The 2023 (and beyond) Tampa Bay Rays

[Art Deco]

A missed opportunity...



The Rays are going to have a little under 48 hours to stew over this one, a 16-inning 6-4 loss to Washington to see the Series evened up at a game apiece. After tying the game in the 8th on homers from Chris Crisp (who else?) and Fernando Tatis Jr. Washington loaded the bases in the 9th against Hayden Juenger with nobody out only for Juan Nunez to come in and get a strikeout and a 4-1-3 double play to escape. And then in the 10th the Rays should have won the game when they did the same thing, only to hit a shallow fly ball, pop up and fly ball to squander the opportunity to go up 2-0. After that there wasn't much threat from either team until we scraped the bottom of our pitching barrel to put Nate Hydro in, and he gave up a 2-run homer to Druw Jones in the 16th to lose it. Dishonorable mention to Subaru Nakashima, who struggled throughout the playoffs so far (.122) but was especially brutal tonight, going 0-7 including making the 3rd out in that fateful 10th inning and then grounded into a double play to end the game in the 16th. We'll now have Earl Yohemas get the ball for Game 3 in Washington, where we'll now be playing all three games.

[Art Deco]

Back on top...



The Rays regained control of the World Series and took back home-field advantage with a 6-2 win over Nats in Game 3. Earl Yohemas pitched his best game of the postseason to date with 6 strong innings and Geronimo Satiro took advantage of a lefty starting to plate the tying run on a sac fly and then give the Rays a 3-run lead with a 2-run homer in the 5th. They even got an RBI double from Jose Ramos which turned out to be the winning hit, the free-agent flop's first hit of the playoffs. Garrett Lambert has pitched well this October and he'll try to give the Rays a commanding lead in Game 4.

[Art Deco]

This one's going at least six...



Once again Tampa Bay and Washington are tied in the World Series after the Rays forgot how to hit in Game 4, only managing 3 knocks. One of them was Samuel Basallo's first homer of the postseason which briefly tied the game at 1, but Garrett Lambert couldn't hold the Nats there, wild-pitching home a run for the second time to put his team behind and then surrendering a solo homer. Washington added 3 more off the bullpen while the bats went down meekly. Emiliano Teodo will try to stay home starting tomorrow's Game 5 for Tampa Bay.

[Art Deco]

Going home in a hole...



For the second straight day the pitching was pretty lousy but at least this time the offense tried to keep up. Nevertheless the Rays now find themselves one loss away from World Series disappointment again. The only solace to be taken from this game is that Subaru Nakashima might have gotten going again as he belted a pair of homers, and also going deep was another playoff underachiever in Samuel Basallo who homered in his second straight game. Fortunately the Rays will have ace Zyaire Sesay going in Game 6 as it's all hands on deck.

[Art Deco]

Going the distance...



Zyaire Sesay came up big yet again, capping a postseason in which he was 2-0, 1.71 in 5 starts covering 31.2 IP, and as a result the Rays have forced a decisive Game 7 tomorrow night at Tropicana Field. Sesay took a no-hitter into the 7th before TJ White doubled leading off the inning. Hayden Juenger got Sesay out a jam with one pitch, starting a 1-6-3 double play and Yordy Richard had yet another shaky save, putting three straight men on with two out in the 9th with Washington scoring a run before he got a bases-loaded flyout to end things. Earl Yohemas will be hoping to replicate his Game 3 performance which saw the Rays win in Washington.

[Art Deco]

Disappointment again...



For 7 innings the Rays had what they needed in Game 7: Very good start from Earl Yohemas, check. Clutch go-ahead homer from Geronimo Satiro: check. Lead going into the 8th: check. But it all went horribly wrong after that as the bullpen blew it, and the Rays remain in search of their first-ever World Series title. Andrew Magno started the inning to turn around TJ White and face a lefty but all he did was walk those two plus one more to loaded the bases with nobody out. Yeuris Jimenez came on and got a strikeout but then gave up a bases-clearing double and that was all she wrote as the offense had no late answer. So this remains the only Rays save I've had where I've yet to win it all and we'll go back to the drawing board for 2035.

[Art Deco]

We're still licking our wounds here from leading Game 7 of the World Series after 7 innings and blowing it, but there's work to do as always in the offseason.

We have a bevy of pending free agents, most notably 3-time reigning AL MVP Fernando Tatis Jr, who most definitely will not be winning a 4th straight after a substantial dropoff this season. Still his "off" year was worth 4.8 WAR so even though he's on decline as he turns 36 in January, that's still a significant piece of the puzzle to replace. Also departing is starting catcher Samuel Basallo, starter Emiliano Teodo and most of the bullpen (Yordy Richard, Juan Nunez, Yeuris Jimenez, Hayden Juenger). Subaru Nakashima opted out of the final year of his contract, but that's not a problem since he's still under team control but he'll make more like $23M in arbitration than the $15M he was getting under his original deal. We also have him under control for 2036.

The good news is that we'll have more than enough money to spend to fill these holes. Here's what we have left who will make more than the minimum:



This group and everyone else adds up to $109M, but Stu Sternberg has loosened the purse strings and will allow us to spend $230M so hot damn, we have some cash to flash. It's possible some of it is spent to re-sign some of our free agents (not Tatis, but possibly Basallo, Teodo or some of the relievers). And of course we'll have plenty to spend to fill the holes at C, 3B and RP. Also there are a few names above who might be surplus to requirements as they say.

The position-by-position outlook:

C: Of course Basallo's absence looms large here. If we can't re-sign him then we have to find a legit starting catcher. Alejandro Contreras is a very good-hitting backup, but he's a 40 defender and not someone we want playing everyday.

1B: Alejandro Cerda showed well in his rookie year and why he was a top prospect but still has growing to do. The question is can he hit lefties or will he need a platoon partner? Geronimo Satiro is just that platoon partner so we should be good there. We have an excellent 1B prospect in Luis Figueroa who hit 308/402/643 at Durham last year and hit a combined 53 HR and 134 RBI between there and El Paso after coming over mid-season from San Diego. He's MLB-ready with 55 contact and 60 power but he's a lefty swinger like Cerda (who admitted can play LF) so he's likely blocked for now.

2B: Owen Paino had a disappointing year after a couple of good ones so all we can do is hope he bounces back.

SS: Edgar Quezada is an All-Star.

3B: Our other big hole with Tatis going elsewhere. Now Paino can play 3B so if we find ourselves with a top-notch 2B to acquire we can shift him around.

IF: I don't know about Pepin Schwartz, who has some pop but wasn't very good last year. We also have Kang-min Kim, who can play 2B and SS, and has 50 power and an 80 eye but only 40 contact. He's a whiz at 2B but I don't think I can ride with him as the 2B and move Paino to 3B, but he's got the inside track for the utility job.

LF: Ben Schmidt had a bounce-back year of sorts, but still well short of the promise he showed 4 years ago when we acquired him and he put up a 39-HR, 137-RBI season, followed by two awful years and then his decent 1.8-WAR season this year in only 311 AB. And he hit well in the postseason. On the other hand do I want to pay him $10-11M even with all the money in the world to spend? Chris Crisp can play here too if he's not DHing.

CF: Subaru is back.

RF: Jonathan Franks was a revelation last year, earning 2.8 WAR in 2/3 of a season, playing Gold Glove-caliber D and doing a little bit of everything.

DH: If Schmidt is the LF, Crisp is the DH.

OF: Cerda and Crisp can handle the OF and we still have Joe Edwards, who once looked like a fixture but injuries and some up-and-down play have dimmed his star. Then there's Alfredo Rosas, up for a while last year and with 3.5-star potential and had a 1.002 OPS at Durham. So we have a lot of depth in the grass.

SP: We return Sesay, Yohemas and Lambert, and Rogelio Vela could be the 4th starter but he was largely awful last year (he really should be better based on his ratings). We'll no doubt acquire a starter if Teodo wants too much and we also have top prospect Dillon Vokey waiting in the wings. Vokey made it to Durham last year and was decent and just needs to slightly improve his control to be effective in The Show. And Jose Garces is also an option, although I like him in the long relief role.

RP: Andrew Magno is our top returning reliever but a) he blew Game 7 and b) he's more of a lefty specialist. We needs arms, arms and arms here to go with the likes of Hydro, G.Ramos and others at the back end of the staff.

So the TL;DR:

1) Replace the Tatis-sized hole in our lineup with a 2B/3B
2) Find a really good catcher
3) Find another starter
4) Rebuild the bullpen almost completely
5) Enjoy the $100M+ we have to spend

Going to be an interesting winter.

[Art Deco]

Retirements (quite a few big names included):

Notables: Mike Trout (#27 retired by Angels), Trea Turner (#7 retired by Phillies), Aaron Judge (#99 retired by Yankees), Bryce Harper (#3 retired by Phillies), Alex Verdugo, Adley Rutschman.

Former Rays: Isaac Paredes.

Awards season:

Gold Gloves: Our Earl Yohemas won at pitcher.

Reliever of the Year: Boston's Jorge Mercedes (37 SV, 1.04 ERA, 2.2 WAR) was the clear winner in the AL with our Joe Boyle finishing third. In the NL Steve Bell of St. Louis (43 SV, 1.73 ERA) was a near-unanimous winner.

Silver Sluggers: Two Tampa Bay winners: soon-to-depart C Samuel Basallo and CF Subaru Nakashima.

Rookie of the Year: When you put together a .322-46-126, 6.1 WAR season as a rookie it's no surprise when you win unanimously which is what Toronto 2B Juan Collado did. The NL winner was Arizona's Jonathan Williamson as the RF hit .339-13-66.

Cy Young: Cleveland's Prince Lovette took 28 first-place votes for the win thanks to a 17-8, 2.08, 287 Ks in 220 IP season which was also good for a league-leading 8.1 WAR. Our Zyaire Sesay was a distant sixth. In the NL the nod went for the third straight year to San Diego's Nelson Chaverria - the ultimate strikeout artist fanned 379 more in only 196 IP and was 17-8, 3.07.

MVP: Well as mentioned Toronto's first-year star 2B Juan Collado had an incredible season that was honored for Rookie of the Year and it was also good enough to net him the MVP, garnering 26 first-place votes in the process. Getting two first place votes (including mine) was our SS Edgar Quezada, although he ended up a somewhat distant fifth, just ahead of teammate Subaru Nakashima. Over in the NL St. Louis RF Rogelio Alvarado was a unanimous winner after a .308-61-152 year that was good for an MLB-best 8.5 WAR.

Well we kicked off what will be a busy offseason with a couple of trades, one significant and the other massive.

First, we got ourselves a late-inning reliever:



We parted ways with 2033 3rd-round pick Allen, who looks bound for the back-end of a rotation, and brought in Moore who saved 36 games for Cleveland last season. He's rated 60/65/50 and earned 1.0 WAR last year so he's good but not a no-brainer closer. He'd probably have the job right now but we still have a lot of additions to make.

Then we made this whopper:



It wasn't easy to pry the not only the best young catcher in the game but perhaps the best all-around catcher in the game, period, but we did it. Argueta has been an all-star his first two seasons in the bigs, an elite defensive catcher who's hit 16 homers each of the last two years while batting .260 and .275. He's averaged 3.3 WAR over those seasons and could still be an even better hitter. While we sacrifice some power from the lost Basallo, his defense was mediocre and his framing terrible, a key reason why some of our pitchers like Yohemas had high walk totals. Argueta will be our cornerstone catcher for years, not even eligible for arbitration until 2036.

But of course the price was high, most notably Cerda, who had his moments as a rookie and has been the best prospect we've had in the last several years. He's projected to be a 60 contact, 70 power and 65 eye guy and he's not that far from getting there. I fully expect him to tear up the NL in the years to come. The others have some quality but I'm not going to lose sleep over them. Satiro has teased with his 60/65 ratings and does mash lefties but has combined for a little over 1 WAR in his 3 seasons with us, Schwartz showed promise as a 2B with some power but was dismal in a backup role, and Wallace is a good pitching prospect but more of a 4th starter type and still has to realize his potential, especially in the control department.

November 27: Lost all 3 of our arbitration cases, with Nakamura, Quezada and Sesay getting about a combined $3M more than offered. Given we have nine figures to spend, it's a rounding error.

We have two big offers out there, one for a free agent coming from overseas. Stay tuned.

December 5: And here is one of them, a done deal:



The .252 career BA sells Kath a bit short as he's a plus fielder at 3B (an improvement over Tatis) and of course has 65 power and a 70 eye and has earned 16.5 WAR over the last 3 years. He is on the wrong side of 30 (32) but is a 3-time Gold Glover and 3-time all-star and one of the top 3B in the game. The fifth year of the deal is a player option.

We still have nearly $90M to spend.

December 6: Another big-name 3B signed as Marco Luciano joined the Astros for 5/173.

December 7: He's back!



Welcome back Crochet! The lefty pitched for us in 2032 and was quite good (a 2.50 ERA and 5 saves over 68 IP) and is still rated 70/65/55. The cost was minimal - a couple of C- prospects.

December 8: Veteran SS Gunnar Henderson joined the Mets for 4/117.

December 13: Mets sign C Edgar Quero to a 5/113 deal.

December 15: And there he goes - Fernando Tatis Jr. hooks up with the Angels for 3/81. Also Austin Riley to Philly for 3/77.

December 17: And who else but the Mets, who keep flashing the cash, sign star starter Andrew Painter to a 6/155 contract.

December 21: Added P Dillon Vokey, OF Amari Brokenborough, P Jorge Amaya and C Zion Rose to the 40-man roster.

Vokey is of course a top 15 prospect in baseball and could make our rotation next year, Brokenborough was our 3rd round pick a few years back and looks like a well-rounded OF prospect, Amaya is a power arm and a future bullpen piece while Rose of course was once our backup C and has hit well at Durham so we'd like to keep him around.

December 22: Emiliano Teodo, in our rotation the last 6 years, is returning to his original organization as Texas signed him for 4/64. Also it was the day of the Rule 5 Draft and we...

Selected P Antwone Kelly from Texas in the Rule 5 draft, lost IF Eddinson Paulino to Oakland.

Not to be confused with the older lefty Antoine Kelly, this Kelly is 31 but has yet to pitch in the bigs despite being rated 70/65/45. The righty will slot into our new-look bullpen. Paulino is a 32-year-old vet who was signed by Durham to a minor league contract and will not be missed at all.

December 28: Signed Taiwanese free agent SP Wen Thean to a 5-year, $153 million contract.

And there it is - the other big free agent signing I was teasing earlier. The 21-year-old phenom has had the attention of the world and we won the bidding war that was anticipated when he became eligible. What's all the fuss about?



The 6'2" lefty's ratings are already mouth-watering and he has the potential to be one of the top pitchers in baseball. We've got him for 3 years at least, for which he'll be paid $23.2, 27.2 and 32.8M, and then he has an opt-out with a couple of player options at $35.2M. So if he's as good as we hope, we might not have him that long but we'll see how things go. He'll slot in as our #2 starter behind Sesay right now and allows us to keep Vokey at Durham to work out some minor control issues. We still have $54M to spend on payroll so we're not quite done yet, although we've filled our catcher, 3B and SP holes. Still need a couple of bullpen arms and maybe a RH OF bat.

Also today we lost longtime bullpen piece Juan Nunez to Philly for 2/23, where they oddly show him as a starter despite 35 stamina.

December 29: And the last of our big free agents signed elsewhere as Samuel Basallo joined Texas for 4/90. We qualified him so we'll receive a supplemental 1st round pick as compensation while we did lose a 3rd rounder for signing Kath.

[Art Deco]

January 3: The Hall of Fame Voting is in, and well...



Oof, rough one there for Kenley Jansen, who missed by a vote or two and agonizingly close for Wainwright as well. Freeman had a nice showing in his first year of eligibility and I'd like to think all 3 will eventually be enshrined.

January 4: Paul Skenes, whom we rented in 2030, signed a 4/48 deal with the White Sox coming off a disappointing 10-13, 4.44 season with the Mets.

January 5: Well we added the RH OF bat we were looking for:



The good news on Bailey: 65 contact, 70 gap power, 55 power, 70 avoid Ks. The bad news: 35 power, was "good" for -1.1 WAR last year after hitting 239/273/326 with the Mets, and is a mediocre defensive LF. Fortunately we're only looking to use him in a complementary role - platooning with Schmidt in LF and DHing some. The cost was minimal (Contreras is roster filler) and Bailey only makes $3.1M. So nothing earth-shattering but hopefully useful. And if he keeps playing at sub-replacement value, we have next to nothing invested if we decide to get rid of him. This probably means Alfredo Rosas is ticketed for Durham.

January 14: Another starting pitcher we rented for a year (in 2031) is on the move as lefty Ricky Tiedemann joined Pittsburgh for 4/78.

January 16: Hayden Juenger, who pitched decently for us in the bullpen last year after being claimed on waivers, signed a modest 1-year, $2.3M deal with the Mets. This bothered the fans for some reason.

January 25: Same thing with Joe Boyle, who got hurt with us last year and was non-tendered, signing for San Diego for 1 year at $1.6M yet the fans are upset. Who knew middle relievers were so popular?

January 30: Signed free agent RP Yeuris Jimenez to a 2-year, $16.6M contract.

Who says you can't go home again, Yeuris is back after four very good seasons in our bullpen in which he averaged nearly 1 WAR/season and struck out 283 in 229 IP with an ERA of 2.79 over those years. He's going to cost us a little more but he should be worth it.

February 5: Yordy Richard, whom we acquired at the deadline last year and became our closer, signed a 2/19 deal with Toronto. I was in negotiations with him and willing to go $12M on a one-year deal, but we're going to be up against it next winter salary-wise so I didn't want to make a 2-year commitment.

February 7: 3B Zack Gelof signed a 2/41 deal with Arizona.

February 10: Bobby Marsh, our 1B from 2027-2030, signed a 3/86 deal with the Cubs after coming off his best season since his first with us, earning 4.1 WAR after hitting .266-27-97 with 104 walks.

February 11: The biggest free agent of 'em all and biggest in several years is still out there as former(?) Rockies 2B Jack Ruckert, 4-time NL MVP (including consecutively from 2031-33) who's averaged about 8 WAR/season is still demanding a $500M+ contract (9 x $56). He's younger than your typical big-name free agent (28) so he should get paid. I offered him 7/350 at the outset of free agency before we signed Kath and Thean. It will be interesting to see where he ends up and for how much.

March 1: Preseason begins, we'll be back next with the Opening Day roster and preseason prediction post.

[Art Deco]

An uneventful March as the Rays didn't suffer any injuries of significance during the preseason slate. The big news in baseball is that superstar and 4-time MVP Jack Ruckert couldn't get any takers on his $60M/year demand and is now willing to take a 1-year deal for $30M. We offered him $25M even though we don't need a 2B but he turned it down. He remains unsigned.

I didn't realize Alfredo Rosas was out of options and he is too good to waive so he's made the Opening Day roster, giving us six outfielders (although one will DH and another can platoon at 1B). This is how we shake out:

C-Argueta, A.Contreras
1B-Figueroa
2B-Paino
SS-Quezada
3B-Kath
IF-K.Kim
LF-Schmidt
CF-Nakamura
RF-Franks
DH-Crisp
OF-A.Rosas, Bailey.

Crisp will play 1B against lefties, Bailey will DH and Rosas will play LF.

SP-Sesay, Thean, Yohemas, Lambert, Vela
LR-Garces
MR-Hydro, G.Ramos, Wright, A.Kelly, Magno
SU-Y.Jimenez, Crochet
CL-N.Moore


Here's an up close and personal look at these guys:



What does OOTP think of this lot? A lot:



The Taiwanese phenom Thean is predicted to do big things, as we certainly hope given what we're paying him.

We opened the season in an odd place (Milwaukee), and here's how it went:



A powerful Opening Day for the 2035 Rays as they belted five homers, including a pair from developing star Edgar Quezada, and routed the Brewers 11-1 in Milwaukee. Zyaire Sesay picked up where he left off last year with six brilliant innings and Rays debutantes Wes Kath, Jon Bailey and Jake Argueta all had multi-hit games with Bailey homering among his 3 hits and driving in a pair. The only blemish on the day came from Alfredo Rosas, who made the team by default and got the start against a lefty, when he dropped a fly ball in the 4th which allowed the lone Milwaukee run to score, offsetting his solo homer in the top of the inning. Seems like there will be plenty to look forward to this year, including the MLB debut of Thean in tomorrow's game.

[Art Deco]

Record: 14-9
Second place AL East, 1/2 game behind Boston

A decent first (2/3 of a) month for the Rays, who had quite the makeover in the offseason with a new catcher, 1B, 3B, SP and most of the bullpen. It was a injury-free April as well so they have that to be thankful for. The only transaction of note was to claim reliever Zander Mueth on waivers from the Yankees. The 29-year-old righty is rated 60/60/50 and is arb-eligible; he makes a better last man on the staff than Mike Wright, who was sent to Durham.

The early standings:



Team stats:



Some of the names may have changed but the offense remains homer-reliant as we're poor in BA/OBP but 3rd in runs thanks to the longball. The pitching meanwhile has been largely excellent and the D has been above-average, encouraging signs as we go forward.



Subaru remains our Subar-star, and Argueta has been so far worth the king's ransom we paid to the Cubs for him. Kath got off to a very slow start but picked it up late in the month and in addition has been a plus defender while Rosas and Bailey have been extremely productive in part-time action. Paino has been lousy and Figueroa a disappointment but in the latter's case he could give way to some combination of Rosas and Bailey if he doesn't start hitting consistently.



All five starters have pitched well, keeping top prospect Dillon Vokey at Durham, with the big news being the heralded Taiwanese import Thean. For a pitcher with 60 movement, he's given up a surprising number of longballs (8 in only 30 IP), but he has a real strikeout pitch and has been dominant at times when keeping the ball in the park. He should be fine. The late-inning pen has also been outstanding with the only problem the guys at the low-leverage end being horrible (Magno, Rule 5 pick Kelly, the demoted Wright). Magno may never get over blowing Game 7 of the World Series last year.

We'll wait until more games have been played a month from now to take a look at the farm.

[Art Deco]

Record: 33-18 (19-9 for the month)
1st place AL East, 5 1/2 up on Boston

To say it was a great month for the Rays would be an understatement; in fact it could have been even better had they not lost their last three games although that came after an 11-game win streak. The team was firing on all cylinders and the only bad news came on the 7th when backup C Alejandro Contreras suffered a torn PCL and was lost for the season. Back as the backup is Zion Rose last seen around these parts three years ago but who put his head down and got the work done at Durham, earning a recall. We also did some work on the bullpen, claiming a trio of middle relievers on waivers: Shamar Prempeh (what a name) from Oakland, Gil Dayringer from Philadelphia, and Nathan Webb from the Mets. Prempeh was already sent down to Durham, while Dayringer (rated 60/65/50) has been excellent since joining the club. Webb has incredible stuff (80 and 65 for movement) but lousy control (35). To make room for Webb, we parted ways with veteran lefty Andrew Magno, who famously blew Game 7 of the World Series for us last year and had a precipitous decline in his ratings this year. He did take an assignment to Durham though. We also got a brief look at elite pitching prospect Dillon Vokey between waiver claims and he walked nobody and struck out 8 in a pair of appearances covering 3 2/3 innings, although he allowed two runs on five hits including a homer.

The day-by-day of May:



The big picture:



Team stats:



Just solid in all phases, and this has become a very good defensive team.

May's batting stats:



Outside of Paino (who I thought might win AL Batter of the Month but didn't), nobody had an incredible month but nobody had a really poor one either. Figueroa continues to struggle some and we might be on the market for a better 1B solution if he doesn't come around.



One interesting stat is that although the Rays won 19 games during the month, closer Moore only managed five saves and the team only have seven overall, which shows you how comprehensive most of the victories were. The starters were all pretty good and even Lambert with the high ERA has been the one BABIP victim in the rotation. Rookie import sensation Thean continued to improve, cutting back the homers (only 2 allowed all month) and fanning 43 in 29 IP. The new relievers have all excelled but one of the old ones (Jimenez) has been terrible all season and is making me regret the new contract we signed him to.

The prospects:



Thean doesn't really belong on this list since he's in the MLB rotation and has already lost rookie status (59 IP so far). Vokey of course is big league-ready but we don't have a rotation opening for him at the moment. Olivo is having a monster year at Durham but he'll likely stay there since his MLB ratings are still a bit soft and we don't really need another OF. Otherwise it's not the greatest farm system but thankfully we don't need any immediate help.

[Art Deco]

Record: 52-26 (19-8 for the month)
1st place AL East, 13 games up on Baltimore

June was the month when the Rays truly separated themselves from the pack in the AL East. In addition to playing great baseball once again, the rest of the division has turned mediocre with Baltimore 2nd at 40-40 so this should be a second half cakewalk.

We did make one major move early on the month. Rookie Luis Figueroa had been underwhelming at 1B (237/304/399), not giving up the production needed at a bat-first position. So we made a trade to pick up another young first-sacker:



Weaver was the sixth overall pick back in 2029 and had worked his way up to the big club this year but like Figueroa wasn't hitting a lot (208/326/417). We liked his 60/60 bat though and figured it was worth a dice roll even if we did have to part with a halfway-decent pitching prospect in Cardenas who had made it as high as Durham but struggled this year. Well the deal paid off as all Weaver has done since joining our lineup is hit 388/487/597 with 4 HR and 12 RBI in 20 games. (Figueroa meanwhile has resumed raking at Durham (289/372/639 with 8 HR in 23 games) so there's still hope for him too. Elsewhere there was little roster movement with the only injury in June being 2B Owen Paino missing 10 days before returning. The day-by-day:



A bit of an odd month as we suffered two series sweeps but in between them won 13 straight games. The big picture:



As great as the Rays' season has been Texas has been even slightly better and the month ended after the first two games of a series we had with the Rangers that saw Tampa Bay win both to pull within 1/2 game of them for best in MLB.



An interesting profile as the only categories we lead the league in are batter WAR and pitching strikeouts but we're near to the top in almost every other one with no weaknesses - except perhaps playing on the road. We're an unfathomable 30-4 at Tropicana Field but .500 away from home.

Since we're roughly midway through the season the individual numbers will be YTD, although I'll not some big Junes.



The two big offseason acquisitions on offense, Kath (free agency) and Argueta (trade) have been everything we hoped for, Subaru continues to do Subaru things, but the big surprise has been the renaissance of Ben Schmidt. When we acquired him mid-season from Toronto in 2031 we thought we were acquiring a franchise cornerstone when he finished the season with 39 HR, 137 RBI and 6.4 WAR. But in three full seasons since he's combined for only 4.2 WAR and barely has exceeded those full-season 2031 HR/RBI numbers in that 3-year span. But while he still isn't the slugger he was that season (although he did hit 329/370/533 in June), he's rebounded to hit for average, get on base and play elite OF defense as is on pace for a little over 4 WAR. He's projected for $15M in arbitration next year and looked like a sure-fire non-tender at the start of the year, but he may just be worth keeping (or trading). The other player of note from June was OF Jon Bailey, who basically took Chris Crisp's job as the DH against righties thanks to a 368/400/697 month with 6 HR and 14 RBI in 19 games.



The pitching continues to be great with top four starters all excelling and Sesay looking like a Cy Young candidate. The Taiwanese phenom Thean was also great this month (more on that in a bit) and the only weak link in the rotation is the veteran Lambert, who has mega-prospect Dillon Vokey breathing down his neck if he doesn't get going, making him a candidate for trade or demotion to long relief.

Now about Thean, who seems to have gotten over his early-season penchant for giving up homers:



Thean was also named AL Rookie of the Month for June.



As for the farm system, there's Vokey and well....some other guys. Olivo and Sullivan should be productive MLB OFs in the next year or two and of course Weaver is already raking for the big club but we're going to hope have a really good draft in a couple of weeks to beef up this thin pool of prospects.