10:40am: The deal is now official. The Rays announced Mejia has been signed to a minor league pact and invited to spring training.
10:00am: The Rays are finalizing a deal to bring free agent catcher Francisco Mejia back to the organization, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. It’ll be a minor league contract with an invite to spring training for the ISE client. Mejia was granted his release from a minor league deal with the Angels last month.
Tampa Bay currently plans to deploy defensive standout Rene Pinto as its starting catcher, and non-roster invitee Alex Jackson has been expected to serve as his backup. Topkin adds that those plans remain unchanged even with Mejia on the brink of returning to the organization he played for from 2021-23. Mejia will give the Rays a depth option behind that unproven tandem for the time being. Injuries or poor performances — either in spring training or early in the season — can always change that equation, of course.
The 28-year-old Mejia was once considered one of baseball’s top all-around prospects, but he’s yet to hit at the big league level despite a strong .306/.350/.519 track record at the Triple-A level (633 plate appearances). In 1098 plate appearances in the majors, Mejia owns a tepid .239/.284/.394 slash between three organizations (Cleveland, San Diego, Tampa Bay). The switch-hitter has been twice traded in the past, going from Cleveland to San Diego in 2018’s Brad Hand trade and from San Diego to Tampa Bay in 2020’s Blake Snell trade.
Mejia’s first season with the Rays showed some promise. He hit .260/.322/.416 with six homers and a hefty 22 doubles in just 299 trips to the plate. Things have gone south since that encouraging Rays debut, however, as his bat has faded while his defensive grades have dropped off precipitously. Mejia has long graded as a below-average framer, and in 2023 he threw out just four of 42 runners attempting to steal against him. Statcast also ranks him as one of the least-effective catchers in the game when it comes to blocking pitches in the dirt.
Those shortcomings notwithstanding, Mejia is a switch-hitter with an excellent offensive track record in the upper minors, and the Rays are thinner at catcher than the majority of teams in the sport. Pinto, Jackson and 34-year-old non-roster invitee Rob Brantly are the only catchers in the organization with MLB experience. Brantly has 456 big league plate appearances across parts of eight seasons. Neither Pinto nor Jackson has recorded even 200 MLB plate appearances.
Everyone’s sleeping on Pinto he’s gonna be their Jose Siri this year
Hes the starter. Pinto showed something last year.
If you mean he’s going to get on base at a .267 clip then I agree.
rays bottom will fall off this year. 73 wins
Clueless
“I’m saying this because I’m a homer”
Of course,Travis.
Anyways:
Harder division
Loss of aces and best player
Unproven rookies
etc,etc
That’s the story of the Rays every year. The Rays underestimated, and the Yankees overestimated. Ho hum.
Maybe we should discuss over a bud light?
Though it will be tough with McClanahan, Rasmussen and Springs all out until at least the All-Star break the Rays are probably still a better team than that. However, even with the Red Sox not appearing to be much of a factor at this point the AL East will still be a dog fight this season
Mash over 84 wins
You could be right (and I’m a Rays fan). I never doubt their ability to find pitching, but their starting pitching group this year is very average. They lack a true ace and it could get worse if some injuries happen early in the year.
Even so, I am excited about Baz as I think if he comes back healthy, he could be a dominant piece of that rotation. I also am curious to see if Littell picks up where he left off last year and if Pepiot is the real deal. However, still a lot of question marks in that rotation and they need to find a way to keep their arms healthy. I can see things breaking the wrong way for the Rays this season, but it is hard to bet against them as nobody salvages pitching like they do.
Well be just fine have some faith Esteban!
Pinto top 15 fantasy catcher, Rays showing a lot of faith in him!
Unrelated but Jose Siri has the weirdest player profile I’ve ever seen
How so?
Worst OBP in MLB but great pop as a CFer plus good defense and baserunning plus he batflips on racist pitchers
insert eyeroll
“Unrelated”..Siri seems like an elite CF defender with some pop, not a bad profile. I believe Houston might like a do-over on that trade, because the CF’s they kept might not be as good as Siri.
Preller sure won the Snell trade
Yep. Good thing, because he has not won much else…
i mean Preller has done decent with his Trade history tbh
Kinda weird to go back to the org that just replaced you as its starter, and a minor league deal to boot.
@just thinkin. probably familiarity and it’s most likely a lock for the 3rd catcher. He had a minor league deal with angels as well.
The historical inability of the Rays to solve the catcher position is baffling. Except for a few good months of Zunino at times, the position has been a disaster since Navarro, and he was not exactly great. If I see Brenly or Jackson at the major league level this year, it will be proof the Rays don’t really want to win…they just want to win *enough*.
Wilson Ramos though
Travis D’Arnaud was solid and the Rays could have resigned him for a reasonable amount as well but passed.
What’s the salary? These writers only care then it’s unimaginable numbers.
I never understood this dude. He was such a pure hitter in the minors, but I guess slap shots and weak grounds are outs in the big leagues.
Brantly is a good guy to have, as he’s good with staffs. I could see the Rays using him as a de facto coach. He also had a good spring last year with Toronto and a good milb season. He understands his role, and if he gets 100-185 AB, he should be fine.