Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Rays Rumors

Rays Sale To Patrick Zalupski’s Group Officially Completed

By | at

The Rays officially have a new owner. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports that the sale from Stuart Sternberg to a group led by Patrick Zalupski is now rubber stamped with the sale officially closing today.

“It’s an incredible honor to become the stewards of the Tampa Bay Rays, a franchise with a proud history and a bright future,” Zalupski said in a news release. “We are especially privileged to have been chosen by Stu Sternberg as his successors, and we’re all energized by the responsibility to serve Rays fans everywhere and this great game.”

This development was largely a formality. The reported $1.7 billion sale price was agreed to back in July and it was approved by Major League Baseball owners last week. It was noted that the time of that approval last week that the sale still needed to formally close, though that box is now ticked and the keys have changed hands.

Now that the new ownership group is in place, the attention will turn to the unanswered questions surrounding the franchise. The Rays had to play in a minor league park this year due to the extensive hurricane damage done to Tropicana Field. It is hoped that The Trop can be repaired and playable in time for the start of the 2026 season. The club’s lease originally ran through 2027 but the lost year in 2025 has extended that through 2028.

There isn’t a formal plan in place for 2029 and beyond. Zalupski is expected to explore building a new stadium in Tampa itself, as opposed to St. Petersburg, where The Trop is located. That process will take time, as the Rays will have to work out all the particulars with government officials to get the new venue designed, approved, funded, etc.

As Zalupski works on that, president of baseball operations Erik Neander will work on making the club as competitive as possible. Topkin reports that Neander will stay in his job. That’s not especially surprising, as the Rays have generally performed well on tight budgets throughout his tenure. In early 2024, he and manager Kevin Cash were extended through at least 2028.

However, the Rays are currently in a bit of a downswing. They just finished 77-85 after posting an 80-82 record last year. The last time they had losing records in consecutive seasons was back in 2016 and ’17. Amid the uncertainty away from the roster, it’s unclear what kind of resources Neander will have to work with this winter. Topkin notes that there is an introductory press conference scheduled for October 7th, at which point the new owners might shed more light on the next steps for the franchise.

MLB Approves Patrick Zalupski As New Rays Owner

By and | at

Major League Baseball owners have officially approved a group led by Patrick Zalupski as the new owners of the Rays, reports Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times. Topkin notes that the official transfer is still pending the formal closing of the sale, which is expected later this week. Previous reporting has indicated that the team is being sold for somewhere around $1.7 billion. “It’s good to go,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred says.

It was originally reported back in June that Sternberg was in “advanced” talks about a sale to the Zalupski-led group which will soon take over the majority stake of the team now. Those negotiations came on the heels of Sternberg receiving pressure to sell from both the commissioner’s office and other owners throughout the league. Sternberg will retain a minority stake in the Rays but will take a backseat after owning the club since purchasing it for $200MM back in 2004.

Zalupski is the CEO of Dream Finders Homes, a publicly traded, Jacksonville-based developer that has built more than 31,000 homes across ten states. Back in June, Forbes estimated his net worth at $1.4 billion, while his company’s valuation rested at $3.4 billion. It’s not entirely clear how many other investors are a part of the group. Sportico reported over the summer that Ken Babby, who owns multiple minor league teams and is the son of a prominent NBA agent, and Bill Cosgrove, CEO of the Union Home Mortgage Group, are among the others involved in the incoming ownership group.

The new ownership group is expected to keep the Rays in the Tampa Bay area, though Zalupski’s vision is for an eventual stadium in Tampa proper, rather than the Rays’ longtime home in St. Petersburg. That’d mean a move from Pinellas County to adjacent Hillsborough County and would also mean negotiating with a different collection of local government officials than the Pinellas County officials who regularly clashed with Sternberg throughout his quest for a new stadium.

For the time being, of course, the Rays are playing in Tampa. They’ve temporarily relocated to George M. Steinbrenner Field — the spring facility and Class-A home for the Yankees — in the wake of massive damage to Tropicana Field at the hands of Hurricane Milton last offseason. The Rays are hoping that they’ll be able to return to Tropicana Field for the 2026 season. They still have another three seasons remaining on their prior lease there, and now that new ownership is all but in place, that period could serve as a bridge to the construction of a new stadium — though there will obviously be numerous hurdles to clear as the new management commences talks with the requisite governmental bodies in Tampa and looks to secure funding.

Broader questions about what the change in ownership means for the Rays will persist for the foreseeable future. Longtime fans will dream of larger payrolls helping to fuel a club that’s managed to be near-perennially competitive despite spending less than the vast majority of the league. However, new ownership is not always a path to exponentially larger payrolls. That may be the case for Steve Cohen’s Mets, but one need only look at the Marlins, Royals and Orioles to find recently sold teams that have yet to significantly invest in bolstering player payroll. An eventual new stadium could be a major step in that direction, but that’s years down the road.

Presumably, there will be some other turnover within the organization. Rays presidents Matt Silverman and Brian Auld are departing once the sale is finalized, but it’s not at all clear what, if anything, a sale might mean for the baseball operations or dugout staff. (Silverman was once Tampa Bay’s head of baseball operations but has been on the business side of operations since 2017.) President of baseball operations Erik Neander is signed through at least the 2028 season, while manager Kevin Cash’s most recent extension carries him all the way through 2030. That pair is among the most respected in the industry at their positions, and one would presume that their presence is a selling point for incoming ownership. Other changes could still ensue, but until the deal is official and Zalupski first meets with the media, there will be at least some level of uncertainty regarding matters of this nature.

Matt Silverman, Brian Auld To Step Down As Rays’ Team Presidents

By | at

The incoming group led by real estate developer Patrick Zalupski is expected to officially purchase the Rays from Stuart Sternberg’s ownership group within the next few weeks, and some big organizational changes are on the horizon.  Longtime team presidents Matt Silverman and Brian Auld will be leaving their current roles, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times.  Auld is staying on in an advisory capacity throughout the ownership transition period, while Silverman’s only remaining involvement will be as part of an advisory board representing Sternberg’s group in team business, as Sternberg’s group will still own 10 percent of the Rays.

Though the two executives shared the “president” title without any modifiers, Auld’s focus was more on the business side of the operations, while Silverman was more focused on baseball operations side.  Silverman has been the team’s president since 2005 (when he was just 29 years old), except for a three-year hiatus that saw him act as the president of baseball operations following Andrew Friedman’s departure to the Dodgers.  Once Erik Neander was promoted to the head of the baseball ops department following the 2016 season, Silverman moved back upstairs to the president’s role.

Silverman first started working with the Rays in 2004, coming aboard just slightly before Sternberg (his former Goldman Sachs colleague) bought the team.  Auld joined the organization in 2005 as the director of planning and development, and worked in a variety of roles before being promoted to president 11 years ago.  The ties between Silverman and Auld also existed before their time in Tampa Bay, as the duo first met while in high school.

It seems that Silverman’s departure is somewhat of his own volition, as Topkin writes that Silverman “had extended conversations with the incoming owners about a likely significant role, but chose instead to leave the team.”  Silverman said he wasn’t departing due to another job opportunity, but rather it was “just a simple personal decision that for me it’s a good time to put down the pencil, take a breath and figure out what might be next….Before conversations about a future role really developed, I expressed my preference to serve on this ownership board and they welcomed that participation.”

For his part, Auld is looking forward to getting some more time with his family and away from the day-to-day grind, while still helping the Rays in this next chapter in team history.

“My hope is that we have a long partnership together where I can be a counselor to [likely incoming CEO] Ken Babby and whoever else needs it along the way,” Auld said.  “Major League Baseball in Tampa Bay is not a simple enterprise, and to the extent that I can be helpful, I’m really looking forward to doing so….I’m looking forward to some different styles, and to learning from a new group. And I think that’s one of the reasons that a significant change was needed.  I wasn’t sure this was going to be what I wanted to do, and getting to know this ownership group, and Ken specifically, it’s felt really good.  It felt like it could be a nice, positive thing for a good amount of time.”

Past reports had indicated that Zalupski wasn’t planning to make any significant changes to the team’s structure, so the loss of over 40 years of organizational experience is certainly a departure from that initial thought.  Given the longstanding connections between Sternberg and the Silverman/Auld combination, it might not be a surprise that Zalupski is looking to fill the president’s role with his own hire, or hires if he continues the trend of having separate presidents for the baseball and business ends.

As such, the change in the presidents’ office shouldn’t necessarily be viewed as a hint that Zalupski might be looking at a larger scale shake-up.  Neander and manager Kevin Cash each signed contract extensions prior to the 2024 season that run through at least 2028 in Neander’s case, and through 2030 in Cash’s case.  Eating the significant amount of remaining money on those contracts may be a factor for Zalupski, yet the larger issue is that Neander and Cash are both highly regarded around baseball, and both are widely viewed as two of the chief reasons why Tampa Bay has remained competitive despite perpetually modest payrolls.

That tradition of competitive baseball really began under Silverman, whose hirings of Friedman, Neander, and multiple other executives have helped establish the Rays as something of a talent factory on and off the field.  Multiple teams have hired ex-Rays executives, coaches, and advisors over the years in an attempt to try and capture a bit of Tampa’s low-budget magic for themselves, with somewhat mixed results overall.  Perhaps Silverman’s most obvious legacy is the “Rays” name itself, as he was behind the team’s move away from the “Devil Rays” name and well as the new uniforms and colors associated with the rebrand.

Rays Acquire Marshall Toole As PTBNL From José Caballero Trade

By | at

Outfield prospect Marshall Toole is heading from the Yankees to the Rays, according to announcements from both clubs. He is the player to be named later from the deadline deal which sent José Caballero to the Yankees and Everson Pereira to the Rays. Toole wasn’t on the Yankees’ 40-man roster and therefore doesn’t need to take up a spot with the Rays.

Toole, 22, was a 15th-round pick of the Yankees in last year’s draft. Since that selection, he has played in 113 Single-A games, stepping to the plate 441 times. His 20.6% strikeout rate thus far is decent while his 15.2% walk rate is quite strong. His .298/.413/.462 batting line translates to a 148 wRC+. He has also stolen 52 bases in 60 tries.

Those are obviously some nice numbers but there are some caveats. That offensive production includes just six home runs and is being propped up by a massive .380 batting average on balls in play. Toole is also a bit old for his level and will face stiffer competition as he moves up the ladder. He’s not currently listed as one of the top 30 prospect in the Yankee system by Baseball America nor MLB Pipeline.

Put all together and it feels like a very Rays-style pickup, a player without a huge profile but one with some interesting tools. The club has turned a few such players into decent big league contributors over the years. Perhaps the same could be true of Toole but he’s likely a few years away since he still has to climb a few more rungs of the minor league ladder. He won’t be eligible for the Rule 5 draft until December of 2027.

Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images

Rays Select Cole Wilcox

By | at

The Rays have selected the contract of righty Cole Wilcox from Triple-A Durham, per a team announcement. He’ll join the bullpen and make his major league debut the first time he gets into a game. Infielder Taylor Walls was transferred from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL to open a spot on the 40-man roster, while right-hander Joey Gerber was optioned to Durham to clear space on the active roster.

Wilcox, 26, was a third-round pick by the Padres in 2020, though that undersells his stock at the time of the draft. Wilcox “slid” into the third round due primarily to signability concerns. A draft-eligible sophomore at the University of Georgia, Wilcox was widely regarded as a first-round talent. San Diego plucked him with the No. 80 overall pick and swayed him with a $3.3MM signing bonus that was a record for a third-round pick at the time. Just five months later, he was traded to the Rays alongside Francisco Mejia, Luis Patiño and Blake Hunt in the Blake Snell blockbuster.

Things haven’t panned out for Wilcox in the years since. He was dominant for the Rays’ Class-A club in 2021 but made just 10 starts before incurring an elbow injury that eventually led to Tommy John surgery. He returned late in the 2022 season but totaled just 16 innings between the Rays’ Class-A and Rookie-level affiliates.

Wilcox spent the 2023 season pitching out of the rotation with Tampa Bay’s Double-A affiliate but struggled to a 5.23 ERA while showing far worse command than he had prior to surgery. He repeated the Double-A level in 2024 and found better success in terms of his bottom-line run prevention numbers; Wilcox dropped his ERA all the way to 3.18, but he did so with a below-average 18.9% strikeout rate. That still prompted a promotion to Triple-A, but Wilcox again struggled with shaky command and diminished stuff. His fastball, which had previously sat 94-97 mph and scraped triple digits, instead sat at 92.5 mph that season.

Tampa Bay moved Wilcox to the bullpen in 2025, and the results are more encouraging. He’s pitched to a 3.70 ERA in 58 1/3 innings. His 10.8% walk rate is still too high, but he’s averaging 95.8 mph on his sinker now that he’s moved into a short relief role. He’s also scrapped his changeup and now relies on a pure two-pitch mix featuring that sinker and a sharp slider that always graded as his best pitch in scouting reports. Wilcox has kept 50.3% of his opponents’ batted balls on the ground, and his 12.3% swinging-strike rate is better than average as well.

At the time of the Snell trade, the Rays had surely hoped that Wilcox would develop into a key member of their rotation. That no longer appears to be in the cards, but with a sinker approaching 96 mph and a quality slider that’s averaging 86.1 mph, he still has the makings of a potentially useful reliever. He’ll get his first opportunity in the majors in the final weeks of the 2025 campaign, but now that he’s on the 40-man roster, Wilcox will have a full slate of three minor league option years and ample runway to prove himself as a member of manager Kevin Cash’s relief corps in subsequent seasons.

Rays Select Garrett Acton

By | at

The Rays announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Garrett Acton.  Righty Eric Orze was optioned to Triple-A Durham to create room on the 28-man roster, and outfielder Jonny DeLuca was moved to the 60-day injured list to create space for Acton on the 40-man roster.

Acton made his Major League debut in less than stellar fashion with the A’s in 2023, as the 27-year-old was rocked for a 12.71 ERA over six games and 5 2/3 innings of work.  Acton allowed three home runs in that brief sample, and issued an equal number of walks and strikeouts (five apiece).  Any attempts at a follow-up were then put on hold by a Tommy John surgery, which kept Acton from any game action at either the major or minor league levels in 2024.

Released by the A’s in June 2023, Acton landed with the Rays on a two-year minor league deal the following offseason, with the understanding that Acton would spend all of 2024 recuperating.  He got back to the mound this year and has looked pretty sharp, posting a 3.64 ERA, 30.7% strikeout rate, and an 11.0% walk rate that is on the high side.  The velocity isn’t all the way back, as Acton’s fastball is averaging 93.7 mph this year after clocking in at 95.3mph during his brief stint in the Show in 2023.

Acton’s homer rate is a respectable 8.6% this season in Durham, which is a career best for an extreme fly-ball pitcher.  Acton’s attempts to keep the ball in the park will be immediately tested this weekend in Wrigley Field against a powerful Cubs lineup, and his promotion represents the Rays’ need for a fresh arm in the bullpen.  Tampa Bay used five relievers (including Orze) in yesterday’s 6-4 loss to the Cubs, since starter Shane Baz was chased in the third inning.

DeLuca’s 2025 season has now officially been ended with the move from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL.  The outfielder was first sidelined by a left hamstring strain back on August 7, and seemed to be working his way back on a Triple-A rehab assignment before suffering a quad strain earlier this week.

This is unfortunately DeLuca’s second trip to the 60-day IL in 2025.  An April shoulder strain that was initially expected to keep DeLuca out for 2-4 weeks ended up keeping him off the Rays’ roster for over 3.5 months.  DeLuca’s lost year will end with just 20 big league games, though he did hit well (.333/.356/.456 in 59 plate appearances) when he was able to play.

Rays Notes: Ownership, Pepiot, Aranda

By | at

The Rays are set to change hands any day now, as current owner Stuart Sternberg has agreed to a sell the franchise to a group led by Patrick Zalupski in a deal that’s expected to be finalized at some point this month. Since the announcement of that deal back in July, additional details about the deal have trickled out. One such detail is that Sternberg and other current members of his ownership group will retain a stake in the Rays for the time being after the sale.

Another emerged today when Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reported that Rick Workman has joined Zalupski’s prospective ownership group. Topkin writes that Workman’s move to purchase a stake in the Rays is both a significant shock and a major blow to the Orlando Dreamers group, which is committed to luring an expansion franchise to Orlando. Topkin suggests that Workman was viewed as an “anchor” investor for the group’s efforts to bring MLB to the city who would have been a candidate to serve as the controlling partner of a hypothetical Orlando MLB franchise. John Morgan, the group’s second-largest investor, has also departed the effort now that it appears likely that the Rays will remain in Tampa.

According to a statement from MLB Hall of Famer Barry Larkin, who serves as an MLB ambassador for the Dreamers, the organization was “surprised” when Workman conveyed that he plans to invest in the Rays, but emphasized that Workman “did not in any way suggest concerns” regarding the Dreamers initiative. Dreamers co-founder Jim Schnorf goes on to suggest that the 70-year-old Workman may have had a change of heart about waiting for the lengthy process of getting a team to Orlando, which would likely take years now that the Rays figure to stay in Tampa, and instead chose the more immediate option of joining Zalupski’s group.

Between the loss of multiple major investors and the likelihood that the Rays remain in Tampa, it’s becoming harder to imagine a team coming to Orlando any time soon. With that said, Schnorf noted that there are “multiple” other candidates to serve as control person of a hypothetical Dreamers franchise and that the initiative has no shortage of funding.

“No competing city can come close to matching our attributes in regards to stadium location, market size, population growth, tourism numbers, tourist development taxes, and strength and growth of the local economy,” Schnorf said. “Orlando remains the only fully-ready solution for any MLB situation in need, whether via relocation of an existing franchise, or one of the planned expansion slots.”

Turning to on-the-field news, Rays right-hander Ryan Pepiot was scratched from his scheduled start today with what the club referred to as “general fatigue.” Pepiot, 28, has thrown 163 innings across 29 starts this year. That’s roughly 30 innings more than his previous career high, which was set last year and was itself 30 innings more than his career high before that. With the righty in uncharted territory innings-wise and Tampa’s playoff hopes all but scuttled, it might seem reasonable to expect Pepiot to sit the rest of the season out. That’s not necessarily the case, however, as MLB.com’s Joey Pollizze relays that Pepiot told reporters he expects to pitch again this year. The Rays went with a bullpen game to fill Pepiot’s spot in the rotation today, with Ian Seymour, Shane Baz, Drew Rasmussen, and Adrian Houser set to go the next four days, so the club won’t have to make a decision on Pepiot until their September 15 game against Toronto.

Turning to the lineup, Topkin relays that (according to manager Kevin Cash) first baseman Jonathan Aranda went for a checkup today as he nurses the fractured wrist that sent him to the injured list on August 1. Aranda is progressing well, according to Cash, and has already begun hitting off a tee and playing catch as he starts to rehab his ailing wrist. It’s still not clear if Aranda will have time to return before the end of the season, but the update is nonetheless encouraging about his ability to put together a normal offseason and enter Spring Training in a strong position for 2026. The 27-year-old Aranda enjoyed a breakout season at this dish this year and slashed .316/.394/.478 across 103 games while splitting time between first base and DH. It was a strong enough performance to earn Aranda the first All-Star nod of his career, and he figures to be a major contributor to the Rays for years to come given that he won’t be eligible for arbitration until the 2027 season.

Rays Claim Caleb Boushley

By | at

The Rays have claimed right-hander Caleb Boushley off waivers from the Rangers, per a team announcement. Fellow righty Brian Van Belle was transferred from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL to make roster space.

Boushley, 32 next month, has pitched a career-high 43 1/3 innings with Texas in 2025 but has been tagged for an unsightly 6.02 earned run average in that time. However, he’s posted respectable strikeout and walk rates of 21.2% and 7.3% in that time, and he’s done a nice job keeping the ball in the park (1.04 HR/9). Boushley has been plagued by a sky-high .374 average on balls in play, which has surely contributed to his struggles in terms of stranding baserunners (just 58.7%).

Tampa Bay has placed two relievers — Van Belle and Mason Englert — on the injured list within the past five days. Boushley adds a fresh arm to the bunch, bringing those decent rate stats and the ability to be optioned to his new organization. He’ll give the club some flexible depth that is stretched out enough to throw multiple innings, if need be. Boushley has just one outing greater than an inning so far this month, but he tossed three innings of long relief with the Rangers as recently as Aug. 20.

Boushley didn’t make his big league debut until he was already 29 years old (with the Brewers in 2023). As such, despite being on the cusp of his 32nd birthday, he can be controlled for a full six seasons. Given his minimal track record, it’s unlikely that’s a prominent consideration right now, but if he impresses the Rays enough to stick on the 40-man roster this winter (or to re-sign as a minor league free agent in the event that he is cut loose), it could become part of the thinking in 2026.

Stu Sternberg Will Retain Minority Share For A Time Following Rays Sale

By | at

In the middle of July, Stu Sternberg agreed to a sale of the Rays to Jacksonville-based real estate developer Patrick Zalupski for around a $1.7 billion purchase price. Sternberg won’t immediately leave the organization completely, however.

Evan Drellich and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic report that Sternberg and other current partners will retain an approximate 10% stake in the franchise in the short term. Sternberg is still expected to eventually depart the organization entirely, but that won’t happen concurrent with this month’s sale.

The transaction has been expected to be finalized in September. That timeline is still in place. Drellich and Rosenthal write that the sale should be complete around the end of the regular season. Zalupski’s group is expected to keep the franchise in the Tampa area, preferably with a new stadium to be built in Hillsborough County. (Tropicana Field, located in St. Petersburg, is in Pinellas County.) Nina Moske of The Tampa Bay Times wrote this afternoon that one site under consideration is at Hillsborough College.

The Rays’ previous stadium deal with Pinellas County collapsed after the team sought additional funding following delays after last fall’s hurricanes. That proved an impetus for Sternberg to turn to selling his majority share. The club’s lease at Tropicana Field runs for three seasons from whenever The Trop becomes playable — hopefully by the beginning of next season.

Rays Place Mason Englert On 15-Day Injured List

By | at

The Rays announced that right-hander Mason Englert has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to an impingement in his throwing shoulder.  The placement is retroactive to September 4.  Righty Cole Sulser was called up from Triple-A to take Englert’s spot on the active roster.

After posting a 5.45 ERA in 77 2/3 innings with the Tigers in his first two Major League seasons, Englert has had a semi-breakout year since being dealt to the Rays in February.  The righty has a 3.83 ERA, 23.8% strikeout rate, and a particularly solid 5.9% walk rate across 44 2/3 innings and 29 appearances for Tampa Bay.  Fifteen of Englert’s 29 outings have been longer than one inning, adding to his value as a bullpen weapon.

Since impingements can vary greatly in severity, it isn’t yet known whether or not Englert’s season could be in jeopardy.  A minimal 15-day absence would allow Englert to still contribute to Tampa’s final nine games of the regular season, which could be important given how the Rays’ recent hot streak has brought the club back into the wild card race.

Englert is the second Rays reliever to hit the 15-day IL in as many days, as fellow righty Brian Van Belle was also sidelined by elbow inflammation yesterday.  Van Belle was slated to undergo an MRI yesterday to look for any structural damage.

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