Retirements:
Notables: Nolan Arenado (STL retires #28), Anthony Rendon, Joey Gallo, Sandy Alcantara, Royce Lewis, Tommy Edman, Trevor Story, Eloy Jimenez, Jazz Chisholm Jr, Max Kepler, Josh Hader (MIL retires #71), Matt Chapman, Walker Buehler, Edwin Diaz.
Former Rays: Jake Cronenworth, Pete Fairbanks, Alec Bohm, Drew Rasmussen, Colin Poche, Nate Lowe.
November 6: We swung our first deal of the winter, filling our backup IF hole:
Jones can play everywhere but catcher or pitcher and his best position is 3B, where he's rated a 70. He's an average (50/50 contact/power) hitter and was good for 5.7 WAR with the Yankees' AAA affiliate last year. The price wasn't high as New York seemed motivated to move him and Bolanos isn't much of a prospect.
November 8: Some big news:
Yes he's 34 and this probably won't age well but he showed us in the postseason that he's still an elite power-hitting catcher and even though he didn't hit a lot late in the regular season he stabilized the staff. Now we don't have to look for a decent catcher.
Awards season:
Gold Glove: No Tampa Bay winners but a couple of former Rays were selected: 41-year-old 1B Yandy Diaz (Boston) and LF Zach DeLoach (San Antonio).
Reliever of the Year: There could be no other in the AL:
And as you can see Armenta took third. San Diego's Nelson Berkwich took 29 of 30 first-place votes to win in the NL after posting a 2.02 ERA in 102 IP with 2.2 WAR. He had 6 wins but only 4 saves. The 30th vote was mine.
Silver Slugger: With the offense we had in the regular season, there were no Rays winners of course. The only former Ray to win was Chicago CF Riley Greene, whom we rented in 2028.
Rookie of the Year: A close vote in the AL with Baltimore RF Anson Balcome (.250-28-84) edging out KC's Sergio Fernandez 18-12 and 126-114. The NL winner was Miami 3B David Mendoza (.275-22-65) who got by teammate Eli Becerra 16-14 and 122-114. The Marlins actually had the top 4 finishers in the voting.
Cy Young: The Yankees' Ignacio Gonzales was a unanimous AL winner after a 17-9, 2.96, 6.6 WAR season with 245 Ks in 216 IP. No Rays received votes. In the NL former Ray and current Cub Taj Bradley, whom we saw (and beat) in the World Series won with 16 first-place votes after going 14-5, 3.15 with 4.6 WAR.
MVP: Seattle 2B Noelvi Marte was the clear winner over Cleveland's Juan Soto after a .285-51-131, 8.0 WAR year. No Rays received votes. The NL MVP was of course unanimous as Washington SS Hector Juarez had a season for the ages, earning 10.6 WAR thanks to a .365-48-149 year, adding to his trophy case which already included a 2030 Rookie of the Year and a 2031 World Series ring.
November 20: Time for another trade:
So long to Junior Caminero after 6 seasons and 122 homers. From 2028-2030 he averaged 25 HR, 95 RBI and 3.5 WAR but has tailed off to more of a 20-HR, 78-RBI guy good for 2 WAR and with his salary approaching $10M it was time to move on. In return we get a pretty good-looking reliever in Vargas, who's rated 65/65/60.
December 3: Another trade, this time for a starter:
The lefty Stone is one of the better strikeout pitchers in the bigs, fanning 245 last year for Boston after 242 the year before and he's earned 4.1 and 3.6 WAR over those two years. Nevertheless his surface numbers (11-14, 4.21) are a little underwhelming for two reasons: 31 homers allowed (he's rated 45 movement) and a .348 BABIP against. The team and the ballpark should help him in that department this season and he's a legit upgrade over Eldridge, who's going the other way and lost his role in our rotation last year and several middling years with us. Guzman isn't much of a prospect. Stone will slot in as our #2 starter behind Acosta.
December 10: The top free agent pitcher out there, Robert Ahlstrom, switched sides in New York by leaving the Yankees for the Mets on a 5/175 deal, which is fine by us.
December 15: The Yankees, who just lost Ahlstrom as well as slugger Jackson Castillo in free agency, didn't stand pat and signed closer Andres Munoz for 5/92 and followed that up with former Rays rental Kyle Tucker for 3/80.
December 16: We're not done dealing:
We needed a lefty reliever to go with Luke Little so hence the deal for Green, who did pitch well for us in 2028. He's 35 and rated 60/50/60 so he's not the savior or anything but he did save 28 games for the Dodgers last year. It's a no-risk deal for us since they're eating all of his salary and we only had to give up Mendoza, a middling middle-infield prospect. Odds are given his age we end up with a scouting report in spring training saying his stuff is down 2-3 MPH and that 60 becomes a 50, but again not much given up here.
December 23: Added OF Juan Anaya, 3B Bob Pinon, P Alex Salazar and C Jalen Lowe to the 40-man roster.
Even with these additions, we have 4 open slots on the 40-man so if something intrigues us in the Rule 5 Draft we have the room.
December 26: Lost 1B Nic Abraham to Detroit and 1B/OF Andrew Vaughn to the Mets in the Rule 5 Draft.
There was one guy who intrigued us (a CF prospect) but he was taken early so that was it for us. Abraham was a 2nd round way back in 2024 but the fact that he's been in the minors for 8 years tells you all you need to know (45/50 hitting ratings don't play at 1B) and you probably didn't know we had the veteran Vaughn since I never mentioned him after he signed with Durham last year. Expect to get both of these guys back, for what it's worth.
December 29: Reliever Ivan Armstrong, who pitched his way off our roster last season, resurfaced in Baltimore on a 1/2.4 deal.