The 2025 trade deadline has passed and the Tampa Bay Rays were certainly one of the more active teams.
After acquiring Bryan Baker from the Baltimore Orioles in early July, the Rays were involved in numerous discussions, especially after the team’s free fall in the standings. However, they stood their ground in trade talks until the deadline neared. Then, the dam broke and the Rays made a flurry of deals.
After the deadline passed, the Rays had traded away a total of 11 players and brought seven new players into the organization.
The Rays dealt away two players from their active roster and several on the 40-man, but the newcomers have quickly filled those vacancies. However, the Rays have also suddenly found themselves without a first baseman with Jonathan Aranda going down and Kevin Cash saying he’ll miss some time; Yandy Diaz and Chandler Simpson are considered day-to-day after they both left Thursday’s game early with injuries.
There are also the possibility of the Rays activating Ha-Seong Kim prior to today’s game as he is eligible to return to the active roster.
So, how is the Rays roster shaking up and what are their options?
Pitching
The Rays dealt away the team’s primary work horse over the past several seasons, but then replaced him with another veteran pitcher as Adrian Houser will take Zack Littell’s spot in the rotation. Houser last pitched on July 25th and he was scratched from his most recent start due to the ongoing trade discussions, so he will be lined up to start on Tuesday, August 5th.
Meanwhile, the bullpen will have a new face as the Rays acquired Griffin Jax, who could be the team’s closer of the future.
The Rays will need to make two moves from their bullpen in order to activate Jax and Houser. The most likely would be to option Joe Rock, who tossed three scoreless innings on Thursday, and then Ian Seymour who was originally optioned on July 30th but recalled immediately after the Zack Littell trade.
Behind The Plate
The Rays acquired pitching prospect Adam Serwinowski from the Cincinnati Reds with the sole purpose of flipping him to the Los Angeles Dodgers in order to obtain Hunter Feduccia, a catcher that has been blocked in the Dodgers system for several years.
The Rays could add him to the active roster on Friday and move on from Matt Thaiss. In doing so, the Rays will have completely revamped their catching situation from Opening Day with a duo Feduccia and Nick Fortes behind the plate. This is advantageous if the Rays need another 40-man roster spot for promoting any prospects for injured players (more on that in a moment).
Ha-Seong Kim
There has been little said about Ha-Seong Kim. The Rays are technically able to activate Kim prior to today’s game but the last update from Marc Topkin was on Friday when the Rays originally placed Kim on the Injured list.
Kim left Monday’s game with a stiff back and was expected to miss only a few days. But when he didn’t feel right in a workout Friday, the Rays decided they couldn’t wait any longer and placed him on the IL, eligible to return Aug. 1.
Kim being ready to return to the Rays active roster helps to solve a problem up the middle for the Rays and allows them to be more flexible at first base. However, in a situation that Kim does not return to the Rays, the team will have to fill two spots on the active roster.
First Base
Jonathan Aranda has been among the best hitters in baseball this year and may have had a shot at the batting title this year. However, his season may be over as we don’t know the full extent of the injury he suffered on Thursday, but we do know that he will be going on the Injured List. The Rays have several options at first base. Here are some of the avenues the Rays could pursue:
Bob Seymour, 26-year old first baseman that has mashed 45 HR in just over a year at the Triple-A level. Entering play on Friday, he is hitting .264/.332/.545 with 26 HR this season.
Tre’ Morgan, the Rays 3rd round pick in 2023 out of LSU. He is one of the game’s top first base prospects and is considered an elite defender. The 23-year old has been among the leaders in the Rays system in terms of average and on-base percentage, but the knock against him has been his low power output as a first baseman. However, Morgan has found some pop recently (3 HR over last 7 games) in Triple-A and is hitting .277/.404/.402 this season with 5 HR over 225 PA.
Yandy Diaz, the Rays could move Diaz from the DH role and back to first base where he primarily played the past several seasons. This would allow the Rays to move Brandon Lowe from second base, where he has been among the game’s worst defenders, and focus solely on hitting. The Rays would recall the recently optioned Tristan Gray to serve as depth up the middle. This would leave the Rays without an extra middle infielder so another move would have to be made.
*neither Morgan or Seymour are on the 40-man roster
Middle Infield
The Rays middle infield situation is difficult to determine. The team traded away Jose Caballero mid game which forced Brandon Lowe to move off of first base and for backup catcher Matt Thaiss to take over at first base, leaving the Rays with an empty bench and three innings left to play; fortunately the Rays would be spared further injury.
However, now the Rays only have two middle infielders on their active roster: Taylor Walls and Brandon Lowe. If Ha-Seong Kim is healthy, which is a big if as he has struggled to fully comeback following his offseason shoulder surgery with different ailments, the Rays could activate him. This would allow for the aforementioned plan with Yandy Diaz taking over at first base and for Brandon Lowe to possibly DH, and then the Rays would simply recall Tristan Gray to serve as the backup.
Outfield
The only certain thing about the Rays outfield right now is that Josh Lowe will be the primary right fielder. Kevin Cash has been rotating the trio of Jonny DeLuca, Chandler Simpson, and Jake Mangum between the bench and the other two outfield spots; meanwhile Christopher Morel is used sparingly. The injury to Simpson could pave the way to more playing time for Morel and Mangum, but there is another route the Rays could take should Simpson need to be on the Injured list.
The Rays just acquired 24-year old Everson Pereira from the Yankees and the outfielder has been a well above-average hitter in Triple-A over the past three seasons. The Rays are in need of an impact bat in their lineup and Pereira could fill that need and take over as the team’s primary left fielder. There is also the possibility that Simpson may need some time on the bench and the Rays may decide they are done with Christopher Morel and move forward with an outfield featuring Pereira, DeLuca, and Josh Lowe.
