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.

10-10-2025, 02:03 PM	#2921
Art Deco Hall Of Famer Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 7,492	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.