The Rays are heading into the winter with a familiar kind of problem: too many good players, not enough obvious answers.
Tampa Bay finished with the best record in the American League at 98-64, then powered past the Yankees and Guardians to win the pennant. The run ended in the World Series, where the Brewers rolled through them four games to one behind a dominant pitching staff. Now the Rays have to sort out the roster around a young core as they try to build toward another deep October run in 2027.
A few pieces are already locked in. Yandy Díaz is set to make $13MM through 2027 after reaching a vesting option threshold in August, with the deal becoming official once he passes a postseason physical. Steven Matz is also guaranteed $7.5MM through 2027.
The first real decisions come on the option front, and the biggest one belongs to Drew Rasmussen. Tampa Bay holds a $20MM club option on the right-hander with a $500K buyout, and the expectation is that the Rays will pick it up.
Rasmussen is coming off the kind of season that should draw Cy Young Award votes, which makes that price look like a steal - at least on the open market. But the Rays have never been shy about weighing value against payroll reality, and that history is why Rasmussen sits near the top of MLBTR’s Top 40 Offseason Trade Candidate list.
The other option calls are simpler. The mutual options on Nick Martinez and Cedric Mullins have already been bought out.
Taylor Walls is more complicated. Tampa Bay has a $3.1MM club option on the shortstop, and Matt Swartz projects him at $3.6MM.
If the Rays want to keep him, exercising the option makes the most sense. But Walls brings elite defense and one of the lightest bats in the sport, so Tampa Bay could just as easily decline the option and non-tender him.
There’s also a middle path: pick up the option and explore trade interest at that number.
Rotation depth is where the Rays’ offseason gets especially tricky. Martinez is gone, Freddy Peralta is a free agent, and much of the rest of the pitching staff is controlled for only one more season. That leaves Tampa Bay staring at tough calls, with Rasmussen at the center of it all.
The arbitration class is another long list of names for the Rays to weigh. Shane McClanahan projects at $6.6MM, Tyler Wells at $4MM, Griffin Jax at $5.7MM, Garrett Cleavinger at $3.7MM, Bryan Baker at $4.1MM, Ryan Pepiot at $3.1MM, Kevin Kelly at $2.6MM, Richie Palacios at $2MM, Edwin Uceta at $1.5MM, Manuel Rodríguez at $900K, Jonny DeLuca at $1.7MM, Jesse Scholtens at $900K, and Jonathan Aranda at $4.1MM. Nick Madrigal is projected at $1.1MM, Cole Sulser at $1.9MM, and Nick Fortes at $3.4MM.
The most likely non-tender candidates are Madrigal, Sulser, Cleavinger, Palacios, Uceta, Rodríguez and Scholtens.
And while the front office is expected to stay intact - president of baseball operations Erik Neander and manager Kevin Cash are both back in 2027 - there could be some turnover on the staff. The Twins have already hired the Rays’ Triple-A pitching coach, a reminder that other clubs keep circling Tampa Bay’s development machine.
For a team that just reached the World Series, the challenge isn’t rebuilding from scratch. It’s choosing which parts of a successful roster stay together, which ones get flipped, and how far the Rays are willing to go to keep the window open.
In Other News...
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Martinez was solid throughout 2026 and carried that form into the postseason, which only sharpened the sting for a club that has leaned on run prevention and depth to stay competitive. Hell leave with a significant guaranteed payday already in hand, but for Tampa Bay the more immediate concern is simpler: another proven arm is gone, and the Rays now have to sort through how to replace him. [Read more 🡒]