The Rays' Offseason: Free Agency (Part 1)

As a Tampa Bay Rays fan, I’d be hard-pressed to say that I enjoy the beginning of off-season free agency. Over the course of the Rays’ history, free agency has brought only disappointment, whether that be through the loss of star players to larger-market clubs or through their own addition of a big-name player that didn’t meet expectations. Last year was the epitome of this, as major contributors to the Rays such as Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena, Rafael Soriano, Grant Balfour, Randy Choate, Dan Wheeler, Joaquin Benoit, and a few others left the Bay Area to pursue more dollar signs elsewhere, while the highest-profile player that the Rays brought in in Manny Ramirez retired just a few days into the season after getting busted for drugs. The signing of guys like Joel Peralta and Kyle Farnsworth were deemed decent acquisitions, but they weren’t going to raise any ticket sales or sell jerseys. Despite a lackluster offseason, at least on the free agency front, the Rays would go on to win 91 games and the AL Wild Card.


Thankfully, it is highly unlikely to see a mass exodus of talent this offseason as Rays fans saw last year. From my scanning of MLB Trade Rumors' Free Agent Tracker, the Rays only had four potential free agents going into the open season on players. These players are:

Kelly Shoppach ($3.2MM club option with a $300K buyout)

Casey Kotchman

Johnny Damon

Kyle Farnsworth ($3.3MM club option with a $650K buyout)

As I am writing this on October 31, The Rays had just announced that they would pick up Farnsworth’s option while declining Shoppach’s. That means that Shoppach, Kotchman, and Damon are the Rays’ only free agents. So what should the Rays do with these players?

Well, to start off with Shoppach, I think Kelly's issues on offense have been well documented. Hitting only .176 at the plate is not going to keep you your job, at least not at $3.2 million like Shoppach's option would have been. One bright side to Shoppach though was, surprisingly, his defense, which was very solid throughout the year - especially in comparison to fellow C John Jaso. Shoppach even led the league by preventing 41% of stolen base attempts. He also has experience and the trust of the young pitching staff. While I raged with every 3-pitch swinging strikeout Kelly has had in his two years with the team, I wouldn't be surprised if the Rays at least offer him a one year deal at a reduced salary, perhaps even a minor league deal depending on the market.

Casey Kotchman is in an interesting situation. He certainly had a great season, batting in the .330s for the majority of the year while playing stellar defense at first - do you think James Shields gets all those pick-offs without Casey at the bag? Part of his career year was thanks to a procedure he had done in the offseason to clear his vision, allowing him to follow the ball better and thus resulting in his batting average spike. But while his 2011 campaign was nice and all, he will likely regress more towards the mean more like he did near the end of the year. In addition to the possibility of a fluke, his great year will probably attract a lot of attention from potential buyers, possibly resulting in a bidding war that the Rays have no way of winning. While I'm sure the Rays would love to bring Kotchman back, perhaps to a 2-year deal for him to prove himself, my guess is that he's swept up by another team better situated financially than Tampa Bay. 

The things that Johnny Damon can bring to the club house are great for a young team like the Rays. His leadership and experience combined with his good-hearted nature are tremendous. But Damon's statistics on the field are declining as his age increases, and while his 2011 season was good by Reid Brignac standards, so I don't think he's worth the around $5 million salary he got last year - especially since he contributes nothing defensively. If he and his agent, the dreaded Scott Boras, will accept reduced pay, then I'm all for binging Johnny back for another year or two in his pursuit of 3,000 hits. But if not, I would probably let him walk, and possibly look to move Dan Johnson or Matt Joyce to DH. When Damon decides to retire, I think he would be a great fit for the quality coach position the Joe Maddon enjoys employing.