The Rays announced that center fielder Kevin Kiermaier recently underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his right knee (relayed by Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times). Recovery is expected to take four-to-six weeks, so Kiermaier shouldn’t have much issue being ready for the start of Spring Training.
While the surgery doesn’t seem likely to impact Kiermaier’s readiness for next season, it does at least add a bit of uncertainty to his outlook in an offseason where he figures to come up in trade rumors. Kiermaier is guaranteed another $14.5MM under the terms of the extension he signed in March 2017. He’ll receive a $12MM salary next season and is due at least a $2.5MM buyout on a $13MM club option covering the 2023 campaign.
That’s not an outlandish sum for a player of Kiermaier’s caliber, but it’s a large portion of the payroll for a Tampa Bay club that always winds up among the league’s lowest spenders. He’s come up in trade discussions numerous times in the past — including the lead-up to this summer’s trade deadline — and the Rays’ front office figures to discuss him with other clubs again this winter. That’s all the more likely in light of the staggering nineteen arbitration-eligible players on the roster.
Kiermaier has only once eclipsed 130 games in a season, with his high-effort style of play frequently taking a physical toll. That said, the all-out mentality is also a big driver of elite defensive marks that perennially place Kiermaier among the game’s best outfielders. That was again the case in 2021, with Defensive Runs Saved crediting the 31-year-old as 13 runs better than average in 894 2/3 innings in center field. Combined with league average offense (.259/.328/.388 over 390 plate appearances), Kiermaier was valued at around three wins above replacement by both FanGraphs and Baseball Reference.
A fair swap would be Kevin and a top middle infield prospect to the White Sox for Craig Kimbrel and Adam Engel.
Nah.
The rays aren’t trading for a 18 million closer I can guarantee you that.
Salary swap.
Glad you are not a GM
The WhiteSox are a good fit but no need to give up a lot of talent when the Rays want KK’s salary off their books.
I still think Kiermaier makes sense for the Phils. Only problem is that TB would have to take back some salary so it wouldn’t be some sort of salary dump. Would Didi would be appealing to them?
No
KK’s a luxury on a team that can’t afford luxuries. (And they really can’t; though they can get to about 100M, they can’t go past that and keep the doors open). The Mets make sense here. Or the Giants. Gets him off the carpet, too.
If this Montreal thing is real, that would be a decent influx of cash to the franchise.
People forget that before the strike, fans were packing in to see the expos. Rays are consistently good, so it could alter some of their budget and ability to keep players
I really don’t see how that’s going to work. And even still, it won’t be 2022, and unlikely to be 2023 as well. That would require a lot of schedule changes and tv contract issues etc
TV contract is EXACTLY the genius behind the move. Attendance is nice, but that’s not where the real money is. There would be no conflict; you can transmit from your mom’s basement these days, to anywhere you want.
So the split team would generate TWO home team markets, not one. I doubt that fans in Montreal will wait until July to START watching “their” team, or that fans in Florida will STOP watching “their” team when they leave.
Whether it would be Bally Sports or whomever, it’s a complete goldmine. Territorial rights? Ya, every rule can be broken for the right price. It would create a viable franchise, which, frankly, right now Tampa isn’t. And it would decrease their need for endless Revenue Sharing, which will keep the REAL commissioners (John Henry, Steve Cohen, Jerry Reisendorf) happy.
Yeah a team that went to the World Series as recently as 2020 & almost won isn’t a ‘viable’ franchise. Sure thing there buddy.
They suck up Revenue Sharing dollars that should go elsewhere, they add nothing to their own brand or to the MLB brand in general. No, they are not viable. 30 teams operated like the Rays would bury the sport.
Now, are they brilliant from a Baseball Ops point of view? No one doubts it. At the end of the day, more’s the pity.
Rays in TB good.
Montreal bad
Tampa/Montreal: Except players already under contract, what free agent would sign with a team that plans on a season split?
Oh I dunno, throw enough money on the table, and most FAs (especially the marginal ones) will sign for a split/city franchise. And the big buck guys aren’t likely to be sought after by the Rays. Besides, this “hometown” thing. or “area” thing for Free Agents, is grossly overrated. Would you move the kids for another million a year? Ya, case closed.
It would be clumsy and difficult for the players, the schedule makers, the hot dog vendors, etc. But really, who cares about them. “Dere’s gold in dem dere hills!!!!!!”.
How does KK make sense with the Mets. Their entire OF is all LH. KK looks like a platoon player at this point in his career.
Well….
KK could play 80% of the time in CF, with Nimmo taking the rest. When not in CF Nimmo could return to LF where he belongs. Dom Smith is not an OF. It would amaze me if he’s with the team in 2022 – even if they pass the DH in the NL (Mets already have 3 other guys that should be a DH because they can’t play defense).
As for RF, the chances of Conforto coming back to that mess are slightly less than mine are of interviewing for their POBO position.
Then again, you might want to check if KK has a no-trade or partial no-trade in his contract. And in the future, you might want to check about any player being rumored of going to the Mets to have the same.
Jays could use a CF who can share time with Springer who’s LH. Intra division trade seems unlikely though.
I’d be concerned with trading with the Rays.
Next thing you know Trent Thornton will win a cy
Love KK, but I think it makes sense for the Rays to trade him if they can get fair value. He’s expensive and with age his defensive ability will fade faster than his (below average) batting.
If the Rays are willing to trade in their own division, the Yankees make a lot of sense. They need a CF and would welcome another left handed bat. Not sure how good a hitter KK is though and Rays would prefer to trade with teams outside their division I would think.