ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – With the calendar about to flip into January, movement among Major League Baseball officials and free agents hoping to land is about to accelerate. Most teams now begin in earnest to pursue top free agents, and other clubs define needs.
For a team whose immediate ambition is a return to glory, the task ahead for the Tampa Bay Rays seems daunting. Here’s a franchise coming off consecutive disappointing seasons, and the hope to reach that glory plateau again appears elusive.
With spring training less than two months out, the needs for this team appear to distance its strength.
Immediately, the Rays need starting pitching, a closer, a second baseman, and a considerable power surge from outfielders. All of which seems like a tsunami of needs and a limitation of personnel to address this plethora of requirements.
“We can’t be too picky for the opportunities which enable us to get better,” said the Rays’ president of baseball operations, Erik Neander at the recent winter meetings. “Ideally, can we find a little more balance in the lineup and more production from the right side? (On our way to spring training), finding ways to get better is the priority.”
By trading second baseman Brandon Lowe to the Pirates, the Rays hope to compensate for this loss of power from the left side.
As a result, Neander added two left-handed hitters. In signing free agents Cedric Mullins and Jake Fraley, both outfielders, the hope is to find lightning in these bats and maintain production from the 31 bombs delivered from Lowe last season.
By comparison, Fraley, at 30 years old and originally drafted by the Rays in the 2nd round of the 2016 draft out of LSU, has 47 career home runs in parts of seven Major League seasons,
Mullins, who is 31 years old, hit 103 bombs in parts of eight major league seasons.
Yet, pundits like to argue that championship teams are built around solid pitching and strong defense.
Coming into spring training, the Rays are down three in the starting rotation. That could be two and depends on the uncertain recovery of lefthander Shane McClanhan, out since last March 22.
Sitting atop the current free agent leaderboard are Zach Efflin and Zack Littell, a pair of right-handed pitchers and two former Rays. Whether Neander will pursue these players is unknown. Both were traded by the Rays and Neander could turn to a recent precedent.
At the trade deadline last season, the Arizona Diamondbacks dealt right-hander Merrill Kelly to the Texas Rangers for three minor leaguers. Reaching free agency in the current off-season, the Diamondbacks reached out to Kelly and brought him back to his hometown native of Scottsdale.
The deal for Kelly involves two years and a reported $40 million.
While the Rays’ new ownership may be unwilling to part with that kind of money for one player, Neander could do the math.
Last season, Eflin earned $18 million with Baltimore, and in parts of two seasons with the Rays, just before a trade to the Orioles, he earned a combined $22 million. Littell, dealt to Cincinnati at the trade deadline a year ago and now also a free agent, earned $5.7 million in 2025.
Going forward, Neander would not commit to bringing back players he recently traded. At the winter meetings, he continued to reiterate the need “to get better” and explore options to accomplish that goal.
“Neander is pretty good at what he does and has a successful track record,” Littell said after the trade and near the near end of the 2025 season. “There is so much that goes into transactions, and we can sit here and play all kinds of GM scenarios.”
Another immediate need is a closer.
Allowing Pete Fairbanks (27 saves in 61 appearances last season) to walk and eventually sign for a reported one-year, $13 million deal with the Miami Marlins, the Rays enter the season without a closer. At the winter meetings, field manager Kevin Cash hinted that Griffin Jax could fill that role.
Jax, at 31 years old and out of Phoenix, Ariz., once recorded a career high 23 saves with the Minnesota Twins in 2024 but was dealt to the Rays at the 2025 trade deadline for right-handed starter Taj Bradley.
Essentially the Twins set up reliever for closer Jhoan Duran, Jax, if given the ball by Cash, would return to a previous role as closer. Once the Twins traded their closer Duran to the Phillies on July 30 last summer, Jax was sent to Tampa Bay the next day.