Well 2031 was a strange year with a record-setting regular season and some incredible standout performances, but an ALDS exit in the playoffs did sting after having won the previous 3 World Series titles, 5 in the previous 6 and 6 of the previous 8. But such is the playoffs. As we had to 2032, much of the core of the team is now eligible for arbitration so if we do nothing the payroll goes up from $95M or so to $154M. Even though Stu Sternberg has allowed me a payroll of $180M as he did last year, I'm going to continue to try to hold it down, perhaps to the $120-125M range.
Oh and I got this message:
I'm looking at trading 3 players in particular: Joe Barker, who frankly is no longer as good as our other 1B options (Rodolfo Rivas, Victor de Jesus), Connor Kirkley (it pains me after his 6-WAR breakout season) as Jaiden Hardaway is more than ready (and getting long in the tooth as a prospect at 26), and Marc Wagner (out for 2032 and eligible for arbitration). They could all go in one big deal for something - what exactly I'm not sure yet as we have no glaring needs. 3B could be a consideration: Bobby Witt Jr remains under contract at $20M and is "wrecked". Dane Ayers could play there but I like having him as a supersub more. I'm not sure if there's a truly elite 3B out there worth trading for, and we also have Bo Angeac on the way but his contact issues make him not a sure thing.
I might be in the market for another catcher as Jakob Runnels was a disappointment backing up Luis Corpus, but again Will Quintana is more than ready to move up. Our only free agent is Evan Godwin, whom I may or may not try to bring back. I'm also not sure what to do with Brad Ballmann, whose underlying skills remain great but haven't translated into production. The starting rotation should remain intact (with Jon Soranno as the 5th starter) but this is the last year of arbitration for Christian Little and Jon Hayes, and my philosophy remains not to sign big-ticket pitchers over 30 to long-term contracts.
November 10: Time for our first big trade:
Bye Bye Barker, and bye bye Wagner. The return is a premium CF prospect in Valdez, he's the #71 prospect in baseball and he's only 19, which means he isn't going to jam us up in the next couple of seasons since we have Jasson Dominguez and Omar Rodriguez behind him. (Alex Buitrago is in there too but he likely gets dealt this winter). Here are his ratings, which are pretty impressive:
Like you, I have no idea what that blurb under "Personality" is supposed to mean.
Connell is an interesting bullpen arm, a sidearmer who probably will be more of a middle reliever than a closer, but we'll see. Needless to say this deal was not popular with the fans with two big names, especially Barker who was a playoff hero in the past.
November 14: Gold gloves were awarded, and Alec Sachais got one for the second straight season.
November 15: The ageless wonder gets his due recognition (he should have won a few more of these):
Talk about getting better with age, notice he's lowered his ERA each of the last 5 seasons despite advancing well into his 30s.
November 16: Ricky Widmar (SS) and Nate Clark (LF) won the Platinum Stick Award at their respective positions.
November 18: Not a surprise, but still nice to see:
Aparicio stated in response to the award that he'd trade it for a better outing in Game 5 of the ALDS, but he was humbled to have won it. This returns the Cy Young to Tampa Bay after spending the last two years in Texas with Wil Diaz and Victor Presas. In fact Lucas Giolito of the White Sox in 2022 was the last non-Ray or non-Ranger to win it, with Tyler Glasnow taking it in 2023 and 2026, Matt Manning in 2024, Shane McClanahan in 2027 and Christian Little in 2028 for the Rays. Texas's Tarik Skubal won it in 2025.
And in the NL the award went to another guy who pitched with McClanahan, Little and Aparicio in recent years: none other than Jack Leiter, so in a way it's kind of a Rays win over there too.
November 20: HE DID IT!
Andy Aparicio completes the double, winning MVP & Cy Young. It was much-deserved as his WAR was well above the rest of the league but I still don't believe a pitcher will win it until it happens. He becomes the second MVP in Rays history after Wander Franco in 2024, and the first pitcher to win the award since Justin Verlander 20 years ago. Aparicio also breaks Vlad Guerrero Jr's strangehold on the award as the Yankee 3B had taken it the previous three seasons and seven of the previous nine.
And it was a clean sweep of the two big awards in each league by Rays or former Rays as Gavin Lux took the NL MVP off a great season with Arizona.