The Tampa Bay Rays have non-tendered outfielder Guillermo Heredia, meaning he is now a free agent and will take his services onto the market. The team chose to tender the contracts of the five other arbitration-eligible players: Oliver Drake, Tyler Glasnow, Tommy Pham, Daniel Robertson, and Chaz Roe.
Heredia, who was projected to earn $1.1-Million by MLB Trade Rumors, came over in the deal that also brought over Mike Zunino to Tampa Bay prior to the 2019 season. In 231 plate appearances, as the fourth outfielder, Heredia slashed just a .225 BA/.306 OBP/.363 SLG/.666 OPS line with a wRC+ of 82 — in line with his career body of work. However, his splits against southpaws were much better, with Heredia slashing .281 BA/.339 OBP/.456 SLG/.795 OPS with a 114 wRC+ across 124 plate appearances.
As Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) noted, the Rays have not ruled out a reunion with Heredia in 2020, however, there is a greater likelihood that they will seek an upgrade as the hot-stove period progresses.
Meanwhile, MLB Trade Rumors estimated the salaries of the five above-mentioned arbitration-eligible players, and came up with the following approximations:
- Oliver Drake — $1.1-Million
- Tyler Glasnow — $1.9-Million
- Tommy Pham — $8.6-Million
- Daniel Robertson — $1.1-Million
- Chaz Roe — $2.2-Million
Per Neil Solondz (Rays Radio) the five tendered players will make roughly $15-Million in 2020:
The five players tendered will earn in the neighborhood of $14.9 million in 2020. 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 $47.4 million for 10 players. Several others would make near the minimum in 2020 (ie — Willy Adames, Austin Meadows, Diego Castillo etc) but there are still several areas 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
Noteworthiness
— Could a reunion with former Ray Steven Souza Jr. be in the cards?
The not very affable Kevin Pillar, as well as Souza Jr. and CJ Cron, are among the right-handed-hitting players that were non-tendered on Monday.