The 2021 (and only 2021) Tampa Bay Rays

[Art Deco]

A very good series for the Rays, who took 2 of 3 from one of the better teams in the league in Texas. They continue to lock down the #2 wild card with the magic number reduced to 17.

The opener didn't go their way however as while they put baserunners on throughout they couldn't get them home in a 3-1 loss. Diego Cartaya's RBI double tied the game at 1 in the 3rd but that would be their only RBI hit as they left nine runners on. Kevin DiCostanzo (6-9) pitched well but suffered the loss after going 6 7 3 2 1 5.

The second game was a wild back-and-forth affair which saw the Rays tie it up in the 9th and then win in the 11th thanks to a Texas error and a bases-loaded walk-off walk to Willi Castro giving them an 8-7 win. Texas went up 4-1 early on Matt Manning, who has been as bad lately as he was good when first claimed on waivers and today's outing was a brutal 4.2 11 6 5 0 2. But in a twist it was the bullpen which did well today, keeping them in the game and allowing a comeback. Wander Franco's 2-run triple keyed a 5-run 4th which put them up 6-5 but Texas regained the lead and it looked like another tough loss before JT Realmuto singled home the equalizer in the 9th. Raymells Rosa earned the win in relief, his first against three losses since being acquired.

The Rays routed the Rangers 9-2 in the rubber game behind another fine start from Wes Mendes. The lefty improved to 2-2, 3.46 as a Ray with a 6 2 2 2 2 6 performance and has outpitched the guy he was traded for, reigning 4-time Cy Young winner James Hays, since the two were dealt. Hays had another mediocre outing for the Dodgers today and is 0-2, 5.90 in 5 starts with LA and has allowed 5 homers in 29 IP. Tampa Bay trailed 2-1 in the 5th but broke things open with 4 runs, keyed by Kelly Crumpton's 3-run shot (#40). They tacked on three more in the 6th with a 2-run triple from the main guy acquired for Hays, Arturo Gutierrez, who's not really been able to crack the lineup but will be next year's 2B. Orlando Tosado homered (#15/17) and drove in a pair while JT Realmuto went deep as well, giving him a 26-HR, 5.1 WAR season as an age-40 catcher, just ridiculous.

Team record: 76-64. Next up: An off-day then 3 games in Minnesota which could be a Wild Card Round preview although the Twins have overtaken Kansas City in the Central by 1/2 game so perhaps we end up playing the Royals.

[Art Deco]

Another good series against a very good team as the Rays took 2 of 3 from the Twins, dropping them back into 2nd place in the AL Central and making them our wild card opponents if the season ended today.

In the opener the Rays bats came out swinging and they built an 8-1 lead by the 5th inning but as often has been the case this season they had to survive the bullpen and held on to win 9-7. JT Realmuto started things in the 2nd with yet another homer (#27) and a misplayed popup kept the inning alive for them to score 5 times in total including a 3-run Wander Franco jack (#19). Kelly Crumpton's 2-run blast (#41) in the 5th made it 8-1 and things started getting dicey when John Swanda couldn't make it out of the 5th after going 4.1 6 4 4 3 2 to cut the lead to 8-4, and then three relievers each allowed a run (including Slade Cecconi who picked up the win to go 4-4) before Raymells Rosa cleaned things up with a scoreless 9th for Rays save #6 and #22 overall.

The Rays put 9 on the board again in the second game but this time got quality pitching and coasted to a 9-2 win over the Twins. The difference was that today was Joe Marlette's turn on the mound and he improved to 13-5 after going 6 7 2 2 0 9. JT Realmuto homered for the third straight game (#28) and with the game 5-2 going into the 9th Kelly Crumpton broke it open by going deep for the third straight game as well, with a man on, and Cristian Hernandez also launched a 2-run dinger (#21).

The same team which scored 9 runs in each of the first two games of the series couldn't even push one across and it was a shame as a brilliant outing from Kevin DiCostanzo was wasted in a 1-0 loss in the finale. DiCostanzo held the Twins to a pair of hits through 7 innings before allowing a hit and a walk with one out in the 8th and departing, and Mike Moore gave up a single to score the game's lone run. DiCostanzo dropped to 6-10 despite going 7.1 3 1 1 1 8 and lowering his ERA to 3.35 as Rays bats could only manage five hits.

Team record: 78-65, no hope of the division but the wild-card clinching magic number is down to 12. Next up: A day off then back home for 3 against the White Sox.

[Art Deco]

The Rays' fine September continued with their first series sweep in over two months (when they swept the Red Sox right before the All-Star break). They're still the longest of long shots to win the division (5 1/2 back) but are very close to clinching a wild card (magic number of 8).

It was bombs away in the opener as the Rays hit five homers in an 8-3 win over the White Sox at Tropicana Field. JT Realmuto - at the age of 40 - hit his career-high 29th homer to tie it at 2 in the 2nd and then the Rays went ahead for good in the 3rd on solo homers from Dong-hwan Kim (#25), Kelly Crumpton (#43) and Orlando Tosado (#16/18). Crumpton later added his 2nd of the game and AL-best 44th of the year in the 7th to cap a 5-RBI day. Wes Mendes (3-2) stayed on his roll going 5 4 2 2 1 8 after needing 46 pitches to get through the first two innings.

High drama in the second game as the Rays rode the longball again to a come-from-behind, walk-off 6-5 win in 10 innings. Matt Manning's struggles continued (5 7 4 4 2 2) and Tampa Bay trailed 4-1 in the 6th. Kelly Crumpton started the comeback with a solo homer to make it 4-2, JT Realmuto doubled in a run to cut the Chicago lead to 4-3 and then Crumpton homered again for his second straight 2-dinger game and 46th of the year in the 8th to tie it. Raymells Rosa (2-3) then gave up a run in the top of the 10th after being pushed to a second inning and things looked bleak, but Crumpton beat out an infield single in the bottom of the inning and Raimfer Salinas stepped up and hit an oppo taco to right (#27/38) to walk it off. Arturo Gutierrez earlier hit his 3rd Rays homer and 24th overall for the first run.

Tampa Bay completed the sweep with a good old-fashion rout in the finale, whupping the White Sox 11-2. JT Realmuto is making a stealth run at MVP (up to 5.6 WAR, 3rd in the AL) as he led the charge with 5 RBI, including a grand slam to reach the 30-homer mark for the first time in his Hall of Fame-bound career. Arturo Gutierrez, getting a chance to play a little, homered for the second straight day (#4/25) and Raimfer Salinas doubled and drove in a pair. John Swanda (5-4) overcame a shaky first and turned in his best outing as Ray, going 8 5 1 1 1 6.

Team record: 81-65. Next up: Last place in the AL Central Detroit visits for 3 games.

MLB News: Longtime Phillies star Bryce Harper has decided to hang up the cleats with the expiration of his 12-year contract at the end of this season. He's struggled with injuries the last few years and sits on 463 career homers.

[Art Deco]

For a brief minute it looked like the Rays might have an outside shot at the division after they won the series opener and the Yankees lost, pulling them within 4 1/2, but they dropped the next two games and are still 5 1/2 back with only 13 games left so a wild card it is (the magic # there is 6).


The Rays took a 9-3 win in the first game, breaking open a close game with a 5-run 8th. Joe Marlette (14-5) gave up an early 3-run homer and they were down 3-1, but he settled in after that to finish 6 2 3 3 2 9. 3 runs in the 4th put them ahead for good thanks to a Dong-hwan Kim RBI double a 2-run two-bagger from Willi Castro. Castro would drive in another run in that 8th inning.

Tampa Bay lost the second game in unfortunate fashion 5-3 in 10 innings after squandering an early 3-1 lead. Dong-hwan Kim's 2-run single in the 3rd gave them that lead but Kevin DiCostanzo couldn't hold it, with the righty allowing runs in the 5th and 6th to let Detroit tie and finishing 6 6 3 3 0 7. The offense had a great chance to win it in the 8th when they loaded the bases with one out, but Cristian Hernandez hit into a 6-2-3 double play to end that threat and then the Tigers scored twice off Raymells Rosa (2-4) in the 10th.

The Rays' hot run before these last two games was fueled in large part by the strong pitching of Wes Mendes but today he reverted to the form he showed after first being acquired in July and they dropped the finale to Detroit 6-4 in a game that really wasn't even that close. Mendes (3-3) didn't have it today, going 4.2 7 6 6 2 1. Single runs in the 7th, 8th and 9th closed a 6-1 deficit but not all the way with Ramifer Salinas homering (#28/39) for the last of them.

Team record: 82-67. Next up: Baltimore, which is 3 up on Cleveland for the third wild card at 77-72, visits for 3 games.

[Art Deco]

It should have been a sweep, but the bullpen (which admittedly hasn't had many meltdowns of late after doing it most of the season) cost them the opener. The wild card magic number is now down to 2, and a date in Minnesota for the playoffs looks all but set as the Twins have fallen 2 1/2 behind the Royals.

The Rays took a 3-1 lead into the 9th inning to start the season but closer Raymells Rosa (2-5) has been shaky lately and today he went beyond shaky allowing 4 runs while trying to close it out and Baltimore won 5-3. Runs were at a premium tonight with Joshua Baez's 2-run single and Willi Castro's solo homer in the 8th (#11), which looked like a big insurance run, seemingly enough to win. Matt Manning had his best start in ages (5 5 1 1 1 6) and four relievers got them unscathed through the next three innings, but Rosa let that all go to waste.

The bats ensured that the second game wouldn't be dependent on the bullpen as they put five on the board in the 1st and went on to rout the Orioles 8-2. Willi Castro picked up where he left off last night and homered to lead off the game, and then homered again in the 8th to give him 4 hits on the night and 13 homers on the year. JT Realmuto also went yard twice with a 3-run blast to cap the 1st and a solo shot in the 6th as he kept extending his career-high homer total to 32. Cristian Hernandez added a bases-empty blast (#22). Meanwhile John Swanda (6-4) was excellent again on the mound at 7 4 1 1 1 6.

The Rays took the series with a 3-2 win on a walk-off wild pitch which scored pinch-runner Orlando Tosado in the bottom of the 9th. It was a pitchers' duel between Joe Marlette and Baltimore's two-way star Billy Carlow and Marlette took a no-hitter into the 6th before being tagged for a couple of runs and finishing 6 2 2 2 2 7. The Rays got a run back off Carlow in the bottom of the 6th and then Joshua Baez homered (#29) in the 7th to tie it, his first dinger since August 7. This brought us to the 9th as Raimfer Salinas led off with a single, Tosado pinch-ran for him and stole second before advancing to third on a Kelly Crumpton single, and Oriole reliever Riley Cornelio then wild-pitched Tosado home to end the game. Raymells Rosa (4-5) bounced back from Monday's debacle with a 1-2-3 9th and picked up the win.

Team record: 84-68. Next up: An off-day then the Yankees come to town for 3. New York is 6 up in the division with 10 games left so only a sweep would make it a race and even then it'd be a long shot.

[Art Deco]

The Rays took 2 of 3 from New York and clinched a wild card spot in the process, all but certain to be the #2 wild card and all but certain to be playing Minnesota which is 3 1/2 behind KC and ensconced in the first WC spot. The division deficit was cut to 5, but with only 7 games left; the Yankees' magic # is 3.

And it was the opener in which any faint dreams of stealing the division were dashed when the Yankees took a 5-3 win. It was a pitchers' duel between Kevin DiCostanzo and New York's Josh Leahy, who came into the game with a 13-1, 1.81 record. Leahy improved on both those counts after shackling the Rays at 7.2 3 1 1 0 0 (talk about soft contact) and DiCostanzo (6-11) blinked in the 5th, allowing the first two runs of the game before things really got away in the 6th as the Yanks scored three more times off Codi Heuer, who allowed two of DiCostanzo's men to score and left the starter with a 5 5 4 4 2 6 line. Three Tampa Bay runs in the final two innings made things close but the 9th-inning rally fell short.

The Rays outlasted the Yankees in the second game, building a 6-3 lead and holding on for an 8-6 win. Wander Franco had a big game, going 3-5 with a pair of homers (#20 & 21) and 3 RBI while Dong-hwan Kim (#26) and Raimfer Salinas (#29 as a Ray and #40 overall) also went yard. Chris Gutierrez contributed a 2-run double. Wes Mendes (4-3) was good enough for the win at 5 8 4 3 0 6 and Raymells Rosa earned a four-out save (#7/25) after Alex Vesia made a mess in the 8th.

Tampa Bay clinched the wild card with a comfortable 7-1 win in the finale, thanks to a fine Matt Manning start and the bat of Joshua Baez. Manning's been on a rollercoaster since joining the Rays, brilliant in his first six starts since being claimed on waivers, terrible in the six after that and now very good in his last two including today's 5.2 2 0 0 3 6 which improved him to 6-3 as a Ray and 12-5 overall. Meanwhile Baez led the offense with a pair of dingers as he eclipsed the 30-homer mark, driving in three. The other four runs came on a pair of 2-run shots from Kelly Crumpton (#47 to go with 125 RBI) and Cristian Hernandez (#23).

Team record: 86-69. This series completed the home portion of the schedule with the Rays finishing a very good 52-29 at the Trop, and we'll start the final week of the regular season with 4 games in Toronto.

[Art Deco]

With the Rays locked into the second wild card the final week of the regular season is mainly about avoiding injuries so the backups are getting a lot of playing time and the Rays split their four games with Toronto.

The Rays led 3-2 and came back to tie at 4 before losing the opener 5-4 to the Blue Jays. Joshua Baez was 2-4 with HR #32 and Wander Franco had a 2-run triple to lead the offense while John Swanda was decent at 5.2 5 4 2 4 4 and Mike Moore gave up the winning run in the 8th to drop to 3-5.

The second game was another game lost by the pen as a 2-1 lead evaporated in the final 3 innings and Jorge Polanco's walk-off homer off Ryan Weathers in the 9th gave Toronto a 3-2 win. Joe Marlette was outstanding in his final tuneup before the playoffs at 6 2 1 0 2 6 and finishes the year 14-5, 3.14 with 207 whiffs in 169 IP and 4.5 WAR. Orlando Tosado (#17/19) and Nolan Jones (his first as a Ray) homered for the two Tampa Bay runs.

Kevin DiCostanzo was excellent and the Rays broke open a close game late to finally win one in this series over Toronto 7-3. DiCostanzo finished his regular season with a 7 3 1 1 0 5 gem and ends up 7-11, 3.44 with 10 saves in a season split between the pen and the rotation and which was good enough for 4.2 WAR. Willi Castro, Kelly Crumpton and Joshua Baez each had 2 hits and a ribbie to lead the offense.

The Rays salvaged a split of the series with another 7-3 win in the finale. They trailed this one 2-0 after 6 innings before exploding for 7 runs in the 7th and 8th innings. JT Realmuto got them on the board with a solo shot leading off the 7th (#33) and then in the 8th Dong-hwan Kim launched a 3-run shot (#25) and Arturo Gutierrez went solo (#5/26) for his third hit of the day. Orlando Tosado contributed a 2-run double which put them ahead to stay, making a winner of Slade Cecconi (5-4) in relief. Wes Mendes started and went 4.2 6 2 2 1 5.

Team record: 88-71, so a 90-win season is still in the cards if the Rays can take 2 of 3 in their final stop of the year at Fenway Park.

Playoff race update: Cleveland and Baltimore are tied for the third AL wild card and each has a 3-game series left then a rescheduled game between the two on the Monday after everyone else finishes, a game which of course could function as a 1-game playoff. In the NL everything is clinched except for the third wild card and the Cubs hold a commanding 2-game lead on the Giants there.

Also this:

[Art Deco]

We played out the string at Fenway and lost 2 of 3, not surprising since we were playing makeshift lineups. Injuries were avoided but Kelly Crumpton came down with the flu (moderate) which will affect him in the first playoff game in Minnesota but he's going to be in the lineup.

A 6-run 4th inning gave the Rays a 9-2 win in the opener over Boston. Matt Manning (7-3) closed out his season with a 6 3 2 2 2 3 outing and a 3.63 ERA as a Ray. It's close but I'm going with Wes Mendes over him as a Game 3 starter if necessary. Offensively Kelly Crumpton hit HR #48 (and won the AL's HR crown by 1 over Texas' Yordan Alvarez) and Orlando Tosado hit the 20-HR mark overall with a 2-run shot, his 18th with the Rays.

Joshua Baez's 33rd homer gave the Rays an early 1-0 lead but they couldn't hold it and lost the second game 4-2. John Swanda was pretty good at 6 5 2 2 3 4 and closed his season in good form also, finishing 6-5 with the same 3.63 ERA as Manning.

The Rays couldn't get to 90 wins in the finale, losing 3-2 to Boston. Alek Manoah (0-1) started and went 4.2 5 2 2 1 5 and Willi Castro drove in both runs with a sac fly and a 9th-inning solo shot (#14) which got them within one.

Final Regular Season Record: 89-73. This was the worst record I've had in the 11 seasons of this save with the previous low being 92 in 2025. We won the World Series that year, so maybe it's a good omen. I doubt it though. Next up: The AL Wild Card round in Minnesota where we'll need to take 2 out of 3.

Playoff race news: The Cubs won on Friday night to end any suspense for the third NL Wild Card, and Cleveland won 2 of 3 while Baltimore lost 2 of 3 on the final weekend and thanks to the Guardians' 4-1 regular season record against the Orioles, their finale on Monday proved meaningless even though Baltimore won to give them identical records.

MLB News: As usual at season's end there were a wave of retirements and the most notable included ex-Rays starters Tyler Glasnow and Brendan McKay, as well as Lucas Giolito, Anthony Rendon, Tim Anderson and Marcell Ozuna.

[Art Deco]

Yordan Alvarez came through big this year and helped Texas win 100 games. Even though he's listed as "wrecked" and had played only 72 and 98 games the previous two season he somehow managed to stay healthy the entire season and missed out on a Triple Crown by one homer thanks to our Kelly Crumpton. This is how the playoff tree shakes out:



We would play Alvarez and his 100-win Rangers if we're able to get by Minnesota.

The final Rays stats:



It was a weird season as we had the best offense in the league (including star players like Orlando Tosado and Arturo Gutierrez who couldn't crack the regular lineup) and we had the best starting rotation by ERA in the league but that horrible bullpen cost us to the tune of a finishing 7 games worse than our Pythagorean record. We had the best run differential in the league and had a Pythag record one game better than the Yankees, whom we finished 4 games behind. So a lot to like but bad luck and a bad bullpen cost us, hopefully not in the postseason.



You know you have a pretty good lineup when everyone except the DH (Salinas) has at least 3 WAR for the season and is in double-digits in homers.



As you can see the starters were very good, although it hurt to lose Prosecky and Panzini. The bullpen remains an issue despite several acquisitions, and losing Dettmer for the year hurt even though he had lost the closer's job. Needless to say it will be a focus in the offseason.

[Art Deco]

[Art Deco]

Backs to the wall already...



When the Rays battled back to take a 5-4 lead in the 6th, who actually thought they'd be able to hold it, given this season's bullpen? And of course they didn't, losing 9-5 with Mason Feole giving up a 3-run Kyle Tucker homer in the 8th to see the game go out of hand. Of course it didn't help that Joe Marlette picked a bad time to have a lousy game as he couldn't get out of the fourth, giving up three straight run-scoring hits to put the Twins up 4-1 early. John Swanda looked good in the 1 1/3 innings through the 5th but got into 6th-inning trouble by putting men on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out and although Alex Vesia got a big whiff of Tucker he then gave up the go-ahead 2-run single. So now Kevin DiCostanzo is going to have to show better tomorrow or the season will be over.

Elsewhere:

[Art Deco]

Holy crap Wander Franco...



Just in case it wasn't apparent from the box score:



Led by Franco the Rays annihilated Minnesota 11-0 to force a third and deciding game in the AL Wild Card series. Not a lot to say about this game which isn't apparent in the box score and the blurb above, so it comes down to tomorrow with Wes Mendes getting the start but on a very short leash with Matt Manning and John Swanda ready to step in behind him at the first sign of trouble. All hands on deck of course.

Elsewhere the Yankees move on:

[Art Deco]

See you next year...



When it mattered the most, the Rays came up small, except for Wes Mendes, as the offense whimpered out in a 3-0 loss in the deciding Wild Card Game 3. It was a bad omen when they got leadoff doubles in the first two innings and failed to bring either man home, and those were the highlights as they had only 4 hits after that. Mendes pitched his heart out and was the tough-luck loser thanks to Royce Lewis tripling to lead off the game and scoring. Other than that he pitched his best game in Rays colors but an offense which scored 16 runs in the first two games couldn't rub two sticks together. So the 2031 Rays died as they lived: as colossal disappointments.

With the Rays eliminated I will just post series summaries for the remainder of the playoffs.

[Art Deco]

AL:






At least we won a game against the Twins. Meanwhile after mentioning the "wrecked" Yordan Alvarez made it through the regular season unscathed he of course was injured in the ALDS, going down in Game 2 for the playoffs which turned out to be only one more game for Texas.

NL:






Each league had an 0-2 comeback in the DS with the Cards doing it in the NL. Our good friend James Hays was brilliant in Game 1 (7 5 0 0 1 7) and not as brilliant in Game 5 (7.2 6 3 3 2 8 with 3 solo homers allowed) but still should have been the winner as the Dodgers were up 4-3 going into the 9th but LA closer Matt Allan was tagged for two runs in the 9th to give St. Louis the win and the series.

[Art Deco]

AL:




A wild back-and-forth series which saw the Yankees take the opener and Minnesota win the next three before the Yankees won the final three to advance to the Fall Classic. Coming up huge in Game 7 was former Ray Andy Kelley, who had an RBI double and then the game-winning homer in the 7th to break a 3-3 tie.

NL:




So it will be the Yankees and Cardinals as the AL has a non-Rays representative in the World Series for the first time since 2027.

[Art Deco]

A forgettable World Series although the choice of MVP was a curious one as it rarely goes to a player on the losing team, let alone a player on a team which was swept. The problem was that no Cardinal hit better than .294 for the series while Shewmake was 7-16 (.429) with a homer. Still that's an OOTP thing you'll never see in real life.

Now we'll move on the offseason, which should be an interesting one for the Rays.

[Art Deco]

There was no question 2031 was the worst season for the Rays in this save, from a team-low 89 wins to a quick exit from the playoffs in the wild card round. There are a lot of moving parts going into next season and some obvious needs to address.

Free agents of significance departing: Willi Castro, Nathan Dettmer, Matt Manning, Joan Adon, Alek Manoah, Alex Vesia.

Castro is the biggest one, but we will wish him well as Arturo Guterriez and his 30-35 HR power will be ready to step into the position. Dettmer was one of the problem children in the bullpen but was one of the least problematic of them. He wants $12M to extend, so no. Manning wants $10M/year and while he did provide a spark to the rotation after being claimed on waivers, that's a no as well. The others are replaceable bullpen parts although owner Stu Sternberg wants me to re-sign Manoah (he doesn't want much so I might just to appease the owner).

The budget: $160M for payroll, same as last year.

The projected salaries, which add up to $146M:



Position-by-position outlook:

Catcher: JT Realmuto must have a portrait at his house that ages while he gets younger, as he just had a career year at age 40, with personal highs in WAR (6.0) and homers (33). We have no problem with his option vesting, although late in the year his hitting ratings took a little bit of a hit so I'm not expecting as big a year with the bat this time. He's still rated 70 defensively. Diego Cartaya was terrible as his backup and I may be shopping elsewhere.

First Base: Kelly Crumpton is one of the premier sluggers in baseball and has hit 137 homers the last three years. He's going into his final year of team control but he'll be back.

Second Base: As mentioned, Arturo Gutierrez is freed from the bench to become the everyday guy here.

Shortstop: Wander Franco remains a fixture here after putting up his customary 5+ WAR season. He's terrible defensively (-14.7 ZR) but it's something we have to live with.

Third Base: Cristian Hernandez quietly turned in a fine season at the hot corner with 23 HR, 3.4 WAR and a +2.5 ZR. And he's still making the minimum one more year.

Left Field: The domain of the Donger, as Dong-hwan Kim turned in a 4.3 WAR season as like Crumpton he goes into his final year of team control.

Center Field: Chris Gutierrez had a breakout 4-WAR season, adding a little power (his 13 HR last year were as many as his previous two years combined) to go with elite defense (+11.2 ZR and a possible Gold Glove this year).

Right Field: Incumbent Joshua Baez had an up-and-down year with a great first half, an extended slump in July and August, and then a bounce-back September. It was good for 33 HR and 3 WAR, and he's a plus fielder in right.

Designated Hitter: Raimfer Salinas got off to a slow start after being acquired by the Yankees but in the end turned in his usual 40-homer season, although with his defensive limitations and play at DH was only good for 2.1 WAR. With budding star Nate Strickland more than ready for the bigs, Salinas will be trade bait for pitching help.

Bench: Orlando Tosado is way overqualified to be a 4th outfielder, with 40-homer power of his own, elite speed and above-average defense. He's Kim's heir apparent in LF but will have to settle for a part-time role with no real openings. Depending on how Baez fares he could platoon some with the righty-hitter in RF. Jamie Reiner was pretty mediocre as the backup MI and barely played after Gutierrez was acquired midseason. He still has elite bat-to-ball skills but isn't a very good defensive player (50 2B, 40 SS, 30 3B) for a utility IF. He has options if we find someone more defensively-skilled to replace him.

Starting Rotation: The rotation was pretty good last year and returns its top 4 in Joe Marlette, Kevin DiCostanzo, Wes Mendes and Michael Prosecky, the latter coming back from a torn meniscus which forced him to miss the second half of the year. Recent rotation stalwart Shane Panzini will miss the year with a torn UCL but since he has a final year of team control in 2033 we'll tender him an offer in arbitration. Speaking of arb tenders, John Swanda showed enough last year to be penciled in as the fifth starter and Brad Garrard remains a possibility. For depth purposes I might want to acquire a back-of-the-rotation starter.

Bullpen: Abandon hope all ye who enter here. We cycled through relievers and closers all season as it might have been the worst bullpen I've had in any of my Rays saves. Improving the pen was even one of Stu Sternberg's post-season edicts. We ended the year with Raymells Rosa as the closer and he's due $7.5M in arbitration. Based on his performance with us, I really don't want to pay it so he'll either be traded or non-tendered. Lefty Dax Fulton is out for most of the season so I'll probably non-tender him as well. This would leave Mike Moore as our closer until someone else is picked up, and Codi Heuer is back as well, after struggling post-acquisition he pitched well in September and still is decent. Slade Cecconi, who seems like he's been with us forever, also will return in the long relief/spot starter role where he's decent, and fireballer Jon Post (another mid-season acquisition) will return. But there's no question we need to add 2-3 quality arms here to turn things around.

All in all this is a very good team with one of the best everyday lineups in baseball returning along with a pretty decent rotation. Improve the bullpen and there's no reason we can't get back to 100 wins and a deep postseason run.

[Art Deco]

We started the offseason with a couple of big trades to address the bullpen. First was this one:


(forgot to screen cap the trade window on this one)

Salinas was as they say, surplus to requirements, and he was going to bring us the best return. And now we have our 2032 closer in Josh Scanlon:



As you can see he led the AL in saves and has 74 over the last two seasons. His only achilles heel seems to be control as he's rated 50 and has walked a little over 4 per 9 innings. But his stuff is electric and here's hoping he can solidify the back end of the pen. But that's not all - we also picked up a 5th starter in the deal, or at least someone to challenge John Swanda, in Christian Little. Those of you who followed my 2020 Rays save know that Little was a legend there, culminating in a Hall of Fame enshrinement as he was one of the best strikeout artists in history. In this save he's nowhere near that but still a decent starter:



He's pretty solid with a chance to be a little better and will give us some options. As a 40 stamina guy he's going to be a 5-inning starter so maybe we'll pair him with Swanda in sort of a tandem role.

Another trade:



With Dax Fulton (whom we also acquired from Texas a few years back) out for the year we were going to need a reliable lefty in the pen as Alex Vesia (whom we may still bring back) is a free agent and Mason Feole was inconsistent. Tommy Burpee, the #1 overall pick in 2024, fills that bill and the cost was a guy we weren't going to tender in arbitration anyway in Raymells Rosa:



Burpee is capable of starting but hopefully we won't need him in the rotation.

Awards season:

Gold Glove: We won three with the departing Matt Manning winning the award at pitcher, the ageless J.T. Realmuto taking the award at catcher, and the also-departing Willi Castro winning at 2B.

Reliever of the Year: The AL nod went to the Yankees' Sam Weatherly, 8-3, 2.65 with 22 saves and 1.7 WAR, with our newly-acquired Josh Scanlon finishing fifth. Veteran Japanese closer Terufumi Yoshimoto of the Mets won the award for the third time in his career after an 8-win, 44-save season with a 2.23 ERA and 1.3 WAR.
Silver Slugger: Like the Gold Glove, three Rays were honored with J.T. Realmuto winning both. Also getting the nod were Wander Franco at SS and Dong-hwan Kim in LF.

Rookie of the Year: Baltimore CF Jake Westfall was the unanimous AL winner after a sterling .311-27-92 season with 5.5 WAR and in the NL 33-year-old Cuban defector Luis Arana of Milwaukee was unanimous after a .257-40-113 year with 5.1 WAR.

Cy Young: The AL voting was about as fragmented as it gets:



(Note: I voted for Mank, the former Rays prospect and wasn't the lone voter for Joe Marlette)

Leahy was a brilliant 14-2, 1.91. with 4.0 WAR but only made 25 starts and pitched 131 innings. Roach was 11-9, 3.35 and led the AL with in whiffs (221) and WAR (5.2), while Frias had the best relief season (although for some reason didn't win Reliever of the Year) with 14 wins, 3 saves, a 1.12 ERA in 88.2 IP and 2.7 WAR, although he did make 9 starts among his 42 appearances. Mank was 15-4, 3.14, led the league in innings (214), WHIP (1.07) and earned 4.5 WAR.

In the NL it was much more straightforward with Memphis' Josh Johnson taking 29 first-place votes after a 17-10, 2.76 season in which he led MLB with 254.2 IP and 284 strikeouts, good enough for 8.1 WAR.

MVP: The AL award was claimed by Yordan Alvarez of Texas, getting 31 of 32 first-place votes thanks to his .315-47-130 season in which he barely missed the Triple Crown (thanks to our Kelly Crumpton's 48 dingers). The other first-place vote went to Minnesota's Royce Lewis while our J.T. Realmuto showed in third. Wander Franco was 5th and Crumpton 7th.

In the NL Atlanta's Ronald Acuna Jr. won for the sixth time and was a unanimous pick, having hit .312/418/658 with 43 HR, 112 RBI and 8.3 WAR.

December 12: The first of the big free agents signed, and it was one of ours as Willi Castro inked a 4/85 pact with the Memphis Spirit. I would have given Castro a QO but he had already received one in 2027 from Detroit thus he was ineligible.

December 13: Texas is apparently very enamored of new acquisition Raymells Rosa and gave him a 2/20 extension.

December 14: Matt Chapman is the J.T. Realmuto of third basemen apparently as Atlanta signed the 38-year-old to a 2/46 deal to man the hot corner for them in 2032 and 2033. Also former Ray Drew Rasmussen signed a 2/1.8 deal with the Mets.

December 21: Added SS Mike Vitelli and Ps Jake Snyder and Randy Morris to the 40-man roster.

Vitelli was a 4th round pick in 2027 who has a pretty decent bat but a suspect glove while Snyder and Morris are groundballers who keep the ball in the park (both with 70+ movement ratings) and display good control. Snyder is a 31-year-old vet who's had 3 good seasons at Durham while Morris was a 15th-round pick in 2028 who's made it to AA Montgomery pitching well at every step. Both are depth.

The Rule 5 draft turned out to be uneventful with six players being taken and the AI GMs did a good job of not exposing top prospects.

December 25: The baseball world was busy on Christmas as former Ray Nathan Dettmer signed a 3/27 deal with the Giants, while another former Ray Jose Crespo signed a 2/21 pact with Texas, which along with the Raymells Rosa acquisition sees them spending serious money on their pen.





Holy crap! I was not expecting this. Realmuto has decided to forego $23M to play in 2032 and has retired. This leaves a gaping hole at catcher with only the mediocre Diego Cartaya on the active roster and not much in the pipeline. This is a serious blow to the franchise for the next season and job one is now to find a catcher. We have $23M more to spend on top of the $20M or so we had available. There is another superstar catcher out there in free agency, William Contreras, who wants a 5/128 deal. I will be reaching out to him for sure, otherwise I will have to see what's available in trade. Definitely among the more shocking developments I've had in OOTP.

December 26: Well I made Contreras an offer and word has already leaked out:



December 27: Another former Ray found a new home as reliever Tommy Doyle went the Dodgers for 2/7.3 and Jeff McNeil, who had a brief stint with us as a rental in 2029 when we won the World Series, is still commanding interest at age 39, signing a 2/32 deal with Arizona.

December 28: While all our attention is fixed on 2032, our head scout Rob Metzler is out there looking at the distant future and made a pretty nice scouting discovery:



Lugo is quite a cut above your typical scouting discovery and is almost worthy of a $5M July 2 signing.

December 30: We made a free agent signing! (No it wasn't Contreras)



Guzman has great ratings as you can see and he only cost $1.1M. The catch? His actual performance has been spotty the last few years with San Antonio (and he's also rated "fragile"). He's kind of the ultimate swingman, making 62 starts and 60 relief appearances over the last 3 years with ERAs of 4.71, 5.15 and 6.04 but he did earn 2.2 WAR in 2030 before dropping off to 0.9 last year. Here I'm taking a gamble on the ratings and some underlying metrics over the basic stats and the investment risk was minimal.

We also signed a Taiwanese import who came over in the international veteran free agent class:



Yue signed a minor league deal so no cost involved. He's not terribly likely to come up but will provide depth.

Time to let the 2031 archive generate for about 45 minutes so we'll be back with Part 2 of the offseason and see if we can sign William Contreras.

[Art Deco]

January 1: Two-time former Ray Alex Vesia signed a 1/3.4 deal with Kansas City.

January 3: 39-year-old Xavier Bogaerts signed a 3/37 deal with St. Louis after spending the last three years with division rival Milwaukee.



OK Bill, thanks for the update.

January 7: Another year with nobody elected to the Hall of Fame:



Also surprising since this year's class was particularly weak with Stephen Strasburg's 8.6% the best showing from a debutant.

January 13: IF Brennon McNair, who spent a couple of months on our active roster last year and hit .089 in a reserve role, signed a minor league deal with Colorado.


January 16: Another former Ray with a new home is Osvanni Gutierrez, who pitched in middle relief for us from 2025-2028 as he lands in Detroit on a 3/9.3 deal.

January 18: 1B Ryan Mountcastle, who had his best season in the bigs with Oakland, hitting .310 with a Gold Glove and 3.1 WAR, parlayed that career year into a 4/46 deal with San Diego.

January 19: 36-year-old SP Dylan Cease signed a 1/13 contract with the Phillies. He has 70 stuff but is "wrecked".

January 23: 39-year-old star 3B Jose Ramirez was dumped by Milwaukee to Cincinnati in a deal in which they retained his entire $22M salary, netting an 18-year-old prospect. Father Time appears to have caught up with Ramirez, who dropped to 1.1 WAR last year after 4.5 in 2030.

January 25: One of the better leadoff men in the game has a new home as 31-year-old career .300 hitter Corbin Carroll has left the only team he's known, Arizona, for a 4/45 deal with Texas.

January 26: And there it is, a month after the original offer:



Contreras isn't Realmuto, offensive or defensively, but he's the next best thing that was available out there. The deal is for 4 years with a player option for Year 4 which I'd be thrilled if he declined meaning he was so good during the first three. He is coming off a fine 299/386/445 season in which he earned 3.1 WAR. That is great for a catcher until you realize Realmuto earned 6 WAR last year before he decided to go out on top.

Now I can re-focus on what else is out there.

January 31: After leaving us to join the Mets for a year, lefty Wennington Romero is headed to Seattle on a 2/14 deal.

February 12: Matt Manning parlayed his good comeback year with us and Miami into a 4/36 deal with St. Louis. Also veteran slugger Rowdy Tellez is finally departing Toronto where he tormented us to sign a 1/12 contract with the Cubs.

February 15: Shane Bieber is still getting it done these days, and after a good multi-year stint in San Francisco where he put up his usual 200+ IP and 200+ Ks, he joined Philly on a 1-year, $24.8M deal.

February 25: Matt Olson is alive and kicking, and signed a 2/21 contract with the Giants.

March 3: RIP Stu Sternberg:



Danny sounds delightful.

[Art Deco]

No injuries of note during Spring Training.

C-Contreras, Cartaya
1B-Crumpton
2B-A.Gutierrez
SS-Franco
3B-C.Hernandez
IF-Reiner, J.Gutierrez
LF-Kim
CF-C.Gutierrez
RF-Tosado
OF-Baez
DH-Strickland

J.Gutierrez is Jonathan Gutierrez, who is both out of options and ready to play in the big leagues. He was our July 2 signing all the way back in 2024 which is why he's now out of options but he hit 324/385/519 at AA Montgomery last year and will platoon at DH with fellow rookie Nate Strickland. Jonathan (one of 3 Guiterrezes we will have in the lineup at times) is rated 65 contact, 60 power and also doesn't whiff much, rated 70 at avoiding Ks.

SP-Marlette, DiCostanzo, Mendes, Prosecky, Little
LR-Swanda, Cecconi
MR-F.Guzman, Feole, Adcock, Heuer
SU-Moore, Burpee
CL-Scanlon

The only development here is that Cody Adcock made the team over Jon Post, and that was also an out-of-options consideration. Adcock has 75 stuff but has struggled at the big-league level so this will likely be his last chance. Codi Heuer's stuff was seriously downgraded as he lost a couple miles an hour off his fastball and is going to be on a very short leash as well, so between those two there's a good chance Post is up before long.

The presesason predictions are calling for a repeat of last season (of course whether the record is due to bullpen meltdowns is unknown):



I think our offense will be better than they're predicting.