Hot-Stove: Of Kyle Farnsworth, Luke Scott, and James Shields (Updated)

Update: The Rays have made the re-signing of Kyle Farnsworth official. According to MLB Trade Rumors, Farnsworth’s contract guarantees him $1.3MM and contains another $1.3MM worth of incentives, according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports Thursday was a fairly action packed day. First we got word that MLB hates the Tampa Bay area, possibly St. …

Hot-Stove: Rays Sign Four Players to Minor League Contracts, Extend Invites to Spring Training

  MLB Trade Rumors is reporting that the Rays have signed four players to minor league deals; outfielder Shelley Duncan and right-handed pitchers Jamey Wright, Juan Sandoval, and Juan Carlos Oviedo. All four have been extended invites to Spring Training.   Shelley Duncan posted a .229 BA/.306 OBP/.427 SLG/.732 OPS slash line over the course of six seasons …

Hot-Stove: The Arbitration Thread (Updated)

January 18, 2013 was the deadline to exchange filing numbers with their arbitration eligible players. The Rays had four players (Matt Joyce, Ryan Roberts, Sam Fuld, and Jeff Niemann) that were arbitration eligible. Now that the deadline has come to pass, we’re pleased as peach to announce that the Rays have avoided arbitration with the …

Hot-Stove: Rays sign Craig Albernaz, Jason Bourgeois, and J.D. Martin to minor league contracts; invite four others to Spring Training

The Rays signed three players to minor league contracts Thursday; former Rays catcher and coach Craig Albernaz, outfielder Jason Bourgeois, and RHP JD Martin. All three were extended invites to Spring Training. Additionally, four other minor leaguers were extended Spring Training invites; right-handed relievers Marquis Fleming and Kirby Yates, southpaw Adam Liberatore, and catcher Mark Thomas. …

Hot-Stove: The state of the pen without JP Howell

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last week, you’ve more than heard that JP Howell got picked up by the LA Dodgers for a cool $2.75MM. Sorry to break the news to you this way if you hadn’t heard. I will miss Howell, though I don’t think the Dodgers recent acquisition represents …