It has been a busy offseason for the Tampa Bay Rays, and there is still some work to be done in order to improve.
The Rays have been an active team this winter, and some of their moves have been unique. Tampa Bay is no stranger to being both a buyer and a seller at times, and that is seemingly the game plan this winter.
Early on, the Rays were aggressive in free agency, adding a couple of veterans. This created the belief that the team was really going to be active and try to make some noise in the American League East. However, following some additions in free agency, they then traded away two key players.
While the team trading Brandon Lowe and Shane Baz helped the Rays restock their farm system, it did hurt them in the short term. This is a team that still believes they can be a contender when the offseason is completed, and that means some work will need to be done. There are a number of needs for the team, and how they look to address them will be interesting.
Eric Treuden of Just Baseball recently wrote about some of the needs for the Rays. One of which was to improve in the outfield as a good right-handed hitter. He proposed that Harrison Bader would be an excellent fit in free agency.
Outfield Feels Crowded