Despite making the postseason in 2022 with an 86-76 record, the Tampa Bay Rays will be disappointed with how their season turned out. The Rays eventually lost to the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Wild Card round, falling short of the lofty standards they set in 2020, when they made the World Series and lost, and then in 2021, when they won the AL East after winning 100 games.

Nonetheless, with the crowning of a new World Series champion comes the dawn of a new season, and the Rays will take solace in the fact that they are still extremely well-positioned to compete for the foreseeable future despite operating on a shoestring budget.

While the Rays are always looking to wheel and deal as they come up against big market teams, general manager Peter Bendix revealed that perhaps they will be more hesitant this offseason to make any moves that would deplete their pitching depth, especially after their pitching staff was decimated by injuries in 2022, most notably to Shane McClanahan, Tyler Glasnow, and Shane Baz.

“We’ve been ravaged by injuries the past couple of years. I think we’re kind of scarred by that,” Bendix said, per Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (subscription required). “You need more than five starters, right? You need more than seven or eight relievers. We know that, and especially in the division we’re in, you have to plan for a lot of guys to have an opportunity.”

By and large, the Rays' pitching has remained one of the best in the league even if they faced a myriad of injury woes to their most reliable starters. Shane McClanahan and Tyler Glasnow came back in time during the Wild Card round, turning in impressive pitching performances that, on another day, would have been good enough for a win.

Alas, it was the Rays' hitting that let them down over the course of the season, and fans will expect the ever-active front office led by Peter Bendix to do what it takes to bolster a lineup that declined from being the second-most prolific in terms of runs scored in 2021, to 20th in 2022.