The 2022 (and beyond) Tampa Bay Rays

[Art Deco]

Game 1: 12-3 W. WP-McClanahan (11-5, 5.2 8 3 3 0 5). HR-Franco (12), M.Taylor 2 (2). Michael A. Taylor homered twice and drove in five to lead the Rays to a rout of the Orioles. Wander set the tone by leading off the game with a dinger and was 3-6, scoring 4 times.

Game 2: 2-3 L. LP-Pressly (6-3). Starter-Rasmussen (6 2 2 2 0 5). After a few good outings it looked like Ryan Pressly was turning the corner but brought into in a 2-2 game in the 8th he gave up a homer to let Baltimore win. The bats were held to four hits with Tucker's 2-run double the only one of significance.

Game 3: 5-9 L. LP-Swanda (12-9, 3 9 8 5 0 0, 2 HR). HR-Mead (17), Pinto (4). Swanda was awful, and although the Rays tied it up at 5 in the 3rd on Pinto's homer and another 2-run Tucker double, the righty gave it right back to Baltimore on a night he had nothing.

Team record: 89-57. The magic # is down to 10 and the Yankees actually did us a favor by sweeping KC so we still lead them by 2 1/2 for the 2-seed. Next up: Finally back home for 3 vs Boston.

MLB News: Aaron Judge of the Cubs hit career homer #300.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: 9-0 W. WP-Whitley (3-2). Starter-Patino (2 2 0 0 0 2). HR-Schmitt (26), Tucker (35), Franco (13). Luis Patino had to leave early with a minor oblique strain but won't miss his next start and the bats had a big night with Schmitt driving in 4 to give the rookie 106 while Tucker's 3-run shot has him at 111. Five pitchers combined on the shutout.

Game 2: 4-14 L. LP-Baz (2-4, 3.1 7 6 6 2 4). HR-J.Jackson (7). Don't think there's much mystery as to who the 4th playoff starter behind McClanahan, Rasmussen and Swanda will be as Baz has been horrible while Patino has shone of late. After a team shutout the staff couldn't get anyone out today.

Game 3: 4-11 L. LP-McClanahan (11-6, 3 6 6 2 4 3). HR-Pinto (5). Another shellacking of the staff, it took Mac 90 pitches to get through those 3 innings. Not sure a team has allowed 25 runs in a 3-game series while still pitching a shutout. Rene Pinto at least had a good day with an RBI single and 2-run homer.

Team record: 90-59. Magic number is down to 8 for the division, and we're still 2 1/2 up on the free-falling Royals for a bye. Next up: An off-day then the Cubs come to town. Chicago is in the thick of a race that puts the "wild" in wild card over in the NL:

[Art Deco]

Game 1: 7-6 W (17). WP-Swanda (13-9). Starter-Rasmussen (5 2 1 1 2 5). HR-Franco (14), Schmitt (27). Wander's 2-run homer in the 7th gave us a 4-1 win, which should have been enough to win, but Pressly gave up 2 more runs in the 8th and after it was 5-3 Fairbanks blew the save with 2 allowed and on and on we went. The teams traded runs in the 16th before Casey Schmitt walked it off in the 17th with a homer, making a winner of Swanda who was supposed to be tomorrow night's starter but instead was the 11th pitcher of the night for the Rays. Ozzie Albies had 5 hits on the night including 3 doubles.

Game 2: 1-4 L. LP-Patino (6-2, 4 8 2 2 2 3). Patino's first (semi-)lousy start since coming back up, and the bats were shackled by Chicago's Walker Buehler.

Game 3: 6-3 W. WP-Gau (13-3). S-Fairbanks (27). Starter-Baz (4.2 5 2 2 4 7). HR-Tucker (36), Mead (18). Wander's RBI double and a Mead solo shot keyed a 3-run 5th which put the Rays ahead to stay. Tucker was 3-4 with the homer, a triple and 2 RBI.

Team record: 92-60. The magic # is down to 5 and with the Royals dropping a pair in Philly the Rays' lead for the #2 seed is up to 3 1/2 games with 10 left.

MLB News: The Mets, in a battle for both the NL East (a bit of a longshot) and a wild card (along with half the league), lost closer Andres Munoz for the rest of the season with a fractured elbow. And the Blue Jays, in a 3-way battle with Detroit and Chicago for two wild card spots in the AL, suffered a big blow when star SS Bo Bichette tore his hamstring and will be out three weeks.

Rays News: We claimed catcher Drew Romo on waivers. The supplemental first-round pick of the Rockies in 2020 was dealt to Arizona in June and they waived him. He's not much of a hitter (40 contact/45 power) but has a 70 glove behind the plate so he'll make a potentially good backup. For now he's off to Durham.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: 3-2 W. WP-Fairbanks (2-3). Starter-McClanahan (4.1 4 2 0 2 3, 96 pitches). Rays walked it off in the 9th when Josh Mears hit a pinch-double and scored on Rene Pinto's RBI single. Unfortunately we lost standout lefty reliever Jovani Moran for the year with recurring back spasms; he had 102 whiffs in 64.2 IP, a 1.67 ERA and 1.9 WAR. He was a weapon who will be missed.

Transaction: Moran goes on the IL and to replace him with another lefty we brought up a blast from the past, Josh Fleming, who had been operating as Durham's closer.

Game 2: 1-4 L. LP-Swanda (13-10, 4.1 6 3 3 4 3). HR-Albies (13). Corbin Burnes shut down the Rays to the tune of 8 4 1 1 2 7, allowing only the Albies homer.

Game 3: 2-1 W. WP-Pressly (7-3). S-Fairbanks (28). Starter-Rasmussen (5.1 5 1 1 2 1). Curtis Mead's 2-run double in the 8th pulled out the win for the Rays who, combined with the Yankees being swept in Cincinnati, clinched the AL East with 7 games to go. Unfortunately the win was once again costly as this time we lost Mead, who suffered a concussion on the game-winning hit and is also out for the playoffs. We've now lost Luis Castillo and Taj Bradley from the rotation, Moran from the pen, and both our 1B, Mead and Andrew Vaughn. It's getting ridiculous.

Team record: 94-61. Next up: This series closed out our regular season home schedule; barring a complete collapse the next game at the Trop will be Game 1 of the ALDS. We will close things out on the road with 4 in Baltimore and 3 in Boston, a pair of teams long out of it.

Going into the final week of the season the wild card races in both leagues remain wide open:



The divisions are spoken for in the AL but in the NL Atlanta is only 1 up on Philly and San Diego 2 on the Dodgers so there's intrigue there as well.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: 7-11 L. LP-Patino (6-3, 3.1 9 9 9 4 1, 3 HR). HR-Vazquez (7), J.Jackson (8), Manzardo (1). Whatever good vibes we had from Luis Patino after returning from the minors are pretty much gone now after this disastrous outing. It was 11-1 before the bats got going with the highlight being Kyle Manzardo's first MLB homer, a 3-run shot.

Game 2: 4-5 L. LP-Feyereisen (0-4). Starter-Baz (4.1 7 2 1 2 3). HR-Tucker (37), Franco (15). Another guy who seemed to turning things around came up wanting today as J.P. Feyereisen was entrusted with a 4-2 lead in the 8th and gave up 3 runs on 4 hits without getting anyone out. 2-run homers by Tucker and Wander had given them the lead before it was blown.

Game 3: 8-2 W. WP-McClanahan (12-6, 7 4 0 0 1 4). HR-Albies (14). Mac closed his regular season with a flourish and finished the year with a 3.31 ERA and 3.6 WAR. Albies drove in 3 with a homer and Wander and the slumping Josh Mears each drove in a pair.

Game 4: 0-11 L. LP-Swanda (13-11, 2.1 7 7 7 3 2). At the other end of the spectrum is Swanda, who saw his final 2025 ERA rise to 5.01 after this horrible start. In the last post I said the Rays' next game at the Trop would be the ALDS barring a collapse, and that's what they're working on here as the Royals swept their series and gained 2 1/2 games on us to pull within 1 for the #2 seed. And we'll have to finish ahead of them outright since they took the season series 4-2.

Team record: 95-64. Next up: 3 in Boston to finish the regular season, which a few days ago looked meaningless but are now vitally important.

MLB Playoff Update: The races in both leagues continue to be insane:



Normally the 3-way race for the second and third wild cards in the AL would be the talk of baseball, but relative to what's going on in the NL that seems cut and dried. Seven(!) teams within one game of the third wild card going into the final weekend in the NL, just amazing. And the NL East isn't decided yet either as Atlanta is only one game up on both the Phillies and Mets. There are no head-to-head matchups in the AL but in the NL the Phillies play the Mets (which is to Atlanta's benefit) and the Reds (who are almost there) play the Cubs.

A few serious injuries have cropped up with the contenders, none moreso than the Dodgers losing Freddie Freeman with a ruptured MCL which will not only cost him the rest of 2025 but at least the first half of the 2026 season. Over in Anaheim the Angels will be without Anthony Rendon for the playoffs thanks to an intercostal strain.

Minor League Update: AAA Durham won a tiebreaker game to clinch a wild card in the International League, AA Montgomery is up 3-2 in their SL playoff series against Pensacola, and A+ Bowling Green lost their playoff series in 7 games, so good years all around for our affiliates. I'll update Durham and Montgomery's progress as we go forward.

[Art Deco]

Game 1: 1-8 L. LP-Rasmussen (11-6, 5 7 3 2 0 4). It was 3-1 after 6 before the bullpen let it get away but it probably didn't matter as the bats were held to only four hits.

Game 2: 3-4 L. LP-Feyereisen (0-5). Starter-Patino (5 6 3 3 0 7). HR-Albies (15). They battled back from 3-0 to tie it up, only for Feyereisen to lose it in the 7th as the Rays circle the drain heading into the playoffs. The loss took the #2 seed out of their hands as KC tied them in the standings and have the tiebreaker.

Game 3: 6-7 L. LP-Baz (2-5, 3 6 5 5 2 3). HR-Albies (16). It's hard to understate how bad Baz has been after being forced into the rotation with the injuries to Bradley and Castillo. Anyway he put us in a hole from which we couldn't climb out despite a late comeback and a 4-hit, 2-RBI game from Wander. It didn't matter anyway since KC won their game and with a 3 1/2-game lead over the Royals going into the final week somehow they managed to blow that by losing 6 of 7 while KC won 5 of 6 to overtake them for a bye.

Final Regular Season Record: 95-67. Next up: We'll have to play in the wild card round now where we'll host #6 seed Detroit, which held off Toronto for the final AL wild card.

NL Playoff Race Update: The wild NL races which saw about 9 teams with their playoff spot or position up in the air ended with three teams tied for the two wild card spots after #1 Milwaukee and thanks to tiebreakers the Cubs and Cincinnati took them. The Mets were the hard-luck team, losing tiebreakers for NL East to Atlanta and to Chicago and Cincinnati for the wild card despite finishing 84-78 just like the rest of them. And LA, Pittsburgh and Philly all finished at 83-79, a game back of that bunch.

[Art Deco]

I was so caught up in the Rays travails and the wacky wild card races that I didn't notice this until it happened:



I don't know about MLB history, but it's the first triple crown in this save and first since Miguel Cabrera in 2013. This is the playoff tree:



So if we get by Detroit, Kansas City awaits. Injuries have really set us back, especially in the rotation, so my expectations are very low going into the playoffs.



The bats are going to have carry us in the playoffs, at least when McClanahan isn't starting - as you can see above the rotation was pretty mediocre.



Josh Mears faded badly in August and September, to the point where I wonder if I even want him in the lineup. And Randy Arozarena had a miserable year, never getting untracked after 4.7 and 4.4 WAR seasons the previous two years. And of course we're without Josh Lowe, Curtis Mead and Andrew Vaughn for the playoffs.



What a season for Pete Fairbanks, I'm not sure I've seen many relievers approach 4 WAR. What helped in that category was not allowing a homer all season. With Castillo and Bradley out, Mac and Rasmussen are our only two good starters and hopefully that'll be enough to get us through the wild card round but after that, hoo boy. And the pen is going to be without a key cog in Jovani Moran. It didn't help that our primary righty setup men Feyereisen and Pressly were really bad in the second half except for a stretch while Feyereisen was good before faltering in the final couple of weeks.

[Art Deco]

[Art Deco]

Well here we go, one game from elimination as we couldn't come through with the big hit over the final 3 innings. They loaded the bases in the 7th with 2 out and Ozzie Albies grounded out; Randy Arozarena doubled with 2 out in the 8th but Josh Mears struck out, and Michael Taylor walked in the 9th and stole second with one out but Zach DeLoach and Wander Franco grounded out. Meanwhile the Tigers were able to get key two-out hits as they scored 3 times in the 2nd on a pair of them off McClanahan. Mears snapped out of his slump to deliver a 2-run homer but his and Taylor's weren't enough. Now it's up to Drew Rasmussen tomorrow to try and force a Game 3.

Elsewhere:

[Art Deco]

We actually won one...



Casey Schmitt had a hand in most of the scoring in this game, hitting a 3-run homer in the 1st, committing a costly error in the 5th that made Detroit's 3 runs which tied it unearned, and then after the Tigers went ahead 4-3 he homered again leading off the 6th to tie it up. That set up Josh Mears, who has regained his power stroke in the nick of time, to homer for the second straight day with a man on to give the Rays the lead for good, and the bullpen locked it down from there with even Ryan Pressly turning in a second straight scoreless inning. So now we go to a winner-take-all Game 3 tomorrow with John Swanda starting but on a short leash.

Two more teams booked their places in the division series:



The Yankees will take on the Angels in one ALDS, and Milwaukee faces St. Louis after Atlanta had already secured their spot against San Diego in the NLDS.

[Art Deco]

Ugh...



The Rays' title defense came to an ignominious end at Tropicana Field today as they blew a certain win and advancement to the ALDS, losing instead 8-5 in 17 innings on Spencer Torkelson's 3-run homer off Forrest Whitley. Whitley gave up a 2-out double and with Riley Greene due, who had killed us in the 3 games and was voted series MVP, he was intentionally walked to bring up the righty-on-righty matchup with Tork, who made us pay. None of this would have transpired had not Pete Fairbanks had an epic meltdown in the 9th, wasting the game of John Swanda's life after the righty held Detroit to 1 hit through 7 innings and the Rays held a 3-0 lead. In that fateful inning Fairbanks recorded two outs with a man on 2nd, gave up a 2-run homer to Greene and still needing just one more out instead gave up a walk and two singles to allow Detroit to tie it. That was very likely Fairbanks' final appearance as a Ray as he's a free agent after the season.

It was a year of promise and a year for long stretches where we held one of the two top spots in the AL, only to collapse down the stretch after a wave of injuries and end up in this 3-game playoff round. Detroit will now play Kansas City in the ALDS.

At least there was some good news in the minors:



The Biscuits are Southern League champs, and Durham has advanced to the International League finals against Lehigh Valley after dispatching Memphis in 5 games in their best-of-7 first round matchup.

[Art Deco]

Since the Rays are eliminated I'm not going to do day-by-day playoff posts; instead I'll just recap each round, starting with the ALDS:

[Art Deco]

Manny Machado hit one of the more dramatic homers this decade, a 3-run walk-off shot in the bottom of the 9th of the deciding Game 5.

[Art Deco]

[Art Deco]

Game 3 was interesting for Rays fans as it featured a matchup of former Tampa Bay aces Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow, with Snell (who is having a magnificent postseason) and his Cardinals prevailing.

[Art Deco]

Going back to box scores for the World Series:



Update: The Yankees will be without ace Jacob deGrom as he's suffered a moderate shoulder strain, so between that and the Game 1 loss, not a great start for them.



Somehow the Cardinals scored only one run despite getting 13 hits.

[Art Deco]

Juan Soto looking for his 3rd ring with 3 different teams after winning one with the Rays last season.



Makes a difference when Willie Seanez is pitching instead of Jacob deGrom.

[Art Deco]

Congrats to the Cardinals on their 12th World Series win!

[Art Deco]

Before I get into the State of the Team, I figure I'd write it instead after we made a blockbuster trade once the season finished:



Some background: after coming off 4+ WAR seasons in 23 and 24, Arozarena dipped badly last year to 0.9. Can he bounce back? Sure, but it would cost me $16M to find out and 2026 is his final year of team control. Same story with Patino, who had a pair of nearly 3-WAR seasons before struggling big-time in 2025 including a demotion to Durham. And he was going to cost a projected $7.5 in what is also his final year of team control. So I was able to package these two along with a "C" prospect in Cortorreal and a 1/2-star MiLB free agent we signed last year in Diaz for one of the game's top young catchers in Diego Cartaya. (Not sure why Bendix didn't like the deal, he was OK with it until we put the two minor leaguers who won't be missed in it).

Cartaya meanwhile hit 270/333/418, earning 1.2 WAR in only 40 games as the caddy to Will Smith, who had an MVP-quality season and wasn't going anywhere with a big contract. He can do it all from behind the plate: (50/55 contact) (60/60 power) (50/55 eye) and (60/65 defense). Because he's languished for three years as Smith's backup he now qualifies for arbitration (projected at $3.4M this year and he'll get much pricier assuming he has the big year we hope as a regular). Christian Vazquez opted into the final season of his $6M/year deal with us, unsurprisingly after a 217/275/297 year which saw him earn the same 1.2 WAR as Cartaya but in over 3 times as many games, so he'll now be the veteran mentor backup as nobody wanted to offer me anything for him in trade that wasn't a worse contract. Also Rene Pinto will likely head back to Durham after two years as Vazquez's backup, something I'm sure he's not thrilled about but I'd like to keep him around to back Cartaya up in 2027.

So with that deal in the books, here's how our salary situation breaks out, with everyone making more than the minimum listed:



This crop adds up to $91.5M in salary commitments. And we received some good news on the financial front. First:



All these folks keep moving to Florida, so we're no longer a "tiny" market. Possibly as a result, Stu told me this:



So you can do the math - we have just shy of $50M to play with this winter. More like 35-40 of course as I always like to keep a cushion but we may be players in the free agent market as we have some holes to fill (an impact bat, several spots in the bullpen for example). Here's how it shakes out by position:

C: Already discussed at length above with regard to the Cartaya deal.

1B: Curtis Mead had lost the job to Andrew Vaughn after 2 1/2 seasons of 1.5-1.7 WAR ball, then Vaughn got hurt and then Mead got hurt. Both are back, and both are righties so it's not like I can platoon them. I'd like more production out of the position and I'm not sure that Kyle Manzardo, who took over for them late in the year, is the answer either.

2B: Ozzie Albies is back, and although he was brutal in the field the bat is still good enough to earn him around 3 WAR overall.

SS: Same thing goes for Wander Franco, only a better bat than Albies.

3B: Casey Schmitt may not win Rookie of the Year thanks to Elly De La Cruz's monster 2nd half with Detroit but he had a great year (.258-27-107) with solid defense so he's entrenched.

IF: Jeremiah Jackson hit 283/339/520 when he got to play although he missed a month or two with injury. When healthy he's the perfect backup IF. Alika Williams and Royce Lewis played a lot last year with Wander, Albies and Jackson all hurt at the same time but neither can hit much and will be back at Durham, although I believe Lewis is out of options. Brooks Lee, who hit something like .340 at Durham, has to go on the 40-man this year and therefore will be an alternative as well.

LF: Kind of open right now. Zach DeLoach is a decent hitter and probably deserves to play as the long side of a platoon (with Heliot Ramos perhaps?). That's where we are right now until and unless we make an acquisition.

CF: We're going to need one, at least early. Josh Lowe had a great bounceback year before he too got hurt (man we had a lot of injuries) and won't be back until June or July. He spent most of it in LF with Arozarena in CF but could move back here where he can provide league-average defense. The Michael Taylor signing came in handy but he's a free agent and he didn't hit much although he played great D. Maybe we try and bring him or a similar veteran back as a stopgap.

RF: Our revolving door of option-year superstars which saw Juan Soto man the position in 2024 and Kyle Tucker last year revolves again with Joshua Mears the apparent incumbent, but like in LF we might find another Soto/Tucker-type since we have money to burn and we will need a true impact bat. Heliot can play here too

DH: This could be the odd OF out or Vaughn/Mead/Manzardo or someone else entirely.

Rotation: Assuming everyone stays healthy (a big IF) this is one area where everyone comes back as it should be McClanahan/Castillo/Rasmussen/Swanda/Bradley. Shane Baz really struggled last year but still has some potential, and guys like Forrest Whitley and JP Sears can start but they're more needed in the bullpen.

Bullpen: Well our pretty good pen of last year is just about completely decimated as ace closer Pete Fairbanks, setup men Ryan Pressly and Josh Taylor, and lefty middle man Tanner Scott are all free agents. Returnees include JP Feyereisen, who was up and down last year, lefty Jovani Moran, who was brilliant and can be used in a higher-leverage role, multi-inning "Steady Eddie" Christopher Gau, Colby White and the aforementioned Whitley and Sears. This will probably be the year Sandy Gaston gets a full-time big-league gig, and JJ Goss is also ready to contribute. Lefty Ian Seymour also could have a shot. I've no interest in bringing Pressly back after his miserable 2nd half but I'd love to re-sign Fairbanks (who wants 4/44), Taylor or Scott if their markets are reasonable, and I will of course be looking at other FA relievers.

So the tl;dr version of our goals for the offseason now that we've upgraded the catching slot are:

* find an impact bat to replace Kyle Tucker, either at 1B or OF

* find someone to start in CF for at least the first half of the year

* add at least 1-2 top-notch relievers

[Art Deco]

November 12: We signed all our arb-eligible guys except McClanahan, Andrew Vaughn and Diego Cartaya, all of whom wanted long-term, big-money deals. Mac still has this year and next under team control while this is Vaughn's last year, and Cartaya has two more after this year. I was interested in signing Cartaya to a longer deal but he wants something like 8/85 and I'm not ready to go there yet.

Around MLB some young arb-eligible guys got locked up to big deals. Among them were Jonathan India (CIN, 4/68), Nolan Gorman (ARI, 8/115), Oneil Cruz (PIT, 8/105), Grayson Rodriguez (BAL, 5/84), Keibert Ruiz (WAS, 4/59), CJ Abrams (SD, 8/100), Nick Lodolo (CIN, 5/52), and Max Meyer (MIA, 5/62).

November 16: Awards season is underway. Christian Vazquez won his 2nd straight Gold Glove as the only Ray to receive the honors. The Giants also traded young starter Will Bednar to San Diego for a couple of prospects as the 48-114 Giants go on a deep rebuild.

November 17: Reliever of the Year was today, and amazingly Pete Fairbanks, who led all of MLB in relief WAR at 3.7, was named only on my ballot in first place. I know WAR isn't everything but he had a great season. Instead, the AL nod went to Baltimore's DL Hall, 9-5, 1.31 with 2 saves, 114 whiffs in 89 IP and 2.4 WAR while in the NL the winner was Milwaukee's Josh Hader, who took 29 of 30 first-place votes after a 43-save season with a 1.71 ERA, 118 whiffs in 73 IP and 3.2 WAR.

November 18: We took a couple of Silver Sluggers with Ozzie Albies (2B) and Kyle Tucker (RF) recognized.

November 19: Casey Schmitt finished a distant second to Elly De La Cruz in the AL Rookie of the Year balloting. De La Cruz, who received 28 of the 30 first-place votes, came over early in the season from Cincinnati in a trade and had 37 HR and 111 RBI, all but 3 and 9 of them with Detroit. Schmitt got my first-place vote (the only one he got), Josh Mears finished third, and someone gave Taj Bradley the other first-place vote as he finished 5th. The NL award went unanimously to San Diego's Cesar Damian, an independent league signee last winter who hit 279/342/462 with 15 HR and near-Gold Glove defense, earning 3.6 WAR.

November 21: Jacob deGrom won his second consecutive Cy Young with the Yankees after winning two earlier with the crosstown rival Mets. deGrom, a unanimous winner, was 19-8, 2.74 with 293 Ks in a whopping 265 IP, good for 8.6 WAR. Our Shane McClanahan was a distant sixth and Luis Castillo was right behind him in seventh. And former Ray Blake Snell has now won Cy Youngs in both leagues thanks to a 16-9, 2.85 season with St. Louis which was capped by a big postseason and a World Series ring. He took 27 of 30 first-place votes. deGrom and Snell were both winners in 2018 in the other league.

In a trade Oakland sent defensive wizard Christian Pache to Milwaukee, trading the CF for four minor leaguers.

November 22: MVP time and to nobody's surprise Juan Soto won his 2nd straight AL award after winning with us last season. This year the Yankee was unanimous again after a monster 337/491/674 season with 39 HR and 128 RBI, leading the Bombers to the World Series. Our Kyle Tucker finished a close 3rd behind Adley Rutschman. And there was no doubt in the NL either as Triple Crown winner Bryce Harper was also unanimous after a 315/435/694 season with 58 HR and 143 RBI. It was Harper's 4th MVP, his second consecutive and third in five seasons.

November 30: Arbitration hearings were held. Diego Cartaya and Andrew Vaughn lost, while Shane McClanahan won his hearing and will make $10.6M instead of the $8.9 we offered him, so there's $1.7M off the budget.

December 1: Free agency filings were today, and the Dodgers shipped out a couple of pitchers, sending Dustin May to Atlanta for a couple of minor leaguers and Tony Gonsolin to Detroit for prospect Izaac Pacheco. To nobody's surprise Kyle Tucker declined our qualifying offer, so we'll collect a comp 1st rounder.

December 11: It seems I was mistaken about the Dodgers having Will Smith locked up. They didn't, he was a free agent and he signed a whopping 7/195 deal with the Cubs. Having traded Cartaya to us, it seems their catcher right now is a rookie named Carson Taylor who's rated a 35 defensively. Maybe they'd be interested in Christian Vazquez!

December 14: Kyle Tucker has signed - and he's back with Houston! The Astros re-acquired him on a massive 7/279 deal, which is just under $40M/year. We'll take the supplemental pick.

December 16: Some more free agents signed: The Mets inked 2B Jorge Polanco to a 5/94 pact, Alex Verdugo joined Texas for 3/37, and Marcus Stroman takes his talents to Philadelphia for 3/20.

December 23: Good-sized deal as Toronto sent SP Kevin Gausman, who missed all of 2024 and 2025 with injuries but is still rated well, to San Diego for prospects including 3B Jackson Merrill, who had a huge year in AAA last season.

December 24: Placed 1B Junior Caminero, IF Brooks Lee, OF Marcell Ozuna, and Ps Yoniel Curet and Andri Tavarez on the 40-man roster. Designated C Drew Romo for assignment.

Rule 5 protection time, with all but Ozuna among our top prospects and Ozuna right now penciled in as our DH after spending the year with Durham. Romo was an intriguing pickup late last year but the Cartaya acquisition gave us five catchers on the 40-man.

Meanwhile 3B Gio Urshela signed a 4/73 deal with the White Sox.

December 26: Claimed OF Lonnie White from Philadelphia in the Rule 5 Draft.

Well we may have found our CF in an unlikely place. White had an excellent season last year mostly in AA where he earned 4.6 WAR and won both the platinum stick and glove wizard awards in the Eastern League:



The glove will play in the majors right now, the bat is an iffier proposition. Right now my thought is to play Zach DeLoach in CF, he's a 50 there but White could platoon with him. Of course White will have to stay on the roster we'll see.

Only 3 players in all were taken in Rule 5 including White, and one interesting name that was available was Cooper Kinney, the key prospect we sent to Texas in the Luis Castillo deal. Kinney is still Texas's though as he went undrafted despite being the top-ranked player available.

December 31: As we end the year (and Part 1 of this offseason outlook), we're in negotiations to bring back Pete Fairbanks. It seems his big hangup is a no-trade clause in a 3-year deal and we're willing to give it to him so we'll see how it goes.