The 2020 (and beyond) Tampa Bay Rays - Page 147

Art Deco · 10-10-2025, 02:03 PM

The partying goes on in Tampa Bay as the Rays celebrate title #20.

Also, here's a playoff stats recap:

Aponte and Gonzales got the trophies but Mayes was the unsung hero of the offense, consistently hitting throughout the postseason.

We got our first dose of reality after the celebration as our ace Dave Rose opted out of the final year of his contract. He's 36 but as good as ever so we'll definitely be trying to re-sign him

Otherwise 2058 will largely be a case of running it back as the only free agents of note are C Ryan Rivera, SP Jorge Barraza and relievers Victor Boria and Willie Navarro. Despite the title we're being given a $160M payroll which isn't the greatest but we should have somewhere between $20-25M to spend if we re-sign Rose.

Since everyone else is going to be back there's no point in doing a position-by-position outlook except for the following:

Catcher: The job is prospect Omar Gaitan's to lose and we'll have to bring in a backup as Alex Gonzalez is a FA as well.

Rotation: I'm going to assume we re-sign Rose, which means we have the Barraza opening to fill. I'll kick the tires on him but I suspect he'll be too expensive so we could turn to youngster Julio Mattilla, who's had cups of coffee the last three season, primarily as a reliever, or Danny McMullan who did some swing work for us while shuttling between here and Durham. And there's always old standby Randy Mastropietro as a last resort.

Bullpen: Boria was a valuable middle reliever and Navarro gave us some late-inning strength but we still have Cid and Tadlock in the 8th and the 9th. We'll need to trade for or sign a couple of decent middle men.

Others: Ruben Brown is an MLB-quality 1B right now but he's blocked by Gonzales and Aponte at 1B/DH. He could be trade bait (or Aponte could) to for some pitching. Also if we want to get creative Jesus Avalos is due $25M going into his last year of team control and I might see what he can fetch with Jalen Diaz so impressive in his late-season callup.

Stay tuned.

Art Deco · Yesterday, 04:46 PM

Retirements of note: Steve Talbott, who spent 4 years as our closer (2050-53) and saved 140 games for us, hung up the spikes and had his number retired by Washington where he spent the bulk of his career. Also having his number retired was Joel Taylor, who finished with 612 career homers and was honored by the White Sox. Other former Rays retiring were SP Nicola Greico (2050) and RP Mel Mejia (2046-51).

We made a couple of small trades right after the World Series:

Abron was a late first-round pick of the Dodgers in 2055 and is an OF with 60 contact and 55 power (65/60 potential) who's about average defensively. They had interest in Vigil, who has 55 stuff and could be a future swingman. Abron has the ability to make the big club (he was up for one at-bat with LA late in the season) but will probably start 2058 at Durham.

We need another 1B/DH-type like we need a hole in the head but this deal was too good to pass up. I like Bush's bat but we never had a position for him and he was going to be out of options come the spring. McNeill had become a top 100 prospect and has 65/65 potential but is currently rated 55/55. He came up with Cleveland late in the season and hit 287/342/407 with 3 HR in 108 AB but is also ticketed for Durham.

We kept him:

4 years for a 37-year-old pitcher is a lot, and I fully expect him to start declining, but for now he's still one of the game's best. The fourth year is a team option with a $5M buyout, so we're really only on the hook for about $75M.

Elsewhere we settled with all the arb-eligible guys except Aaron White and Jesus Avalos, who wanted multi-year deals. IF Alex Brown seems a bit pricey at his projected $5.5M in arbitration and I will likely deal or non-tender him.

Awards Season:

Gold Glove: No Rays were winners.

Reliever of the Year: In the AL Minnesota's Eddie Knowlton was a unanimous winner after a 7-win, 42-save, 2.14 ERA season. Surprisingly our Josh Meenach was second despite being purely a middle reliever. Guessing his 1.89 ERA got votes rather than the 2 wins and 2 saves. In th NL, Atlanta's Victor Rosa was a clear winner after a 38-save, 2.04 ERA season.

Silver Slugger: We had two winners: Joel Bland (LF) and Angel Gonzales (DH).

Rookie of the Year: After a .289-30-94 season Baltimore OF Danny Cobos was a unanimous AL winner with our Tony Guzman finishing fourth. Indianapolis LF Alex Aviles also got all the first-place votes thanks to a .319-13-84 which earned 6.3 WAR.

Cy Young: Well, well, well...

And Whitaker followed up that regular season with a brilliant run in the playoffs. Dave Rose took second and Jorge Barraza even got a few votes. The NL winner was Milwaukee's David Marrero, 15-5, 2.64 with a league-best 235 Ks and 6.9 WAR.

MVP: In the AL Chicago RF Juan Martines won after a .322-43-116 year which was good for 8.1 WAR. Our Angel Gonzales finished third, Joel Bland sixth and Jesus Avalos ninth. The NL nod went to Pittsburgh superstar SS Nick Villafana as the 24-year-old won for the second straight year after winning as a rookie last season. He followed up that campaign with a .311-49-127 season with a .412 OBP, and 9.8 WAR, giving him 21.2 over his first two seasons.

November 20: Made a surprise re-signing:

We're going to give Boria a chance to improve on those 10 wins in relief last season by making him a starter - his ratings suggest he's more than capable with only his 40 stamina a drawback but he should still give us 5-6 good innings most of the time. And if he turns out to be really good $10M/year will look like a steal.

November 21: Another trade:

As mentioned Brown was due $5.5M or more in arbitration and that was a bit pricey for a backup MI, albeit a good one. So we packaged him with Villalobos, a C prospect a long way off, for a couple of intriguing guys in Sailes and Lobban. Sailes is MLB-ready with 50 contact and 65 power (with potential for 55 contact) and raked in AAA to the tune 338/410/703. The 25-year-old was a 2nd round pick in 2054 by Houston and is an average to slightly-below-average corner OF who can also play 1B. Lobban is more of a lottery ticket with 60 contact and power potential who was taken in the fourth round of this past summer's draft.

November 23: Arbitration hearings were held and Jesus Avalos will get $25.8M instead of $25.5M we offered and Aaron White will get $7M instead of the $6.5M we submitted, so no great shakes either way. We made a qualifying offer to Jorge Barraza but he turned it down, so hello comp pick.

December 3: Former Astro Randy Heller, one of the game's top pitchers but now 37, signed a 2/56 deal with Philadelphia so thankfully he's out of the AL.

December 4: More wheeling and dealing:

Decided to package Jackson and Tafoya, two hard-hitting infielders with questionable gloves and not much future with the team, originally looking for a quality reliever or two which remains a need. Instead we got offered a power-hitting SS/3B in Diaz who was too good to pass up. My scout says he has 5-star potential and is already rated 50 contact, 65 power with 55/70 potential. He put up ridiculous numbers with Las Vegas last year: 349/416/656 with 41 HR and 136 RBI and played a credible if slightly below-average shortstop. He's yet to play in the bigs but I am seriously considering making him at least the part-time SS especially with Aaron White's injury-proneness. Jayden Woodard can always come in as a defensive replacement.

December 10: Two of our free agents found new homes. C Ryan Rivera got a 4/78 deal from Cincinnati and reliever Josh Meenach is a Cardinal for 2/19.

December 11: Finally added a bullpen arm:

The 34-year-old Friedman is a solid reliever who's averaged about 1 WAR each of the last three seasons with ERAs in high 2s and low 3s and is rated 65/60/50. He's making $3.9M and is a free agent after the season's end. In return we've finally freed Mayo, a 2050 9th-round pick who's spent the last 7(!) seasons in Durham's rotation. He's the ultimate finesse pitcher with 40 stuff, 65 movement and 60 control but never got a crack with the big club, and won 101 games with a 4.05 ERA during his tenure with the Bulls. Hopefully he makes it with the A's.

December 12: Another bullpen addition:

Wanted another lefty for the pen and got one in the 36-year-old vet Lopez, coming off a solid season in which he made 73 appearances covering 99 innings. He's rated 60/60/60 and should give us decent middle relief. The cost was low as Gaona isn't really a prospect and Washington is eating 50% of his $3.6M salary.

All we need now is another catcher and the roster should be largely set.

December 22: Added OF/P Garik Samuels, 2B Bobby Pena and C Jonathan Restituyo to the 42-man roster.

Rule 5 time again. Samuels is a 5-star prospect as a hitter, Pena is a good-hitting middle infielder, and Restituyo right now would be our backup catcher, not a terrible thing since he's a 60-contact hitter who batted .347 in part-time action at Durham and isn't terrible with the glove.

December 23: 24 players were taken in the Rule 5 Draft but none of them belonged to us.

December 27: Signed C Alex Gonzalez to a 1-year, $2.2M contract.

Meet the new backup catcher, same as the old backup catcher. Gonzalez did a fine job for us as Ryan Rivera's caddy and now will do likewise for the youngster Omar Gaitan. I'll gladly take a repeat of his 259/314/455, 8 HR in 143 AB season. Barring some kind of surprise deal that should give us a fairly set roster going into next season and the Gonzalez signing fills our 42-man roster.

10-10-2025, 02:03 PM	#2921
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,494	2057-58 Offseason: State of the Team The partying goes on in Tampa Bay as the Rays celebrate title #20. Also, here's a playoff stats recap: Aponte and Gonzales got the trophies but Mayes was the unsung hero of the offense, consistently hitting throughout the postseason. We got our first dose of reality after the celebration as our ace Dave Rose opted out of the final year of his contract. He's 36 but as good as ever so we'll definitely be trying to re-sign him Otherwise 2058 will largely be a case of running it back as the only free agents of note are C Ryan Rivera, SP Jorge Barraza and relievers Victor Boria and Willie Navarro. Despite the title we're being given a $160M payroll which isn't the greatest but we should have somewhere between $20-25M to spend if we re-sign Rose. Since everyone else is going to be back there's no point in doing a position-by-position outlook except for the following: Catcher: The job is prospect Omar Gaitan's to lose and we'll have to bring in a backup as Alex Gonzalez is a FA as well. Rotation: I'm going to assume we re-sign Rose, which means we have the Barraza opening to fill. I'll kick the tires on him but I suspect he'll be too expensive so we could turn to youngster Julio Mattilla, who's had cups of coffee the last three season, primarily as a reliever, or Danny McMullan who did some swing work for us while shuttling between here and Durham. And there's always old standby Randy Mastropietro as a last resort. Bullpen: Boria was a valuable middle reliever and Navarro gave us some late-inning strength but we still have Cid and Tadlock in the 8th and the 9th. We'll need to trade for or sign a couple of decent middle men. Others: Ruben Brown is an MLB-quality 1B right now but he's blocked by Gonzales and Aponte at 1B/DH. He could be trade bait (or Aponte could) to for some pitching. Also if we want to get creative Jesus Avalos is due $25M going into his last year of team control and I might see what he can fetch with Jalen Diaz so impressive in his late-season callup. Stay tuned.

Yesterday, 04:46 PM	#2922
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,494	2057-58 Offseason: Part 1 Retirements of note: Steve Talbott, who spent 4 years as our closer (2050-53) and saved 140 games for us, hung up the spikes and had his number retired by Washington where he spent the bulk of his career. Also having his number retired was Joel Taylor, who finished with 612 career homers and was honored by the White Sox. Other former Rays retiring were SP Nicola Greico (2050) and RP Mel Mejia (2046-51). We made a couple of small trades right after the World Series: Abron was a late first-round pick of the Dodgers in 2055 and is an OF with 60 contact and 55 power (65/60 potential) who's about average defensively. They had interest in Vigil, who has 55 stuff and could be a future swingman. Abron has the ability to make the big club (he was up for one at-bat with LA late in the season) but will probably start 2058 at Durham. We need another 1B/DH-type like we need a hole in the head but this deal was too good to pass up. I like Bush's bat but we never had a position for him and he was going to be out of options come the spring. McNeill had become a top 100 prospect and has 65/65 potential but is currently rated 55/55. He came up with Cleveland late in the season and hit 287/342/407 with 3 HR in 108 AB but is also ticketed for Durham. We kept him: 4 years for a 37-year-old pitcher is a lot, and I fully expect him to start declining, but for now he's still one of the game's best. The fourth year is a team option with a $5M buyout, so we're really only on the hook for about $75M. Elsewhere we settled with all the arb-eligible guys except Aaron White and Jesus Avalos, who wanted multi-year deals. IF Alex Brown seems a bit pricey at his projected $5.5M in arbitration and I will likely deal or non-tender him. Awards Season: Gold Glove: No Rays were winners. Reliever of the Year: In the AL Minnesota's Eddie Knowlton was a unanimous winner after a 7-win, 42-save, 2.14 ERA season. Surprisingly our Josh Meenach was second despite being purely a middle reliever. Guessing his 1.89 ERA got votes rather than the 2 wins and 2 saves. In th NL, Atlanta's Victor Rosa was a clear winner after a 38-save, 2.04 ERA season. Silver Slugger: We had two winners: Joel Bland (LF) and Angel Gonzales (DH). Rookie of the Year: After a .289-30-94 season Baltimore OF Danny Cobos was a unanimous AL winner with our Tony Guzman finishing fourth. Indianapolis LF Alex Aviles also got all the first-place votes thanks to a .319-13-84 which earned 6.3 WAR. Cy Young: Well, well, well... And Whitaker followed up that regular season with a brilliant run in the playoffs. Dave Rose took second and Jorge Barraza even got a few votes. The NL winner was Milwaukee's David Marrero, 15-5, 2.64 with a league-best 235 Ks and 6.9 WAR. MVP: In the AL Chicago RF Juan Martines won after a .322-43-116 year which was good for 8.1 WAR. Our Angel Gonzales finished third, Joel Bland sixth and Jesus Avalos ninth. The NL nod went to Pittsburgh superstar SS Nick Villafana as the 24-year-old won for the second straight year after winning as a rookie last season. He followed up that campaign with a .311-49-127 season with a .412 OBP, and 9.8 WAR, giving him 21.2 over his first two seasons. November 20: Made a surprise re-signing: We're going to give Boria a chance to improve on those 10 wins in relief last season by making him a starter - his ratings suggest he's more than capable with only his 40 stamina a drawback but he should still give us 5-6 good innings most of the time. And if he turns out to be really good $10M/year will look like a steal. November 21: Another trade: As mentioned Brown was due $5.5M or more in arbitration and that was a bit pricey for a backup MI, albeit a good one. So we packaged him with Villalobos, a C prospect a long way off, for a couple of intriguing guys in Sailes and Lobban. Sailes is MLB-ready with 50 contact and 65 power (with potential for 55 contact) and raked in AAA to the tune 338/410/703. The 25-year-old was a 2nd round pick in 2054 by Houston and is an average to slightly-below-average corner OF who can also play 1B. Lobban is more of a lottery ticket with 60 contact and power potential who was taken in the fourth round of this past summer's draft. November 23: Arbitration hearings were held and Jesus Avalos will get $25.8M instead of $25.5M we offered and Aaron White will get $7M instead of the $6.5M we submitted, so no great shakes either way. We made a qualifying offer to Jorge Barraza but he turned it down, so hello comp pick. December 3: Former Astro Randy Heller, one of the game's top pitchers but now 37, signed a 2/56 deal with Philadelphia so thankfully he's out of the AL. December 4: More wheeling and dealing: Decided to package Jackson and Tafoya, two hard-hitting infielders with questionable gloves and not much future with the team, originally looking for a quality reliever or two which remains a need. Instead we got offered a power-hitting SS/3B in Diaz who was too good to pass up. My scout says he has 5-star potential and is already rated 50 contact, 65 power with 55/70 potential. He put up ridiculous numbers with Las Vegas last year: 349/416/656 with 41 HR and 136 RBI and played a credible if slightly below-average shortstop. He's yet to play in the bigs but I am seriously considering making him at least the part-time SS especially with Aaron White's injury-proneness. Jayden Woodard can always come in as a defensive replacement. December 10: Two of our free agents found new homes. C Ryan Rivera got a 4/78 deal from Cincinnati and reliever Josh Meenach is a Cardinal for 2/19. December 11: Finally added a bullpen arm: The 34-year-old Friedman is a solid reliever who's averaged about 1 WAR each of the last three seasons with ERAs in high 2s and low 3s and is rated 65/60/50. He's making $3.9M and is a free agent after the season's end. In return we've finally freed Mayo, a 2050 9th-round pick who's spent the last 7(!) seasons in Durham's rotation. He's the ultimate finesse pitcher with 40 stuff, 65 movement and 60 control but never got a crack with the big club, and won 101 games with a 4.05 ERA during his tenure with the Bulls. Hopefully he makes it with the A's. December 12: Another bullpen addition: Wanted another lefty for the pen and got one in the 36-year-old vet Lopez, coming off a solid season in which he made 73 appearances covering 99 innings. He's rated 60/60/60 and should give us decent middle relief. The cost was low as Gaona isn't really a prospect and Washington is eating 50% of his $3.6M salary. All we need now is another catcher and the roster should be largely set. December 22: Added OF/P Garik Samuels, 2B Bobby Pena and C Jonathan Restituyo to the 42-man roster. Rule 5 time again. Samuels is a 5-star prospect as a hitter, Pena is a good-hitting middle infielder, and Restituyo right now would be our backup catcher, not a terrible thing since he's a 60-contact hitter who batted .347 in part-time action at Durham and isn't terrible with the glove. December 23: 24 players were taken in the Rule 5 Draft but none of them belonged to us. December 27: Signed C Alex Gonzalez to a 1-year, $2.2M contract. Meet the new backup catcher, same as the old backup catcher. Gonzalez did a fine job for us as Ryan Rivera's caddy and now will do likewise for the youngster Omar Gaitan. I'll gladly take a repeat of his 259/314/455, 8 HR in 143 AB season. Barring some kind of surprise deal that should give us a fairly set roster going into next season and the Gonzalez signing fills our 42-man roster.