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AL Central Notes: Joyce, Clippard, Zimmer, White Sox

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The Indians have informed veteran outfielder Matt Joyce that he won’t make the roster, manager Terry Francona told reporters Friday (Twitter link via STO’s Andre Knott). The team is giving Joyce a bit of time to ponder his next step — presumably exploring other opportunities out there and weighing a potential assignment to Triple-A Columbus. The 34-year-old Joyce had a rough 2018 season with the A’s (.208/.322/.353 in 246 PAs) and is just 5-for-27 with seven punchouts and three walks thus far in Spring Training. However, he’s only one season removed from batting .243/.335/.473 with Oakland in 2017 and has generally functioned as a quality platoon bat over the past decade in the Majors. Of course, finding another opportunity could be tough, as there are still other veteran left-handed-hitting outfield bats looking for work on the market — including Carlos Gonzalez and Denard Span.

With Joyce out of the mix for the Indians, it seems they’ll lean on some combination of Greg Allen, Jake Bauers, Leonys Martin, Tyler Naquin and Jordan Luplow in the outfield. Once Bradley Zimmer has fully recovered from shoulder surgery, he’ll reemerge as an option as well.

Here’s more from the AL Central…

  • Another veteran in camp with the Indians on a minor league deal, Tyler Clippard, will be sidelined from baseball activities for three to four weeks due to a mild pectoral strain, the club announced. The Indians, however, would like to keep Clippard, per Francona. That seemingly suggests that the Indians view the right-hander as a legitimate part of their MLB pen this year, though it’s tough to know what the roster landscape will look like when he is ready to resume competitive action. The 34-year-old Clippard has appeared in three spring contests and tallied 2 2/3 scoreless innings with three strikeouts and a walk. Last year, in 68 2/3 frames with the Blue Jays, he logged a 3.67 ERA with 11.1 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 against an alarming 1.70 HR/9 mark.
  • It seems there’s a realistic chance that Royals right-hander Kyle Zimmer will head north on the active roster, MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan writes. He’s throwing in the mid-nineties and showing an impressive curveball, per skipper Ned Yost, who says that the progress throughout camp has been remarkable. The 27-year-old Zimmer, once the fifth overall pick in the draft, has yet to appear in the big leagues. He re-signed with the club on a MLB deal back in November but can still be optioned to Triple-A. Flanagan notes that the Royals are likely to carry an eight-man bullpen, though several spots are already earmarked for Wily Peralta, Brad Boxberger, Jake Diekman, Tim Hill, Kevin McCarthy and perhaps Rule 5 pick Sam McWilliams.
  • White Sox GM Rick Hahn discussed his team’s plans for its top prospects, as Madeline Kenney of the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Hahn cited a tepid spring showing at the plate as the basis for the decision to place exciting youngster Eloy Jimenez back at Triple-A. Jimenez slashed .355/.399/.597 in 228 plate appearances there last year. As for top pitching prospect Dylan Cease, Hahn says the righty is ready to succeed in the majors. But he’ll also head back to the upper minors as part of the team’s plan to “get him through an entire season strong.” Cease threw a career-high 124 innings last year and so likely won’t be asked to take 32 starts in the season to come. Hahn says he’ll likely join the MLB roster at some point during the summer.

Michael A. Taylor Diagnosed With Sprained Knee, Hip

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Nationals outfielder Michael A. Taylor has been diagnosed with a sprained left knee and hip, manager Dave Martinez tells reporters including Jesse Dougherty of the Washington Post (Twitter link). Taylor is expected to “miss a significant amount of time,” per Martinez.

That’s rather unwelcome news for the Nats, who were slated to utilize Taylor quite often to spell the oft-injured Adam Eaton and youngster Victor Robles. With Howie Kendrick also still on the mend, the team now has a yawning gap in its bench mix.

Looking to the 40-man roster, the left-handed-hitting Andrew Stevenson is the only option. He has struggled at the plate in limited MLB opportunities and has not impressed in Grapefruit League action this spring. Hunter Jones is the only non-roster outfielder in camp. The 27-year-old had a nice season last year in the upper minors but has also not produced much offense in spring action. It’s also possible the team could trust Wilmer Difo with some innings on the grass, though he has little experience there and carries a light bat.

It stands to reason that the Nationals will consider outside options, though Taylor’s precise timeline will help dictate the approach. Veteran center fielder Austin Jackson remains unsigned and could potentially step into Taylor’s role. He’s nowhere near the fielder that Taylor is at this stage of his career — in fact, metrics graded him quite poorly last year — but is an amply experienced option who was a productive hitter as recently as 2017. Old friend Denard Span is also on the market, as is Carlos Gonzalez, though both players hit from the left side and neither would really present an option up the middle. The trade market may also present some possibilities, particularly as late-spring roster decisions are made.

White Sox Outright Juan Minaya

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Right-hander Juan Minaya has cleared waivers and been assigned outright to Triple-A Charlotte by the White Sox, thus opening a spot on the team’s 40-man roster. The Athletic’s James Fegan tweets that Minaya’s velocity has dipped “noticeably” in recent outings, and the righty has struggled through a series of poor relief appearances this spring (11 runs in 4 2/3 innings). Beyond Minaya, the Sox also reassigned non-roster invitee Randall Delgado to minor league camp, ending the former D-backs right-hander’s bid to make the Opening Day roster.

Minaya, 28, has been a consistent presence in the White Sox’ bullpen over the past two seasons, pitching to a combined 3.89 earned run average while averaging 10.9 strikeouts and 4.9 walks per nine innings pitched. He briefly served as the team’s closer in 2017, tallying nine saves in that role, and has generally been a solid reliever for the Sox — albeit an erratic one in terms of control. Minaya averaged 95 mph on his heater last season and has posted an 11.5 percent swinging-strike rate across the past two years, though it seems some of that velocity has disappeared in camp.

Minaya’s subtraction from the 40-man roster doesn’t necessarily indicate that the White Sox are on the verge of any sort of signing. Veteran righty Ervin Santana, in camp with the White Sox on a minor league contract, is widely expected to claim a spot in the rotation and now has a clear path to be added to the roster. If that indeed plays out, he’ll reportedly earn a $4.3MM salary in 2019.

As for Delgado, the 29-year-old was a useful bullpen piece himself for the Diamondbacks from 2015-17 when he notched a 3.79 ERA with 8.6 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 over the life of 209 2/3 innings. (He also mixed in six starts along the way.) A significant oblique strain wiped out more than half of his 2018 season, however, and he managed just 11 1/3 innings with more walks (six) than strikeouts (five) before being designated for assignment.

Luis Severino Likely Out Until May

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Yankees general manager Brian Cashman provided a more concrete timetable for right-hander Luis Severino to return from his current shoulder troubles Friday, revealing that the organization doesn’t expect Severino to pitch in a big league game until sometime in May (Twitter link via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). Severino is currently in the midst of a two-week shutdown stemming from inflammation in his right shoulder’s rotator cuff. He’s expected to begin playing catch next week.

There’s more optimistic news surrounding fellow starter CC Sabathia, as Cashman indicated that the veteran left-hander could pitch in big league games in the month of April (via Hoch). Beyond his recovery from offseason knee surgery and an angioplasty procedure, Sabathia is still facing a five-game suspension for throwing at now-former Rays catcher Jesus Sucre late in the 2018 season. Cashman suggested that the team may carry Sabathia on the Opening Day roster, which would allow the clock on said suspension to begin sooner.

Given today’s updates from the general manager, it seems that the Yankees will spend at least a month of the season patching together the rotation behind healthy starters James Paxton, Masahiro Tanaka and J.A. Happ. The Yankees have depth in the form of Domingo German, Jonathan Loaisiga, Chance Adams and the out-of-options Luis Cessa, and the frequent off-days baked into the early-season schedule should aid the team as well. The Yankees (like all clubs) won’t technically need a fifth starter for the first couple of weeks because of those off days, which could at least help them patch the gap until Sabathia is ready to take the hill.

Still, the timetable on Severino is an unwelcome one — particularly if there are any setbacks or lingering complications from his current shoulder issue. While the Yankees do have the depth to navigate the early absences of Severino and Sabathia, they’ll also continue to be speculatively linked to remaining free agents such as Gio Gonzalez and Dallas Keuchel until that pair has come off the boar and signed with a new organization. Either hurler would be a boon to the projected Opening Day rotation, but signing either would also give the Yankees six legitimate MLB starters for what figures to be five rotation spots if the entire group were to become healthy at the same time. There are also luxury-tax implications to consider; the Yankees’ current contracts bring their luxury-tax ledger to $226MM, per Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez, meaning they would pay a 32 percent tax on any theoretical free-agent signing.

NL Central Notes: Kratz, Wacha, Pirates

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The Brewers are facing a decision on veteran catcher Erik Kratz, as Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel details. With Yasmani Grandal and Manny Pina ahead of Kratz on the depth chart, Kratz’s days with the organization seem numbered. The 38-year-old is out of minor league options, and the Brewers only plan to carry two catchers on the roster to open the season. A move to either trade Kratz or attempt to pass him through outright waivers seems inevitable, and president of baseball ops David Stearns was candid about Kratz’s roster status. “We’ve tried to keep him posted on what’s going on,” said Stearns. “…It’s a balance between trying to preserve your injury insurance and trying to assess the market and what’s out there. We’ll continue to balance that, but I imagine that resolution will happen close to the end of camp.” Stearns added that he Brewers are “sensitive to do right by the player” in searching for other opportunities, while Kratz himself had nothing but praise for the professionalism with which the organization has handled the situation.

More on the NL Central…

  • Michael Wacha is very cognizant of the fact that this could be his final Spring Training with the Cardinals, writes Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. A free agent after the season, Wacha has already watched the Cardinals extend teammate Miles Mikolas (on a four-year, $68MM deal). Wacha called the contract “awesome” for Mikolas adding that his teammate is a “stud pitcher and great off the field.” As far as his own contract status, however, Wacha stressed the importance of not getting caught up in that sort of thing with the season approaching. The 2012 first-rounder was limited to 84 1/3 innings last season due to an oblique injury, but he was sharp when on the field, working to a 3.20 ERA with 7.6 K/9, 3.8 BB/9, 0.96 HR/9 and a 43.2 percent grounder rate. He’ll be the youngest established starter available in free agency next winter, so a healthy season is particularly crucial.
  • Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette breaks down the Pirates’ shortstop battle between Erik Gonzalez and 2015 first-rounder Kevin Newman. Gonzalez, acquired from the Indians this offseason, is out of minor league options, so he’ll break camp with the club whether it’s as a starter at short or as a versatile utility piece. However, if Gonzalez beats out Newman for the starting role, it seems likelier that Newman would head to Triple-A for regular at-bats. Pablo Reyes and Cole Tucker are both in the mix as well, although Tucker has yet to even play a game in Triple-A and would seem like a long shot at this juncture. If neither Newman nor Tucker breaks camp with the team, Reyes could also be in line to earn a bench role as a utility piece. It’s a roster battle with numerous layers, which Brink discusses with GM Neal Huntington as well as several of the players involved.

Tigers Shut Down Michael Fulmer

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March 15: Fulmer further discussed the shut down with McCosky, stating that he’s not sure how long it’ll take to build back up. As McCosky explains in greater detail, the right-hander had been wearing a brace on his surgically repaired knee that has since been swapped out for a compression sleeve.

“Maybe it was a little restrictive,” said Fulmer in reference to the brace. “Today was a step in the right direction as far as using my lower body and trying to drive toward home plate, as opposed to basically not using my lower body at all.”

Fulmer’s fastball velocity this spring had been hovering in the 90 to 92 mph range, per McCosky, which is a far cry from the 95.5 mph he’s averaged throughout his career. At present, there’s no defined timetable for Fulmer to be up to full strength, but it seems likely he’ll open the season on the injured list.

March 14: The Tigers have shut down righty Michael Fulmer, Chris McCosky of the Detroit News reports (Twitter links). Manager Ron Gardenhire says that Fulmer “took a step back to refine his lower body mechanics.”

Typically, pitchers only hit the shelf in mid-March if they are dealing with an arm problem or other injury. That doesn’t seem to be the case here, though it could be that the team sees some risk in allowing Fulmer to keep throwing. He underwent knee surgery last fall and has shown reduced velocity thus far this spring.

Fulmer, who’s slated to earn $2.8MM after losing an arbitration hearing, is a key asset for the rebuilding Detroit organization. While the team’s outlook for the coming season is poor regardless, the hope had been that Fulmer would get back on track after a rough 2018 season.

There’s still time for Fulmer to re-discover his established ceiling. He turns 26 tomorrow and has three more arb-eligible seasons beyond 2019. First, he’ll need to work through the issues that the club has identified.

As things stand, says Gardenhire, there’s “no timetable on when [Fulmer is] going to get back on the mound.” That leaves the door open for Daniel Norris or another hurler to earn a shot. Matt Hall, Ryan Carpenter, and Spencer Turnbull are among the other potential candidates with some MLB experience and 40-man spots.

NL Roster/Health Notes: Taylor, Verdugo, Cecil, Romano, Kennedy

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The Nationals are suddenly facing a potential roster gap in the outfield, as Mark Zuckerman of MASNsports.com reports. Michael Taylor tweaked his knee today and is slated to be looked at more closely tomorrow. With Howie Kendrick also in limbo, both of the club’s right-handed-hitting reserve outfield pieces could be out of commission to open the season. Lefty hitter Andrew Stevenson is the only other 40-man outfielder. Perhaps there’s a chance that the Nats will look to the free agent market — Austin Jackson seems the closest match to Taylor as a right-handed-hitting center fielder — or consider claiming a late-spring roster casualty to boost their depth.

Here are a few more roster notes from around the game:

  • The Dodgers expect to carry Alex Verdugo on the MLB roster to open the year, manager Dave Roberts says (via Pedro Moura of The Athletic, on Twitter). After spending two seasons at Triple-A, where he owns a healthy .321/.389/.452 slash, Verdugo certainly deserves a shot. It remains to be seen how he and others will actually be utilized. As things stand, Joc Pederson and Cody Bellinger are also available as left-handed-hitting outfield options, though perhaps some roster tweaking could still occur.
  • Cardinals lefty Brett Cecil pitched in an instrasquad game today and threw more balls (15) than strikes (12) in his latest shaky outing, according to Ben Frederickson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. This spring has been a trial for the veteran reliever, who’s still trying to find himself on the mound after losing a bunch of weight following a brutal 2018 season. Command and velocity are both problems at the moment, as Frederickson’s colleague Derrick Goold recently explored.
  • Right-hander Sal Romano, who has spent the vast majority of his career as a starter, will be converted into a relief role for the Reds moving forward, Bobby Nightengale Jr. of the Cincinnati Enquirer reports. He’ll still be stretched out to the point where he can be relied upon for two- and three-inning relief appearances if needed, though. Unlike some other Reds roster hopefuls, Romano has a minor league option remaining, so it’s possible he’ll continue to acclimate to his new role at the Triple-A level before getting a look the big league ’pen. Romano, who turned 25 this offseason, has long rated as one of the more intriguing arms in the Cincinnati system but hasn’t found MLB success yet. In 232 2/3 innings, he’s mustered just a 4.99 ERA with 6.9 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 — including a 5.31 ERA in 145 2/3 innings of work last year. Making it into the Reds’ rotation would’ve been challenging anyhow, as offseason acquisitions Sonny Gray, Alex Wood and Tanner Roark are expected to join holdovers Luis Castillo and Anthony DeSclafani to round out the starting five.
  • Padres right-hander Brett Kennedy has been diagnosed with a lat strain, per James Clark of the East Village Times (Twitter link). The expectation is that he’ll be sidelined for about a month. Kennedy, 24, scuffled last year in his first six MLB appearances and wasn’t expected to command a big league job out of camp. But he posted impressive results in 2018 at Triple-A, with 89 1/3 innings of 2.72 ERA ball over 16 starts, and is certainly part of the depth picture in San Diego.

Latest On Cubs’ Bullpen

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With Brandon Morrow expected to miss the first month of the season and Pedro Strop now nursing a hamstring strain, the Cubs are looking at some questions in their relief corps. The organization has sent some conflicting signals, though, on how it intends to proceed.

Skipper Joe Maddon suggested there was some discussion of potential acquisitions in recent comments, as Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun Times writes. Though Wittenmyer reports that there have been no budgetary changes that would support pursuit of Craig Kimbrel, he indicated that the organization might look to the waiver wire and explore potential trades to deepen their bullpen.

President of baseball operations Theo Epstein put a somewhat different spin on things in his comments later today. He said that he does not “foresee anything significant at all” in terms of new acquisitions and added that he is confident in the team’s existing depth. (Twitter links.)

It stands to reason that the club will at least look into other possibilities. The Cubs could at a minimum peruse this season’s crop of out-of-options players, as several of those players face uphill battles to make their current rosters.

That said, Chicago isn’t exactly teeming with bullpen flexibility. Even if Morrow and Strop open the year on the injured list, the team projects to commit roster spots to at least six veterans who can’t be optioned: Mike Montgomery, Steve Cishek, Brad Brach, Brandon Kintzler, Brian Duensing and Tyler Chatwood. Beyond that, while Carl Edwards Jr. can technically be optioned, he’s a lock for the Opening Day roster.

Speculatively speaking, perhaps the Cubs would simply part ways with an underperforming veteran if a more affordable bullpen option presented itself. It could also be that an intervening development will open a spot. As it stands, though, the club’s relief corps currently looks like a potentially problematic area that can’t be easily addressed.

Offseason In Review: Tampa Bay Rays

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This is the latest post of MLBTR’s annual Offseason in Review series, in which we take stock of every team’s winter dealings.

After a surprising 2018 season, the Rays prepared for a full return to contention with some intriguing trades and the priciest free agent signing in club history.

Major League Signings

  • Charlie Morton, SP: Two years, $30MM (plus vesting option for 2021 that could be worth as much as $15MM depending on time spent on injured list)
  • Avisail Garcia, OF: One year, $3.5MM
  • Total spend: $33.5MM

Trades And Claims

Notable Minor League Signings

Notable International Signings

  • Sandy Gaston, RHP: $2.61MM signing bonus

Notable Losses

[Tampa Bay Rays Depth Chart | Tampa Bay Rays Payroll Outlook]

Needs Addressed

The Rays enjoyed great success with the “opener” strategy in 2018, and they’ll continue to use openers to account for two of their five rotation spots this season.  Joining reigning Cy Young winner Blake Snell and promising but still rather unproven righty Tyler Glasnow is an established veteran, yet one that still seems somewhat “young” in the sense that we’re only entering the third season of the reinvented Charlie Morton.

After nine seasons of decent but unspectacular work for the Braves, Pirates, and Phillies, Morton breathed new life into his career as a member of the 2017-18 Astros.  The soft-tossing groundball specialist suddenly turned into a strikeout machine with a 95mph fastball, whiffing 364 batters in just 313 2/3 innings for Houston.

Since Morton turned 35 last November, however, his earning outlook was limited. It was the Rays who made a rare free agent splash to land the right-hander, agreeing to a sizable contract that doesn’t come with risk of long-term entanglements.  Geography played a role (Morton and his family live in nearby Bradenton, Florida), though Morton was undoubtedly intrigued at the possibility of joining another young team that may be on the cusp of contention.  This isn’t to say that the Rays are about to enjoy a 2017 Astros-esque level of success, yet the club has further established itself as a legitimate contender to reach the postseason, something that would’ve been sounded wild a year ago at this time.

Both last offseason and throughout 2018, Tampa Bay unloaded virtually all of its highest-paid veteran players, yet thrived by acquiring and developing unheralded young replacements who largely outproduced those more established names.  This allowed the Rays to feel comfortable in making a big expenditure on Morton — his $15MM salary is almost a quarter of Tampa’s entire payroll.

This financial flexibility allowed the Rays to take a bit of a deeper look into the free agent and trade markets.  Beyond Morton, Tampa Bay also had interest in such free agent names as slugger Nelson Cruz and second baseman DJ LeMahieu, while the Rays were also one of the many teams who discussed a J.T. Realmuto swap with the Marlins.

Mike Zunino | Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY SportsThe Rays ended up doing in a different direction to address that latter need at catcher….well, as much as a Rays/Mariners trade can be described as “different” given the two clubs’ extensive history of deals.  This time, the Rays and M’s combined on a five-player swap that saw Mallex Smith go to Seattle, while Tampa Bay added Guillermo Heredia to more or less take Smith’s place in the outfield, plus acquired catcher Mike Zunino to bring some stability behind the plate.

Zunino is well-known as one of the better defensive catchers in baseball, with outstanding pitch-framing and an increasing knack for throwing out baserunners.  At minimum, the Rays will add some strong defense and some added pop to their catcher’s spot, as Zunino has 90 homers over the last five seasons.  It seemed as if Zunino was rounding into becoming a true offensive force with a .251/.331/.509 season in 2017, yet he took a big step backwards to his old low-average and low-OBP ways last year, with just a .201/.259/.410 slash line over 405 plate appearances.  The Rays as a whole cut back on their strikeout rate (25% to 22.4%) from 2017 to 2018, so there’s some hope that a new environment can help Zunino regain some of his 2017 patience.

Such a rebound would also be welcomed from Avisail Garcia, who turned in a huge 2017 but otherwise hasn’t completed a full season with an OBP of over .309.  Garcia followed up his career year with a disappointing .236/.281/.438 performance over 385 PA, leading the White Sox to decline tendering a contract.  The outfielder was hampered by injuries last year, however, leading the Rays to take a relatively inexpensive risk ($3.5MM) to see if Garcia can get on track.

The Rays’ offseason was also highlighted by a pair of three-team trades, one of which involved the Indians and (again) the Mariners.  Tampa Bay’s involvement in the trade saw the Rays essentially swap former top prospect Jake Bauers for former Cleveland infielder Yandy Diaz, giving the Rays a bit more multi-positional versatility since Diaz can also play some third base, while matching Bauers’ skillset as a first baseman and corner outfielder.  Minor league righty Cole Sulser and his eye-opening 12.3 K/9 at Triple-A also came to Tampa in the deal, giving the Rays another bullpen depth option.

A few years after being linked to Jurickson Profar in trade rumors, Tampa Bay was finally part of a Profar deal, only as the third team in the mix while the Athletics ended up with the infielder.  The Rays’ contribution was three minor league pitchers to the Rangers, while picking up righty Emilio Pagan and a Competitive Balance Round-A draft pick (currently the 39th overall selection) from Oakland.  Pagan will help fill the void left by veteran Sergio Romo in the bullpen, though Pagan’s tendency to allow a lot of fly balls and home runs will be tested in the AL East.

Questions Remaining

This is just speculative, but since the Rays picked up an extra draft pick in the Profar trade, perhaps that might make the team more open to surrendering a high pick to sign a qualifying offer free agent….like, for instance, Craig Kimbrel.  The Rays are at least keeping an eye on Kimbrel’s market to see if the closer would be willing to take a shorter-term (one or two years) contract, though it may still be something of a longshot that Kimbrel ends up at Tropicana Field.

Adding Kimbrel would certainly be a major way of addressing a closer position that otherwise didn’t seem like a big priority for the Rays this winter.  The team seems comfortable using Jose Alvarado as its primary ninth-inning option, though it’s fair to assume that several others will get some save opportunities as Tampa mixes and matches its arms.  Ryne Stanek and Diego Castillo, for instance, could be used in the ninth inning when they’re not being used as openers.

Beyond just the personnel involved, the bigger question might be simply whether lightning can strike twice for the Rays and their opener strategy.  Opponents have now had more time to get a book on Tampa Bay’s young relief corps, of course, and the uniqueness of the opener may fade now that other teams are also planning to use a one-or-two inning “starter” for one of their rotation spots.  Adding Morton to chew up quality innings should help keep the bullpen fresh, though the Rays will again be performing a constant juggling act of their relievers, including a frequent shuttle to and from Triple-A Durham.

The same question could be asked of the position players.  Only five Rays players topped the 400-PA plateau last season, in part due to some key names being added or subtracted in trades, but also due to the team’s roster full of players with multi-position capability, able to be moved in and out of the lineup as a game situation warrants.  This season’s Rays have more of a set starting lineup on paper, though it will require some players to prove themselves capable of regular duty.

Trading Smith, for instance, puts pressure on Austin Meadows (a former top prospect) to take the leap in his second MLB season.  Shortstop Willy Adames is being counted on for his own second-year improvement, while Joey Wendle will have to avoid a sophomore slump.  Garcia is a total wild card.  Ji-Man Choi delivered big numbers over 189 PA for Tampa last season, and will now have to produce over a full year as a frequent choice as the designated hitter.  For Kevin Kiermaier and Matt Duffy, their primary challenge will simply be to stay healthy (Duffy has already run into problems in this regard).

As noted earlier, the Rays looked at some bigger names this winter, and did come away with Morton to help stabilize the rotation.  Zunino also fills a need behind the plate, even if he isn’t Realmuto.  For the remainder of the everyday lineup, however, it’s hard to argue that signing someone like Nelson Cruz wouldn’t have provided a clearer hitting upgrade.  After Edwin Encarnacion was dealt from Cleveland to Seattle as part of that three-team deal, there was speculation that Encarnacion would then be flipped to Tampa, though such a follow-up move never materialized.

The Rays ended up with the much less-experienced first base/DH combination of Diaz and Choi, with others (Wendle, Brandon Lowe, Nate Lowe) likely to cycle through first base and much of the roster likely getting a DH day when warranted.  Still, despite Choi’s impressive 2018 and Diaz’s highly-touted exit velocity numbers, Tampa might not have made much of a step up from Bauers and C.J. Cron, let alone the boost that a Cruz or Encarnacion would have provided.

The Rays designated Cron for assignment and watched him leave on waivers rather than pay him a projected $5.2MM arbitration salary. Bauers was moved after just one MLB season, following two years as a top-100 ranked prospect.  It says something about Tampa Bay’s belief in Diaz that the team was willing to move Bauers this early in his career, though it could also speak to the sport’s general devaluation of players (like Bauers) who are limited to playing only first base and a little bit of subpar corner outfield.

2019 Season Outlook

The Red Sox and Yankees are both at least a few steps ahead of the Rays in the AL East, though Tampa Bay compares pretty favorably to the rest of the American League’s wild card contenders.  Given the front office’s penchant for reshaping its roster on the fly, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Rays attempt a big midseason trade if they’re in the playoff hunt.

How would you grade the Rays’ offseason moves?  (Link for app users.)

How Would You Grade The Rays' Offseason?
B 48.53% (1,881 votes)
C 27.14% (1,052 votes)
A 11.97% (464 votes)
D 7.40% (287 votes)
F 4.95% (192 votes)
Total Votes: 3,876

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Tony Cingrani To Open Season On Injured List

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Dodgers southpaw Tony Cingrani will open the season on the injured list, MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick reports. He’s dealing with shoulder soreness of the same kind that bothered him in 2018.

It isn’t clear at this point just how long Cingrani will be sidelined. The club will shut him down for at least two weeks, over which time he’ll receive medical treatment. Presumably the next steps will be determined at that time.

Entering the offseason, some may have wondered whether Cingrani might be non-tendered. He was limited to 22 2/3 innings of 4.76 ERA pitching in the 2018 season.

The Dodgers obviously saw the upside in his powerful left arm, however, as they gave him a fully guaranteed $2.65MM arbitration contract in his final season of eligibility. Cingrani carried 14.3 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9 last year, generating a career-high 13.8% swinging-strike rate by increasing the usage (to 19.3%) of the slider that has typically taken a back seat to his 94+ mph four-seamer.

Thus far in camp, Gurnick says, Cingrani has shown reduced velocity. That was also the case when he returned late last season. It might have been hoped that a full winter of rest would allow Cingrani to get back to his customary mid-nineties heat, but it seems he’ll require further rehab work before giving it another go.

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