Winter Meetings recap: Day three — Rays to sign Wilson Ramos

The Rays reportedly have inked a two-year deal with catcher Wilson Ramos, formerly of the Washington Nationals. (Photo Credit: Keith Allison)
The Rays reportedly have inked a two-year deal with catcher Wilson Ramos, formerly of the Washington Nationals. (Photo Credit: Keith Allison)

On the third day of the MLB Winter Meetings, the Tampa Bay Rays did the unexpected and dipped their toes into the free-agent market, inking a two-year deal with the 29 year-old catcher Wilson Ramos, formerly of the Washington Nationals. The deal is pending a physical, which is no sure thing due to a torn ACL incurred last season, requiring surgery.

Ramos will receive a total of $12.5-million guaranteed, with the potential to make up to $18.25-million with incentives over two seasons — $4-million in 2017, $8.5-million in 2018, $5.75-million in incentives.

He is currently rehabilitating his right knee and likely will not return to big league action until June, leaving Tampa Bay with its current tandem of Curt Casali and Luke Maile behind the plate until his return. Per Rays beat writer Marc Topkin (Twitter link), Ramos may DH at first, but the plan is for him to catch.

Ramos slashed .307 BA/.354 OBP/.496 SLG/.850 OPS in 523 plate appearances last season with the Nationals. Over his seven year career, Ramos collected a solid .269 BA/.313 OBP/.430 SLG/.743 OPS line with 83 home runs — 22 of of which came in 2016.

His 2016 campaign earned him his first Silver Slugger Award and All-Star berths, also catapulting him to a 3.5 fWAR season (10.3 fWAR overall). He boasts solid defense behind the plate, although StatCorner rates him as a slightly below-average pitch framer. For what it’s worth, Ramos does rank higher than Welington Castillo, who the Rays were interested in at the start of the Winter Meetings.

Winter Meetings recap: Day two

Aside from the tentative acquisition of Ramos, no other deals were made by the Rays front office team on Tuesday. Here’s a rundown of the rumors swirling around the Rays on the third day of the Winter Meetings.

— The biggest news of the day, by in large, was the trade of Chris Sale to the Boston Red Sox.

How does that relate to the Rays? Never mind the fact that Tampa Bay plays Boston 18-19 times per season — meaning the Rays will face Sale four or five times in 2017 — according to Jeff Passan (Yahoo), Rays starters are now drawing more interest with Sale off the market. It is Passan’s opinion that the Rays are almost certain to deal a starting pitcher this winter, although they are unlikely to trade Chris Archer since his asking price is beyond prohibitive.

Because of it, Tampa Bay will likely move either Alex Cobb or Drew Smyly to take advantage of a weak free agent pitching market. The interest in Cobb is somewhat surprising, seeing that he made only six starts in 2016 following his return from Tommy John surgery.

— Okay, I lied…the Rays did make a second move Tuesday. They inked a new three-year deal with radio man Andy Freed, that will keep him calling games through 2019.

Tampa Bay Rays 2016 Winter Meetings recap: Day one

Marc Topkin gets the sense that Chris Archer will be a Ray next season. (Photo Credit: Will Vragovic/Tampa Bay Times)
Marc Topkin gets the sense that Chris Archer will be a Ray next season. (Photo Credit: Will Vragovic/Tampa Bay Times)

The first day of the 2016 Major League Baseball Winter Meetings is all but in the books, and so far no earth shattering revelations have broken from the Tampa Bay Rays’ camp. Sure, lots of conversations were had, however, no deals have been made.

That doesn’t mean the day was a wash. A bevy of Rays centric bits from the first day of the Winter Meetings hit the Twitterverse this afternoon, and you can read about those nuggets below.

— The Rays still have interest in free-agent catcher Welington Castillo, however, a deal isn’t expected at the moment. Several other teams are interested in Castillo, and he is expected to net a multiyear deal.

The overall financial commitment to the catcher might be a point of contention, as Castillo was projected by MLB Trade Rumors to make $5.9-million in arbitration —which itself isn’t a bank breaker — although a multiyear deal could push $15-million. Topkin writes the Braves and Orioles are among other teams reportedly interested, and Castillo’s agents plan to spend the next two days sorting through offers.

— The rumors circulating around Chris Archer have quieted significantly, especially since the Rays have put a hefty price on him. According to Topkin, someone with one of the interested teams said Tampa Bay is asking for 5-6 players in return. Still, Jerry Crasnick (ESPN.com) is predicting the Rays will trade Archer this week to the Cubs.

— Tampa Bay also is getting a lot of hits on Alex Cobb and Jake Odorizzi. One of the teams said to have interest in Odorizzi is Pittsburgh.

Incidentally, the Rays may be seeking Andrew McCutchen in return.

— The Rays have interest in are LHP Dario Alvarez, who pitched last with Texas. The 27 year-old southpaw posted a 5.06 ERA/4.12 FIP/13.84 K9/2.36 BB9 in 26-2/3 innings (26 games) last season.

— Steve Pearce won’t be reuniting with his former teammates, as he agreed to a two-year, $12.5-million deal with the Blue Jays on Monday. The Rays were in on Pearce, however, the combination of money and a second year from Toronto was the difference.

— Speaking of Pearce, Topkin wrote “…if the Rays are willing to wait, maybe until late in the offseason, there is such a glut of outfield/first base/DH-types available that they should be able to land a pretty good bat.”

—  Washington asked Tampa Bay about Kevin Kiermaier, however, the Nationals’ front office “consider the asking price exorbitant.” Good luck trying to acquire the Gold Glove winning centerfielder, who’s put up a 13.1 fWAR over the last three seasons, and is under team control through 2020. Perhaps Steven Souza Jr. is available for a reunion with his former team?

Rays expected to deal from pitching depth at Winter Meetings

Trade candidate: LHP Drew Smyly. (Photo Credit: the Associated Press)
Trade candidate: LHP Drew Smyly. (Photo Credit: the Associated Press)

Here we are, on the precipice of the Major League Baseball Winter Meetings, and the Tampa Bay Rays front office team of Matt Silverman, Erik Neander and Chaim Bloom, as well as manager Kevin Cash, are tasked with trying to figure out how to improve the ball club.

Before hitting the highways and byways en route to the meetings in Washington DC, the front office team, and Cash, hosted a press conference, where they provided some insight into their offseason priorities. In spite of a very disappointing 94 loss season, it seems doubtful the team is looking for a top to bottom rebuild. In fact, they feel like they don’t need much. Rather they highlighted three priority upgrade areas: catcher, bullpen, and the addition of an impact hitter who could slot into an outfield/DH role.

Unless they open holes with a big trade, expect to see a strong core of familiar names next season, like Evan Longoria, Matt Duffy, Logan Forsythe, and Brad Miller on the infield, and Kevin Kiermaier, Steven Souza Jr., Corey Dickerson/Mikie Mahtook in the outfield, with Nick Franklin slotting in as the super utility player.

I’m still amazed at how well Nick adapted to playing the outfield, said Cash. He got out there and after a week looked completely comfortable. To know he can do that, go in at second, third even first adds to that versatility we’re always searching for.

However, that doesn’t speak to the team’s needs.

How will they meet those needs? By way of in-house promotions — expect Ryne Stanek and Jaime Schultz to join Alex Colome, Brad Boxberger, Xavier Cedeno and, if not traded, Erasmo Ramirez in the bullpen — free agent signings, or by trade. And while Silverman and his team will listen to offers on any player, the probability of a roster blow-up is low, especially if they want to be competitive in 2017.

We’re always open for conversation, Silverman said. We don’t turn away conversations. … Our goal is to put a playoff-caliber club on the field and to do that we have to be creative, we have to be willing to make big deals and willing to take … calculated risks in terms of the trades that we make.

As Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) wrote, the best way for the Rays to add the dynamic pieces they need to get back to contention is to take advantage of a barren market and give up one (or more) of the arms from a stash of starters that runs eight deep.

It should be assumed that Chris Archer (and his team-friendly five year, $38.5-million contract) Drew Smyly, Erasmo Ramirez, Jake Odorizzi, and Alex Cobb will hear their names pop up frequently over the next five days.

Archer already has garnered a lot of interest from the Braves and now the Astros, but despite the fact Atlanta and Houston has young talent available — infield prospect Ozzie Albies from Atlanta, and Alex Bregman and Francis Martes from Houston — it’s doubtful that Tampa Bay would deal its ace. Besides, the Rays undoubtedly will ask for a king’s ransom in return for Archer.

It is reasonable to assume the front office is more inclined to ship out Smyly, Ramirez or Odorizzi, despite getting less in return.

It’s going to be hard to guess who will be a starter, or who may slot into the bullpen, until the dust settles from this week’s Winter Meetings. Be that as it may, Silverman and company have an opportunity to improve the ball club, and it would be foolish for them to not act.

Trade Candidates

The Rays’ business starts with trading a starter, and here’s one way to rank who should be going (courtesy of Marc Topkin).

1. LHP Drew Smyly

Age: 27. Career stats: 31-27, 3.74, 9.6 WAR
Contract control: Through 2018; third-year arbitration eligible, $7M projection
Quick pitch: Best to part with money-wise but sliding scale if return is worth it

2. RHP Jake Odorizzi

Age: 26. Careers stats: 30-30, 3.75, 8.1 WAR
Contract control: Through 2019, first-year arbitration eligible, $3-4M projection.
Quick pitch: Immense value in being cost effective, healthy and good

3. RHP Erasmo Ramirez

Age: 26. Career stats: 25-29, 4.14, 145 G, 3.3 WAR
Contract control: Through 2019; second-year arbitration eligible $3-4M projection
Quick pitch: Won’t bring as much back but maybe more than you’d think

4. RHP Chris Archer

Age: 28. Career stats: 48-51, 3.51, 128 G, 10.8 WAR
Contract control: Through 2021 for $38.5 million; salaries starting at $4.75M in 2017, then $6.25M, $7.5M, $9M option, $11M option
Quick pitch: Hard to say you’re “hellbent” on competing and trade your top starter

5. RHP Alex Cobb

Age: 29. Career stats: 36-25, 3.44, 86 G, 8.5 WAR
Contract control: Through 2017, third-year arbitration eligible, $4-5M projection
Quick pitch: Wiser after late ’16 return to let him build value with strong first half and deal in July

Rays expected to pursue Welington Castillo; tender 11 arbitration eligible players

After being non-tendered by the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Rays are expected to pursue catcher Wellington Castillo. (Photo credit: Matt Kartozian/USA Today Sports)
After being non-tendered by the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Rays are expected to pursue catcher Welington Castillo. (Photo credit: Matt Kartozian/USA Today Sports)

The non-tender deadline passed Friday night without much fanfare on the part of the Tampa Bay Rays — the team tendered contracts to all of their 11 arbitration-eligible players. Unexpectedly, however, the Arizona Diamondbacks chose not to tender the contract of catcher Welington Castillo, putting the Rays in a position to acquire the backstop and fill one of their main offseason needs.

Per Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times), the Rays have definite interest and are expected to aggressively pursue Castillo, who slashed .264 BA/.322 OBP/.423 SLG/.745 OPS/.319 wOBA with 14 homers and 68 RBI in 113 games last season. Castillo, considered a passable defender (7.4 zBall%/-24 oStr%/-0.23 PerGame calls/-3.2 RAA in 2016), is an above average hitting catcher who was projected to make $5.9-million entering his final year of arbitration eligibility.

The Rays created room on the 40-man roster — should they pick up Castillo, or acquire another player — by non-tendering former top prospect INF Ryan Brett, who missed 2016 due to injury.

All told, the 11 arbitration eligibles are projected to make around $35-million. Topkin also wrote that includes three who qualified under the Super 2 provision based on service time: Gold Glove winning centerfielder Kevin Kiermaier, reliever Danny Farquhar and infielder Tim Beckham.

Kiermaier, whose two years and 131 days service was believed to be right at the cutoff, will make an additional $2 million, with a projected salary of $2.5 million to $3 million rather than the $540,000 or so he was in line for.

Also, Kiermaier, Faquahar and Beckham get to be eligible for arbitration four times rather than the standard three.

The full list, including projected salaries (Credit: Tim Dierkes/MLB Trade Rumors):

Alex Cobb – $4.0MM
Drew Smyly – $6.9MM
Erasmo Ramirez – $3.5MM
Brad Boxberger – $1.5MM
Corey Dickerson – $3.4MM
Brad Miller – $3.8MM
Xavier Cedeno – $1.2MM
Jake Odorizzi – $4.6MM
Danny Farquhar – $1.1MM
Kevin Kiermaier – $2.1MM
Beckham – $1.15MM

Noteworthiness

— Former Rays infielder Cole Figueroa will join the Rays front office as a baseball development assistant. His assorted duties and responsibilities will include bridging the analytical/onfield information gap, among others.

Figueroa told the Tampa Bay Times he is excited by the prospect of his new job:

It’s something I’ve always been interested in and I got the opportunity to do that so I jumped at it. I think I’ll end up touching a lot of different areas initially.

— The Rays front office isn’t too happy with the collective bargaining agreement struck by the MLBPA and Major League Baseball this week.

Disappointed in what we’ve seen so far, Rays baseball operations president Matt Silverman said in a press conference. I’m not optimistic about the CBA in terms of helping us as a lower-revenue club.

Silverman continued,

Lower revenue clubs face a lot of obstacles, especially when it comes to talent acquisition. We can’t go out and spend like other clubs, so we need to find other avenues to be able to acquire that talent. We’ve looked for additional access on the amateur side, on the international side, and there haven’t been any major changes in the last 10 years. And, in fact, the revenue disparity between clubs has grown by an immense amount.

Then again, they could spend more money, and/or do a better job with the picks they have had.

At the same time, as Topkin wrote Thursday, the Rays are looking at spending around $70 million, so even if they were to “go for it,” they might push $90 million or $100 million for a year, still around half their top foes. That’s not going to solve the problem.

— It appears the Atlanta Braves are still interested in Rays ace Chris Archer.

“Major League Baseball makes us a major league city” — pledge your support for the Rays today

Log onto to the Baseball Forever homepage, scroll down to the "Sign the Pledge" tab, and, well...sign the pledge!
Log onto to the Baseball Forever homepage, scroll down to the “Sign the Pledge” tab, and, well…sign the pledge!

Business owners and baseball fans alike, now is the time to take a stand to keep the Tampa Bay Rays in the Sunshine City!

As I wrote Monday, with a little help from the city’s marketing department, St. Petersburg is developing a new ballpark proposal for the existing Tropicana Field site, and will soon be submitting this proposal to the Rays. The community’s support for this is essential.

We now need to show our love and enthusiasm for the Rays, and ask that you pledge your support to encourage the Rays to build a new ballpark in St. Petersburg.

Please watch the video (below) — which was created to encourage business owners and economic development leaders to take the pledge, and explain WHY it is so crucial for the City’s economic health that the Rays to stay in St. Petersburg, — then visit www.baseballforever.com/#pledge and click the “Sign The Pledge” button to pledge your support. You also can click the pledge button on the right-hand side of this site to instantly be redirected to above linked page.