The Tampa Bay Rays surprised a lot of people when they decided against bringing back closer Pete Fairbanks. Instead of exercising a club option worth $11 million, the team declined the option, opting to instead pay a $1 million buyout.
It was a surprising turn of events. Not that anyone ever expected the Rays to pay him that kind of money. Given the restraints on their budget, allocating that much money to a relief pitcher wasn’t going to happen.
Evidently, Tampa Bay wasn’t the only franchise that felt that way. As shared by Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (subscription required), teams around the league weren’t going to be willing to take on a reliever at that price tag so early in the offseason.
Trade market for Pete Fairbanks was not robust