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Few MLB teams carry more intrigue year-to-year than the Tampa Bay Rays. If you asked the casual baseball fan who the winningest teams of the decade are, there's a good bet most of them would fail to mention the Rays. There aren’t many consistent winners in Major League Baseball, but the Rays are one of the exceptions.
The numbers don’t lie and Tampa Bay has put up impressive records each of the last five seasons. The Rays posted the best record in the American League in 2020 and 2021, finishing with a winning record every year since 2018. Only the Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros have more regular season wins than Tampa Bay since 2020. All three won a World Series in that span, with the Dodgers topping the Rays in 2020.
Despite winning 99 games last season, a sixth consecutive playoff berth doesn’t appear to be on the horizon for the Rays in 2024. Tampa Bay is 64-63 entering Friday's action and although it'd only have to jump two teams to fall into a Wild Card position, a seven-game deficit stands in the way.
Amid their struggles this season, the Rays decided to trade away a few key pieces but got solid returns in the process. Tampa Bay is always looking for the slightest edge and the organization has a unique way of doing things.
The Rays don’t often use the waiver wire to add players, but they've designated several players for assignment over the years. They surprisingly let Harold Ramirez walk earlier this year after he went unclaimed.
It's hard to pinpoint a player on Tampa Bay's active roster who might find the same fate. The Rays didn’t become as successful as they are without depth in the minors and there's a reliever in the system that might draw interest.
Deja vu for 13-year MLB veteran
When it comes to maximizing the strength of a pitching staff, perhaps no MLB franchise does it better than the Rays. Tampa Bay ranked in the top five in team ERA every season from 2019 to 2023 and finished top 10 in 2018 & 2017. This season they're slotted in 12th with a 3.89 ERA.
Revival projects are common for the Rays and they've been trying to get the most out of veteran right-hander Erasmo Ramirez for over a year. Last June, Ramirez signed a minor league contract with Tampa Bay following his release from the Washington Nationals.
Coming off a career year with the Nats in 2022, Ramirez struggled last season with a 6.41 ERA across 60 1/3 innings. Still, the Rays saw something they could work with and re-signed the 34-year-old.
He's spent most of 2024 in the minor leagues after a month-long stint with the Rays early in the season. Ramirez earned three wins for Tampa Bay, recording a 4.50 ERA in 11 relief appearances with one save. However, the Rays placed him on waivers in late May. Ramirez cleared waivers for a third time in 12 months and returned to Tampa Bay's Triple-A affiliate.
Although he hasn’t gotten another call-up, Ramirez is pitching well in the minors. He has a 2.82 ERA in his last 14 appearances with 29 strikeouts and six walks. Opponents had a .205 batting average against him in July.
Some of you may be asking: if Ramirez isn’t good enough to pitch for the Rays, why would a contending team want him? There are a few reasons, one being his track record late in the season. Ramirez has a career 4.01 ERA in September/October, his second-lowest monthly mark.
Additionally, albeit in a small sample size, he posted a 3.00 ERA in seven MLB games where he pitched under two innings this season compared to a 5.39 ERA in four games he tossed at least two innings.
A third DFA from the Rays since September would likely spell the end of Erasmo Ramirez's time with the organization. If he were to hit waivers again, perhaps a team looking for bullpen depth for the final few weeks would scoop him up.
Rays looking ahead to 2025
Even if postseason baseball isn’t in the cards for the Rays in 2024, they're in a good position to return in 2025. Not many teams can ship off multiple starters on both sides of the playing field and remain a playoff contender. Tampa Bay has done so before and plans to again in the future.
Erik Neander, the Rays' president of baseball operations, said the team could not afford to add without subtracting before this year's trade deadline if it wanted to remain competitive for the foreseeable future. After trading fan favorite Randy Arozarena and the player with the largest free agent contract in franchise history Zach Eflin in a 24-hour span in July, Neander said the moves made Tampa Bay's outlook better for next season and beyond.
“We're going to keep doing our best to win games this year. It's going to be harder without those two, but our outlook for the next three, five, seven years is considerably stronger with what we brought in,” Neander said on July 26, per ESPN.
“I have a responsibility to try to get this team to a World Series. Ideally we stay all in on this year and we strengthen our future, but we have to make some difficult choices.”
The winning hasn’t followed as much as Tampa Bay would have liked. The Rays are 9-11 since the July 30 trade deadline, although they won three of their first four games after trading Arozarena and Eflin on July 26. Of course, they also shipped off starting third baseman Isaac Paredes and shutdown reliever Jason Adam, though they did add value in their moves.
Some of the acquisitions are already making an impact, mainly outfielder Dylan Carlson. The Rays got him in a one-for-one deal with the St. Louis Cardinals and the 25-year-old has an .854 OPS in August.
It might not be a very busy offseason in Tampa Bay, but that's nothing new for the Rays. Their organizational mindset of building from within while plucking talent from teams that can’t squeeze out every bit of a player's potential has worked. Even if a championship hasn’t followed, there's little reason for the Rays to change their way of thinking.
