Retirements: Some former Rays hung up the cleats - 1B Ruben Ramirez (80 homers as a part-timer for us over 2048-51), P Rex Bransington (18-6, 3.75 in 1 1/2 years in the rotation from 2050-51), OF Beau Bonczek (two great years - .285-32-107 and .291-40-108 in 2050-51, good for 8.9 WAR)
November 5: We kicked off the winter with a deal from our OF surplus:
Lozada had been a good servant for the club but he was due to make $6M this year in arbitration and that's a lot to pay a backup. In return for him and Brown (a middling prospect), we got a couple of interesting additions from the Angels. McMullan will give us a body in the bullpen although he's more of a swing type than a short reliever and is rated 55/65/50 in the pen. He had a 2.57 ERA in 42 IP with 0.7 WAR for the Angels. And Balderas is even more intriguing - a 60-rated 3B who hit 297/347/429 in 91 AB as a rookie with LA and is rated 60 contact (65 potential) with 50 power and a 60 glove at the hot corner. He can also play 2B and SS so while there's no way he dislodges Paul Mayes at 3B he could contend for an IF backup role and has options remaining.
November 7: The 2-year, $3.1M deal with Erik Witten is official and he'll rejoin the club. Our other free agent relievers all want 8-figure salaries so we'll see how the market plays out. We've settled with all the arb-eligibles except Aaron White who wants a multi-year deal in his first year of arbitration.
Awards season:
Gold Glove: No winners for us. Aaron White might have had a chance had he played the full season here.
Reliever of the Year: LA's Bill Sutherland was the AL unanimous winner after a brilliant 51-save, 1.57 ERA, 4.4 WAR(!) season while San Francisco's Nicolas Rivas won for his 41-save, 1.99 ERA season.
Silver Slugger: Our Dave Gonzalez took the award at DH and he should have a better shot at it next year primarily catching.
Rookie of the Year: It was unanimous:
And while Mayes was a worthy winner even more worthy was Pittsburgh's Nick Villafana in the NL who also won unanimously. He'll likely cap a dream season that culminated in a World Series win over us with an MVP award as well after a .319-52-139, 11.4-WAR season.
Cy Young: More unanimity with Houston's Randy Heller winning in the AL thanks to an amazing 22-4, 2.21 which earned him 7.5 WAR. Thought our Dave Rose would place higher but he ended up sixth with Elijah Whitaker finishing eighth. In the NL Atlanta's Mario Uribe took 31 of 32 first-place votes after his 11-7, 2.24 good for a league-best 5.9 WAR.
MVP: Toronto's Jerry Esparza was the AL choice, taking 20 first-place votes on the merits of his .313-41-102, 7.1-WAR season. Our Paul Mayes was our highest finisher in 11th. And to no one's surprise Villafana was a unanimous winner in the NL.
December 4: Our longtime catcher David Morales has found a new home as the free agent signed with San Diego for 5/112. We'll net a 1st-round comp pick as a result.
December 9: Another of our free agents has signed as closer of the last couple of seasons Mario Berumen landed in St. Louis on a 3/43 deal.
December 12: We have a trade for a back-end reliever:
Welcome aboard, Josh Meenach. The 34-year-old righty has been Milwaukee's closer the last six years, recording 211 saves in that span. He's entering the final year of his contract which the Brewers were glad to eat half of, so the cost isn't huge for us either (neither is Hardy a 1.5-star prospect). The catch with Meenach is that his HR rate spiked last year from 0.7 per 9 to 1.5 although he's still rated 60 movement. Gonna hope it was a fluky, one-year variance that's common with relievers because his 75 stuff still plays. Not sure yet whether he'll be installed as the closer over Devin Tadlock, but he gives us a legit 8th/9th-inning option now.
December 22: Another long-time bullpen piece goes elsewhere with Danny Sanchez joining the Reds on a 3/22 contract.
December 23: Added 1B Ruben Brown, 2B Prince Brown, P Julio Baez and OF Danny Duran to the 42-man roster.
The two Browns (especially Ruben) and Duran are quality prospects while Baez is a veteran swingman who's been up with us and whom we signed to an MLB contract. We still have some open slots in case something in Rule 5 catches our eye.
December 23: Lost Ps Denzel Mayo and Mario Vargas in the Rule 5 Draft.
No big losses here although Mayo had been a fixture at Durham for the last 6 seasons. He has the fringiest of stuff but good control and movement and he could a 5th starter for Columbus. Vargas was in Seattle's rotation as recently as 2055 and was decent in 24 starts with Durham last year (3.28 ERA, 97 K in 94 IP) and with 55/50/50 ratings will probably make a decent 5th starter for Toronto but we were only looking at him as depth.
December 26: There goes another one - Dave Flores, who was a disappointment in his one season in our bullpen, inked a 2/15 pact with the Dodgers.
December 27: Signed OF Ji-Hoon Kim to a minor league deal.
Kim was a professional IFA from South Korea and the 28-year-old can play the corners with some power (60 current, 65 potential) and a good eye (60). The contact tool is only 45 though, which is why he ended up with an MiLB deal. Still it's depth at Durham and he's a righty batter which is important since all 3 of our starting OFs are lefties.
December 31: Signed C Alex Gonzalez to a 1-year, $1.5M contract.
We have our backup catcher and we'll be going with an all-Gonzalez tandem as Alex will play alongside Dave. He's a 55-rated catcher with 55 power and 45 contact. Nothing special, but enough glove and he swings from the right side, which was important.