Rays manager Kevin Cash confirmed that his team will again use the “opener” strategy in 2019, telling Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times and other reporters that openers will “start” at least twice during every turn in the rotation. AL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell and right-hander Tyler Glasnow are currently projected as the only conventional full-time starters in Tampa’s rotation, and Cash also noted that some of the pitchers the Rays used as long men last season (Yonny Chirinos, Ryan Yarbrough, Wilmer Font, or Jalen Beeks) could be deployed as regular starters.
Here’s more from around the AL East…
- It doesn’t seem as if the Red Sox will be re-signing Craig Kimbrel, as club president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski told reporters (including MLB.com’s Ian Browne and MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo) today that “we’re not looking to make a big expenditure in” the closer position. Past reports indicated that Boston had only limited interest in bringing back the star closer, and with Kimbrel seeking a six-year deal, it seems as if his asking price will simply be too high for the team’s liking. If Kimbrel isn’t returning, the Red Sox are looking around for other relief options, and Dombrowski noted that they would prefer inking a closer to a short-term deal. It also isn’t out of the question that the Sox use Ryan Brasier or Matt Barnes as a closer next season, though Dombrowski said it’s too early in the offseason for such determinations.
- Dombrowski also mentioned that the Red Sox had received interest in catchers Christian Vazquez, Blake Swihart, and Sandy Leon, and that the club is “open to discussing” any of the three in trade talks. None of the trio are coming off good reasons, though Leon and Vazquez have a lot of defensive upside and Swihart may yet be able to unlock his prospect potential with a change of scenery.
- The Blue Jays have been drawing interest in Russell Martin and other catchers, while a rival executive describes closer Ken Giles as “available” in trade talks, Sportsnet.ca’s Shi Davidi reports. It stands to reason that the rebuilding Jays are open to just about any veteran on their roster, though Giles’ market may not develop until some of the other notable relievers on the free agent or trade fronts have been moved. Another rival executive believes Martin has trade value despite a $20MM salary owed in 2019, though the Jays’ willingness to eat a significant portion of that money will determine if a deal is realistic or not. Absorbing more of the salary would improve the quality of the prospect(s) Toronto received, Davidi writes.
Coming off good reasons?
Feel free to delete after correction
Congrats on catching that typo. Amazing work.
About as noteworthy ad Swihart’s catching abilities.
Well playes
Lighten up…..we all make typos.
Know wee don’t
Yes we due.
what have you been smocking?
Lol
Any MLB “executive” that thinks Russell Martin has any value whatsoever should be fired immediately.
He’s still a good fielder. He’d be the best backup catcher on a contending team.
At $20m per? Not even the Stankees would be so foolhardy
Only for one year. And Jays are likely to eat a big chunk of that to get any type of return
blue jays
Shhh. The Blue Jays will flip him and pay the bulk of his contract to the Mets. Fred
loves bargains.
He does have value though, especially once the Jays pay money. Sure, his bat is nowhere near what it once was. But he can still get on base and is the most versatile catcher in the game. He’s an upgrade on almost every team.
hope the rays get a good bat/pitcher and contend for a wild card spot.
As a Sox fan , the Rays currently have what it takes to win a wild card spot and possibly even compete for the division. If they hadn’t started the season so bad they’d have been a 100 win team. Imagine 3 100 win teams in the same division. Crazy to think about.
I disagree that they can compete for the division as the team is currently constructed. I love having three competitive teams in the division though
opener strategy with our other great starting pitchers work, we just need to focus on that offense now.
Can’t imagine any contenders are truly interested in having Giles pitch high leverage innings for them. Guy is just a head case. Flip of the coin to see what Giles you’ll get that day.
He was 100% on save conversions last year and had an ERA under 2 in save situations.. he has a market.. but yes.. he is a head case !!
I should’ve reworded it. I can’t see a contender acquring him and absolutely counting on him for high leverage situations. If I were a team like the Yankees and had Green, Betances, and Chapman I’d probably take a shot on a guy like Giles. Maybe he ends up being a late innng force but if he isn’t I still have some guys in place who I can count on. If I were the Red Sox I probably wouldn’t flip that coin. But maybe you would since their up against the luxury tax. Giles won’t cost much in terms of $$ and probably not a whole hell of a lot in prospects either. I’d just be very cautious on expecting a lot.
He’s obviously a guy that can be trusted in late inning high leverage situations. His splits between high and low leverage are crazy, dominant in save situations and absolutely terrible in non save situations. Now whether or not you want him in the locker room is a completly different question
Reds trade for Stroman and extend him. Buy low and take a Risk. Groundball pitcher in a homerun hitters park.
Can’t be any worse than their strategy of developing their own pitchers….
Reds trade for Stroman and extend him. Buy low and take a Risk. Groundball pitcher in a hitters park.
haha…DD never big on his bullpens just proves it here. he now will wait out the market to see what’s open in January or Feb…I said it before and now confirmed.
And it is smart in this instance. They can give the role to someone else at a fraction of the contract and likely only see a slight drop in results.
With the signing of Eovaldi the Red Sox are pretty much done with the heavy lifting . There payroll is somewhere around 237 million and while I do think they will go past the 246 million this year they probably won’t to start the year.
They will probably look to sign one more reliever and see what they have during the year. If they think they can win again they will add at the trade deadline and go for it.
Kimbrel was never in the cards he is going to sign elsewhere. The Red Sox will probably try to sign Herrera on the cheap and maybe one other reliever but that’s it so would not expect much else out of the Red Sox this offseason.
They will have to do some sort of soft rebuild starting after next season so next offseason should be very interesting.
At $20m per? Not even the Stankees would be so foolhardy
It clearly states that the Jay’s would have to pay a significant portion of the salary to unload him so 20m is irrelevant
Thanks again Mr copy and paste Lenny
Rogers owned Blue Jays tells Rogers owned media person to feed a rumor about Russell Martin. Good luck unloading $20-mil. Why even bother if you know your young catcher needs a vet to mentor him?
Same with Tulo. He should be Vlad Guerrero’s shadow.
It wouldn’t be the worst option for the Yankees if they don’t sign a 3B. Russell can play 3B and the switch to catcher in the later innings to hold a lead. The Jays can eat a significant portion of the 20M.
And Martin can play SS while DiDi is healing! #TeamCanada
Personal opinion, I think unfortunately the easiest one to get a small return on is Vazquez. He has shown the raw abilities to be an above average offensive catcher in short bursts, has elite defensive abilities and is still young.
If I’m DD, Leon clearly had better control of the staff over the last few years and Swihart still has the highest potential in my eyes, and those are the two guys I can’t lose. Even though Vazquez has shown the best overall abilities when healthy.
I can’t blame the Rays for attempting to put more wins on the board through creative solutions, but as a concept, I greatly dislike the “Opener” as it ruins so many classic baseball experiences. The complete game, shut out, perfect game, no hitter. All gone. Just a few more reasons not to watch when MLB is already losing interest to a lot of fans.
they’re still utilizing starters, so those experiences are still possible. now they’re just starting the pitchers that have the best chance to pitch cg, sho, and no nos. I don’t think the sp role will ever fully disappear. as long as there are players with the talent to go deep into games, there will be a role for them.
Jays have the cash to eat any amount of money on a current veteran contract, though Morales and Tulo won’t likely be going anywhere.
Kem Rosenthal is reporting that the Rays are attempting to trade for Santana and sign Cruz & Morton. That would make them a contender and still leave them with one of the 3 0r 4 lowest payrolls.
I can get behind Cruz and Morton but I hope they leave Santana off that list. They should try to snag Jose Martinez from the cards…whoever they end up with, they’ll have to be a significant upgrade over Cron or else why did they bother?…or maybe that’s now a perennial thing – dfa the best offensive player every year.
(Pham and Wendle were better offensively imo, but it didn’t work for the joke…and now I really killed it by writing all that. so why did I bother? there we go, we came full circle)
russell martin for matt kemp straight up.