News Rays Team Notes

[Tampa Bay Rays]

Rays Release Eloy Jimenez

The Rays released Eloy Jiménez from his minor league contract, reports Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times. Jiménez had been on the Triple-A injured list for the past 10 days.

This was the second IL stint of the season for the former Silver Slugger award winner. Jiménez appeared in 40 games with Tampa Bay’s top affiliate. He hit .278/.335/.397 and only managed three home runs across 167 plate appearances. His 43.5% hard contact rate is a little above the MLB average but not close to the huge exit velocities he posted during his best seasons with the White Sox. Jiménez’s career has been a on a sharp decline since he hit .295 with 16 homers in 84 games for Chicago back in 2022.

After a league average offensive showing in ’23, Jiménez was batting .240/.297/.345 at last summer’s deadline. The Sox needed to eat some money to ship him to the Orioles. The change of scenery did not turn things around. Jiménez hit .232 with a .270 on-base percentage and one homer in 33 games with Baltimore. The O’s bought him out and he was limited to minor league offers over the winter. He’ll very likely need to settle for another minor league contract if he stays in affiliated ball. Speculatively, Jiménez could be a target for teams in a foreign league like NPB or the KBO as well.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/07/rays-release-eloy-jimenez.html

 

[Tampa Bay Rays]

Rays Place Brandon Lowe On Injured List

The Rays announced today that infielder Brandon Lowe has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to left oblique tightness, retroactive to July 8th. Fellow infielder Curtis Mead was recalled as the corresponding move.

It’s possible that the move with Lowe is precautionary. The side issue has kept him out of the club’s past four games, which is why they were able to backdate this by the three-day maximum. With the All-Star break coming up, Lowe might only miss three more contests and could perhaps be back with the Rays by next weekend.

Nonetheless, it will be a situation to monitor for the rest of the month. Lowe is a strong performer but doesn’t have a great track record in terms of health. This is his eighth major league season but he has only once played in 110 games or more. He has avoided the IL so far this year, getting into 84 contests, but is now battling a tricky oblique issue.

He has been one of the better players for the Rays this year, with 19 home runs, a .272/.324/.487 slash line and 125 wRC+. He was selected to the All-Star team but will no longer be able to participate thanks to this injury.

The Rays are 50-44 and currently in possession of a Wild Card spot in the American League. In past years, they have often done a mix of buying and selling at the deadline. Even when in contention, they will sometimes trade a veteran player who is on the more expensive side and/or nearing free agency, while acquiring younger and cheaper players. MLBTR recently did a deep dive on the club’s potential deadline approach, examining the various paths the Rays could take.

Lowe is making $10.5MM this year, making him one of the more expensive players on the roster. His contract has an affordable $11.5M club option for next year with a $500K buyout. With the way the Rays operate, it’s possible they could look to move Lowe for younger players while simultaneously adding others for the stretch run.

That makes the Lowe injury all the more notable. On the one hand, it hurts the Rays in the short term, as they are going to be without one of their better players while in a tight playoff race. It’s also possible that the injury impacts whatever trade talks they will have in the coming weeks.

Ha-Seong Kim recently came off the IL and has taken over as the regular shortstop. That leaves Taylor Walls and José Caballero free to cover second for Lowe. Mead’s recall today gives them some extra depth in that department.

Photo courtesy of Vincent Carchietta, Imagn Images

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/07/rays-place-brandon-lowe-on-injured-list-2.html

 

[Tampa Bay Rays]

Rays Reportedly Open To Offers On Taj Bradley

The Rays are routinely one of the league’s most creative teams, and a report from USA Today’s Bob Nightengale this morning suggests that they figure to remain flexible this summer even after being aggressive to add right-hander Bryan Baker to their bullpen in a trade with the Orioles last week. Tampa currently boasts a 50-46 record and is just half a game out of the final AL Wild Card spot, but Nightengale suggests that isn’t going to stop them from listening to offers on young right-hander Taj Bradley.

On the surface, a contending club listening to offers on a starting pitcher who’s just 24 years old and remains under team control for four-and-a-half seasons would be hard to believe—even for a small-market club that frequently trades players well before free agency. The Rays aren’t a typical club, however. Tampa has never shied away from making controversial or surprising trades, as seen just last year when they shipped out third baseman Isaac Paredes with three-and-a-half years of team control remaining on his deal.

That’s one year less than Bradley currently has, but Paredes was a far more established player who had already made it to the All-Star game previously in his career. Bradley, by contrast, has largely pitched like a back-of-the-rotation starter in his career with a 4.70 ERA in 346 1/3 innings despite his status as a former top propsect. The right-hander has never posted even an average ERA+, having topped out at 97 last year, and while he entered 2025 with a tantalizing 27.3% strikeout rate during his time in the majors the whiffs have dropped off significantly this season to leave him striking out just 20.4% of his opponents.

All of that could make now a decent time for the Rays to listen to offers on the right-hander. He’d surely have more trade value in the offseason if he managed to put it all together and dominate down the stretch, but if Bradley’s performance doesn’t improve then his value will only drop from here as he gets older and further away from those high-strikeout seasons he opened his career with. Given the fact that virtually every contender is in need of starting pitching help at this point, if the Rays are one of the few teams willing to dangle a cost-controlled young starter with long-term team control it’s not hard to imagine them recouping significant value for both 2025 and the future by dealing Bradley now.

The Rays don’t exactly have a surplus of rotation depth, with no surefire starters waiting in the wings at Triple-A in the event of an injury or trade. With that being said, however, Tampa does have Shane McClanahan on a rehab assignment with an eye towards returning at some point in the second half. They’d be down an arm in the meantime if they dealt Bradley, but the club has been very comfortable with getting creative to piece together innings with multi-inning relievers and swing men in the past. Joe Boyle, Connor Seabold, and Joe Rock are all on the 40-man roster and could be tasked with handling some of the innings vacated by a hypothetical Bradley trade, to say nothing of non-roster pieces like Logan Workman.

If the Rays were to shop Bradley, there would surely be plenty of interest. The Padres and Astros stand out as surefire contenders who need starting pitching help this summer but may not have the budget to stomach the salary of a veteran player. Bradley could also be of interest to some clubs looking to sell. The Diamondbacks, Braves, Twins, Orioles, Nationals, and Guardians are all clubs that seem like potential or likely sellers this season with near-term postseason aspirations who could benefit from adding a controllable rotation piece like Bradley, and each has pieces that could surely improve the Rays if they decide to push in for the playoffs this year.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/07/rays-reportedly-open-to-offers-on-taj-bradley.html

 

[Tampa Bay Rays]

AL East Notes: Red Sox, Alcantara, Cabrera, Fried, Gil, Garcia, Rodriguez

A ten-game winning streak has launched the Red Sox back into the playoff race, and all but confirmed that the club will be looking to buy before the trade deadline. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has stated that the Sox are looking at pitching options, and MassLive.com’s Sean McAdam opines that the Red Sox would likely prefer controllable pitchers in particular, so this new hurler could help support the club’s talent core for more than just the remainder of 2025. However, as of two days ago, McAdam noted that Boston hadn’t yet spoken with the Marlins about two controllable potential trade candidates — Sandy Alcantara and Edward Cabrera.

While there’s still plenty of time before the July 31 deadline for the Sox to inquire about either pitcher, the lack of interest to date might indicate that Breslow simply might have other pitchers on his target list. Alcantara’s past Cy Young Award-winning form makes him perhaps the summer’s likeliest trade candidate, yet the right-hander has struggled badly in his return from Tommy John surgery. Cabrera is arbitration-controlled through 2028 so the rebuilding Marlins might not see a reason to move him just yet, and certainly not for anything less than a massive trade return. Health is also a concern with Cabrera, as he left Friday’s start early due to elbow discomfort but might be able to avoid the injured list after a precautionary MRI came back clean.

More from around the AL East….

• Yankees ace Max Fried left Saturday’s start after three innings due to a blister on the index finger of his throwing hand, and he told The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner and other reporters today that it was too soon to tell whether or not Fried would be healed and ready to make his first start after the All-Star break. Fried is no stranger to blister problems, and the unpredictable nature of the injury means that it could be at least a few days before the southpaw or the club has any clarity on the situation. Despite some shaky results in his last three starts, Fried still finished the first half with tremendous numbers, including a 2.43 ERA over 122 innings in his debut season in New York.
• Speaking of Yankees pitchers, Luis Gil has been sidelined all season by a lat strain, but the reigning AL Rookie of the Year began a minor league rehab assignment today with Double-A Somerset. Gil threw 36 strikes during the 50-pitch outing, recording six strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings of work while allowing a run on two hits and a walk. This sharp performance is a good sign for Gil as he gets back to full readiness, and his long layoff means that his rehab stint will probably stretch into August. An in-form Gil would be a massive boon for the Yankees’ rotation for the remainder of the season, and the team’s trust in Gil’s health could inform how much of a push New York makes for pitching help at the deadline.
• Yimi Garcia may not need a rehab assignment for his sprained ankle, and he could rejoin the Blue Jays’ bullpen when first eligible to be activated from the 15-day injured list. (Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling was among the members of the Toronto beat to report the news.) Garcia has pitched just once in the majors since May 22, as he was first sidelined by a shoulder impingement and then quickly picked up his ankle sprain that necessitated a return to the 15-day IL on July 5. The reliever threw a bullpen session on Friday and is slated to throw another soon, and his recovery from those sessions should determine the Jays’ next step.
• Rays right-hander Manuel Rodriguez will probably visit with doctors on Monday after experiencing elbow soreness during his most recent rehab outing, manager Kevin Cash told the Tampa Bay Times’ Marc Topkin and other reporters. A forearm strain sent Rodriguez to the 15-day IL just over a month ago, and Friday was supposed to be his final rehab outing, except the reliever’s elbow started acting up and his velocity dropped noticeably. Rodriguez has been an underrated bullpen weapon over his two-plus seasons in Tampa, delivering a 2.12 ERA over 68 relief innings since the start of the 2024 season. This isn’t the first time Rodriguez has dealt with a major arm problem, as an elbow strain cost him the majority of the 2022 campaign when Rodriguez was still a member of the Cubs organization.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...ntara-cabrera-fried-gil-garcia-rodriguez.html

 

[Tampa Bay Rays]

Stuart Sternberg Has Agreed To Sell Rays To Patrick Zalupski, Deal Expected To Be Final By September

The sale of the Rays seems to be coming to fruition. A report from Evan Drellich and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic says that a sale has been agreed to in principle which would see the club be sold from current owner Stuart Sternberg to a group led by Patrick Zalupski. The deal is worth about $1.7 billion and is expected to be completed as soon as September. The report adds that Zalupski plans to keep the club in the Tampa area, with a preference for Tampa proper over St. Petersburg. The sale would need to be approved by 75% of MLB owners in order to become official.

It was reported about a month ago that Sternberg was in “advanced talks” to sell the team to Zalupski’s group. Shortly after that reporting emerged, Marc Topkin and Colleen Wright of the Tampa Bay Times spoke to hedge fund founder Trip Miller, who spoke of his desire to get involved in the bidding. It’s unclear if there was ever any chance of Miller’s group outpacing Zalupski’s, but it now seems basically confirmed that Zalupski’s group will be taking over.

As of a year ago, it seemed like Sternberg was going to stick around for a long time. He purchased the club in 2004 for $200MM. Since then, he has been trying to find a long-term home for the club so that the Rays could move on from Tropicana Field, which has long been viewed as insufficient and outdated for the major leagues.

Various proposals were floated over the years, including a creative plan which would have seen the franchise split its home games between Florida and Montreal. That was nixed but the Rays eventually put a plan in place to build a new stadium on the Tropicana Field site. Under that plan, the Rays would stay at The Trop through 2027 but would open the new facility in 2028. They had agreements in place with the city of St. Petersburg, Pinellas County and private investors for the $1.2 billion project.

That entire plan was thrown off the rails in October when Hurricane Milton swept through the area, doing significant damage to The Trop, particularly the roof. The Trop became unplayable for 2025 and the new stadium plan got delayed. Elections in October changed the composition of local government bodies, with the new paradigm less amenable to the Rays. The club made arrangements to play the 2025 season at George M. Steinbrenner field in Tampa. That seemed to not sit well with some Pinellas County officials, as Steinbrenner Field is in Hillsborough County.

The relationship between Sternberg and local officials seemed to sour, as he claimed the delays would lead to massive cost overruns. It was reported in March that the Rays would not be moving forward with the planned deal. That was shortly after it had been reported that league officials had been pressuring Sternberg to sell.

Now it seems the transition process is making quick progress and Zalupski’s group could be at the helm a couple of months from now. That’s notable timing, as there are key things to be worked out regarding the future of the franchise. It’s still unclear if the The Trop will be playable in time for the 2026 season. There’s also the usual baseball matters of payroll and things of that nature. And of course, new plans will need to be developed for a future stadium.

As mentioned, the report from The Athletic says Zalupski’s preference would be for the club to be in Tampa proper, as opposed to St. Petersburg. That is something that will have to be negotiated with local officials and private investors. If the club can chart a course towards a move into Tampa, there would be logic to that. It has been suggested by many that The Trop’s location isn’t highly accessible, which has contributed to the club’s poor attendance figures over the years, despite generally fielding competitive teams. A move to Tampa could help in that regard, though previous attempts to get the club into Tampa have not been successful.

Zalupski is the CEO of Dream Finders Homes, a publicly traded, Jacksonville-based developer that has built more than 31,000 homes across ten states. Forbes estimates his net worth at $1.4 billion, while his company’s valuation rests at $3.4 billion.

The timeline for the Rays will also have consequences across the league. Commissioner Rob Manfred has long insisted that expansion wouldn’t be a realistic possibility until the Athletics and Rays found new stadiums. The A’s are currently playing in West Sacramento but are expected to start playing in their new Las Vegas stadium by the 2028 season. If that plan progresses on schedule and the Rays get a new stadium plan in the works, then expansion will become a more realistic possibility.

Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...i-deal-expected-to-be-final-by-september.html

 

[Tampa Bay Rays]

Rays To Play Home Games At Steinbrenner Field Throughout Playoffs

If the Rays are able to engineer a deep postseason run, they will be allowed to stay at Steinbrenner Field. “Our rule has always been that people play in their home stadiums during the World Series Game,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said this week, per Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times. “And I’m not of a mind to change that rule. I understand it’s a unique situation. It’s different, but that’s where they’re playing. That’s where they’re going to play their games.”

The issue has been a theoretical talking point for a while. Tropicana Field suffered significant hurricane damage in the offseason, making it unplayable for the 2025 season. The Rays made arrangements to move to Steinbrenner Field for the year. The facility is normally the home of the Tampa Tarpons, the Single-A affiliate of the Yankees.

The capacity of the field is a bit more than 10,000. During the 2024 season, all 3o MLB venues had a capacity of at least 34,000. This year, the Rays and Athletics are both playing in minor league parks on a temporary basis. As mentioned, the Rays had to move due to the hurricane damage to The Trop. The A’s are building a new stadium in Las Vegas but couldn’t work out a deal to stay in Oakland for the interim, so they are playing at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento. That’s the home of the Sacramento River Cats, the Triple-A affiliate of the Giants.

For the Rays and A’s, playing in those venues was generally viewed as acceptable for the regular season but it was fair to wonder if the league would allow postseason games to be played at either spot. For the A’s, it quickly became a non-issue for this year as that club slipped in the standings. But the Rays have been in contention all year, having been in a postseason spot for much of the season.

Last month, it was reported by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic that some preliminary conversations had occurred about what to do. Having playoff games in such a small venue would be less than ideal. “The league sets aside about 7,500 tickets for players, umpires, visiting teams, sponsors, broadcast partners, media and others” for World Series games, Rosenthal wrote last month. For pre-World Series games, the number is smaller but still notable. That lesser capacity would be a concern for the Players Association as well as the league, since players get a cut of gate receipts in playoff games. Beyond that, there would be concerns around the aesthetics of the broadcast as well as the straightforward logistics of getting all the media into the smaller facility and properly set up to cover the game.

But forcing a team to vacate its home turf for the postseason could be seen as a competitive disadvantage and it seems the league has opted to let the Rays stay. It may be a moot point, as they are not guaranteed to make the playoffs. They are currently a game and a half back of the Mariners for the final American League Wild Card spot. They would need to get the top Wild Card spot or win the East division to play any home games in the first round. Under the current playoff format, the top two division winners get a bye past the first round. The third division winner and the top Wild Card team each get to host the opening round for a best-of-three, with the two lesser Wild Card clubs being on the road for that entire series.

Last month’s reporting indicated that the league was comfortable with the Rays hosting the earlier rounds but was more concerned about the ALCS and World Series. It now seems that, if that becomes a reality, the league is willing to let the Rays stay at their temporary home and figure out how to make it work. Manfred tells Topkin that they will have conversations about potentially finding ways to add more capacity. “We’ll do the best we can to make the facilities good and service as many fans as we can,” Manfred said.

Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times provides a bit more info on the Rays and their upcoming sale. It was reported this week that owner Stuart Sternberg has an agreement in principle to sell to a group led to Patrick Zalupski for $1.7 billion. Though that could become official as soon as September, Topkin notes that the transfer of power wouldn’t occur until the offseason. If the Rays manage to win the 2025 World Series, Sternberg would be handed the Commissioner’s Trophy.

Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...t-steinbrenner-field-throughout-playoffs.html

 

[Tampa Bay Rays]

Rays Option Joe Boyle, Recall Brian Van Belle For Potential MLB Debut

The Rays optioned Joe Boyle to Triple-A Durham this afternoon. They recalled swingman Brian Van Belle in a corresponding move, setting the 28-year-old up to make his MLB debut.

Boyle has held a spot in Kevin Cash’s rotation for the past month. Tampa Bay optioned and eventually traded Taj Bradley in part because they felt Boyle deserved a starting look. The hard-throwing righty had brilliant numbers out of the rotation in the minors (1.85 ERA with a 33% strikeout rate in 15 appearances) and looked similarly sharp in relief against big league opposition. His rotation audition hasn’t been as smooth.

Four of Boyle’s five recent starts have been underwhelming. While he fired five scoreless innings against the Dodgers on August 3, he gave up at least four earned runs in every other outing. That includes each of his past three. The Cardinals put up six runs (five earned) on nine hits and a trio of walks in four innings yesterday.

The Rays haven’t named a replacement in the rotation. Rookie lefty Ian Seymour seems the likeliest option. He turned in a 2.62 ERA with a 29% strikeout rate in 16 appearances out of Durham’s rotation. Seymour’s first 12 MLB outings have come in relief. He carries a 3.86 earned run average while fanning 27% of opponents.

Van Belle could also be a consideration, though it seems likelier he’ll pitch out of the bullpen. The former undrafted free agent has combined for a 3.17 ERA in 105 Triple-A frames divided between three organizations. The Rays acquired him from Cincinnati at the deadline as an ancillary piece of the Zack Littell trade.

A Miami product, Van Belle is approaching his 29th birthday and sits around 90 MPH with his fastball. He’s not really a prospect, but his plus changeup and elite control have fooled Triple-A hitters. Van Belle spent two days in the majors with the Red Sox in early June but didn’t make it into a game. He’ll hope to achieve that milestone with Tampa Bay and should be available in long relief behind scheduled starters Adrian Houser and Ryan Pepiot this weekend.

Source: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025...-brian-van-belle-for-potential-mlb-debut.html