Tampa Bay Rays Continue To Sell Pieces. Could The Blue Jays Capitalize?
The Tampa Bay Rays continued to tear their team down by trading Jake Odorizzi for shortstop prospect Jermaine Palacios, then trading for first baseman CJ Cron and designating Corey Dickerson for assignment. The Rays are clearly looking to shed salary after shipping out Evan Longoria earlier this winter, and now they have freed themselves of two of their highest paid players.
CJ Cron is going to be paid $2.3MM in his first arbitration season. He is an upgrade for the Rays at first base, but that really isn't saying much. He has never had a season as good at the plate as the year Dickerson just had. Acquiring Cron and sending Dickerson packing makes the Rays a little worse, but saves them about three and a half million dollars and gives them an extra year of player control.
Designating Dickerson is a bit of a head scratcher move. Dickerson was an all-star in 2017 and was worth 2.6 fWAR due to a strong 115 wrc+. He is a poor fielder and his bat slumped quite a bit in the second half, so apparently the Rays felt he wasn't worth the $5.95MM owed to him. The Rays are likely listening to offers on Dickerson and the odds are that some team will be willing to take Dickerson and his salary.
The Blue Jays currently have a Steve Pearce/Curtis Granderson platoon in left field. That duo should be able to produce similar results to Dickerson by hitting a little less, but doing more with the glove (Granderson will be the one providing value with the glove). With Teoscar Hernandez and Anthony Alford waiting in the wings, it wouldn't make much sense to add Dickerson to the mix.
Dickerson may not hold much appeal to the Blue Jays, but there may be other players on the Rays roster that could help them. I have never understood the hesitance to trade within the division. If a team is rebuilding it makes some sense to trade within the division because you can get players for the future that will help you compete in the future while also ensuring those players aren't with your rival when it's time to overtake them. Granted, there is the optics of having one of your former stars go on and win with your rival and fans could resent the team for that. There is also the added revenue that comes if a team wins it all that could make it harder to overtake them because of the extra money they will have to keep their championship window open.
If the Rays are willing to deal with the Blue Jays they make want to inquire about Dan Jennings. Jennings is a veteran lefthander with a career 2.90 ERA, although he has a less than encouraging 3.77 FIP and even worse 4.05 xFIP. His FIP last year was 4.72 compared to a 3.45 ERA. However, he did hold opposing hitters to a .286 wOBA and left handed batters hit just .209/.323/.306. Last year and for his career he has been equally effective against hitters on both sides of the plate, but has been used against nearly the same amount of lefties as righties despite there being far more right handed batters.
An interesting, but unlikely player to be traded is Jonny Venters. Venters is attempting a comeback after his 4th elbow surgery and he hasn't pitched in the majors since 2012. Venters was one of the best relievers in baseball during the 2010-2011 seasons. He has flat-out dominated left handed batters in his career and has held them to a .186 AVG. Apparently he has much of his mid-90s velocity back. The Rays won't be trading him and if he makes it back to the majors it would be a great story. It would be great if it were with the Jays, but it's not happening.
Alex Colome could be the next Rays player out of town due to the $5.3MM owed to him this year. He led the league in saves last year and has been worth more than 1 fWAR in each of the past 3 seasons. He has been excellent as the Rays closer and it's unlikely they are going to keep him for the remainder of his arbitration years due to his rising cost. If the Jays are looking to pair another elite arm with Osuna they could try seeing if they can pry him from the Rays.
Chris Archer is the other trade candidate on the team, but with the recent signing of Jaime Garcia it's unlikely the Jays are still looking for a starter. The Rays asking price would be higher than anything the Jays would be willing to part with anyway.
It seems this is the offseason of Florida fire sales. The Blue Jays shopping list has been narrowed down to relief pitchers and there are a couple of options on the Rays that may appeal to them. A deal is probably unlikely due to playing in the same division and the Blue Jays front office's reluctance to give up significant future value for a guy like Colome. If anything happens between the two teams I would expect it to be Dan Jennings in a salary dump.
