a free agent and can sign with any club.

Thompson, 31, is enduring a frustrating season but has been much better in previous years. From 2020 to 2022, he made 108 appearances for the Rays, allowing 3.50 earned runs per nine innings over those. His 23.1% strikeout rate was roughly average, but his 6.5% walk rate and 52.5% ground ball rate were both strong.

This year, however, has been a bumpy ride. He landed on the injured list in mid-April due to a right lat strain and went on to struggle a bit after he returned, sporting a 6.60 ERA on May 21. The Rays then optioned him to Triple-A and he has been on and off the active roster since then, getting recalled and then optioned three more times since. He has a 3.26 ERA in 19 1/3 Triple-A innings this year, with a concerning walk rate of 13.9% but a huge 30.4% strikeout rate in that small sample.

He had been on the minor league injured list since early August due to a minor elbow issue but recently had a clean MRI, per MLBTR’s Steve Adams. He was still on the IL when he was designated for assignment yesterday, meaning the club had little choice but to release him. Injured players can’t be put on outright waivers and the trade deadline went by a couple of weeks ago, leaving a release inevitable.

He’ll now head to the open market in search of his next opportunity. Despite the challenging year, he figures to get interest based on his previous results. He came into this year with exactly three years of service time and a full slate of options. Since he’s spent a lot of time on optional assignment this year, he won’t reach four years of service and can be retained for three years beyond this one via arbitration. He’ll burn one of his options but will still be optionable for two future seasons.

Rays Designate Hector Perez For Assignment, Activate Andrew Kittredge

By | at

The Rays announced Thursday that they’ve designated right-hander Hector Perez for assignment. His spot on the roster will go to fellow righty Andrew Kittredge, who has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list.

Perez, 27, was only selected to the big league roster yesterday — a move intended to give the Rays a fresh arm in the bullpen. With Kittredge’s return looming, a short stay on the roster for the out-of-options righty always seemed like a possibility. That Perez pitched in yesterday’s game and allowed four of the five batters he faced to reach base surely didn’t help his cause. Yesterday’s appearance marked Perez’s second career big league stint, though his other — a 2020 cup of coffee in Toronto — was similarly brief. The Jays gave him 1 2/3 innings back in 2020, during which he allowed a pair of runs.

All told, Perez has completed just two innings in the Major Leagues and allowed three runs on six hits and four walks with one strikeout in that time. He has a career 3.78 ERA and 26.7% strikeout rate in the minors, however, including a 4.08 ERA and 30% strikeout rate (albeit against a 13% walk rate) in 53 innings at the Triple-A level so far in 2023. Players who’ve been designated for assignment can no longer be traded now that the deadline has passed, so Perez will be placed on outright waivers or release waivers within the next five days. He’s been outrighted previously in his career, so he can refuse a minor league assignment and explore other opportunities if he goes unclaimed on outright waivers.

The 33-year-old Kittredge will be returning from a 14-month absence following last June’s Tommy John surgery. Prior to his injury, he’d emerged as one of Tampa Bay’s best relievers, pitching to a 2.17 ERA with a 24.2% strikeout rate, 4.9% walk rate, 51.9% ground-ball rate and 0.99 homers per nine over the life of 99 2/3 innings from 2020-22. Along the way, he picked up 14 saves and seven holds.

Kittredge’s return is a massive boost for the Rays’ bullpen, but it won’t do much to stop the bleeding in a rotation that has now lost Shane McClanahan, Drew Rasmussen and Jeffrey Springs to season-ending surgeries. Rasmussen underwent flexor surgery earlier this season, while both Springs and McClanahan required Tommy John procedures to repair ligament damage in their elbow. The still-recent revelation that McClanahan would require Tommy John surgery is a particularly brutal blow, given both his status as a legitimate No. 1 starter and the timing of the injury; he’ll likely miss the entire 2024 season as well (or at the very least the vast majority of it).

Kittredge will join Pete Fairbanks, Jason Adam and Colin Poche as a viable late-inning option for manager Kevin Cash. He’s also no stranger to working as an opener, if the Rays prefer to opt for some bullpen games in light of their injury woes. Kittredge has “started” 15 games in his career but never gone more than three innings. He’s frequently worked two innings to open a game for the Rays. Currently, Tampa Bay’s rotation consists of Tyler Glasnow, offseason signee Zach Eflin, deadline acquisition Aaron Civale and reliever-turned-starter Zack Littell.

Prosecutors In Dominican Republic Evaluating Allegations Against Wander Franco

By | at

Prosecutors in Peravia, Dominican Republic have opened an investigation into the social media allegations against Wander Franco, a prosecuting attorney told the Associated Press. The country’s National Agency for Boys, Girls, Adolescents and Family and Gender Violence Unit is handling the case.

According to the attorney’s office, they’ve yet to have any contact with U.S. officials or anyone from MLB. It’s unclear if/when prosecutors will speak with MLB officials, though they informed the AP they could provide more information on the investigation’s status at some point next week.

Social media posts over the weekend alleged that Franco had been engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a minor. After the posts garnered widespread public attention on Sunday afternoon, the Rays and Franco mutually agreed he’d be placed on the restricted list. Evan Drellich and Britt Ghiroli of the Athletic wrote Monday evening that the star shortstop had pledged his innocence to Tampa Bay teammates but conceded his presence around the club would be a distraction. Franco also denied the allegations in a since-removed Instagram Live video on Sunday evening.

Franco does not count against the Rays’ roster while on the restricted list, though he and the team agreed he’d still collect his salary. Rookie Osleivis Basabe has started at shortstop in each of Tampa Bay’s three games since then.

Rays Designate Ryan Thompson for Assignment, Select Hector Perez

By | at

3:55pm: Thompson had been on the minor league injured list with a minor elbow issue, tweets MLBTR’s Steve Adams, but was given a clean bill of health after a recent MRI was reviewed by team doctors and a third-party doctor. He threw a bullpen session this morning.

12:50pm: After placing right-handed reliever Kevin Kelly on the 15-day injured list with an ankle sprain, the Rays have selected Hector Perez from Triple-A Durham to take his place in the bullpen, as first reported by Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. In a corresponding move, the team has designated Ryan Thompson for assignment to make room for Perez on the 40-man roster.

Kelly was drafted by the Guardians in 2019, and the Rockies picked him up in the Rule 5 draft this past December. Colorado flipped him to Tampa Bay the same day. He has performed well for the Rays this season, pitching to a 3.48 ERA and 3.89 SIERA in 48 games out of the bullpen, although he has shown signs of tiring since the All-Star break. The rookie is already nearing his career-high in innings pitched. It is unclear how severe Kelly’s ankle injury is, but he will not be eligible to return until August 31.

Perez made his MLB debut for the Blue Jays in 2020, pitching in a single game. He has not pitched in a major league game since; he had his contract selected by the Rays earlier this season but was DFA’d without appearing in a game. He came to Tampa Bay this winter in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 draft. In 53 innings at Triple-A, he has a 4.08 ERA. His 30% strikeout rate is impressive, but his 13% walk rate is a cause for concern.

Thompson also came to the Rays organization in the minor league portion of a Rule 5 draft, back in 2018. He was a solid bullpen piece from 2020-22, appearing in 108 games with a 3.50 ERA and 3.42 SIERA. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been nearly as effective in 2023. He has bounced back and forth between the Rays and Durham Bulls, and while his 3.26 ERA and 30.4% strikeout rate in Triple-A are impressive, his 6.11 ERA in 17 2/3 major league innings is not.

Thompson has been on the minor league injured list since August 6, so he cannot be placed on outright waivers. Since the trade deadline has passed, the Rays will have to put him on release waivers in the coming days. He’s being paid a $1MM salary in 2023 and still has about $247K of that sum left on his deal. A new team would take on that money upon claiming him but would also gain an additional three years of club control over the right-hander.

Shane McClanahan To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

By | at

Rays ace Shane McClanahan will require Tommy John surgery next week, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). He’s expected to miss the entire 2024 campaign.

It’s a devastating if not entirely unexpected development. The two-time All-Star left his start on August 2 after experiencing forearm discomfort. Tampa Bay has been exploring their options for the past couple weeks, though the club had already confirmed he was expected to miss the remainder of 2023 and that surgery was a consideration. He’s already on the 60-day injured list.

Surprising or not, it’s hard to overstate the significance of losing a pitcher of McClanahan’s caliber. The former first-round draftee debuted with 25 starts of 3.43 ERA ball two seasons ago. By his second major league season, he’d broken through as one of the game’s best pitchers. McClanahan was a legitimate Cy Young contender into August last year before a shoulder impingement cost him a couple weeks.

The absence dropped the South Florida product to sixth in Cy Young balloting, but he still finished his sophomore campaign with a 2.54 ERA through 166 1/3 frames. While his ERA took a bit of a step back this season, a 3.29 mark over 21 starts still ranks 19th among big league starters (minimum 100 innings). He’s 23rd among that same group with a 25.8% strikeout rate. McClanahan earned his second consecutive All-Star nod last month.

Tampa Bay has dealt with a brutal stretch of pitching injuries over the past few months. Top prospect Shane Baz has missed the entire year after undergoing a Tommy John procedure last September. McClanahan becomes the third member of the Rays’ season-opening starting staff to require surgery this year. Jeffrey Springs required a Tommy John procedure in April; Drew Rasmussen underwent flexor tendon surgery last month.

Even after the absences to Baz, Springs and Rasmussen, the Rays had an effective top of the rotation. McClanahan, Tyler Glasnow and Zach Eflin made for an excellent trio. With McClanahan now out of the picture, Glasnow assumes the role of staff ace. Eflin — who has dealt with knee issues throughout his career but has a 3.67 ERA through 23 starts in his first season with Tampa Bay — is the #2 option.

The early-season injuries led the Rays to acquire Aaron Civale from the Guardians at the deadline. That acquisition takes on increased importance with McClanahan out. Still, there’s little recourse beyond internal options for Tampa Bay in patching together the final two rotation spots. Taj Bradley has been up-and-down as a rookie and is on optional assignment to Triple-A. The Rays have pushed Zack Littell into the rotation and recently activated Josh Fleming from the injured list.

Tampa Bay enters play Tuesday three games back of the Orioles in the AL East. They’re still in strong playoff position, 7.5 games clear of the Mariners (the top non-playoff team in the AL). Their chances of running down Baltimore to secure a first-round bye and/or making a deep run once they get into October are obviously dealt a hit by the loss of one of the game’s best starters.

This is the second Tommy John procedure of McClanahan’s career. He missed his freshman year at USF after undergoing surgery in 2016. The Rays figure to be especially cautious with his recovery as a result, although there’s a good chance he would have missed all of ’24 even if this were his first TJS.

McClanahan has just under three years of major league service. He’ll be eligible for arbitration as a Super Two player next offseason. The Rays will need to carry him on their 40-man roster during the offseason but will immediately place him back on the 60-day IL next spring. He’ll collect service time while rehabbing and remains on track to first reach free agency after the 2027 campaign.

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top