Francisco, 31, returns to the team that drafted him in 2002 as he tries to restore the continuity that his career has completely lost. Francisco has played with the Phillies, Blue Jays, Astros, and Rays over the last two years and while he wasn’t a total disaster, managing a .242/.317/.373 line (89 OPS+) with 24 doubles, 10 homers, and 49 RBI in 500 plate appearances, as a corner outfielder who plays sub-par defense, he has to hit well to remain a major league player and that simply hasn’t happened the last two years. The Rays non-tendered Francisco back in November after he put up a .228/.270/.421 line (91 OPS+) with 2 home runs in 63 plate appearances for them in December, but he could have been a fit to return on a minor league contract based on the Rays’ need for a right-handed outfielder to pair with the lefty-hitting Matthew Joyce and Sam Fuld and maybe see some time at DH. But Francisco is heading back to Cleveland and the Rays will look elsewhere.

You can cross another name off the right-hand hitting outfielder list with Raburn also signing with Cleveland. Raburn, who will turn 32 on April 17th, was an excellent platoon player from the Detroit Tigers from 2009 to 2010, managing a .285/.348/.498 line (123 OPS+) with 36 doubles, 31 homers, and 107 RBI in 701 plate appearances including an incredible .286/.373/.580 line with 19 home runs vesus left-handed pitching. However, he slipped to a .256/.297/.432 line (96 OPS+) in 2011 and then just a .171/.226/.254 line (30 OPS+) in 222 plate appearances in 2012 as he watched his career completely come apart. Raburn was an interesting target for the Rays this offseason as a player who would be available on a minor league deal but had the upside of an excellent platoon player who would not be terribly against righties either (.257/.300/.400 career line against them), and in addition to playing the corner outfield spots, Raburn has the versatility the Rays love, able to play any position on the field but shortstop, pitcher, and catcher. Raburn seemed like a great fit for the Rays on so many levels- his Tampa Bay roots, his low value, his strong hitting versus lefties, and his versatility- but he decided that the Indians gave him the best opportunity for playing time and will look to get his career back together as a member of their organization.

Marc Hulet of Fangraphs covered the Rays today in his rankings of each MLB team’s top 15 prospects, and he provided an interesting look at several of the Rays’ most promising minor leaguers. Here was his ranking:

1. Wil Myers
2. Chris Archer
3. Hak-Ju Lee
4. Taylor Guerrieri
5. Alex Colome
6. Jake Odorizzi
7. Richie Shaffer
8. Enny Romero
9. Drew Vettleson
10. Felipe Rivero
11. Blake Snell
12. Jake Hager
13. Jeff Ames
14. Mikie Mahtook
15. Tyler Goeddel

Hulet’s analysis of Alex Colome was especially intriguing as he praised his mid-to-high-90′s fastball, blistering slider, and solid changeup and considering him to have a possible ceiling of a number two starter. Colome is a pitcher who Rays fans may have seen in September if not for a late-season shoulder injury, and we’ll have to see whether he can improve his command at Triple-A and make an impact for the Rays by the end of 2013. He also quoted a contact on Hak-Ju Lee who not only praised his defense (as does everyone) but described as a “quick-twitch guy with foot speed, arm speed, and bat speed.” Always great to see different perspectives on the Rays’ system, and reading Hulet’s analysis has to make you very excited about the talent set to come out of the Rays system over the next few years.

In other Rays prospects news, outfielder Granden Goetzman, who was the Rays’ second round pick in 2011, has gotten into just 37 games the last two years because of injuries, eliciting plenty of questions about his future. Goetzman talked to the Princeton Rays’ official website about the injury and how he plans to overcome it.

“We found out I had a small stress fracture in my back and the doctor said it was something I’d had for quite a while, maybe even back to high school. It was just the daily grind of pro ball that finally made the problem totally show itself.”

“I am hoping to make one of the full-season teams out of spring training. Even though my time in Princeton was shorter than I planned, I felt I proved myself and showed what I could do,” Goetzman concluded.

We Hideki Matsui Retires, Rays Get New BP Cap, Chris Archer Is A Good Guy” href=”http://rayscoloredglasses.com/2012/12/28/rays-notes-hideki-matsui-retires-rays-get-new-bp-cap-chris-archer-is-a-good-guy/” target=”_blank”>heard a while back about the Rays getting a new batting practice hat, and Marc Topkin filled in a little more details, showing us the regular and alternate versions of the hat.

The new BP cap is certainly different than what the Rays are used to, but they look good and it’s nice to see the Rays finally use the starburst logo on a cap and reintroduce the color black for the first time since the Devil Rays years.

Coming up as a promising prospect at the end of those Devil Rays years was outfielder Elijah Dukes, but an attitude problem got him traded to the Nationals, and before long, he was out of baseball. Unfortunately, more bad news on that front as Dukes was arrested last night for failing to appear in court on several drug charges. Dukes, even after all this time, is still just 28 years old. It’s sad how so much potential can so easily go to waste.

Infielder Ryan Roberts, who turned 32 in September, was acquired by the Rays at the trade deadline for infielder Tyler Bortnick made $2,015,000 in 2012 in his first go through arbitration as a Super-Two. Roberts is coming off a sub-par year at the plate in 2012 between the Diamondbacks and the Rays, posting a .235/.296/.360 line (78 OPS+) with 19 doubles, 12 homers, 52 RBI, 10 of 16 stolen bases, and 92 strikeouts against 40 walks in 143 games and 489 plate appearances. That was one year after he broke out to the tune of a .249/.341/.427 line (108 OPS+) with 19 homers and 18 stolen bases for the D-Backs in 2011. Roberts, previously known as a lefty masher, actually was better against right-handed pitching, posting a .661 OPS (89 sOPS+) compared to .648 (72 sOPS+) versus lefties. For his career, Roberts has a .688 OPS against righties compared to .774 against lefties, so his 2012 performance could very well have been fluky and the Rays can look for more production from him next season as that evens out. After such a great year in 2012, Roberts may have gotten a little tentative in 2012 from the added pressure on him as his strikeout rate climbed from 17.7% to 18.8% and his walk rate fell from 11.9% to 8.2%, and that sapped some of his power in addition to his OBP. Looking at his numbers, the hope for the Rays if they keep him is that Robert will be more comfortable in 2012 and have better luck on his way to providing the Rays with above-average offense at second base. But offense isn’t the only part of the equation for Roberts. Roberts was primarily a third baseman for the D-Backs in 2011 and 2012 and UZR considers him a solid defender there, giving him a 2.9 UZR/150. But after the Rays acquired him, even though Evan Longoria was still out and the Rays had to fill his spot, the Rays played Roberts at second base and it’s clear that they knew something others didn’t as Roberts showed outstanding play there. He has an 11.5 UZR/150 in over 1000 innings at the position, enough to comfortably consider him a plus defender. Roberts is expected to make around 3 million dollars next year, but I can’t see the Rays non-tendering him. They have enough needs in their lineup, and Roberts can give them above-average all-around production at second base between his defense and the expected rebound from his offense. If the Rays non-tender Roberts, can they really find a cheaper middle infield option who’s as good? The 3 million dollars stands out in the Rays’ payroll, but Roberts is good enough to deserve it and has the ability to be a solid contributor to their effort next season.

Outfielder Ben Francisco, who turned 31 in October, was acquired by the Rays on August 31st for right-hander Theron Geith and made $1,537,500 in 2012 in his second time in arbitration. Between the Blue Jays, Astros, and Diamondbacks, Francisco posted a .240/.285/.385 line (83 OPS+) with 14 doubles, 4 homers, 15 RBI, and 49 strikeouts against 13 walks in 82 games and 207 plate appearances. Francisco slammed 15 homers in both 2008 and 2009, but for his career, his OPS+ is just 101, not good enough for a starting corner outfielder type. For his career, Francisco, a right-handed hitter, has almost no platoon split, but in 2012, similar to Roberts, he was better against righty pitchers, posting a .713 OPS (102 sOPS+) compared to just a .626 mark (66 sOPS+) against lefties. That’s likely an aberration- his BAbip was .338 against righties and just .254 against lefties- but the bottom line is that Francisco is a below-average player. At all three outfield positions, Francisco is comfortably below average, managing a -7.0 UZR/150 overall. His career UZR/150 is a decent -0.3 in left field, but his UZR is -5.6 there the last three seasons. The last three seasons, Francisco’s wins above replacement per Baseball-Reference is -1.9, and Fangraphs has him at 0.3. That’s not something you want to see even from a backup. Francisco used to be a pretty good player, but he doesn’t do anything well and the Rays have better options for cheaper. There’s no way Brandon Guyer, the rookie outfielder who will turn 27 in January, could possibly be worse than Francisco. It would be downright shocking if the Rays tender Francisco a contract tonight.

Those are the big two decisions for the Rays and we can gloss over David Price, Burke Badenhop, Matthew Joyce, and Sam Fuld because they’ll all surely be retained. But Jeff Niemann, Sean Rodriguez, and Reid Brignac all deserve a moment of discussion.

Niemann, who will turn 30 in February, made 2.5 million dollars in 2012 and did pitch well when healthy in 2012, posting a 3.08 ERA and a 34-12 strikeout to walk ratio in 8 starts and 38 innings pitched. He has been a solid starter for the Rays the last four years- when he has been able to stay on the mound. As we talked about exactly a week ago, there’s no point of the Rays trading Niemann right now with his value at its lowest after an injury-riddled year, and non-tendering Niemann would mean that the Rays wouldn’t even get anything for him. The Rays’ best bet is to tender Niemann a contract, let him reestablish his value, and after a hopefully healthy year, make a decision about what to do with him next offseason. The only reason to non-tender him would be injury concern, especially after he was sidelined with a rotator cuff strain, and if he is non-tendered, that is definitely what’s going on.

Rodriguez, who will turn 28 in April, played himself right out of a starting job in 2012, managing just a .213/.281/.326 line (71 OPS+) in 342 plate appearances while proving himself incapable of profiling long-term defensively at shortstop and third base. Nevertheless, he’s versatile, has shown some power and speed in the past, and he will make just a touch over a million dollars in his first time through arbitration. Hard to see the Rays non-tendering him.

And finally, Brignac, who will turn 27 in January, went just 2 for 21 in the big leagues in 2012 and his arbitration salary will remain close to the league minimum. He may never hit, but he’s a plus defender at shortstop and second base and there’s still some hope that something will click for him at the plate after he posted a 92 OPS+ with 8 home runs for the Rays in 2010 and showed improved plate discipline at Triple-A this season. Brignac is out of options, so he’s going to have to make the team out of spring training, but there’s no reason not to give him the league minimum for now and see how he does in spring training before deciding what to do with him. He should be tendered a contract as well.

At the end of the day, the only major question is Roberts- whether he’s tendered a contract or not will determine whether the Rays will pursue a middle infielder this offseason. The Rays are evaluating their roster to determine the best way to construct it next season, and this non-tender deadline will provide us with some insight into how the Rays will go about retooling their team as they hope to return to the playoffs next season.

Jack Dickey Sports on Earth interviewed Gary Sheffield, which normally wouldn’t have much to do with the Rays, but Sheffield, a Tampa native, brought them up and not in a good context. Sheffield wanted to end his career in Tampa Bay in 2010 like fellow Tampa natives Tino Martinez and Fred McGriff, but the Rays disrespected him and turned him down. The difference between Sheffield and Martinez/McGriff is that when Martinez and McGriff were on the team, the Rays were a last-place and had nothing to lose bringing in local guys for goodwill with the fans. Now, the Rays are a contender trying to make the postseason and hopefully beyond every season and they don’t have the time to be sentimental. It would have been nice for Sheffield to finish his career with his hometown team, but the Rays could not have cared less about that as they do everything they can to consistently win games.

And finally, Robert Trigaux of the Tampa Bay Times talked about The Baseball Stadium Financing Caucus, whose results will be made public soon, and how existing taxes could be shifted to fund the new stadium rather than levying more taxes on Tampa Bay residents. It’s great to know that a new stadium could for the Rays could be accomplished without much additional strain on the community, and hopefully the official announcement of the Caucus’ results sparks even more discussions regarding that potential new stadium.