In what is always one of the most overrated moments of the off-season, the Rays reached contract agreements with all eight of their arbitration-eligible players.
These players, Alex Cobb, Logan Forsythe, John Jaso, Desmond Jennings, Kevin Jespen, Jake McGee, Rene Rivera, and Drew Smyly, were all going to play for the Rays in 2015 no matter what. All these contracts mean is that they two sides found a nice middle ground and will not have to have the player’s 2015 salary decided by an arbitrator. But in the grand scheme of things, the actual amounts mean little as we already knew the ballpark figures (the total salaries for the 8 players were just $1.5 million off of the projected salaries at MLBTR).
Cobb got the biggest salary at $4.0 million, followed by McGee at $3.55 million.
THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…
- The Rays are banking the 2015 season on several big assumptions. We should know by now that some of those assumptions are going to fail. [TampaBay.com]
- David Price got a record 1-year contract for an arbitration-eligible player at $19.75 million with the Tigers. [ESPN.com]
- The Rays were one of five teams that recently scouted a winter league start by Johan Santana. [DallasNews.com]
- Matt Moore is expecting to throw off a mound soon as he continues his recovery from Tommy John surgery. [FoxSports.com]
- However, Matt Moore still says he won’t be back until June at the earliest. [@JimBowden_ESPN]
- The bottom of this column has an updated look at the top 30 prospects in the Rays’ organization. [TampaBay.com]
- No relief pitcher uses their main pitch more often than Jake McGee, at one point throwing his fastball on 206 consecutive pitches. [FoxSports.com]
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Interesting 6 picks from the 2011 draft are in the top 19, that has been labeled a failed draft, hopefully a couple of those guys will be contributors and it will not look so bad.
Interesting to note that Hak Ju Lee and Tim Beckham are near the bottom of the top 30 prospect list. Beckham just never flipped the switch and Hak-Ju Lee simply has been plagued by injuries.... It will be interesting to see if anyone will take a flyer and invite Johan Santana to Spring Training? Dontrelle Willis just signed a minor league deal with Brewers and I read that the Padres, Blue Jays and Yankmes all have serious interest in Santana. Santana was lights out from 2004 to 2006 with 2 Cy Youngs under his belt. However his comeback may have hit the skids:
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/01/21/johan-santanas-latest-comeback-shut-down-with-more-shoulder-problems/
Fortunately the Rays look to have some depth in the starting rotation (at least when compared to other franchises) so I doubt if you'll see Johan in Port Charlotte this Spring unless he is getting a look from starter needy Toronto or the Yankmes.... Don't get me wrong, a seasoned vet is always nice to have around: the Rays made use of Erik Bedard when the injury bug bit the Rays hard in 2014 and he is definitely not in the same league as Santana though he always pitched good against Tampa when he was with Baltimore and Seattle.... Hopefully the Rays won't have to turn to their 7th or 8th rated starter this season like they had to last year.....