The Rays and right-hander Jason Adam have had some talks about a multi-year deal, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports, in advance of Adam’s upcoming arbitration hearing.
Adam is one of seven Rays players who couldn’t reach an agreement with the team before the filing deadline, though three of those players (Yandy Diaz, Pete Fairbanks, and Jeffrey Springs) have since signed longer-term contract extensions.
This leaves Harold Ramirez, Colin Poche, Ryan Thompson, and Adam still without deals for the 2023 season, until either the arbiter makes their decision or unless the Rays and any of the players avoid arbitration by working out a contract.
Adam is in his first year of arb eligibility, and there isn’t a huge gap between the two sides — the 31-year-old is seeking $1.775M while the Rays countered with $1.55M.
After intriguing but inconsistent results in his first four MLB campaigns, Adam signed with the Rays last winter and enjoyed the best overall season of his career. The righty posted a 1.56 ERA over 63 1/3 innings in Tampa, with one of the best sets of Statcast metrics of any reliever in baseball.
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- Also from Topkin’s piece, he writes that is still a “possibility” of a reunion between the Rays and David Peralta, as the club is still looking for a left-handed bat to add some balance to the lineup. Tampa Bay acquired Peralta in a trade with the Diamondbacks last July, and Peralta hit .255/.317/.355 over 47 games and 180 plate appearances with the Rays. This modest performance could have been injury-related, as Topkin reports that Peralta underwent a procedure this offseason to fix disc herniation in his lower back. The Rangers and Yankees have each been linked to Peralta this winter, though this injury situation might explain why the veteran outfielder’s free agent market has been relatively quiet. Prior to the trade, Peralta was enjoying a nice season with the D-backs, hitting .248/.316/.460 with 12 homers in 310 PA for Arizona.
- The aforementioned spate of extensions allowed the Rays to cut down on their arbitration prep, while also having the obvious benefit of locking up players the club likes as part of a winning nucleus. “We’re always looking to keep players we really appreciate around longer, if we can. ... We think really highly of this group, and we believe in continuity when we can make it happen,” president of baseball operations Erik Neander told MLB.com’s Adam Berry and other reporters. “It’s often been hard for us to make that happen here with the right mix of players. I think we’re in a really fortunate spot where we can do that right now. And more than anything, extending the chance for this group to play together a little longer is probably the greatest benefit.” Since Tampa Bay had a somewhat slow offseason, it also gave the team more payroll space to afford the extensions.
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