The 2023 (and beyond) Tampa Bay Rays - Page 13

Art Deco · 03-22-2025, 02:31 PM

Record: 70-35 (15-11 for the month)
1st place AL East, 11 1/2 up on New York

An eventful month with the All-Star break and Amateur Draft (as chronicled in the previous post) as well as a trio of trades made ahead of the deadline. On the field it was an up and down month that saw the Rays go through their first poor stretch of the season (losing 5 of 7 sandwiched around the break) but close the month strong, winning 7 of their final 8.

As for the trades, two were significant and the third was to make room for someone acquired in the second. The first:

A major acquisition for the pen as we acquire Clase, on top of his game for over a decade closing out games with 467 saves on his resume. He had a 1.77 ERA for the White Sox and is rated an impressive 55/80/80 and after the deal he added 3 saves in 3 scoreless innings for us. The cost was minimal for the free agent-to-be as Demmy is a mid-level 2-star catching prospect. Victor Vodnik moves back into a setup role and lets us use Juan Nunez, our best reliever this year, in a true fireman role from the 6th inning on.

With Geronimo Satiro putting up decent surface numbers but not hitting a lot outside of his homers and putting up a negative WAR, it was time to find a left-handed bat that we could platoon with him and we got one, another grizzled vet:

This one was essentially offered to us by the AI, as we bring on Nootbar and his 268 career homers. The long-time Cardinal and Astro (who had a 48-HR, 112-RBI year in Houston in his first season there) was scuffling a bit (212/311/381) but is still rated 50 contact, 60 power and 70 eye. We do have him for another season after this at $6.2M as Houston picked up 55% of his contract. As mentioned he'll platoon with Satiro at DH and play some LF as well when needed. The cost was a bit higher with two more catching prospects out the door. Hollon is the better of the two but he's more bat than catcher while Espinal is a backup at best and more likely organizational filler.

To make room for Nootbar (and the $6.2M we have to pay him next season) we somehow managed to get rid of a guy who we liked having around but vastly underplayed his contract over the last couple of years:

Auer had seasons of 5.2, 3.6 and 3.5 WAR when we signed him to a long-term contract at $10.6M/year but he rapidly went downhill at the plate after that and only accumulated 1.7 WAR total over the last 2 1/2 seasons as a backup useful for his speed and defense. We still had another year to go after this one on that contract but the Phillies were willing to take him off our hands for Caminero, who was once a top prospect of ours but only had one good season for us (2028, 3.1 WAR) before we shipped him to San Diego. We're going to waive him and eat the remainder of his $4.6M annual salary this year since we have no interest in him although if he clears waivers we'll see if he wants to play at Durham.

Meanwhile in injury news, our revolving door in LF continued as it became a Spinal Tap drummer type situation where everyone went down. Cory Ridell, who came up and hit after Chris Crisp got hurt, suffered a strained oblique himself and is out until around September 1. Fortunately Crisp came back after the All-Star break and resumed his role (for now, knock wood). Also we lost a starter as lefty Brock Jones developed elbow inflammation and he too will be out until early September. He was having a brilliant year (2.39 ERA in 94 IP) and hopefully he'll be back to form for the postseason. Also Garrett Whitlock missed most of July with back spasms but came back to start just before the month ended.

Here's the game-by-game breakdown for July:

Where things stand around the league:

Team stats:

Great stuff all around, and the team defense has been excellent of late.

A big month for Tatis, who pushed himself back into the conversation for a third straight MVP, and it was great to see Schmidt finally shake himself out of his year-and-a-half slump even if the power is still somewhat missing. As for Tatis, his month was so big that the league took notice:

On the mound:

The starters did well (including fill-in Garces) for the most part with Ray a clear exception as regression seemingly came for him after a lights-out first half that saw him put up a 2.44 ERA. It's 3.30 now after the rough July although he did pitch decently in his final start of the month (which tells you how bad the other ones were). Losing Jones for a spell is unfortunate but we've got such a big lead we'll survive it. Also you might notice another new name above as we brought back Jovani Moran after he spent 2024-29 with us. Philly put him on waivers and we were glad to oblige as he still boasts 70 stuff with 70 movement (and yes 40 control). He gives us another solid lefty in the pen with Ramos and Scott.

Gonna skip the farm system overview this time as the post has gotten long enough but I will note that lefty starter and 2033 first-round draftee T.J. Hutzenbiler has been rated the #52 prospect in baseball.

Art Deco · 04-01-2025, 03:21 PM

Record: 90-43 (20-8 for the month)
1st place AL East, 19 1/2 up on Toronto, magic number to clinch is 10

On the surface you might think a 20-8 month and putting away the division was a walk in the park for the Rays in August, but they were hit with a wave of injuries that made it a trying period. The position of LF in particular continued to be a jinx as Joe Edwards was the latest to succumb to injury with a strained oblique that will keep him out until mid-September, and we lost our RF Ben Schmidt with a strained rib cage musicle that is regular-season ending but he should be back for the playoffs. And then there was the starting rotation, which in addition to losing Brock Jones last month lost the Garretts as Whitlock (strained back) and Lambert (strained elbow) went down. Whitlock did come back to start the final game of the month but was out three weeks while Lambert should be back soon. We got so thin that we brought Fernando Costume back as 3-4 inning starter just to fill the rotation. Also veteran Kolby Allard, whom we brought up for long relief and had to make a start, tore his UCL in that start and is done for the year. It really did get ridiculous. Anyway we still got it done on the field with the next man up, and hopefully we're done with the injuries. The game-by-game recap:

Still getting it done, especially on the mound.

Edwards was just heating up when he went down with his injury while Schmidt had gone ice cold before suffering his. One name of interest here is Jorge Zeledon, whom we called up with all the injuries from AA Montgomery. Zeledon is a kind of freak with 75 (80 potential) contact and 80 avoid Ks but 25 power and a 30 eye. Amazingly he did hit a homer and his 278/278/352 line was about what might be expected. He had been DHing against righties. Nootbar's numbers meanwhile don't look that exciting but he really did come on in the second half of the month after struggling in the aftermath of the deal that brought him here.

As you can see the pitching was lights-out again, led by the bullpen which was magnificent (aside from Scott). Garces and Kim (who had struggled as a starter in the past) were outstanding after being pressed into the rotation. And one guy who didn't struggle at all after coming over in trade was Clase:

He's been a model of consistency in the role you want to see it in most.

Going to pass on the farm system and recap it in post after the regular season ends.

03-22-2025, 02:31 PM	#241
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,898	July 2033 Record: 70-35 (15-11 for the month) 1st place AL East, 11 1/2 up on New York An eventful month with the All-Star break and Amateur Draft (as chronicled in the previous post) as well as a trio of trades made ahead of the deadline. On the field it was an up and down month that saw the Rays go through their first poor stretch of the season (losing 5 of 7 sandwiched around the break) but close the month strong, winning 7 of their final 8. As for the trades, two were significant and the third was to make room for someone acquired in the second. The first: A major acquisition for the pen as we acquire Clase, on top of his game for over a decade closing out games with 467 saves on his resume. He had a 1.77 ERA for the White Sox and is rated an impressive 55/80/80 and after the deal he added 3 saves in 3 scoreless innings for us. The cost was minimal for the free agent-to-be as Demmy is a mid-level 2-star catching prospect. Victor Vodnik moves back into a setup role and lets us use Juan Nunez, our best reliever this year, in a true fireman role from the 6th inning on. With Geronimo Satiro putting up decent surface numbers but not hitting a lot outside of his homers and putting up a negative WAR, it was time to find a left-handed bat that we could platoon with him and we got one, another grizzled vet: This one was essentially offered to us by the AI, as we bring on Nootbar and his 268 career homers. The long-time Cardinal and Astro (who had a 48-HR, 112-RBI year in Houston in his first season there) was scuffling a bit (212/311/381) but is still rated 50 contact, 60 power and 70 eye. We do have him for another season after this at $6.2M as Houston picked up 55% of his contract. As mentioned he'll platoon with Satiro at DH and play some LF as well when needed. The cost was a bit higher with two more catching prospects out the door. Hollon is the better of the two but he's more bat than catcher while Espinal is a backup at best and more likely organizational filler. To make room for Nootbar (and the $6.2M we have to pay him next season) we somehow managed to get rid of a guy who we liked having around but vastly underplayed his contract over the last couple of years: Auer had seasons of 5.2, 3.6 and 3.5 WAR when we signed him to a long-term contract at $10.6M/year but he rapidly went downhill at the plate after that and only accumulated 1.7 WAR total over the last 2 1/2 seasons as a backup useful for his speed and defense. We still had another year to go after this one on that contract but the Phillies were willing to take him off our hands for Caminero, who was once a top prospect of ours but only had one good season for us (2028, 3.1 WAR) before we shipped him to San Diego. We're going to waive him and eat the remainder of his $4.6M annual salary this year since we have no interest in him although if he clears waivers we'll see if he wants to play at Durham. Meanwhile in injury news, our revolving door in LF continued as it became a Spinal Tap drummer type situation where everyone went down. Cory Ridell, who came up and hit after Chris Crisp got hurt, suffered a strained oblique himself and is out until around September 1. Fortunately Crisp came back after the All-Star break and resumed his role (for now, knock wood). Also we lost a starter as lefty Brock Jones developed elbow inflammation and he too will be out until early September. He was having a brilliant year (2.39 ERA in 94 IP) and hopefully he'll be back to form for the postseason. Also Garrett Whitlock missed most of July with back spasms but came back to start just before the month ended. Here's the game-by-game breakdown for July: Where things stand around the league: Team stats: Great stuff all around, and the team defense has been excellent of late. A big month for Tatis, who pushed himself back into the conversation for a third straight MVP, and it was great to see Schmidt finally shake himself out of his year-and-a-half slump even if the power is still somewhat missing. As for Tatis, his month was so big that the league took notice: On the mound: The starters did well (including fill-in Garces) for the most part with Ray a clear exception as regression seemingly came for him after a lights-out first half that saw him put up a 2.44 ERA. It's 3.30 now after the rough July although he did pitch decently in his final start of the month (which tells you how bad the other ones were). Losing Jones for a spell is unfortunate but we've got such a big lead we'll survive it. Also you might notice another new name above as we brought back Jovani Moran after he spent 2024-29 with us. Philly put him on waivers and we were glad to oblige as he still boasts 70 stuff with 70 movement (and yes 40 control). He gives us another solid lefty in the pen with Ramos and Scott. Gonna skip the farm system overview this time as the post has gotten long enough but I will note that lefty starter and 2033 first-round draftee T.J. Hutzenbiler has been rated the #52 prospect in baseball.

04-01-2025, 03:21 PM	#242
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 6,898	August 2033 Record: 90-43 (20-8 for the month) 1st place AL East, 19 1/2 up on Toronto, magic number to clinch is 10 On the surface you might think a 20-8 month and putting away the division was a walk in the park for the Rays in August, but they were hit with a wave of injuries that made it a trying period. The position of LF in particular continued to be a jinx as Joe Edwards was the latest to succumb to injury with a strained oblique that will keep him out until mid-September, and we lost our RF Ben Schmidt with a strained rib cage musicle that is regular-season ending but he should be back for the playoffs. And then there was the starting rotation, which in addition to losing Brock Jones last month lost the Garretts as Whitlock (strained back) and Lambert (strained elbow) went down. Whitlock did come back to start the final game of the month but was out three weeks while Lambert should be back soon. We got so thin that we brought Fernando Costume back as 3-4 inning starter just to fill the rotation. Also veteran Kolby Allard, whom we brought up for long relief and had to make a start, tore his UCL in that start and is done for the year. It really did get ridiculous. Anyway we still got it done on the field with the next man up, and hopefully we're done with the injuries. The game-by-game recap: Still getting it done, especially on the mound. Edwards was just heating up when he went down with his injury while Schmidt had gone ice cold before suffering his. One name of interest here is Jorge Zeledon, whom we called up with all the injuries from AA Montgomery. Zeledon is a kind of freak with 75 (80 potential) contact and 80 avoid Ks but 25 power and a 30 eye. Amazingly he did hit a homer and his 278/278/352 line was about what might be expected. He had been DHing against righties. Nootbar's numbers meanwhile don't look that exciting but he really did come on in the second half of the month after struggling in the aftermath of the deal that brought him here. As you can see the pitching was lights-out again, led by the bullpen which was magnificent (aside from Scott). Garces and Kim (who had struggled as a starter in the past) were outstanding after being pressed into the rotation. And one guy who didn't struggle at all after coming over in trade was Clase: He's been a model of consistency in the role you want to see it in most. Going to pass on the farm system and recap it in post after the regular season ends.