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A Below Average Rays Fan Blog

Rays designate Jesus Aguilar; acquire Brian O’Grady

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The Tampa Bay Rays designated Jesus Aguilar for assignment on Wednesday.

The Tampa Bay Rays made a pair of roster moves on Wednesday, acquiring outfielder/first baseman Brian O’Grady from the Cincinnati Reds — who, in turn, will receive a player to be named later and cash — while designating first baseman/designated hitter Jesus Aguilar for assignment to create roster space. Aguilar had been projected to earn $2.5-Million in arbitration.

Aguilar, who was traded to the Rays at the July 31st deadline, turned in a .261 BA/.336 OBP/.424 SLG/.760 OPS slash line, with a 103 wRC+ across 107 plate appearances and 37 games (26 starts). His modest production, however, was not enough to motivate the Rays to commit to his salary and tie up a roster spot. The six-year veteran of Cleveland, the Brewers, and Tampa Bay is a career .256 hitter with a .805 OPS, 63 career home runs, and 215 RBI making him an interesting target for teams in need of 1B/DH help.

O’Grady is a left-handed hitter who earned his first shot at the big leagues last season. The speedy multi-dimensional player scuffled in his limited opportunities, although he showed well with Triple-A Louiseville, where he was co-MVP. At the Triple-A level, O’Grady slashed .280 BA/.359 OBP/.550 SLG/.909 OPS with 28 home runs, 77 RBI, and 20 stolen bases over 489 plate appearances. He became Louisville’s first-ever player to hit at least 20 home runs and swipe 20 bases in the same season.

Neil Solondz (Rays Radio) wrote about O’Grady, saying:

O’Grady also made nine starts and appeared in 28 games for the Reds, his first MLB action. Following the season, he was ranked by Baseball America as the Best Defensive First Baseman in the International League in its Best Tools survey. In the outfield, Grady has played all three spots, with more time in left field and center than right.

O’Grady was selected by the Reds in the eighth round of the 2014 June Draft out of Rutgers University, where he earned third team All-Conference honors as a senior. Over six minor league seasons, he is a career .252 hitter with an .807 OPS with 76 home runs, 299 RBI and 85 stolen bases.

— Neil Solondz

Tampa Bay now has six arbitration-eligible players to decide upon since Aguilar and Matt Duffy were designated for assignment, and Mike Zunino agreed to terms.

Those remaining players and their estimated 2020 contracts (courtesy of MLB Trade Rumors) are:

  • Oliver Drake — $1.1-Million
  • Tyler Glasnow — $1.9-Million
  • Guillermo Heredia — $1.1-Million
  • Tommy Pham — $8.6-Million
  • Daniel Robertson — $1.1-Million
  • Chaz Roe — $2.2-Million.

As Solondz notes:

The six players above will earn about $16 million in 2020 if they all are tendered. Add in the approximately $32.5 million that five players under contract are to receive (Kevin Kiermaier, Brandon Lowe, Charlie Morton, Blake Snell and Mike Zunino and that’s that’s about $48.5 million for 11 players. Several others would make near the minimum (ie — Willy Adames, Austin Meadows, Diego Castillo etc) but there are still several areas still to improve upon in order to upgrade next year’s version of the Rays from a 96-win total and a year that ended in the ALDS.

— Neil Solondz

The Rays have until 8 p.m. Monday to decide whether to tender a contract to the above mentioned arbitration-eligible players.

Rays agree to $4.5-Million contract with Mike Zunino

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The Tampa Bay Rays agreed to a $4.5-million contract with catcher Mike Zunino.

The Tampa Bay Rays agreed to a $4.5-Million contract with catcher Mike Zunino. He will remain under team control for the 2021 season with a $4.5-million club option.

The contract pays Zunino a bit less than he might have anticipated — he was projected by MLB Trade Rumors to earn $4.9-million via arbitration. However, the option year includes an escalator provision that allows Zunino to augment his potential salary by up to $750-thousand based on the number of plate appearances he takes next season, according to Mark Feinsand (MLB.com, Twitter link).

Zunino was at risk of being non-tendered by Tampa Bay, yet with Travis d’Arnaud heading to Atlanta, the team decided to hang onto a known quantity to platoon with Michael Perez behind the plate.

Zunino is a valued defender who has a history of productivity in the batter’s box…his lackluster 2019 campaign precluded, of course. Zunino slashed just .165 BA/.232 OBP/.312 SLG/.544 OPS/.235 wOBA with a 45 wRC+ across 289 plate appearances. Yet in 2017, Zunino rode a .251 BA/.331 OBP/.509 SLG/.840 OPS/.355 wOBA/126 wRC+ slash line and a .355 BABIP over 435 plate appearances. Yet last season he managed only a .220 BABIP. As Jeff Todd (MLB Trade Rumors) noted, Statcast suggests the dip is the product of both misfortune (his .271 xwOBA dwarfed his .235 wOBA) and a performance downturn (36.9% hard-hit ratio, down from 46.9% in 2017).

Defensively, however, Zunino was among the best in the big leagues with a 34.1% caught stealing percentage, and third in the American League in the defensive runs saved at nine.

Tampa Bay is banking heavily on an improved performance from Zunino in 2020.

We’re pretty committed to Mike here. We don’t expect a repeat of 2019. This deal came together because we believe Mike is capable of providing more offense than he did last year, his total defensive impact is as good as it gets, he’s a great teammate, and he wants to be here.

— Erik Neander

Noteworthiness

— Matt Duffy, who was designated for assignment last week, has cleared release waivers and is now a free agent.

Rays designate Matt Duffy; trade Jose De Leon

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On Wednesday, the Tampa Bay Rays designated 3B Matt Duffy for assignment in order to clear space on the 40-man roster.

On Wednesday, the Tampa Bay Rays designated third baseman Matt Duffy for assignment and traded right-hander Jose De Leon to Cincinnati in order to clear space on the 40-man roster. Tampa Bay will receive cash or a player to be named later from the Reds in exchange for De Leon. Additionally, the Rays selected the contracts of infielders Vidal Brujan, Jake Cronenworth, Kevin Padlo and Lucius Fox as well as catcher Ronaldo Hernandez.

Matt Duffy was acquired in the 2016 trade that sent Matt Moore to the San Francisco. And while he was expected to be a central point of the Rays infield, a series of injuries — Achilles, foot, hamstring, and back — sidelined Duffy for much of his tenure with Tampa Bay. He played just 199 games and totaled 809 plate appearances across three-and-one-half seasons.

Duffy appeared in 46 games after opening the 2019 season on the injured list, slashing .252 BA/.343 OBP/.327 SLG/.670 OPS/.299 wOBA with one home run, 12 RBI, and an 88 wRC+. Overall, he hit .284 with six home runs, 63 RBI, and a .708 OPS for Tampa Bay.

The Rays — who made a similar move last off-season with C.J. Cron — have seven days to trade, release, or pass Duffy through waivers. Yandy Diaz is now in line to be the primary third baseman.

De Leon missed all of the 2018 season, and the first half of 2019 while recovering from Tommy John surgery. He appeared in just four games for Tampa Bay. The right-hander was acquired in a 2017 trade with the Dodgers. De Leon never really met the high expectations set before him, spending most of 2017 with Triple-A Durham before injuring his elbow in Spring Training.

Steve Adams (MLB Trade Rumors) wrote about the five players added to the 40-man roster ahead of the 2019 Rule-5 Draft:

Brujan is the most highly regarded prospect of those protected today, ranking as a consensus top 100 prospect, and posting a combined .277/.346/.389 batting line between Class-A Advanced and Double-A as a 21-year-old. Each of Hernandez (No. 7), Cronenworth (No. 17) and Fox (No. 19) ranked inside the Rays’ top 30 at MLB.com. Fox, notably, came to the Rays in the same 2016 trade as Duffy. The 23-year-old Padlo was acquired along with Corey Dickerson in the trade that sent German Marquez to the Rockies, and he posted a robust .265/.389/.538 line between Double-A and Triple-A in 2019.

Rays are front runners to sign Howie Kendrick

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The Tampa Bay Rays are interested in, and reportedly frontrunners for, free-agent Howie Kendrick.

After a brilliant 2019 campaign, culminating in a World Series title with the Washington Nationals, the Tampa Bay Rays are reportedly front-runners to ink a deal with free-agent Howie Kendrick. The Cincinnati Reds, another team connected to Kendrick, no longer seems likely to sign him.

Kendrick has been a quality hitter since his big-league career began with the Los Angeles Angels in 2006, posting a career .294 BA/.337 OBP/.431 SLG/.768 OPS/.333 wOBA slash line. Although he is coming off his best offensive campaign, hitting a fantastic .344 BA/.395 OBP/.572 SLG/.967 OPS/.400 wOBA line and a career-best 146 wRC+ with 17 home runs across 370 plate appearances. Kendrick’s heroics continued throughout the playoffs when he hit a pair of critical home runs that helped propel the Nationals to a championship.

While a surge in power is rare for a 36-year-old player it was not wholly unexpected from Kendrick, whose ISO ramped up from .111 in 2016 to .161 the following season, .171 in 2018, and finally .228 last season. Meanwhile, his walk rate jumped from a career 5.4% to 7.3% and he reduced his strikeout rate from an already above-average 17.2% to a career-low 13.2% last season. In addition, Kendrick’s 91.6 mph average exit velocity — which was up from 88.2 mph in 2018 — ranked one spot behind Yandy Diaz.

There is a reason to believe that even with a regression closer to his 2017/18 production levels, Kendrick will again be productive in 2020. Fangraphs’ Steamer Projection System forecasts an above-average a .299 BA/.354 OBP/.478 SLG/.832 OPS line with a 117 wRC+.

Kendrick is likely better equipped for an American League team like the Rays, with whom he’d serve as a platoon first baseman or DH. He also still has enough defensive versatility to see time at second and third base. MLB Trade Rumors that he will land a two-year, $12-million contract.

Kevin Kiermaier wins his third Gold Glove; Rays free-agent predictions

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Kevin Kiermaier won his third Gold Glove in six seasons on Sunday.

The superlatives for the Tampa Bay Rays, and individual members of the organization, continued on Sunday when centerfielder Kevin Kiermaier earned his third Gold Glove in six seasons ⁠— edging out Mike Trout and Jackie Bradley, Jr.

The award is given to players with stellar individual fielding performances at each position in the National and American Leagues.

Kiermaier was not eligible for the award the previous two seasons due to injuries that limited his playing time to just 118 combined games. Yet The Outlaw was back to his old tricks for most of 2019, dazzling fans with improbable catches and leaps at the wall, while also gunning players out at the plate.

Kiermaier dominated the competition, leading all American League centerfielders with +13 Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) and 17 Outs Above Average, an MLB StatCast calculation that takes into consideration catch probability.

He also ranked first in StatCast’s quick jump measure, which calculates the amount of ground covered (in feet) in the correct direction in the first three seconds. He led all outfielders with a “jump” that was 3.8 feet better than average; he was the only player better than 2.5 feet above average.

Kiermaier previously won the AL Gold Glove in centerfield in both the 2015 and 2016 seasons. In 2015, he also won the Platinum Glove Award as the best defender in the AL. The 2019 Wilson Defensive Awards will be announced on Wednesday.

Noteworthiness

— On Monday, MLB Trade Rumors presented its 14th annual Top 50 Free Agents list. Tim Dierkes (MLB Trade Rumors) predicted that the Rays would ink deals with a pair of now-former Yankees, Edwin Encarnacion, and Dellin Betances.

The predictions follow:

38.  Edwin Encarnacion – Rays.  One year, $8MM.  Encarnacion, 37 in January, just finished his eighth consecutive season with at least 32 home runs. From 2012 to present, no one matched EE’s 297 bombs or 850 RBIs. Though the slugger’s defensive limitations might ultimately limit him to the Hall of Very Good, Encarnacion proved he can still mash with a 129 wRC+ this year. That’s better than fellow free agents Nicholas Castellanos, Jose Abreu, Mike Moustakas, Avisail Garcia, and Marcell Ozuna. The key to fitting Encarnacion into the middle of a team’s lineup is finding a spot for him defensively, as he’s topped out at about 500 innings at first base in recent years and should mostly serve as a designated hitter. The Rays, Blue Jays, Indians, Orioles, White Sox, and Yankees could theoretically find a place for Encarnacion’s bat, though several of those teams have already done so in the past.

43.  Dellin Betances – Rays.  One year, $7MM.  Betances, 32 in March, authored a dominant five-year stretch for the Yankees in which he posted a 2.22 ERA and struck out 40.3 percent of the hitters he faced in 373 1/3 innings from 2014-18. Both figures are second in MLB during that time. Betances was also near the top with a 97.4 mile per hour average fastball during that period. However, a shoulder injury appeared during Spring Training 2019 and surprisingly delayed Betances’ season debut until September 15th. He struck out the only two batters he faced that day, but suffered a partial tear of his left Achilles tendon in the appearance. Betances was around 95 miles per hour in that outing, so he’s yet to return to his typical 98-99 mph range. He’d do well to hold a showcase for teams next spring once his Achilles heals and take a one-year deal to rebuild value. He’s a high-risk, high-reward addition to a contender’s bullpen.