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Rays rumors: who will complete the bullpen?

The trade that led Corey Dickerson last week to the Tampa Bay Rays was the latest move by the front office to improve the offense of the Rays.

To add the lefty slugger of the Colorado Rockies they sacrificed one of the best relievers, Jake McGee, with the result of a roster, which is likely to have an overcrowded lineup and a discovered bullpen.

In fact, three weeks to the first workout for pitchers and catchers it is not clear how they will got the ball to Brad Boxberger, the closer the next season.

In bullpen seems that Alex Colome RH and LH Xavier Cedeno are the guys who likely will be called in action: in particular Colome seems to be the eighth inning man in the bullpen, according to Tampa Bay Times.

However, it remains difficult to imagine who could replace reliability transmitting McGee: the rest of bullpet today includes RHS Steve Geltz and Danny Faquhar and LH Enny Romero, with an open spot that could be got by RH Andrew Bellatti (candidated after an impressive rookie season) or by a nonroster invitee such as LH Dana Eveland or RH Jhan Marinez.

Actually it seems more likely that the Rays will try to find an affordable player from free agency (not a big name as Tyler Clippard, but eligible candidates as LH Craig Breslow, LH Randy Choate, RH Tommy Hunter or RH Ryan Webb, as Tampa Bay Times reported) or from a trade with a hitter. In fact, after the Dickerson trade, the Rays has led to an excess of players, as admitted by baseball operations president Matt Silverman.

In addition, Bill Chastain (MLB.com reporter) admitted Rays would intervene to correct the actual roster "I do believe some kind of deal will be made to cull the outfield a little bit, but that doesn't necessarily mean the Rays would get a bullpen piece in return. Sometimes teams run into pleasant problems like the Rays have with their outfield due to too many players becoming Major League ready too soon and not having anywhere to put them. So I wouldn't be surprised if a trade is made where one or more of the team's outfielders are sent elsewhere for prospects."

The first candidate to be involved in a trade is James Loney, first baseman for the last three years, which is in its last season of contract with more than $ 9 million. He suffered an injury that ruined 2015, although his performance are down since 2013. It seems unlikely that a team is willing to pay full price for such a contract, which is why the Rays might want to eat some salary to trade him. Anyway, they have not yet managed to involve the player in any trade buzz.

For this reason, the strongest names for a trade are Desmond Jennings and Brandon Guyer, as Marc Tomkin writes.

The first has already involved in some voices of trade: arrived as a replacement for Carl Crawford, Jennings was never hype although he disputed some solid seasons. The problem is the injuries have affected his performance and prospects seem ready to replace him. The training camp of this spring will be very important to verify his health: if the player will not convince the trade will be a concrete option.

Brandon Guyer instead is coming off a career best season in 2015, with 39 starts in left, 17 in center and 20 in right with solid defense at each spot. The injuries has hampered his value and, for this, the front office could decide to trade him.

It will be important to understand what is done to fix the roster and make all the moves needed to succeed.

This post was written by a member of the DRaysBay community and does not necessarily express the views or opinions of DRaysBay staff.