The Rays have checked in with the Rangers about the availability of outfielder/DH Hunter Pence, according to MLB.com’s Jon Morosi (via Twitter). The possibility of a match was first noted by MLB Network Radio’s Jim Duquette.
It’s not known how serious the talks are, but it does seem reasonable at this point to presume that Pence can be had. The Rangers had dabbled with pursuit of a postseason spot, but a slide has left the club staring up at an all-but-insurmountable 6.5-game gap from the second Wild Card spot. Given the circumstances, the Texas club is likely to dangle its pending free agents — if not a few other assets.
On the Rays’ side, the organization has seen its own postseason position erode steadily over the course of the season. It’s hard to imagine them catching the division-leading Yankees. It’ll take a big effort even to win a Wild Card spot. The two positions are held presently by the Indians and Athletics, with the Rays one game back and the Red Sox also posing a serious threat.
While the Tampa Bay team is obviously going to attempt to improve, it doesn’t have sufficient incentive to truly go for broke. That makes it hard to imagine the Rays giving up too much future value for rental assets. In the case of Pence, however, the acquisition cost will likely be rather manageable.
Pence has had a heck of a bounceback season at 36 years of age. He’s through 232 plate appearances of .290/.349/.581 hitting with 15 home runs. Statcast credits the veteran with a strong 43.1% hard-hit rate and 91.4 mph average exit velo, along with a 10.5 degree launch angle that’s about double his numbers in recent seasons. Pence has outperformed his contact quality, but not by a huge amount (.387 wOBA vs. .365 xwOBA).
That said, it’s still worth wondering whether Pence will be able to sustain this kind of outburst. And he hasn’t been trusted with many innings in the outfield after several seasons of somewhat poorly reviewed glovework. His contract is quite affordable — $2MM with $1.25MM in incentives — but there probably isn’t an abundance of demand. Unless National League teams see Pence as an option to slide back out to the field rather than functioning mostly as a DH, as he has in Texas, the primary pursuers would seem to come from the American League ranks. Yet most of the AL contenders have accounted for their bat-only plate appearances.
The fit with the Rays isn’t flawless, either, but it’s possible to imagine how Pence would fit on the roster. In terms of existing DH possibilities, the club has a rotating cast of possibilities on the right side but no clear bat-only piece. In terms of left-handed hitters, Ji-Man Choi has been increasingly crowded out by Nate Lowe at first base. Choi is a strong option when facing right-handed pitching but has struggled mightily in limited opportunities against southpaws. Pence, who has long maintained limited platoon splits and thrived both with and without the platoon advantage this year, could share time with Choi or replace him entirely as a primary DH.
h0wmyd0ing
Where would Tampa Bay find him at bats? He is bat-only… and they really don’t have that many to give unless BLowe is worse off than it has been made out to be or he is a secondary move if they part with someone else to get an arm.
thebighurt619
They can move pham to cf put garcia in the OF and put pence at dh.
jbigz12
Can they? They can then tell Kiermaier to go kick rocks? That makes their team far far worse.
thebighurt619
Hes injured, alot. Currently gonna miss 10-15 days if not more due to a thumb injury. So when he gets injured they can use that lineup.
robluca21
That’s doable but when KK comes back he had to play . You dont sit the best defensive center fielder in the league . Especially when hes hitting at an ankle league average clip
Regardless I think they could still find at bats for pence .
jdgoat
I don’t think Duquette ever said they looked into him. He said they’d be the perfect fit and you might as well book the press conference now or something like that. I may have misheard something, but I don’t think this is what was said.
jdgoat
Nevermind i misread the tweet lol.
yanksallday
Deadline so lame so far…what gives???
thebighurt619
Most deals wont happen until we approach july 31st.
Considering theres no august waiver wire trades you should see things pick up about a week from now if not sooner.
But id expect majority of deals to be done on july 31st as teams try to use the deadline to their advantage in hopes someone overpays or outbids themselves.
Matt Galvin
Between 28th and intil midnight on 31st a GM’s Trade Deadline Meetings. Also some Teams that are Sellers think they are still in it,
24TheKid
Domingo Santana would be a much better fit for the Rays. Would love to see the M’s get Liberatore but I don’t see the Rays parting with him for anyone. Maybe something like Elias, Santana and Gearin for Brujan and McClanahan.
jbigz12
Two middle relievers and Domingo Santana for a top 100 prospect and a rising left handed starter? No, thank you.
Lennon's Dad
That was two boring middle relievers and Domingo Santana!
But Brujan alone for Santana and a decent non-40 prospect that won’t be Rule 5 eligible or Tui would make some sense.
24TheKid
Yeah, now that I’ve reflected on it, that’s actually a pretty terrible offer. But I will say, Elias’s stats are really skewed by Tim Beckham’s defense on Saturday.
Lennon's Dad
Not hard to see a Santana-Brujan swap happening. Maybe Tui included to balance out the years of control.
24TheKid
I didn’t realize how much Elias’s value has tanked recently. I think that if Elias was still pitching to the sub 3.5 ERA and 10 K/9 that it wouldn’t have been crazy to ask for McClanahan and Brujan. But I do agree with you that Santana should definitely be able to get back a top 100 prospect like Brujan. He has 2.5 years of control which is different than any of the other bats recently dealt at the deadline.
Ejemp2006
Rays business plan does not allow trading good talent to try for a compete.
hiflew
Since when is 6.5 games with over 2 months to play an “insurmountable deficit?” All you need to do is make up a game a week. With the defeatist attitudes from some baseball fans and writers, it is amazing that you even get out of bed in the morning.
Lennon's Dad
Not insurmountable, but there are also 5 better teams ahead of them. Not an easy task.
giants number 1 fan
Not sure easy, but in no way insurmountable
bobtillman
What makes you think they get out of bed in the morning?
KierMayor
Rays fan here. They also told us we’d never be able to catch the Red Sox when we were 8 games back at the start of September.
Then game 162 happened.
You have plenty of time to catch any of us. Oakland, TB, Boston and LAA are all prone to collapses.
jb19
AL West > AL East
its_happening
No….
Lucky-Arm28
what’s the al west record vs the al east this year?
bluenova8413
West is 51-45 against the East
Ejemp2006
Oriole and Blue Jay are so so so bad bad bad!
West has superior this year and maybe always going forward because of Silicon Valley fueled shift of wealth and talent toward Pacific coast.
lowtalker1
That’s probably the best photo y’all have ever used
uvmfiji
Should’ve kept Cron
Ejemp2006
Seriously? Or jokes?
Rays should have stole EE from Seattle instead. Give back good prospects so Seattle eat lots of money.
Cron keeping wasn’t ever the answer.
timewalk42
Solid veteran in the club house