Despite the numerous conversations Rays’ representatives continued into Thursday — the last day of the 2015 Winter Meetings in San Diego, Matt Silverman and company headed back to St. Petersburg without the big bat they were seeking, and a second catcher to pair with Ryan Hanigan. Does that mean the team will head to Port Charlotte with the current 40-man roster intact? Not exactly.
If Silverman’s quote in the Tampa Bay Times speaks to anything, it’s that something may be in the works between now and when pitchers and catchers report to camp,
The conversations persist, the phone continues to ring and beep, but we’re still in the conversation phase on many aspects.
Silverman continued,
“We don’t expect to do anything when we come to these meetings. We expect to have conversations to learn more about other teams’ needs, to get a sense of how they value our players and potentially to lay the groundwork for deals. If something happens here it’s a bonus, but there are no expectations.”
Now that a lot of big the moves have been made around the majors, teams will start to focus on the secondary market and that typically involves the Rays. Forget not, it was in the interim following the Winter Meetings that the Rays announced the trade of James Shields to the Kansas City Royals for Wil Myers and Jake Odorizzi (among others) in 2012.
While there weren’t any changes to the 40-man roster, the Rays did lose Class-A catching prospect Oscar Hernandez in Thursday’s Rule 5 draft of minor-leaguers. They hope there is chance they will see him again.
Hernandez, who was impressive last season at low Class A Bowling Green, hitting .249 with nine home runs, 63 RBI, and a .301 OBP, was the top pick of the draft by Arizona Diamondbacks. Under MLB rules, he has to be kept in the big leagues for the entire season or offered back to the Rays for $25,000 — half the drafting fee. The likelihood of that happening is uncertain.
On one hand, he was projected to move up only to advanced Class-A Charlotte in 2015, so it would be a bit of a stretch for him to play in the big leagues. Yet Arizona, who may not be in playoff contention this season, might be willing to weather any mishaps Hernandez may incur thanks to his lack of big league experience, and the transition from Single-A to the majors.
Tampa Bay also lost another prospect, Triple-A starter Merill Kelly. Not seeing a future with the team, he is now off to the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO).
Today’s MyKBO News so far: SK signs pitcher Merrill Kelly and Kim Kwang-hyun unable to get deal done with SD http://t.co/LmxDtoX04v
— Dan (@MyKBO) December 11, 2014
The Rays made no picks in the major-league portion of the draft, however they picked up two players in the minor-league portion: Triple-A RHP Luis Urena (formerly of the Pirates) who Rays farm director Mitch Lukevics said was the number one player on their board, and RHP Michael O’Brien from the Orioles. Lukevics expects O’Brien to pitch at Double-A Montgomery.
Noteworthiness