4 Rays players that won't be back in 2024

Raimel Tapia

For all the talent on the Rays' roster, Raimel Tapia doesn't move the needle very much. He had some pretty nice seasons when he was with the Rockies, but his 2023 season left a lot to be desired with a .655 OPS as he hopped around the league with the Red Sox, Brewers, and Rays. He did put together a decent few games with Tampa, but the bulk of this season wasn't the best.

The problem with keeping Tapia is that the Rays only brought him in to deal with the freak injury to Luke Raley suffered in mid-September. Assuming Raley is fully healthy, the Rays have a lot of outfielders in the fold right now with Jose Siri, Randy Arozarena, Manuel Margot, Josh Lowe, and Raley around. Tapia is likely to want more than just the big league minimum to come back and Tampa just...doesn't need him.

At the end of the day, the juice has to be worth the squeeze. Tapia isn't an uninteresting player, but he also is a guy who is likely to remain a hitter who posts an OPS around .700 who brings little to no power or impact to the table. He would make sense on a really cheap deal maybe, but it seems more likely that the Rays just move on without him.