Possible Ketel Marte Trade PROVES Tampa Bay Rays’ Confidence in Shane McClanahan’s 2026 Comeback

Possible Ketel Marte Trade PROVES Tampa Bay Rays’ Confidence in Shane McClanahan’s 2026 Comeback

Making a big trade for Catel Marte could mean good things for Shane Mlanahan. You are Locked on Rays, your daily Tampa Bay Rays podcast, part of the locked on podcast network. Your team every day. Welcome into the locked on podcast. Locked on Rays is part of the Locked on Podcast Network. Now the number one sports podcast network. your team every day and we are Kevin and Ulisses and we are lifelong Rays fans who have been podcasting about the Tampa Bay Rays since 2019. Later on today’s show, the Rays possibly trading Brandon Laauo should result in catching or starting pitching help in a few minutes. Adding Catel Marte meanwhile means some maneuvers would be coming for the rest of the Rays defense. But to start, rumors of a Catel Marte trade is heating up. And we’re going to talk about all of that thanks to FanDuel. If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fanuel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. Bringing Catel Marte means the Rays are confident in Shane Mlanahan’s 2026, Kev. And I say that because with these rumors just, you know, not dying yet about Catel Marte possibly being traded and the Rays being a suitor, well, we know because we have talked about this uh a couple times now in the offseason. The D the Demachs need starting pitching help. In fact, they need so much help that they just threw $40 million for two years at Mel Kelly. So things are rather grim in the starting rotation for the Dbacks. So if they want a Pepio, if they want a Boss, or heck, if they think that they should get both of them in a Catel Marte trade, and the Rays are actually trying to get this done, they’re not doing this unless Shane Mlanahan is having good results during the offseason and they feel good about his return because it would be rather risky to do this trade and basically trading away 40% of your rotation. and then having a what an Inan Seymour and Joe Bole as your number three. It It’s risky. So, it gives me hope that if they’re actually trying to do this that they’re getting really optimistic about Mlanahan’s return next year. Yeah. It means they’re bullish on Shane Mlanahan and also bullish on Joe Bole to some extent and Ian Seymour to some extent and also they probably have pretty big plans for Steven Mattz as well. But we’ve seen some of the rumors come about that, you know, the the Diamondbacks aren’t just giving up Catel Martine. They want something palatable in return. And it might, quite frankly, it might take both Ryan Pepio and Shane Bos for that to happen and come to fruition. Now, the question is, are the Rays willing to part with those two guys to get Catel Marte? I mean, if they do, then that means that yes, they must have um some confidence that Shane Mlanahan will be able to maybe not necessarily be the same guy that he was previously, but give you what the projections say, 23, 24 game start, 130 plus innings, so on and so forth, and eventually work his way into being the ace of the ball club. And you know, you go out and trade for Catel Marte. Um, the Rays, look, we have a long off season to go. So maybe they are actively and also targeting a Steven Mattz 2.0. Some other veteran type that they can bring back or add on a one or twoyear deal. Maybe they’re All right, let’s look at Adrien Hower. Let’s look in that box of names to kind of boost up our pitching depth if it does turn out that, you know, Shane Bos and Ryan Pepio are out the door. To your point, there’s a quote by Eric Neander. He said, “Opening day is not tomorrow. Opening day is at the end of March.” So, I think for us, we’re kind of looking at it like, let’s keep open as many doors as we can that have the potential to improve our club. That to me just tells me don’t worry about the log jams just yet, people. We’re collecting good players. Yes. Does it Does the outfield look crowded? Yes. Would second base look crowded if we do the the Catel Marte trade? Yes. Uh but I think with that he just is saying we need to get the pieces to be better and then we’ll worry about how they fit. Um the the roster doesn’t have to be set in December 15th. Uh it has to be set now in March. So I think that gives you a little bit of inclination that if they do pull off something like this for Catel Marte and they are willing to give Pepio or Boss or andor Bos um then they must be feeling good about Shane Mlanahan’s return. And on a side note I mean the Rays are always involved with trade rumors and affiliated with names. most of the time that player doesn’t wind up coming to the raise. But maybe this is some sort of edict from the new ownership group. Not saying that they’re meddling in front office affairs, but saying, “Hey, we want a big do what you have to do within reason to get us that big name. We want we want more protection for Junior Camo. We we want a guy that can be Batman and Robin together for the next couple years and not just in 2026.” And I I think it look the offseason so we have to have something to talk about. But it is pretty cool that the Rays for this long have been strung along with the Contel Marte rumors. Yes, it definitely is. It’s been fun because he’s he’s an incredible player and he would really change that lineup dynamic. uh and bring in Katel Marte and keeping Brendan Laauo might be the perfect way to address two big problems that the Rays will have in 2026. 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Thank you so much for tuning in to Locked on Race, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day and now the number one podcast network in all of the galaxy by the way. And if you want more of Locked on Race without interruptions, why don’t you join the Everyday Club for $5 a month, no ads, no interruptions, and you get access to a Discord member channel. So go to locked onrace.supcast.com or check the link in the show notes to learn more. Kevin, I got something for you. Moving Beao to the corner in left field and keeping Catel Marte at second base fixes two problems for the race. And and I’ll tell you which ones they are. Number one, they logged him at second base. Awesome. Thank the the heavens that Bren Laauo has played in the outfield in in in MLB, right? Not great measurements, not great statistics in the outfield, but he has at least played there before. So that’s that that kind of frees up the log gym at second base. The other problem that we have talked about endlessly in this off seasonason has been the lack of power in the outfield. Guess what? Now you’re just putting a dude that can hit you 30 bombs, 20 bombs. If he’s if he’s not that healthy, if he’s not that healthy, he gets you 20 bombs. If he’s healthy, he can give you 30 plus. So that right there just gives you a punch to the outfield with power which you’ve already addressed with Cedric Mullins with some hopefully some good contributions from Freillley and now that outfield is looking not that bad with power production. Yeah, between Brandon Laauo in the corner outfield spot, Cedric Mullen’s in center, you’ve got Jake Freley mixed in there and then hopefully a bounceback season from Josh Low. I mean, that’s something we’ve been waiting and hoping on for a couple years, but if he can get back to being an 1820 homer candidate, then that offensive issue with the outfield is pretty much solved. And the other consideration, too, is if one of those guys goes down, we know during the course of 162 and being at the drop, outfielders and players in general are going to get hurt. uh whether it’s a minor injury or uh major injury, there’s depth uh there there would be depth theoretically in the minor leagues um depending on who you keep up on the active roster and who you send down to TripleA. We still haven’t mentioned Jake Mangum. We still haven’t mentioned Chandler Simpson. So, there are other guys that can fill in the gaps uh if needed for for death purposes. Yeah. And that doesn’t even have to be death purposes, right? Like if Jake Freley doesn’t end up working out, hey, guess what? You have one of these guys that have options and you can put him up. Now, it wouldn’t be the first time that you sign a guy like Jake Freley and within a couple months you say, “Okay, he’s not really what we’re looking for. We’re we’re DFAing him.” It’s not like you sign Jake Freilley for the expectation that you have to keep him on the roster from game one to game 162. And Ryan Valade maybe just scorches through spring training. You take the risk uh and and include him in the opening day roster and then doesn’t do really anything much. in April. So like that can happen too. So I feel like it’s okay to have depth in the minors for for the outfield. I think this way you address the power concerns by putting Below there. You keep Catel Marte second base. You keep that guy happy. He does what he does. Below is probably going to be in his last year with the Rays unless they come up with with some sort of deal after that. But I think this addresses two different problems. And number three, honestly, if you want to add it, uh it’s just going to make that lineup way much more attractive for you to sell tickets at the drop. Like, hey, come back in. We’ve got Yandi, Brendan Laauo, Ketell Marte, Junior Camo, Jonathan Aranda, like the list goes on. If that doesn’t lure you to Tropicana Field, if that doesn’t lure you from driving from Tampa or Eore City or Plant City or Zephr Hills or Lakeland to St. Petersburg, I can’t help you. I don’t know how you can’t be foaming at the mouth with the idea that you would get to see Junior Brandon and Catel Marte. And as much as we love Junior Kimro, Catel Marte would be the the shiny new toy, the the shiny 32y old toy that has been a multipletime all-star and has put up a 35 career war to this point and has the potential to put up a a 68, 69, seven more season. And guess what? a countryman of Junior Camdo and he would be at the WBC with Junior Camdo and you would just have that guy that kind of captain for the next four years at least uh in that locker room with Junior Cameedo. Like it would just make him so much more of a complete baseball player to have that type of leadership to have that type of guy to learn from. How did you get to where you are? And we’ve talked about this. Mart is not Hall of Fame uh trajectory right now, but he’s in the pretty good hall of fame. He’s in the hunt. He’s got more to do, but he’s Hall of He’s had a better career than, you know, 99.5% of guys out there. Exactly. So, and he he if he keeps on that trajectory, it’s going to be like a 50 war career for him. So, that’s almost clo very close very close to a Hall of Famer. So, I think this would be just a net positive. Now, I hear you guys in the comments. I we look at the comments. We read the comments. We try to answer as many comments as we can. And uh I know that some of the comments last time when we talked about this was, “Bro, do you not remember how bad Beao was in the outfield?” And to that I say, “Yeah, I do remember.” And I actually, if you go back to the tapes, you will hear me complaining about when the Rays, for example, put Brennan Laauo in 2021 in the outfield uh in that Atlanta uh road trip series. Yes. I remember because it was that bad. Okay. So, like I understand Brennan Laauo is not the best guy out there with the glove in the outfield. I get that. But the net the the netting the of value offensively and defensively of what he can do. Yeah. Towards the What’s the other option? What’s the other option, guys, of of of having Ryan Valade over there? right? Who may be just as bad defensively because he’s just not It’s It’s a lot different to play major leagues in the outfield at the drop than hawking it up in TripleA somewhere. Also, the outfield defense was horrible last year. It can’t get worse than that. It And I feel like you you have some coverage there with Cedric Mullen. I mean, I know he’s not what he was, but he can at least, you know, provide some coaching and guidance and and call Brandon off. I mean, look, when you have a guy that has the offensive peak of Brandon L, we see it time and time again where you may not have an opportunity to stick a guy with his numbers at DH. There’s a lot of teams out there that, hey, all right, just put him in the corner outfield, we’ll deal with it. If we if a bad play is made once a game, so be it. You know, because you can live you can live with that as long as you’re getting 30 to 35 home runs a year. And who knows, maybe there’s a conversation to be had of, hey, Catel, how do you feel about moving to corner outfield? If he’s like, no, I’m more comfortable comfortable as a second baseman. You kind of got to lean on Catel Marte and what his strengths are and what he’s comfortable at. Because if we’re being honest, the the offense of Catel Marte is all in all better than Brandon Laauo. And and he he would likely be sticking around longer than Brandon Laauo because Brandon Laauo’s on an expiring contract. And that’s that that was my my my number one factor is you’re buying if you if you’re trading for Catel Marte, you’re buying that contract for four or five years that he’s got left. So he’s going to be your guy more than Brennan Laauo. And Brennan Laauo gets a legend status with the race, but like you make that new guy. You’re going to have to make him comfortable. And besides, Below has played in the outfield uh in the past. I think what you’re saying with with it being the trop maybe the the it hasn’t been the best kind of um outfield debut or introduction to MLB outfield playing for Bren Laauo having to play with the in in the trop uh most of the time. But honestly, I think that this fixes a lot of problems. I understand when people say that the defense is horrible and that it would just be a net negative. I don’t think so. I think it would be a net positive because ultimately if you got if you have a guy who’s going to be just okay or a little bit less than average defensively, but it’s going to put you what at 120 130 W wrc plus, it’s a net positive. You you can live with that for sure. And the other thing too is that if a deal like this is made early enough, get that communicated to Brandon Lao of hey we are going to have you in the corner outfield. Mhm. So, start working on it and that’s going to be the focal point in spring training and he should at least get to the point where uh he’s, you know, not lost in the woods, so to speak. So, now if we’re being honest, uh if we can’t have our cake and eat it too, we do ultimately have to look at the trade value coming back for Brandon Laauo. The World Cup is coming back to North America for the first time since 1994. Yeah, you guessed it. 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We are of course part of the locked on podcast network, the number one sports podcast network. Moving Brandon Laauo after obtaining Catel Marte should bring either catching help or starting pitching help or both. uh part of the discussion surrounding the possible acquisition of Catel Marte. The idea is Brandon Laauo being on a on an expiring deal, you would more or less replicate for Buoie the production that you would lose from Brandon Laauo if you can’t resign him or you don’t have or you just don’t necessarily want to resign him because of age and injury history and so forth. So the idea is you have Catel Marte for this year and the next couple years and then you can dangle Brandon Laauo as a carrot to boost other parts of your roster be it starting pitching help and or catching help. I would think that probably the key priority, well, we know those are both key priorities, but in order to get Catel Marte, like we mentioned in the first segment, it may involve or very likely would involve dealing Ryan Pepio andor Shane Bos. So, you probably will need some immediate insurance and assistance in that realm. So that’s kind of the idea there is you get Catel Marte then you can stomach trading Brandon Laauo either in the off season or at the trade deadline uh for some of those other needs. Yeah. I mean let’s say okay so like you said uh in the tease there you you can’t have your cake and eat it too. All right fine. So we can’t keep Brendon Low with Ketell Marte. They just say you know what no we don’t like the defense in the outfield for Brandon or Can I note something here though? If you have if there was a situation where you had both Brandon Laauo and Catel Marte on the roster, you may not need you may not need couch catching help. You you can you can have a void there. You could have a void at shortstop until Carson Williams is ready because you would have so much offense theoretically stacked up assuming those guys are able to stay healthy for the majority of the season. And that’s exactly why I feel like I I really hope that they are trying their best to be able to keep Brennan Laaua and Katal Marte if they bring Catel in. But let’s say but this segment is about hey you couldn’t make it work. you have to go out and and trade Brandon Laauo either for monetary reasons, you don’t like the outfield composition with Brennan there, whatever, XYZ. Okay, then if you’ve already traded Bos andor Pepio, then Brennan Laauo should bring a starting pitcher for the rotation. Like I I it just it’s a it’s a must. Now I can see the reasoning of you only gave up Pepio, you only gave up Bos for for Marte. I mean with other pieces, but there would definitely be other pieces involved for sure. Um if you went that way, you only had to give up one starter. I would be okay me to go out and target somebody who wants Brennan Laauo and has catching depth. Yeah. Who is that? Is there anybody? Is there another 29 other teams? Is there anybody that wants a 30 homer power second base DH first base type guy who’s going to at least put you at a 100 games a season? Do you want that? Do you have catching help? Do you do Do you have an excess of maybe catching help? There are actual teams that have that problem. Mariners have that bleeping problem and they just gave up Harry Ford for a reliever. Uh so that would be my, you know, fine. We can’t keep both of them. Well, if you trade Brandon, you got to target catching help. And if you traded two of their pitchers, then obviously then you have to target starting pitching, right? And it doesn’t necessarily have to be a one for one. I mean, you can be creative with these trade deals of, hey, we’re going to give you Brandon Laauo and the key net in the return is a catcher that is ready to be productive in the major leagues, but also say, hey, we just lost Ryan Pepio or Shane Boss. We need, you know, aa pitcher that we have some sort of hope or expectation for. So, you can get creative with those types of deals. But ultimately, it it is interesting to see how all this shake out because it it does seem that with all these rumors running around, I I I’m not getting the feeling that Brandon Laauo that the Rays plan to keep Brandon Laauo beyond this season that they would work out an extension with him just because of again age. And it’s funny because Catel Marte is technically older than Brandon Loud, but if you look at the durability factor, it’s night and day. I mean, you can bank on Catel Marte giving you 125 to 150 games year in and year out. That’s pretty much what it’s been since 2018, give or take. I mean, we had the COVID season and I think he got hurt in 2021. But outside of that, he’s been pretty much money. I mean, he’s what, a two-time top five MVP finisher. I mean, that that tells you something right there. So, that’s what the Rays are hoping to get over the next few years. And with Brandon Law, they’re saying, “Hey, we we don’t really envision keeping you beyond 2026. So, we got to start making moves between now and the trade deadline because you don’t want to lose him and just get some, you know, compensation draft pick after that.” I will say and I was surprised about this. Um, you look at the careers of both Brennan Laauo and Catel Marte. Catel Marte has a 121 WRC plus which is fantastic. 121. Yes. Give it to me all day. Catel Marte. Brennan Laauo has a courier 123. So, it’s really I mean sometimes we don’t uh we see shiny objects outside of our home instead of the ones that we have in the home. um you know we’ve got McDonald’s in the house sort of comment there but uh it’s when you get Catel Marte yes I think overall you are getting a better player just because uh you know you add the financials you know you add the the the friendliness of that contract is fantastic and then also you know the defensiveness the what he can teach Junior Camo and and everybody else like you just you add all that in I think you are getting maybe a a better player overall but I I think we also need to recognize Below has enough of a friendly one-year contract and enough production and years behind him that he should net something important to your organization if you need to deal him. Question, would you be okay with trading Brandon Laauo intro division to the Red Sox, the Orioles, the Yankees, or the Blue Jays? It it would it would have to blow you away kind of a deal. It it would need it would need attacks. Yeah, because I would think that really I guess the thought would be that the acquiring team for Brandon Laauo likes him enough to try to work out some sort of contract extension. So, you’re thinking like what an Adley Rutman situation possibly. I mean, I look the way that uh things have gone over the last couple years. I could see the Rays trading Brandon Loud to I don’t know the the Braves or something like that because it seems like anytime the Braves get a former Rays player, be it free agency or however they wind up extending that player like Travis Darnau and Charlie Morton so on and so forth. But uh yeah, I mean you look it with introdisional trades it comes with the tax. So, yes, I I guess the the hope or thought is let’s let’s feel it out and uh wish that Brandon Loud doesn’t wind up with one of those four other teams and let’s also wish that Catel Marte doesn’t wind up with one of those four other teams. Exactly. Want to try to play a little bit of defense if you can on that front there. So, uh yeah, lot of lot of crazy stuff going on in baseball and and we’re here for it. It’s it’s hot stove heating up like we can see. So, all right. We’ll have uh more fun later on this week. Uh we do want to remind you that we want you to be one of the first to join the Everydayer Club to get your favorite show ad free and exclusive access to the membersonly Discord channel. Stay safe and we will talk to you later.

Tampa Bay Rays could be eyeing a blockbuster trade for Ketel Marte, signaling confidence in ace Shane McClanahan’s comeback. Are the Rays ready to shake up their rotation and power their lineup into contention? Hosts Ulises and Kevin debate the risks and rewards of acquiring Marte, with potential ripple effects for Ryan Pepiot, Shane Baz, and Brandon Lowe. The duo breaks down how Marte’s arrival would force strategic defensive shifts, boost outfield power, and address lingering depth concerns.
Key topics include the Diamondbacks’ demands for starting pitching, the intriguing possibility of moving Brandon Lowe to left field, and how emerging options like Cedric Mullins and Josh Lowe might bolster the outfield. The conversation covers front office philosophy, trade scenarios involving catching depth, and what Marte’s veteran leadership could mean for Junior Caminero. Will these bold moves define the Rays’ future—and lure more fans to Tropicana Field for the 2026 season?

0:00 – Marte Trade & McClanahan Outlook
6:35 – Defensive Maneuvers & Lineup Power
18:54 – Trade Value & Post-Marte Moves

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