It’s been just over a month since the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Toronto Blue Jays in the World Series, officially kicking what has thus far been an eventful offseason for the Tampa Bay Rays.

Following a second straight sub .500 finish, the Rays have made several alterations to their roster that should have significant ramifications for the team’s 2026 season. They also have a new ownership group, and a return to a renovated Tropicana Field expected by April.

With the Winter Meetings begin this week and spring training just over two months away, let’s quickly recap everything the Rays have done up to this point and where they stand entering the Meetings.

Veteran hurler Adrian Houser was the only player from the MLB roster to become a free agent. The Rays had acquired Houser at the trade deadline for Curtis Mead and two minor leaguers.

As for adding via free agency, the Rays have signed two lefty hitting veteran outfielders: Jake Fraley and Cedric Mullins.

Fraley was previously acquired by Tampa Bay on waivers at the start of the off-season, but was briefly designated for assignment during a procedural 40-man roster crunch. The Rays re-signed Fraley shortly thereafter to a one year, $3 million deal with $400k in incentives. On the depth chart he likely steps ahead of Chandler Simpson for the long side of a platoon in Left Field with Ryan Vilade.

You can read more about the Mullins addition here: Rays Add Veteran Stability With Cedric Mullins on One-Year, $7 Million Deal

In preparation for the Rule 5 deadline, the Rays added three players to the 40-man roster: C Dominic Keegan, RHP Alex Cook, and newcomer INF Jadher Arienamo, who was acquired at the trade deadline in exchange for C Danny Jansen.

Leading up to the deadline to add players to the 40-man roster, the Rays made several trades as they have parted ways with INF Tanner Murray, RHP Eric Orze, INF Tristan Gray, RHP Cole Wilcox, RHP Joey Gerber, OF Everson Pereira, and OF Kameron Misner in six different deals, and brought in aforementioned OF Ryan Vilade and four RHP’s in Yoendrys Gomez, Steven Wilson, Luis Guerrero, and Jacob Kisting.

The Rays have released several players this offseason by either deciding to non-tender them, designate them for assignment, or decline an option on their contract.

The most notable of these is RHP Pete Fairbanks, the team’s former All-Star closer. The other players released include injured RHP Brian Van Belle (re-signed to MiLB deal), OF Stuart Fairchild, RHP Alex Faedo, 1B Bob Seymour, RHP Forrest Whitley (given permission to go to Japan), and RHP Caleb Boushley.

The Rays also just designated RHP Yoniel Curet for assignment but have several days to either work out a trade or to outright the young hurler to the minor leagues.

Here is the complete list of the players joining and leaving the 40-man roster thus far this offseason:

RHP Alex Cook (internal)RHP Yoendrys Gomez (trade)RHP Steven Wilson (trade)C Dominic Keegan (internal)INF Jadher Areinamo (internal)OF Cedric Mullins (free agent)OF Jake Fraley (free agent)OF Ryan Vilade (waiver claim)RHP Adrian HouserLHP Nate LavenderRHP Joey GerberRHP Alex FaedoRHP Cole WilcoxRHP Caleb BoushleyRHP Garrett ActonRHP Eric OrzeRHP Pete FairbanksRHP Yoniel CuretRHP Brian Van Belle (re-signed to MILB deal)1B Bob SeymourINF Tristan GrayOF Everson PereiraOF Kameron MisnerOF Christopher MorelOF Stuart FairchildRHP Forrest Whitley (Japan)

That’s 18 players the Rays have moved off of their 40-man roster and another eight added which thanks to a multitude of players on the 60-day Injured List at the end of the season now gives the Rays a full 40-man roster.

Starting Pitcher: As for what’s left for the Rays this offseason, we know that they would still like add a veteran starting pitcher to their staff to help cover the innings that Zack Littell and Adrian Houser covered this past season. According to Marc Topkin, the team has interested in possible reunions with those two hurlers as well as former Rays opening day starter, Zach Eflin.Short Stop: There is also some question as to who will be the team’s starting shortstop on Opening Day. Carson Williams was given a month long stint in the big leagues to close the season and was severely overmatched by Major League pitching. Meanwhile, Taylor Walls finished the year on the Injured List and produced yet another well below average offensive season while also being one of the best defenders in all of baseball; the Rays showed their faith in Walls by accepting his team option and adding another option fo 2027 (Walls will be arbitration eligible for the third and final time in 2027).Catcher: At the trade deadline, the Rays completely changed their catching corps as they traded away Ben Rortvedt, Danny Jansen, and Matt Thaiss and bringing in Hunter Feduccia and Nick Fortes. Feduccia failed to reproduce like he had during his minor league days and it was open season on stealing bases whenever he was behind the plate. Fortes meanwhile did what was expected, he was above average defensively and slightly below average offensively. So the Rays may look for more production behind the plate or choose to give the F&F tandem a longer run.Outfield: Who will be roaming the outfield is the biggest question facing this current Rays roster as the team currently has seemingly one lefty outfielder too many with the additions of Mullins and Fraley, along with Josh Lowe, Chandler Simpson, and the switch hitting Jake Mangum. There is also Richie Palacios and Tristan peters, two more lefties listed as outfielders on the 40-man roster. Meanwhile, there is just a trip of righties: Jonny DeLuca, Ryan Vilade, and the aforementioned Jake Mangum. Josh Lowe seems like the obvious odd one out on this squad, with the Rays adding two free agents via free agency that are of the same mold.

That’s just the roster construction.

The Rays tendered contracts to 12 of their arbitration eligible players and have until a January 9th deadline to come to terms or head to arbitration in February. Meanwhile, Wander Franco has a legal appeal in the Dominican Republic on December 9th hoping to overturn his July conviction while the prosecutors are hoping to give him a stiffer sentence.

Then there is the always looming presence of the stadium situation. The Rays will be returning to Tropicana Field for the 2026 season and how long they’ll be there beyond 2028 remains a mystery as the new ownership has stated they’d like to have a new stadium built in time for the 2029 season but as the days tick by, although the feasibility of that grows less plausible as time stretches between announcements.

There is still much to be decided for the Rays 2026 season and we have several months until Kevin Cash makes his decision for the Opening Day starting lineup.