It has been a busy winter so far for the Tampa Bay Rays, but the direction of the team still remains a bit of an unknown.
Coming into the winter, the Rays figured to be a team that was going to be looking to compete in 2026. Despite finishing eight games under the .500 mark, they had a positive run differential, indicating that they should have seen more wins. Furthermore, a couple of injuries to key players in the second half of the year also impacted them.
To start the offseason, they looked like a team that was going to be aggressive with a couple of notable free agent signings in Cedric Mullins and Steven Matz. These were certainly moves made to help win now, but the moves that followed indicated otherwise.
Even though trading Brandon Lowe and Shane Baz resulted in a strong return, it didn’t make Tampa Bay better for 2026, and the argument can be made that they are now significantly worse following the loss of Lowe, especially. Now, it will be interesting to see if the team elects to continue to trade veteran talent, and they have a very appealing slugger still on the roster.
Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report recently wrote about Rays slugger Yandy Diaz being a potential option for the Seattle Mariners to help improve their offense.
Diaz Makes Sense For Mariners