With the winter meetings right around the corner for the Tampa Bay Rays, the team might look to shockingly add a pitcher in a trade this offseason.
The Rays are a bit of a hard team to judge and predict what their winter is going to look like. After letting Pete Fairbanks go to free agency without picking up his option, some of the other veterans who are still under team control could certainly be dealt this winter.
While the team might look to deal a veteran or two, they have been going about things in an interesting way of late by moving expiring contracts, which would indicate them selling, but then at the same time pursuing controllable players.
This is an interesting mindset, and one that is helping them keep good teams on the field. With starting pitching being a need for the team, the Rays figured to address that in free agency. However, they might look to the trade market instead.
Kiley McDaniel and Jeff Passan of ESPN recently wrote about the top 25 trade candidates this winter, and surprisingly, the Rays were named a good fit for Miami Marlins starter Edwin Cabrera.
Pursuing Cabrera Would Be Shocking
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While starting pitching is a need for the franchise, pursuing a pitcher like Cabrera didn’t figure to be a possibility for Tampa Bay this offseason. With three years of team control, the price to acquire him would be steep, but the Rays have shown a recent willingness to trade prospects for controllable players.
If that little trend continues, there is a lot to like about the potential fit for Cabrera in the rotation. With Tampa Bay still being a reasonably young team, adding a controllable young starter who has flashed some serious upside would be very appealing.
The rotation is undoubtedly an area in which they would want to make some upgrades, but the logical choice figured to be an affordable veteran free agent. If the team elects to get aggressive, pursuing Cabrera makes sense.
In 2025, the right-hander totaled an 8-7 record and 3.53 ERA in 137 innings pitched. While there is some upside for Cabrera, staying healthy has been a bit of an issue. Last year was the first year in which he was able to total over 100 innings pitched, and he still didn’t reach the 150 innings mark.
Overall, it would be very shocking to see the Rays pursue him in a trade this winter. However, it is encouraging to know that they might look to be aggressive in the trade market for a pitcher.
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