The Tampa Bay Rays are going to have to improve in multiple areas with a limited payroll. Here are two players they can target.
The 2025 Major League Baseball Winter Meetings will commence in one week, and the Tampa Bay Rays will need to use the four-day stretch from Dec. 7-10 to address areas of need.
It is not a secret that Tampa Bay’s front office wants to improve from a position-player standpoint, but adding some support in the starting rotation may also be on the table.
Despite a second-straight losing season, the Rays got some decent production from their starters. Led by All-Star Drew Rasmussen (10-5, 2.76 ERA), Tampa Bay’s starters finished in a three-way tie with the Chicago Cubs and the Houston Astros for the eight-lowest batting average against them (.238). They also finished ninth in WHIP (1.21).
In other metrics such as ERA and walks, the Rays were much more average. Their front-line guys in Rasmussen, Ryan Pepiot and Shane Baz produced positive results, but another season without All-Star Shane McClanahan placed more of the onus on them, raising health concerns.
“The Rays had reason to feel good about the three pitchers who went wire to wire in making 31 starts each last season: Drew Rasmussen (10-5, 2.76 ERA), Ryan Pepiot (11-12, 3.86) and Shane Baz (10-12, 4.87),” Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times wrote.
“But it would be a remarkable outcome in today’s game for all three to navigate back-to-back fully healthy seasons. Even more so with each coming off a career-high in innings (Pepiot, 167 ⅔; Baz, 166 ⅓; Rasmussen, after a third major elbow surgery, 150), so their workloads will be watched.”
We also witnessed a strong start to the season by Baz before a dramatic falloff (0-8 record in July and August, 6.66 ERA). The Rays have their fingers crossed in returning McClanahan healthily to the mound in 2026, but they will need more than that to find success. So, who could the front office target?
A Reunion with Zach Eflin- The Rays committed three years and $40 million to Eflin in 2022 before trading him to the Baltimore Orioles in July 2024. Overall, his career has been defined by ups and downs, with his major plight being persistent back issues that compelled him to have surgery and shortened his 2025 season to only 14 starts.
However, Eflin could be a suitable, middle of the rotation option for the Rays. In 2024, he logged a 10-9 record with a 3.59 ERA in 165.1 innings of work between the Rays and Orioles. His down year and injury history gives Tampa Bay some bargaining power, which it will need with incredible limitations on its spending capabilities.
Cal Quantrill- Quantrill has not played his best baseball over the last three seasons. The 31-year-old was most recently with the Atlanta Braves after claiming him off waivers from the Miami Marlins. He made 24 starts in south Florida and logged a 5.50 ERA over 109.2 innings pitched.
However, Quantrill is not very far removed from a massive 2022 season with the Cleveland Guardians in which he went 15-5 with a 3.38 ERA through 32 starts and 186.1 innings of work. The Marlins signed Quantrill to a friendly, one-year, $3.5 million deal in 2025. Maybe the Rays can work out something similar and put themselves in a low cost, high reward situation.