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Rays Winter Meetings recap, day one: Cash presser, trade rumors

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Rays manager Kevin Cash addressed the media on the first official day of the 2018 Winter Meetings, in Las Vegas.

Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash addressed the media on a variety of subjects Monday, the first official day of the Winter Meetings.

Here are some highlights from the media session:

The first six questions, unsurprisingly, involved the opener strategy, which the Rays pioneered in 2018. Cash reiterated that the strategy will again be utilized in 2019, and its usage will adjust based on who he has at his disposal.

Part of the reason Cash is sticking with the opener plan is that it worked on the field, and helped Tampa Bay notch its first winning season since 2013. It also helped acclimate some of the younger hurlers to the big leagues.

We watched guys develop and it allowed them an easier path to develop at the big league level which we all know is very challenging, Cash said. When you first introduce your career to the big leagues for us to be able to have young pitchers and put them in different roles, maybe be protective of them a little bit more than that traditional starter, we really saw the benefits of that.

Cash indicated his preference would be to have three starters and two openers, which, ideally, would find the team adding a veteran this off-season — someone who “can really log some innings,” said Cash.

(The opener strategy) puts a lot of pressure on Blake (Snell), It puts pressure on Tyler (Glasnow), their workload. We don’t want those guys to feel that they’ve got to do more than what they’re capable of. And I know Blake (had a) tremendous year. I don’t want him going into a game thinking I’ve got to pitch seven, eight innings so tomorrow’s day works out well.

On the subject of pitching, Cash spoke about Brent Honeywell’s rehab, which is progressing. Even though Honeywell would like to be ready to go by the end of Spring Training, the skipper said a late-May, early-June return to game action would be more reasonable. Ultimately they’ll wait until Honeywell is 100% and be smart about his rehab.

We know how special Brent is, and how valuable and what we view in our organization. But if we’re going to do Brent right, we have to let him go through the rehab process, not rush him. Knowing his personality, he’s going to want to make a club out of spring training. That’s not going to happen. We’ve got to do it right. Our medical staff is second to none. And I know Brent understands that. But he’s a motivated player, and he wants to be a part of something that we all view as pretty special right now.

We’ll do everything we can to calm him down, let him go through the process to make sure he’s a hundred percent healthy and get him through his rehabs and get him to affiliate, get some innings, and hopefully, he is helping us.

What we’ve talked about is some time May, June. But that’s not set in stone. We adjusted really well given the player. We have a bunch of players coming back from Tommy John and they all have different — they all have some good weeks to the rehab and they all have some slowdown weeks. Everybody is different.

Cash was asked about what Jake Bauers needs to do to make the next step after his bout with late-season struggles. Cash countered, saying that Bauers has always dealt with some struggles during his initial promotions, but always rebounded.

You know, I think Jake, of all of our young players that came up, Jake was as talked about as anybody, rightfully so. I think just experience and maturity, he was the youngest guy in the league. He’s been the youngest at every level he’s performed at. And he figured it out. He’s always struggled and started to stabilize himself a little bit and then he gets hot and he puts together some pretty good numbers offensively.

I think that’s what we saw this year at the big league level. He struggled, he probably didn’t have the right time to figure it. It was the right time for Jake to go home and gather his thoughts. But he was a little bit of an anomaly when you watch his at-bats, his swing looked the same, everything looked the same. He wasn’t getting his hits.

And I’m confident, Jake has hit everywhere, he’s going to hit. Defensively, our defense got a heck of a lot better when he was out there. And the confidence that he gave our infielders and the things that he can do around the bag were really impressive. I hope Jake is enjoying himself, letting his mind take a break and come in fresh this Spring training and ready to compete.

Even though the team had “some concern” of injury, Cash said OF Tommy Pham wanted to go play winter ball and was “motivated and driven” to want to make his swing better.

Tommy is a very driven player, very motivated. He was just outstanding for us when he came over. And at the end of the year we sat down and talked and he said he wanted to go play winter ball to work on his swing. And I said, How much more do you need to work? You hit .350 the last two months for us, hit all the home runs. When he was healthy, we had a different lineup because he was in it.

So there was some concern. But he felt there was more tinkering that needed to be done. He plays all out. I asked him, please don’t run into any walls on the Dominican baseball fields. Be careful. We called his manager and asked the same thing. But he’s motivated and driven to get his swing where he wants it. And I think that speaks volumes to a guy that has had the last two or three years of success that he still wants to get better.

You can watch the press conference in its entirety at the Twitter link above.

Noteworthiness

— Per Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times), the Rays continue to have a dialog with free-agent right-hander Charlie Morton. Chaim Bloom and company have also maintained a “running dialogue,” and discussed some parameters, with free-agent DH Nelson Cruz. Cruz’s agent, Bryce Dixon, said the slugger is very much interested and called it “a perfect fit,” although Cruz has 3-4 other teams interested. Because of it, the Rays are looking at other options besides a DH-only bat.

Kevin Cash comes in third for MOTY, Blake Snell wins Spahn Award, stadium update

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Rays skipper Kevin Cash came in third in AL Manager of the Year voting on Tuesday. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Times)

Rays manager Kevin Cash placed third for the AL Manager of the Year Award, announced Tuesday night, behind winner Bob Melvin of the Oakland Athletics, and second-place finisher Alex Cora of the World Series champion Boston Red Sox. The Athletics, who utilized many of the same tactics as Tampa Bay, were perhaps the only team that shocked more people this season than the Rays.

Cash, the only one of the six contenders to not make the playoffs, made a good case for himself after leading the Rays to 90 wins, a 10-game improvement over 2017. He received five first-place votes, six second-place votes and 14 third-place votes for a total of 57 points in the balloting.

Tampa Bay’s skipper was humbled by those he found himself in the company of, despite where he placed.

There’s no doubt, Cash said. I was up there with the World Series champion manager in Alex Cora and Bob Melvin was winning it for his third time. Very special, honored and humbled to be considered with those two. And also the representatives from the National League teams.

Like Cash, Melvin did more than expected with what he was given, taking a team that won 75 games in 2017 and entering the 2018 campaign with the majors’ lowest payroll. And when he faced a spate of injuries that decimated his starting rotation, Melvin was forced to use of 15 different starters, winning 97 games overall and earning the second AL Wildcard spot.

I’ve always admired him from afar, said Cash. I think there’s a fair correlation between the Rays and the A’s, whether people want to talk about payroll, about being innovative in the game.

Melvin said there was mutual admiration this season, as Oakland “took a hard look” at how the Rays utilized the opener before trying it themselves.

I’ve got a lot of respect for him and what he’s done over the years, Melvin said. Has had to do some things without some of the resources that certainly the teams in his division have. The success that they had, just watching their dugout and the way they do things, it’s great to watch. And you can certainly see that he has the attention of the team and has full support from those guys. That’s a testament to how good he is at what he does.

Cash advocated for the use of the opener strategy and indicated, on the MLB Network, that the Rays will again utilize it in 2019.

The opener’ is going to stay for us. We witnessed the benefit of allowing for these young pitchers to come up, potentially late-inning guys, to get their feet wet in the first inning, and also for the more durable guys, it allows us to manage the game a little bit so we affect how many times they get through the order. It’s something we bought into. Our guys, I can’t give them enough credit for buying into it. We have a lot of information to suggest that it works for us, and we’re going to continue with it.

Now we await the results of the 2018 Cy Young Award, which will be revealed Wednesday at 6:00 PM. In the interim, however, Blake Snell was named the 2018 Warren Spahn Award winner as the best left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball.

Named after the Hall of Famer Spahn, the award has been given annually to the best southpaw in baseball since 1998.

Blake posted some impressive stats in 2018, said Greg Spahn, son of the late Warren Spahn. This award is special to our family as it not only honors the sport’s best left-handed pitcher but my dad as well. It’s also a wonderful way to celebrate his career and the game of baseball.

Stadium update

With 48 days left until the clock runs out on the memorandum of understanding (MOU) which allowed the Rays to search for a new regional stadium site, you would imagine that an announcement of progress would be imminent. Yet according to investigative journalist Noah Pransky (WTSP), Hillsborough County administrator Mike Merrill is telling commissioners not to expect any news on a deal until at least January.

Go ahead and cancel all the sports facility briefings for the remainder of the year, Michelle Sekouri, executive assistant to county administrator Mike Merrill, wrote to all commissioner’s offices last Friday. Mike is not anticipating having anything to share until January or after.

Meanwhile, St. Petersburg officials told Pransky that the team has not approached them about extending the deadline.

The St. Petersburg city council granted the team the opportunity to explore stadium sites in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, despite a lease at Tropicana Field which runs through 2027. In February, Stu Sternberg announced that a 14-acre parcel of land in Ybor City is the team’s preferred site, yet the door was never fully closed on Pinellas County, which has much more money to contribute the construction of a new stadium.

According to Pransky, financing for the proposed $892-million facility has not been easy to come by, with Hillsborough County taxpayers already paying off three other stadiums. Hillsborough voters also recently voted in favor of a pair of tax referendums that will help support the critically underfunded Hillsborough County School System, as well as mass transportation improvements. Stadium proponents (in Ybor City) have been hopeful that a public/private partnership would bridge the gap between the estimated cost of the project, and the limited portion of the bill the team indicated it would fund itself ($150-million).

As Pransky writes, it’s highly improbable that a deal of this magnitude will be completed by New Year’s Eve, if at all.

It’s possible the Rays could work out a stadium deal almost exclusively with private developers and still meet their obligation to give St. Petersburg a definitive answer about their future by Dec. 31. But privately-funded major league stadiums are almost non-existent in modern-day America, and unheard of in a market like Tampa, that lacks both significant corporate activity and disposable income.

St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman, who offered the team a new stadium at the Tropicana Field site, remains willing to work with the team.

While they still have time to get some questions answered in Hillsborough, I stand ready to work with the Rays on securing their future in St. Petersburg, said Kriseman.

The team most recently shocked the local sports business world with the announcement of the October purchase of the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

The Rowdies play at and control the rights to, Al Lang Stadium on St. Petersburg’s waterfront, the former future site of the Rays. However, the team maintains the purchase had “nothing to do with short-term or immediate plans they have for baseball,” rather it was simply investing in the community.

…And so the soap opera continues.

Tampa Bay Rays agree to a long-term contract with Kevin Cash

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The extension to Kevin Cash’s contract will make him the longest-tenured manager in franchise history.

The Tampa Bay Rays have agreed to a long-term contract extension with manager Kevin Cash. The lengthy commitment runs through the 2024 season, however, it also includes an option for another year. As of now, the financial details are unknown. This agreement replaces the prior deal which included one more season and a two-year option.

In spite of the odds placed against them, Cash guided the Rays to a 90-72 record this season, using a variety of unorthodox methods of utilizing the roster. And though 90 wins weren’t enough to earn the team a spot in the 2018 postseason, the strong showing, after a 1-8 (and 4-13) start to the season, generated optimism and enthusiasm for the team in the near future. Moreover, it demonstrated to the front office that Cash is the right person to translate their theories into action.

We put a lot on his plate, Rays GM Erik Neander said. When it comes to managing effectively, leading a club effectively, frankly, I don’t know how much more one could have demonstrated over the course of a season than what he did.

… Under Kevin’s leadership, our teams have always played hard. They’ve played with energy, and by and large, they’ve played the game the right way. In our opinion, taking a look at this thing, the way that our teams have played has a lot to do with the example Kevin sets and the consistency which he approaches day to day.

The energy, the competitiveness. There’s a certain authenticity that we’ve spoken to over time here, that makes him real and allows him to motivate and to relate to a wide assortment of people. … Our players want to play for him, and he’s just created a wonderful culture for our group.

Cash was initially hired in a 2014-15 offseason that saw the massive organizational overhaul — Andrew Friedman and manager Joe Maddon both departed for Los Angeles and Chicago, respectively. The former backstop oversaw a pair of middling 80-82 seasons sandwiched around a brutal 68-94 2016 campaign.

Even before the start of the 2018 season, Tampa Bay was under an immense amount of pressure. The MLBPA filed a formal complaint against the team because of their cost-cutting roster decision. The club then shipped away even more veterans, with Chris Archer following catcher Wilson Ramos, starter Nathan Eovaldi, closer Alex Colome, and outfielder Denard Span out the door during the course of the season.

Yet the young squad performed admirably, improving from a .500 record at the start of August to finish the season on a 34-16 tear. Cash, aided by the data-driven front office, maximized the emerging player’s talent to great effect.

When the season closed, the Rays were left looking at an intriguing depth chart, largely blank future balance sheet, and lauded farm system, writes Jeff Todd (MLB Trade Rumors).

There also is a renewed hope of bolstered future revenues, as the organization is expected to officially announce its, as of now, generous new TV deal prior to the start of the 2019 season.

Cash enters this new phase of his term with a vote of confidence from the front office and more job security than, well … the former skipper, Joe Maddon.

I’m incredibly appreciative of the opportunity that was presented four years ago, and now, Cash said. I’m thankful for the support of Stu and the ownership group. From Matt and Brian to Erik and Chaim, all of our baseball ops people, our fans and the players.

I think this game has always been about the players and will always be about the players. But any positive impact myself, my staff, our front office can do to help lead them in the right direction is a huge benefit.

If Cash stays through 2024, he will become the longest-tenured manager in franchise history. He, too, would lead the Rays into a new stadium, be that in Ybor City or in Pinellas County.

Expectations have been raised, and it will be interesting to see what sort of additional tinkering is pursued over the 2018 offseason.

Rays offseason plans

The Rays enter the offseason with a committed payroll of around $32-million. Neither free-agents OF Carlos Gomez nor RHP Sergio Romo are expected to return. As Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times) writes, upgrades seem likely for arbitration-eligible 1B/DH C.J. Cron (despite 30 homers) and C Jesus Sucre. A glut of lefty-hitting outfielders (and overall) creates the potential to trade Mallex Smith or, less likely, Kevin Kiermaier.

The expectations are up, Neander said. We go into next year off the season we had, we want to improve. And to improve on the number of wins we had this year should put us in the territory where we’re expecting playoffs.

How to go about doing that? How to achieve it? How to balance the depth that we have? We have a lot of puzzle pieces, now it’s a matter of which ones fit and which ones can be repurposed.

I don’t think we’re forecasting an active winter, so to speak. But there’s a lot that we need to think through to make sure we’re as competitive as we can be and as functional as we can be, and not just a young, talented team.

Trading for an impact player or two, or signing a few free agents — while different, given the team’s previous offseason moves — seem to be a given.

LBWMF: Rays reach 90 win plateau with 9-4 win over Toronto

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For the second consecutive season, Sergio Romo (AKA Cash $) was the ball boy in the season finale at the Trop. (Photo Credit: X-Rays Spex)

For the first time since 2013, the Tampa Bay Rays finished the regular season with a 90-72 record. Tampa Bay pulled in front of the Toronto Blue Jays for good in a three-run fifth inning Sunday afternoon, then won 9-4.

Toronto scored the first run of the game in the third against Ryan Yarbrough. Kevin Pillar came up with a two-out single, then moved into second on a passed ball. Randall Grichuk followed with a double to left, putting Toronto up by a run. Yet Tampa Bay answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning against Sam Gaviglio.

Jake Bauers led off the inning with a single to right, stole his way into second, and went to third on a wild pitch. With two outs and a runner at third, Tommy Pham walked and stole the teams third base of the game. But the responding throw by Reese McGwire ended up in centerfield, which allowed Bauers to cross the plate and Pham to move into third. Joey Wendle capped the rally with a base hit through the left side, putting Tampa Bay in front for the first time.

But, Toronto tied the game in the fifth inning against Yarbrough. With two outs, the southpaw allowed a bloop single to center to Richard Urena before Pillar doubled over the head of Austin Meadows in right, plating a run. After a six-pitch walk to Randal Grichuk, Yarbrough coaxed a fly ball out in foul territory to prevent any further damage, keeping the game even.

Tied at two entering the home sixth, Bauers collected his second hit of the day — bunting against the shift for a hit to start a go-ahead rally. Nick Ciuffo followed with a sacrifice bunt, moving Bauers up to second. One pitch later Smith singled to right-center, scoring Bauers and putting the Rays ahead by a run.

Not content with just 39 steals on the season, Smith swiped second — his second of the game and 40th of the season. Smith’s 40 steals are the most for a Ray since Carl Crawford’s 47 and B.J. Upton’s 42 in 2010.

Pham — who had reached base in 33 consecutive games with his third-inning walk — tripled to left-center, stretching the lead to two runs before Wendle hit a sac fly to center, capping the three-run rally.

Still, the Blue Jays answered in the seventh inning against reliever Hunter Wood, the third Rays pitcher of the day. Wood walked Teoscar Hernandez, who went to third on a single to right by Rowdy Tellez. Hernandez ultimately came home on an RBI groundout by Aledmys Diaz to make it a two-run game.

However, the Rays tacked on three runs in the seventh on Brandon Lowe’s sac fly and Bauers’ two-run double, which put the Rays up by five. Both teams added a run on double-play groundouts the following inning.

All told, Tampa Bay collected 10 hits with three each from Bauers and Pham. Meanwhile, Austin Pruitt fired off 3-1/3 innings of one-run ball.

Wendle, who became the first Tampa Bay rookie hitter to hit .300 in a given season (and the first .300 hitter for Tampa Bay since Casey Kotchman in 2011), was lifted in the eighth inning to a standing ovation. He later came out for a curtain call.

At the end of the day, Tampa Bay’s 90 wins feels important. True, there really is not much of a difference between 90 wins and 89 wins, especially without the benefit of a postseason berth. Yet after a 1-8 and 4-13 start to the season, 90 wins feels like a revelation. Pair that with the fact that the Rays were in the running for a Wildcard spot with six games left to play, in the last week of the season. Fans and players alike caught a whiff of something they hadn’t in five long years. That whiff makes the team a much more formidable presence going into the 2019 season.

Rays skipper Kevin Cash likened it to laying the groundwork in his postgame presser, saying:

We should be very proud of the way we played this year. The things we accomplished. The groundwork we laid. But we’re not satisfied. … We need to go into this offseason, enjoy ourselves, take a month, then get back after it.

Jake Bauers responded in kind:

I’m excited to be a part of this whole organization. This is a great group of coaches. We have a great manager and a great group of 40 guys. Any time you’re generally excited to go to work and you’re excited about being able to hang out with your boys, your buddies, just go have fun and have baseball be enjoyable with guys you actually like, it’s a huge thing. We’re looking forward to next year.

So are we, Jake.

The New What Next: Rays look for 90th win Sunday afternoon

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Austin Meadows hit his first homer as a Ray on Saturday, a missile to right field. (Photo Credit: Tampa Bay Rays)

The Tampa Bay Rays are set to play their final game of the season this afternoon with the hope of finishing the season with 90 victories. Tampa Bay has had five previous 90 win seasons, although this would be the first since 2013. A nice, round number like 90 would give the Rays the opportunity to join an elite club of just six teams that have won 90 games six times over an 11 season stretch.

The Rays also enter play with 50 home wins — it’s just the fourth time the team has reached that milestone. As Neil Solondz (Rays Radio) made mention of, Tampa Bay has gone 18-9 in the month of September, and 40-25 since the All-Star Break.

Russell Martin is slated to handle the managing duties for the Blue Jays, in what technically is the final game for Toronto’s skipper, John Gibbons. Martin will make the lineup and handle in-game moves in what is a risky, albeit fun, send off for the longtime manager of the Blue Jays.

For his part, Rays manager Kevin Cash said he won’t have a veteran player “manage” Sunday’s finale:

I don’t plan on it; I don’t know that I could deal with Sergio (Romo) standing next to me for nine innings.

Speaking of taking a gamble, the Rays did just that with Blake Snell’s Cy Young chances by starting him yesterday, especially had the game gone bad. And in all fairness, the first inning of Saturday’s ballgame appeared to be a disastrous one, as Snell labored through 29 pitches (mostly breaking balls) resulting in three walks and a run on a sac-fly. Yet Snell locked it in once he got through the initial frame, tossing five innings on 82 pitches (49 strikes, 60% strike rate) and striking out 10. When all was said and done, Zilla hit the 180-innings mark he wanted.

Even though he didn’t notch his 22nd win, as he left the game with the score tied, he still finished the season with the majors’ most wins and 221 punch outs.

I feel like I’ve put up a good case, Snell said. They’re going to pick who they pick. I don’t have a say. But the work that I did put together I feel like it’s a good case to have.

Austin Meadows came up big in the seventh inning, turning on a 0-1, 82 mph changeup and sending it to deep right field for his first homer as a Ray.

OF Austin Meadows showed the Rays a glimpse of what they hope to see more, hitting a clutch homer to put them ahead in the seventh. Manager Kevin Cash said that Triple-A skipper Jared Sandberg told him Meadows hung in well against lefties, and he did just that, writes Marc Topkin (Tampa Bay Times).

CJ Cron also hit his 30th home run of the season, waiting back on three consecutive high and outside fastballs only to crush a 3-0 heater that caught too much plate. Cron spoke about the milestone after the game:

He’ll get a chance to hit number 31 this afternoon.

The New What Next

Ryne Stanek (2-3, 3.08 ERA) will open the Rays in a bullpen day, pitching opposite of Sam Gaviglio (3-9, 5.19 ERA).

Stanek is opening for the 29th time in 59 appearances. He has allowed runs in his last two opening roles, giving up homers in each.

Per Solondz, the Rays allowed two homers yesterday, and have given up 21 in the last 10 contests. That said, Tampa Bay has given up 164 homers this year, a total that is the second fewest in the American League, and sixth fewest in the majors.

Gaviglio will face the Rays for the fourth time this season. Gaviglio has allowed just two runs in each of the last two starts against Tampa Bay. However, he has not worked more than five innings in any of his September outings. Key Matchups: Willy Adames (1-3, 2 RBI, BB), Jake Bauers (2-3, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB), Ji-Man Choi (1-4, 2B), CJ Cron (1-4), Matt Duffy (3-9), Tommy Pham (1-2, 3B, RBI), Mallex Smith (3-8, 2B, RBI), Joey Wendle (4-6, 2 2B, 3 RBI)

Rays 9/30/18 Starting Lineup

Smith CF
Pham LF
Wendle 3B
Cron DH
Lowe 2B
Adames SS
Meadows RF
Bauers 1B
Ciuffo C
Stanek RHP

You can read about the series on our preview.

The New What Next: Rays vs Blue Jays — the final series preview of the regular season

Noteworthiness

— Don’t expect to see Matty Duffy or Ji-Man Choi this afternoon in the season finale.

— Sunday also likely marks the final games (for the Rays that is) for a pair of veteran free-agents to be: Sergio Romo and Carlos Gomez.

— Thank you for another fun season, dear readers!

We’ll take a couple of days off then return with our preview of the AL Wildcard game between the Athletics and Yankees on Wednesday. We’ll also start our autopsy of the Rays season sometime thereafter. Keep checking back.

— Just sayin’: