3) Tampa Bay Rays
Of all the teams in the league, it’s perhaps a little premature to make any judgments of the Rays offseason. There exist still many rumors involving Tampa, such as interest in trades with the Chicago Cubs for Javier Baez and/or Jorge Soler. Both would bring immediate upgrades to an infamously tame Rays hitting line-up and present something of a threat to the Red Sox and the league.
That the Rays are still very much in the confirmation for major trades this offseason speaks volumes of their depth. Their pitching depth that is. Tampa is famed for its pitching development (thanks for David Price, by the way) and they have a plethora of available and desirable talent that could yet be moved if some offense is available in return. Closer Brad Boxberger and starters Jake Odorizzi or Alex Cobb could garner a significant return and the stars seem to align well between Tampa and a title hungry Chicago.
As of now though, the Rays have had a fairly reasonable offseason with some decent pickups, all, perhaps unsurprisingly, from the trades market. Chief among these was a six man trade with the Seattle Mariners that saw Tampa get Danny Farquhar, Logan Morrison and Brad Miller in return. Of these, Farquhar is the throw in (though a case could be made for Morrison too) and I’d imagine only Morrison and Miller will be fixtures in the 2016 Rays line-up.
Morrison is coming off a fairly ugly year with the Mariners, worth -0.2 WAR and hitting for an abysmal .225 AVG. His OPS was a rather sad .685 and honestly, I struggle to find any redeeming qualities to him. He’s young? I guess? 28 is young for a slugger and stupidly young for a player that will, if he gets any time on the park at all, likely result in him being a DH. Still Morrison has value as a rebound candidate and does manage at least 15 homers every year.
At DH, his bad (dire actually) defense is mitigated and he can cause very little damage on the whole. What he does bring is a fill to one of the many gaping holes in the Rays line-up that can tide them over till their impressive farm system comes of age and carries the weight. He does, it must be said, hit righties a bit better than south paws, in 2015 (a career bad year for him, but not by much) his OPS was a far more serviceable .767 against righties. But he’s not the prize here, no that’d be Miller.
Miller is 26 and was one of the most exciting prospects in the Mariners system for years. A Shortstop, he flashed massive potential with both glove and bat and was, and still is by many, expected to be a star. Of course, his power never fully developed as expected, his line for 2015 stood at .258/.329/.402 which isn’t amazing, or bad, just about average actually. Still that’s only really not that impressive, for his age, when you compare it to say Xander Bogaerts (.320/.355/.421) who is already a star shining brightly for Boston.
Regardless, Miller is a solid acquisition for Tampa and brings a reliable and improving bat, athleticism at SS and decent base running (13 stolen bases in 2015) to a team that desperately needs it. With the Rays amazing pitching rotation, spearheaded by Price protégée Chris Archer, any upgrade to their offense presents a challenge to the rest of the league.
Having said that though, it’s clear these aren’t mega upgrades and Tampa, who finished fourth overall in 2015, needed mega upgrades. It’s difficult to see how the new look Rays, who don’t look all that new really, will be able to usurp the Yankees or the Blue Jays, let alone the Red Sox. Sure, Miller’s a great pickup, but it only really makes up for the loss of Asdubral Cabrera. Much like the Orioles, the Rays seem to be fighting against the current only to stand still.
Next: 4 - Toronto Blue Jays