Hot-Stove: Profiling Kevin Cash (Re-posted), Rays Tender Arbitration Eligibles Contracts, Etc

With the news that the Tampa Bay Rays started their final round of managerial interviews today by meeting with Royals bench coach Don Wakamatsu, we wanted to put something together to celebrate the beginning of the end.

Hot-Stove: All the News Fit to Print On A Slow News Day

In the past 10 days, Matt Silverman and his staff have made some interesting moves – trading three pitchers who have played key roles (Jeremy Hellickson, Joel Peralta and Cesar Ramos) and dumping six others off the 40-man roster, including Jose Molina and Sean Rodriguez.

Hot-Stove: Rays DFA Sean Rodriguez, Sign Ernesto Frieri

Sean Rodriguez has been designated for assignment in order to make room for the right handed reliever Ernesto Frieri, who was acquired Tuesday afternoon. The designation of Rodriguez isn’t surprising to us at X-Rays Spex HQ — the longtime bench stalwart has been targeted as a potential trade candidate since the end of the 2014 season.

Hot-Stove: Meet Alan Dykstra, Bryce Stowel, Jose Dominguez, and Greg Harris

The Rays acquired four players in the last week, all of which are (presumably) bound for the minor leagues – 1B Allan Dykstra, RHP Bryce Stowel, RHP Jose Dominguez, and starter from Class-A named Greg Harris. If you recall, both Dominguez and Harris came over in the trade of Joel Peralta with the Dodgers, while Dykstra (no relation to Lenny) and Stowel were acquired off the free-agent market, and signed to minor league contracts.

Jim Bowden On the Rays Managerial Search, Etc

On the heels of the announcement of the final three managerial candidates Friday, ESPN’s Jim Bowden had some pretty strong words on the Rays search to fill the gap left in Joe Maddon’s wake. Sadly, unless you have an ESPN Insider account, you probably couldn’t read what Bowden had to say. While I’m one of the many who doesn’t have an account with ESPN (Do I REALLY want to put more money in Kruk’s pocket?), a kind follower of the X-Rays Spex Facebook page reprinted his comments in their entirety.