ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – With pitchers and catchers reporting to the Tampa Bay Rays’ spring training site at Port Charlotte next Thursday, do not expect additional noteworthy roster changes.
In the offseason, the Rays concluded two major deals, and each involved a 3-team transaction. At the same time, significant questions continue gnaw at the souls of Erik Neander, the club’s president of baseball operations, and Kevin Cash, the field manager.
With the first crack of a fast ball hitting the catcher’s gloves next week, the Rays remain in search of a closer, more power at the plate, and the need to break a potential log-jam in the outfield.
All of which is pressing.
At the same time, the most recent trade may have given Neander and Cash room to squeeze even more out of the opening day roster, and beyond, than in recent years.
That’s because the addition of utility infielder Ben Williamson, a 25-year-old, could give the Rays flexibility. In baseball terminology, that may be a word that has come to define Neander. Williamson, if he makes the opening day roster, would give the Rays’ management several options.
With Williamson coming over from Seattle in a major deal on Feb. 2 in which the St. Louis Cardinals sent infielder Brendan Donovan to the M’s, his resume, while short, is inviting.
Drafted by Seattle on the second round of the 2023 draft, Williamson hit .390 during this junior year at William and Mary and then signed with the Mariners. For the 2025 season, he was the M’s third baseman, and that lasted for 85 games. That’s when Seattle acquired Eugenio Suarez at the trade deadline on July 31 from Arizona, and Williamson was dispatched to AAA Tacoma.
Spending the month of August in the minors, Williamasons responded by hitting .316 (66 for 210), five homers and drove in 46 runs.
Should Williams make the Rays opening day roster, this would likely be as a utility player. Yet, there is an inherent flexibility.
With Yandy Diaz penciled in as the Rays’ DH, the veteran is prone to injury. That could thrust Junior Caminero, coming off a monster season of hitting .264, slamming 45 bombs and drove in 110 runs, to move from this position as third baseman into the DH slot and employ Williamson at third.
Diaz is coming off a .300 batting average in 2025 and a career high in both home runs (25) and runs batted in (83).
Versatility could be employed in various matchups.
Cash is driven by matching up pictures to hitters and hitters to pitchers. Here, he could rest left-handed hitting Gavin Lux, acquired in the off-season from Cincinnati in a three-team transaction. That sets up platooning Lux in his usual perch at second (replacing the traded Bradon Lowe) and inserting Williamson against left-handed pitching.
Another scenario could involve first baseman Jonathan Arnada, who lost time late in the 2025 season because of a broken hand and potential injuries. Should that occur, Lux could be moved to first and Williamson taking over at second.
All of which is contingent on Williamson making the final spring training cut.
A similar dilemma confronts Neander and Cash in the outfield.
The conventional wisdom has only Cendric Mullins, signed as a free agent in the off-season, as the everyday centerfielder. That puts the corner outfielder slots up for grabs.
Let the competition begin with Jonny DeLuca, Jake Frawley, Justym-Henry Malloy, Jacob Melton, Richie Palacious, Chandler Simpson and Ryan Vilade.
Elsewhere … In an apparent show of good faith, the Rays announced they would pay for half of a new stadium. That’s in the proposal stage now on the campus of Hillsborough College.
The location could create a sports mega-center on a major road, the Dale Mabry, in Tampa. That’s because the NFL Buccaneers’ home at Raymond James Stadium is directly across the street from the New York Yankees spring training base, and George Steinbrenner Field, home to the displaced Rays in the 2025 season, is down on the Dale Mabry about three blocks.
At this point, the amount the Rays are offering is unclear, and equally uncertain is where and how much of the dividing portion will appear.
Under a Memorandum of Understanding for the two parties, the Rays and the college board of directors are under a deadline. When the memoranda were agreed on Jan, 20, the parties have the subsequent 180 days to finalize a stadium deal.
Proposals for current Trop site … With the Rays committed to playing in Tropicana Field through the 2028 season, there are now nine official proposals before the St. Petersburg city council to develop the parcel. That is after the Rays depart for a proposed new stadium in Tampa.
This includes an 86-acre plot of land and various proposals include the Woodson African Museum of Florida, 446 units of affordable housing, and a land bridge to a popular community park, a music venue, an amphitheater as well as retail, hotel, and office space, have been advanced.
A 30-day window to submit bids and ideas to the St. Petersburg city council closed at 10 a.m. on Feb. 3.
None of the proposals includes a Rays’ stadium bid. When the Rays committed to the Hillsborough College site across the bay in Tampa, that issue was settled.
