Before we get into the State of the Team, there were several notable retirements around baseball, including longtime Rays star Evan Longoria. We took note of that and retired his #3:
Also hanging up the cleats were former Rays Nelson Cruz, Joey Wendle, Travis d'Arnaud and Tommy Pham, Cardinals pitching stalwart Adam Wainwright and longtime Red Sox star DH J.D. Martinez. Also former Dodgers 3B Justin Turner turned over a new leaf.
In our first order of offseason business we
declined the $12M team option for Manuel Margot. Manny served us well the last few years but that's way too much to pay for a 4th outfielder, however good with the glove he may be.
The following players are free agents: Zach Wheeler, Jalen Beeks, Francisco Mejia, Shawn Armstrong and of course Margot.
We always knew Wheeler was a rental and of the remaining four the only one we'll miss is Beeks, who was a weapon out of the pen the last two seasons. This leaves the following salaries for 2025 and if we were to keep all of them the
projected payroll would be $133M:
Among the relievers at the bottom, we'll likely keep one of Cleavinger or Poche (most likely Cleavinger) and non-tender the rest, as well as Walls who just can't hit (unfortunately his real-life 2023 emergence at the plate came too late to be captured in this save), so there's about $6M in savings. Owner
Stu Sternberg has given me a $150M payroll, so if we do nothing else but non-tender those relievers and Walls, we'd have about $23M to play with. But more we will do as here's how things look position-by-position:
C:
Patrick Bailey is ready for the bigs and he would team with Bethancourt. Of course the question is do I want to keep Bethancourt at $5.5M, especially since he put up negative WAR last year? Perhaps not and perhaps we can save more money here.
1B:
Yandy Diaz had another good season, albeit not as good as 23 or 24.
Jace Jung needs to play somewhere, either 1B, 3B or DH, and we also have top 60 prospect
Kyle Manzardo who was been stuck at Durham for two seasons with big numbers. Consequently Yandy is a trade candidate.
2B:
Brandon Lowe has 63 homers the last two years and about 6 WAR in that time, so no need to overthink this one.
SS: Ditto with Wander.
3B:
Isaac Paredes had 36 HR and 103 RBI for us and 3.9 WAR, and is only slated to make $5.5M in arbitration so the first thought here is to leave well enough alone. Still he could go if I wanted to make room for Jung and he should fetch a ton in trade but I don't want to galaxy-brain this.
IF: With Walls non-tendered I'm looking at
Cade Doughty as the utility infielder. The waiver claim from Toronto hit 37 HR in 3 minor league stops last year and can play all 4 IF positions and the OF corners. He would probably be a .260, 25-HR guy if he played every day.
LF:
Randy Arozarena kind of cratered last year despite another 20-HR, 30-SB season. He dropped to .232 and from 4.5 WAR to 0.7. He's one of the faces of the franchise but he'll be 30 when the season starts and his once-stellar defense also cratered to a -1.7 ZR in LF. Also he's going to make at least $10.5M in arbitration. Trade him while still has value or hope for a bounceback? That will be one of the winter's biggest questions.
CF:
Jose Siri has settled in as an elite defensive CF who hits enough to keep the position, earning 2.6 WAR. He should only cost $2.8M in arbitration so his job is secure, especially with Margot out the door.
RF:
Josh Lowe platooned with Margot last year and he might platoon with Doughty next season. He did take a step forward with 2.5 WAR last year and will make the minimum again.
DH:
Miguel Vargas wasn't quite as dynamic as he was in 2023, but was still a solid .270-23-91 and will return. Jung and/or Manzardo may cut into some of his DH bats against righties.
OF:
Austin Wells is our 4th OF now with Margot gone and while he didn't hit a lot in limited action his ratings are still great and we still like him.
So position player-wise, Bailey replaces Mejia, Doughty replaces Walls and Jung replaces Margot. This still leaves no roster opening at the moment for Manzardo since we're going with 13 hitters.
Starting rotation: McClanahan, Eflin, Springs, and Rasmussen all return but 5th starter
Taj Bradley is out for the year. Replacement candidates are
Shane Baz, Cooper Criswell and perhaps
Ryan Pepiot or
Jack Perkins from the bullpen.
Bullpen: The back end of the pen is back with Fairbanks, Adam and Doval.
Jovani Moran is our key lefty now with Beeks gone and Cleavinger should be a second lefty. The other three spots will go to some combination of Pepiot, Perkins,
Hayden Juenger and Trevor Brigden. Other options include lefties
Jacob Lopez and
Brendan McKay (remember him?) and we may need to find a spot for righty rookie
Matthew Peguero who has been upgraded to 75 stuff with 50 movement and 45 control.
Others: We have two more first basemen who could play in the bigs in
Michael Busch and
Jonathan Aranda and
Oselvis Basabe is capable of being a big-league utility IF. Should I decide to move Bethancourt and don't replace him with a more proven backup,
Blake Hunt has an MLB glove (70) behind the plate even if the bat is lousy.
So the goals for the off-season are:
* Trade one or two out of Bethancourt, Arozarena, Yandy Diaz and Paredes
* Possibly acquire an impact OF especially if Arozarena is dealt.
* Possibly acquire a pretty good lefty reliever to replace Beeks