For many Rays fans, one hope for the new ownership group was that the indignities of the Stuart Sternberg era would be a thing of the past. That the team would no decline pay player contracts at or near market rates, particularly for fan favorites.
Well, if that was you, today’s 40-man roster deadline is a rude awakening. This is Rays baseball; it always has been.
In a shocker, the Rays have declined to pay closer Pete Fairbanks $11 million in 2026, making him a free agent, parting with a face of the franchise at a pivotal moment.
Fairbanks, the team rep for the Players union, was a leader in the clubhouse and in the media, a familiar voice and a constant presence on the broadcast. His contract had an $11 million club option for 2026 or a $1 million buy out.
For context, that’s about the same money former Rays reliever Andrew Kittredge is making from the Baltimore Orioles year over year. Fairbanks, aged 31 last year, had a 2.83 ERA/3.76 xFIP over 60.1 IP with 27 saves, 24% K, and a 77.5% LOB; Kittredge, at 35, had a 3.40 ERA/2.62 xFIP ERA over 53.0 IP, with 5 saves, 30.8% K, 71.1% LOB. In other words, Fairbanks’s contract was not expensive, and particularly not for a team that will again be near the bottom of the league in payroll. It was near market rate, and it should have been tradeable this off-season if the team were to decide later not to make him a part of the 2026 plans. But the team let him walk for free.
So what do we not know? Is Fairbanks hurt? Are we over reacting to half the story and he’s signing a new deal? Will the savings from not paying Fairbanks be used to bring in another marquee player? Or is the money simply not there?
Whatever the reasoning, it seems ludicrous from the fan relations perspective not retain one of the most popular and recognizeable players on the team, especially one who was still effective as a major league player.
The Rays made a series of other moves today, adding RHP Forrest Whitley to the roster while cutting OF Kameron Misner, 1B Bob Seymour, LHP Nate Lavender (who never threw a pitch for the team), and RHP Brian Van Belle (part of the mid-2025 Zack Littell trade, alongside pitching prospect Adam Serwinowski).
On waivers, the team picked up old friend OF Jake Fraley off waivers, drafted by the Rays in 2016 but traded before he could make his debut. At age-30, he has not hit above a 100 wRC+ since 2023.
