Rays face roster crunch ahead of Rule 5 Draft

CARLSBAD, Calif. -- Standing outside the lobby at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa on Tuesday afternoon, Rays president of baseball operations Erik Neander looked down at his watch and looked ahead to the Nov. 19 deadline to protect players from the annual Rule 5 Draft. What he saw was a reminder: Over the next 10 days, Tampa Bay’s roster crunch is about to get real.

The Rays began the General Managers Meetings with a full 40-man roster. By the end of next week, they must create space on the roster to add eligible prospects they don’t want to risk losing in the Rule 5 Draft. They can’t make room for everyone, and as Neander noted, “I think it’s safe to say that we probably have more we’d like to add than what we will be able to add.”

That means the next week-and-a-half could be busy. The Rays might have to part with some of their current depth to make room for the prospects they view as future depth. They’ll look to make trades, potentially moving players off their 40-man roster for low-level Minor Leaguers who aren’t yet eligible for the Rule 5 Draft. And they’ll do that while, above all, looking to improve their big league club.

“The priority is making sure we have what we need to compete at the Major League level,” Neander said. “How to balance that while carrying injured players, the decisions you make with 40-man protects, that is something that certainly is a stress here and between now and the 19th.

“We’re going to spend a lot of time on that -- and really, all the way through the winter, I think, until we get to the spot where we report to a camp and we can put players back on the 60[-day injured list]. That'll give us a little freedom, as it did this past year.”

Here are four more takeaways from the first full day of the GM Meetings.

1) The Rays are on the lookout for rotation depth
Next year, the Rays should get a full season from four promising young starters: Shane McClanahan, Drew Rasmussen, Luis Pati?o and Shane Baz. Neander said Tampa Bay, a team typically built on the strength of its pitching, is as “excited about that collection, that quartet in particular, as perhaps any we’ve ever had.”

The Rays have internal depth options in Ryan Yarbrough, Josh Fleming, Dietrich Enns, Brendan McKay (who should be granted a fourth option), Brent Honeywell Jr. (out of options) and Yonny Chirinos, whenever he returns from elbow surgery. They have another wave of young arms on the way, including Triple-A starters like Tommy Romero and Tobias Myers.

But Tampa Bay doesn't want to put too much too soon on its young arms, and it saw this past year how much depth it takes to withstand injuries and get through a full season. So Neander acknowledged the club will “have an open mind to see if we can further fortify” its rotation this offseason.

“We're excited about their potential and their ability to impact our club next year, but want to be careful not to ask too much of them over 162 games,” Neander said. “We're a year further removed from the pandemic-shortened season, but you just don't know. You don't know if some of the hangover from that abbreviated season will show up more next year, and they're so critical to our future.”

2) The Rays are betting on some lefties returning from injuries
In some recent moves to create space on their 40-man roster, the Rays have parted ways with a decent amount of left-handed relief depth. Ryan Sherriff was claimed off waivers by the Phillies. Cody Reed cleared outright waivers and elected free agency. Adam Conley was designated for assignment Sunday.

Those moves left Tampa Bay light on lefty relievers who finished the season healthy, assuming pitchers like Enns, Fleming and Yarbrough serve in starting/bulk-inning roles. But the team is expected to have Jeffrey Springs, Colin Poche and Jalen Beeks in the bullpen after all three were set back by injuries this year. Springs missed the final two months of the season with a torn ACL in his right knee, while Beeks and Poche will return after sitting out all year following Tommy John surgery.

“That certainly helps, and then obviously with Springs as well, we feel pretty good about where we're at,” Neander said. “But we'll look to see if there's ways to build that group up further as well, because you don't want to count too much on players coming back from injuries.”

3) Nick Anderson is on the comeback trail
After undergoing right elbow surgery two weeks ago, reliever Nick Anderson won’t return to game action until after the All-Star break in 2022. But the Rays are confident that Anderson’s most recent operation will help him return to the dominant form he displayed from the time they acquired him in July 2019, through the end of the '20 season.

Anderson could be considered a non-tender candidate given his injury and the aforementioned need for roster spots, but the Rays are likely to keep him on board given his proven upside, reasonable projected salary for next season and additional years of club control.

“If you do this, you hope all of those struggles to just try to find it again will hopefully be behind him,” Neander said. “It stinks for him and all that he's been through. He was such an important part of our club, and he put everything into getting back, and even this postseason to try to get back to help us and just couldn't find it.

"So it's unfortunate, but also something that has him, and us, optimistic that on the other side of this -- yes, we have to wait a little longer than we thought we would -- that we'll see something that is resembling what we saw before the unfortunate string of health issues started.”

4) Bringing back Mike Zunino was an ‘easy’ decision
The Rays exercised catcher Mike Zunino’s $7 million club option for next season on Sunday, bringing him back for another season as their starting catcher after an All-Star campaign this year. Interestingly, Neander noted that Tampa Bay isn’t necessarily counting on Zunino to repeat his career year offensively -- an indication of just how valuable the Rays view him to be behind the plate.

“I think some of the changes underneath, the fundamental changes [offensively], the mechanical changes, mindset changes, those suggest some staying power on the offensive side. But this wasn't done expecting him to have a repeat offensive year,” Neander said. “That was a special year for him. And certainly, as has been the case in each year we've had 'Z,' what we get on that side of the ball is really helpful. We'll take it, and we were certainly lucky to have it this year. But so much of this is about what he does in every other area of his game as well.”