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- The Rays finalized the deal for the No 3 IFA, 16-year old SS Jelfry Marte.
- Now with Marte officially signed, MLB Pipeline has added him to the team top 30 ranks, slotting him in at #14 (just ahead of another former highly ranked IFA):
With #Rays signing 16-year-old Dominican SS Jelfry Marte, here's where he enters @RaysBaseball's Top 30 Prospects list: https://t.co/9JwkNVQM7X pic.twitter.com/AZyBNTlkLI
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) December 18, 2017
- Yesterday there was a really dumb rumor about the Giants interested in an Evan Longoria trade. Whitney McIntosh at SBNation grade’s the rumor a D+, and accurately states that it doesn’t really make any sense for the Rays. While I disagree with the idea that the Rays don’t have a shot to compete in 2018, overall this final paragraph nails the issue with this (and so many Longoria trade rumors):
...the Rays don’t really have a shot in the AL East in 2018 and they know it. But they should also not make deals just to make deals, and have other players to shop around such as Chris Archer. A Longoria trade would have to be a perfect situation for the Rays to pull the trigger, and this is far from that.
- The Red Sox re-signed 1B Mitch Moreland to a 2 year deal (for $13 mil). Did not see that coming, but that narrows the very extensive list of FA 1B on the market. More importantly narrows the teams in the market for first basemen.
- Catcher J.T. Realmuto wants out of Miami.
- Russell A. Carleton at Baseball Prospectus suggests that maybe everything we thought we knew about The Shift is wrong. Really interesting read, especially as a fan of a team that employs The Shift a great deal.
- Finally, Kiley McDaniel is back with Fangraphs!