Things have been pretty quiet at Rays central the last month or so as we're now into mid-January. The Cardinals offered us Dylan Carlson for Ronaldo Hernandez, which in a vacuum is very intriguing except for 1) we have the outfield covered three times over, 2) Carlson after a brilliant sophomore season in 2022 slumped badly last year, and 3) I was still intrigued by the fact he's a switch-hitter but then saw his splits and he seriously struggles with lefties, so he's a switch-hitter in name only. Plus, while Chris Betts is ready for MLB he's a lefty hitter too and l like Ronaldo's right-handed bat. Still looking to move Trevor Larnach, though.
I checked out the Detroit home page with their projected lineup and they're showing Kirilloff as their #3 hitter and starter in RF, good for him, but I didn't see Shane Baz in their rotation because they're making him their closer (!). Yusniel is projected to start in RF for Milwaukee, but I didn't see Clarke Schmidt in their rotation, would hate to see him stuck in AAA again. Speaking of old players of ours, Brendan McKay was released by the Padres and signed to a minor-league deal by the Mets where he's listed as a pitcher again.
Meanwhile in the free agent sweepstakes, one of the big dominos fell when Philadelphia signed Miguel Sano to a 6/85 deal, and the Blue Jays signed Byron Buxton to a 7/128(!) contract. Buxton did well for himself building his value with the 1-year contract he signed with Baltimore last year just before spring training, he stayed healthy and had a big 32 HR/92 RBI season. We'll see if stays healthy in Toronto. Flamethrower Jordan Hicks signed a 3/15 deal with Milwaukee, and Alex Bregman signed a 7/251 extension in Houston.
And in his first year of eligibility, Adrian Beltre was elected to the Hall of Fame with 76% of the vote. He was the only inductee as Gary Sheffield got up to 65% but fell off the ballot in his last year.
January 22: Ty Buttrey will bring his Rays World Series ring to Chicago as he signed a 2/10.6 deal with the Cubs. But in the big news of the day, the Miami Marlins are now the Miami Roughnecks! Here's the logo (eh):
January 24: Caleb Smith will continue to haunt us. The Oriole lefty who's always given us fits was signed to a 3/33 deal by the Red Sox today. I should have signed him just to keep him from pitching against us. Also the Padres signed Tyler Zombro to a minor-league deal. He had an outstanding season at Durham last year but was stuck there. I offered him another minor-league contract but I don't blame him for going elsewhere.
TRADE NEWS:
Well we found Trevor Larnach a home. I think he's better than Chad Allen, who's penciled in for RF in Pittsburgh at the moment. Delgadillo is a marginal prospect, he's a groundballer who throws 91-93 so I doubt we'll miss him. The return is Mitch Keller, who can bring it, but someone we'll have to work with to get his control under control. Keller's out of options so he'll make the team as a middle reliever, which is the impetus for me to do something I've been thinking about
: sending Shane McClanahan back to Durham to be a full-time starter. He regressed a bit this year in relief but his stuff is still great. Max Fried and Chris Paddack are free agents next winter so there will probably be a couple of holes in the rotation to fill and I'd like to think Mac can be one of them, perhaps along with Asa Lacy who's also ticketed for a return to Durham. Anyway, Keller can take over Mac's long relief role and start if necessary. The other guy in the deal, Price, is a control artist from Air Force who probably won't amount to much but he'll at least take Delgadillo's spot in the organization.
January 29: Brandon Nimmo signed a 1-year, $9.7M deal with Texas. Also in a shock move, Trevor Story is retiring from the Cubs at age 32 to be more involved with his church.
INJURY UPDATE:
Uh..good news, I guess? Ryan was supposed to be out until the second half of the season after going down with a torn UCL and undergoing TJS last May. He's on the 60-day DL and really wasn't in my immediate plans. At the moment I neither have a spot for him on my 40-man nor my staff, so I'm going to have to figure out something.
February 15: Signed P Dylan Bundy to a minor league contract.
Something will have to go horribly wrong if we end up purchasing Bundy's contract from Durham, but he should help out that staff. "Should", I say as last year's vet pitchers Brandon Workman and Tony Cingrani turned out to be disasters.
Also, ex-Ray from last season TJ McFarland signed with the team we beat in the World Series, the Padres, for 1 year and $2.5M. Of course he ended up being left off the playoff roster when Paddack had the back spasms and we needed Daniel Lynch, who did come through in Game 4 of the ALDS.
February 18: Traded P Drew Strotman to the Kansas City Royals for OF Erickvi Celedonio, activated P Joe Ryan from the 60-day IL.
Had to make 40-man room for Joe Ryan, and I wasn't going to lose Strotman for nothing like I did Austin Franklin. Celedonio is a 23-year-old speedster with 55 gap power and 50 HR power (a 50 rating, not 50-HR power) who'll probably be thrown into a future trade someday. Ryan, meanwhile, has one option year left and he may very well be in the Durham rotation. I put Ryan on the block to see if I could get a prospect and didn't get one offer, now that he's on the 40-man, I might be willing to deal him for a vet.
February 21: Sonny Gray signed a 1-year, $5.5M deal with the Pirates. A good signing, if Gray can stay healthy which is always a big "if".
February 29: (Yeah, it's a leap year) The Orioles signed Max Scherzer to a 1-year, $3.5M deal. An excellent gamble for them, and I was considering offering Scherzer a contract but his stuff and velocity is way down after missing most of last year with a partially torn UCL. OOTP labels him as "wrecked". Plus I had flashbacks to Zack Greinke 2022 as well. But for a pitching-starved team like Baltimore it's a no-lose move, and I'm not thrilled he's in the division.