After a busy winter I've been quiet on the trade front through the first two months as the Rays have gotten off to an excellent start and I didn't feel the need to rock the boat. But I shopped a few players, a big name caught my eye being made available and I knew I had money to play with ($47M to be exact). So this happened:
Welcome to Tampa Bay Alex Bregman!
Houston is retaining 40% of his salary which means we're on the hook for $11M the rest of this year and $17M next year, so he's not just a rental, and $17M for Bregman is a bargain. He's coming off a 4.7 WAR season in 22 and is already at 1.9 WAR, on pace for 6.0 as he's hitting 278/376/517 with 10 HR and 29 RBI.
He'll of course be taking Toro's place as Abe comes full circle back to Houston after going to Seattle and then us, and Toro was not really a problem for us this year, hitting 276/339/447 and on pace for a 3.6 WAR season himself, but Bregman is still a clear upgrade. The other key piece going to Houston is Kameron Misner, who really blossomed last year at Durham (5.2 WAR), and was doing decently this year if not quite at that kind of pace. Misner can hold his own in center, but was never going to replace Josh Lowe, who's been our best player this year. The third piece going to the Astros is Jacob Lopez, who had a decent season in the Durham rotation last year but won't pitch until 2024 as he recovers from a torn rotator cuff. If he makes a full recovery he has a future as a 4/5 starter.
One other factor is that Misner and Lopez were going to have to be added to the 40-man this winter as we're going to have a massive logjam there. Right now I see 7 or 8 guys I feel I need to add but our only scheduled openings are for upcoming FAs Tyler Glasnow (whom I may try to extend) and Brooks Raley (whose team option I'm planning to decline).