Let's take our what is now annual look at the World Series trophy:
Also, here's the end of season message from bossman Stu Sternberg:
Every year he wants me to re-sign a veteran on the decline, and this year is no different, although Martin could still be effective. Every year I ignore him on this. And after his performance since being acquired, the Adley Rutschman comment is spot on.
In another email he told me payroll could be $180M, but thanks to the new rule pushing back free agency a year we're not going to have anyone new going to arbitration so even I keep everyone sans the free agents and Gabriel Moreno (whom I'm non-tendering), well take a look here:
Take Moreno and Romulo Canelon off, and we're looking at a $73M payroll. We won't be getting any compensatory picks this year as JDLC is the only one eligible for a qualifying offer and he's not getting $15M. I will be looking into signing some extensions; Ricky Widmar, Jasson Dominguez, Nate Clark, Joe Barker and Alec Sachais come to mind, and of course we'll pay Alvarado whatever he wants in free agency (shhh...don't tell him).
Positional thoughts:
C: Luis Corpus is in line to be the man, or least most of the man. I could go with Will Quintana as his backup but I'm not sure I want two rookies at catcher. I'll see what kind of vets are available.
1B: Joe Barker and Rodolfo Rivas are back. Caleb "Playoff" Picciotti had a nice year at AAA and is a legit MLBer. I'm going to see if the trade market for him has improved, and if it has (like it did for Chris Sharp last winter) he'll be dealt, if not he'll be a nice insurance policy at Durham even if his morale is going to suffer.
2B: Connor Kirkley took it up a notch this year and has excelled two straight years in the postseason, so I'm no hurry to get rid of him. But the #1 prospect in baseball Jaiden Hardaway is nipping at his heels and he had a big second half at Durham. Do I risk sending Hardaway to Durham again and have him get mad/regress? We'll see.
SS: Ricky Widmar is one of the best in the league - when healthy, and that's the only knock as he's missed chunks of the past two seasons.
3B: What I said about Widmar goes for Bobby Witt Jr., now our highest-paid player.
IF: Because of the injuries to Witt and Widmar, Isaac DeLeon has been a great insurance policy to have, and he's gotten 250-300 AB the last three seasons. He deserves to be a full-time starter somewhere and he has tremendous trade value, and with the emergence of Dane Ayers he's probably the most likely to be traded. Meanwhile Ayers is Ben Zobrist reincarnated, and his spot is safe.
OF: Clark, Dominguez and de Jesus are set, and Ayers can play here as well. D'Andre Hodges is another guy who could be starting elsewhere and we'll see how the roster shakes out with respect to him. After his big year at Durham, Alex Buitrago is knocking on the door and will go on the 40-man but he'll probably have to wait for Dominguez to get hurt again.
DH: Barker probably is the full-time DH with Rivas playing first.
SP: We certainly can bring back all five (Little, Sachais, Hayes, Leiter, Wagner) but I feel like I'm wasting Andy Aparicio in middle relief even though he's a multi-inning weapon as we saw in the playoffs. And that's not even considering Danny Ceja, whom I want to get in the rotation. So we could deal someone.
RP: Assuming Martin and JDLC are gone and Alvarado is back, that makes two openings for which I've penciled in Jon Whiteleather and Tim Siqueiros. Jordan Diaz is likely the closer or co-closer with Alvarado. Didn't think I'd bring back Evan Godwin as he's getting older and his first half was dreadful, but he bounced back nicely in the second half. Brad Ballmann and Mike Mooney are safe as power lefties. I also like Eric Carter a lot and want to see what he can do in the bigs.
Others: Malachi Benford excelled as a starter this year and is likely trade bait. I'm still pretty sure Mike Lammers could hit 40 HRs from someone, if that happens it's someone in the NL. Tim Sandstrom is probably ticketed for Durham although he could pitch in the majors now.
Some news:
Two Cy Youngs, back-to-back 20-win seasons, three World Series rings. Tyler Glasnow was definitely one of the great Rays of the 20s and deserves the retired number.
Other notable retirements: Nick Gordon retired from our team, former Ray Ji-Man Choi, Aaron Judge, one-time Ray Trevor Larnach, Nolan Arenado (#28 retired by Colorado), former Ray Yonny Chirinos, Roberto Osuna, Andrew Knizner (who had a nice season for us in 2027), longtime farmhands and Durham legends Shane Sasaki and Christian Knapczyk, who couldn't quite make the big team, Tyler Gough (who did make the team briefly).