Tampa Bay Rays: 3 trade deadline targets to watch

With the Tampa Bay Rays looking to capture the AL East, they could add a couple of pieces to make their team even better.

The Tampa Bay Rays have a nice team but there are some positions that they could improve if they want to raise their first World Series banner.

With the Trade Deadline just one week away, there could be some big-name players on the move to get rid of salary in the mix of a pandemic. The needs seem to be in the bullpen, catcher, and a right-handed slugger for Tampa this season. There are some options that could be available via the trading market but who makes sense and is realistic?

Potential Rays trade target: Mychal Givens, Baltimore Orioles

With the news of Yonny Chirinos going to get Tommy John Surgery, the bullpen becomes a bigger question mark than previously thought. The Rays are going to need a dependable arm who could pitch in high leverage situations in the later innings of games and Mychal Givens could be the solution.

First and foremost, Givens is a Tampa native so there would be a homecoming of sorts. He has a nice fastball, slider, changeup mix and has the ability to strike batters out, as he sits with a SO/9 innings of 13 so far this season. Givens has only allowed two runners to score while on the mound and both were inherited runners, so he still sits at a 0.00 ERA through nine appearances thus far in 2020.

His contact isn’t much either, which makes him a solid asset to go after. Givens has his final year of arbitration in 2021, meaning he would be here next year. He has shown the ability to pitch in Baltimore, a hitter-friendly environment, and wouldn’t have to learn different ways to approach hitters since he has seen most of them before. Baltimore is in rebuild mode and could just want a minor leaguer or some international money so this could be a big win if it happens for the Rays.