Tampa Bay Rays: 3 Hybrid Mock Trades to Consider

The Tampa Bay Rays are at an important crossroads. Coming off disappointing series losses in Kansas City and Baltimore, they've been leapfrogged in the wild card standings by the Toronto Blue Jays and now hold the final playoff seed in the AL. On top of that, it was just announced that Kevin Kiermaier and Mike Zunino will miss the rest of the season with injuries. The injury bug they've been grappling with all season is not going away, and it's far from a guarantee that they will maintain their playoff position.

Luckily, the trade deadline is approaching and they have a golden opportunity to restock the numerous empty slots in the clubhouse. In the past, the Rays have taken a "hybrid" approach to the trade deadline, where they act as both a buyer and a seller, even when they're competing. Take 2021, for example: they sent two quality prospects to acquire Nelson Cruz and took a flyer on Jordan Luplow, but also shipped established, big-league pitchers Rich Hill and Diego Castillo to other fellow contenders.

Another instance is a trade they pulled off with their cross-state counterparts in 2019. They acquired closer Nick Anderson from Miami, and to get him, they sent outfield prospect Jesus Sanchez, who eventually became the Marlins' starting center fielder. However, they also included Ryne Stanek in the deal, who was a key part of their bullpen at the time.

Their financial situation has made this hybrid approach a common course of action in prior deadlines, and this year appears to be no different. The Rays have not entered a trade deadline this far out of first place in their division since 2018, so playing both sides in the event that they don't make the postseason has more logical merit than ever. Here are 3 mock trades that the Tampa Bay Rays could consider in 2022 that fit the "hybrid" criteria.

Mock Trade #1
To TB: RHP Jose Quintana, RHP Duane Underwood Jr.
To PIT: RHP Ryan Thompson, LHP Ian Seymour

Position players were an area of need before the Kiermaier and Zunino injuries, so that has only been magnified. However, the Rays have dealt with injuries on the pitching side too despite the fact that run prevention has been a strength. Jose Quintana might be the best value play on the market this year in terms of starting pitching, and he's currently riding a brilliant comeback season. His current ERA of 3.70 is his lowest in a full season since 2016, when he was still logging 200 innings in his days with the White Sox. As well, his FIP (3.27) hasn't been this low in 7 years.

Quintana would slot in perfectly at the back end of the rotation, and acquiring him would necessitate a demotion of Ryan Yarborough, either to the minors or off the 40-man roster entirely. Unfortunately, Yarborough hasn't been his best self for a while, and a 5.61 ERA with 5.4 K/9 isn't going to cut it on a contending team no matter what role he's in. This would result in a rotation of McClanahan-Kluber-Rasmussen-Quintana-Springs, which looks tough to beat on paper.

Duane Underwood Jr. is one of those relief pitchers that seems as though he was born to be a Ray, with a high ERA but outstanding peripherals in a limited sample. When healthy this season, he has pitched to a 4.00 ERA in 27 innings, which may cause his 2.39 FIP and 3.38 Statcast xERA to go overlooked. He has a fastball that sits in the mid-90s, as well as a nasty changeup and cutter, both of which sit in the low-90s. Underwood has shown plenty of unlocked potential in the bullpen with that pitch mix and his strikeout stuff, and no organization helps relievers flourish better than the Rays.

Acquiring 2 pitchers would mean the Rays would have to free up a roster spot, so I have Ryan Thompson going to Pittsburgh with Underwood effectively taking his place in this scenario. Thompson's ERA and FIP are both north of 4, but his exit velocity and expected stats are brilliant, meaning his ERA should probably be lower given the quality of contact he gives up. He would fit better on a rebuilding team; in an intense playoff race where every win counts, the Rays simply don't have time to hope that he will "positively regress" and start pitching like his peripherals say he should.

The Pirates will undoubtedly ask for a prospect if they have to give up a pitcher with team control alongside Quintana. By himself, Quintana doesn't have a whole lot of value: he was awful in 2021, with a 6.43 ERA between the Angels and Giants. His age and his worsening track record prior to this season suggested that his time in the majors might have been over, so given that, I would assume the Rays see him purely as a rental. It's tough to make a full financial commitment to a pitcher when it's unlikely he'll pitch like this again.

So, bearing in mind the fact that Underwood could very well be the more valuable piece in this deal in the long run, I have the Rays sending their #11 prospect according to MLB.com, southpaw Ian Seymour. The 23-year-old has a good pitch mix and quickly made it known that he was too advanced for class A in 2021, so he got 2 starts in a small stint at AAA Durham at the end of last year and didn't give up a run in 10 innings. He started this year in AA, but performed poorly before going down with Tommy John surgery, which will keep him out for the foreseeable future. The Rays made him a 2nd-round pick in the limited 2020 draft, so the Pirates would be getting a skilled arm once he heals.

Mock Trade #3
To TB: OF Ramon Laureano
To OAK: RHP Luis Patino, IF/OF Vidal Brujan

The Oakland A's don't have many players left to trade from their core that made the postseason 3 years in a row, but Ramon Laureano is one of the few that remains, and he is another potential solution in center field for Tampa Bay. He's under team control until the end of 2024, and his cheap salary of $2.45M automatically makes him an attractive trade candidate for the Rays. He has done pretty well for himself following his return from a PED suspension, with 10 home runs and a 106 OPS+ in 69 games so far this season. As well, he has the highest barrel rate (21%) of all the available bats at the deadline in July up to this point, which is a good indicator that he's perfecting his offensive approach in time for trade season.

An interesting quirk about Laureano is the fact that he doesn't walk a whole lot (8.1% BB rate in 2022), but he is able to maintain a big difference between his average and his OBP by consistently being at or near the top of the hit-by-pitch leaderboard. His 12 HBP led the AL in 2020, and he has already been plunked 7 times this year. It's an adage as old as baseball's statistical revolution itself: it doesn't matter how a player gets on base, as long as he does.

In order to get Laureano, I have the Rays sending just a couple of young players, which may seem like too low of an amount for an outfielder with team control, but both of them would likely get consistent playing time on the big-league roster as early as next season. The first is Luis Patino, who held his own at a young age last season for the Rays but hasn't been able to find a way onto their roster for very long this year. He posted a 4.31 ERA, 4.51 FIP, and 1.27 WHIP in 19 appearances in 2021, with 15 of those being starts.

He was just optioned back to AAA a few days ago, and because the Rays are so desperate for healthy contributors, it's easy to lose patience with Patino and forget the fact that he is just 22 years old. Even with the number of injuries they're dealing with, there isn't much room on the roster for Patino right now. On a rebuilding A's team, he would be sure to get plenty of run and have all the time in the world to tap into his full potential.

The second young player I have going the other way is Vidal Brujan, and at 24, it's too early to fully give up on him, but his big league track record has proven that it's likely he won't reach his initial forecasted ceiling from his minor league days. Brujan has a career OPS of .427 in 58 career games, but he was thought of very highly when he was a full-fledged prospect. The thing is, he's probably too good for AAA at this point, so going to an organization that's more focused on developing their young players as opposed to winning would serve him well.