A very newsworthy day in which no moves actually happened as Shohei Ohtani has reportedly told several teams that he will not be signing with them, among those told were the Tampa Bay Rays. He has now seemingly narrowed down his list teams exclusively to the west coast. Ohtani is an enigma though, so never know what could transpire over the next several days.

The other huge domino holding up the off-season, Giancarlo Stanton, is seemingly on the verge of being traded as the St Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants both have trades worked out with the Miami Marlins, it’s just up to the NL MVP which team he’ll accept a trade to.

• This past Friday was the non-tender deadline, the Rays traded Brad Boxberger, lost Chase Whitley to the waiver wire, and released Xavier Cedeno
• Drew Smyly was non-tendered by the Seattle Mariners
• The New York Yankees have selected Aaron Boone as their new manager
• Bill Chastain did one of his somewhat weekly mailbags where he answers fans questions about the team, like “Will Logan Morrison return?” and “Who on the farm will make an impact in 2018?”
• With the dismantling of the bullpen thus far in the off-season, the Rays may look to fill their new found vacancies internally
• The Rays Radio team will be the same for the foreseeable future
• The Draysbay Hall of Fame ballot is open until the end of the month

TRIVIA RETURNS!

Name the player based off his prospect scouting report from Baseball America

He is a monster on the mound with a 92-96 mph fastball and an intimidating presence. He mixes the heater with a low-80s slider and does a good job of working both sides of the plate with both offerings. His curveball and changeup showed improvement in 2006, and they give hitters a different look.

He has all the stuff and intangibles to be a top-of-the-rotation pitcher. The Rays want him to spend at least part of 2007 in Triple-A, though an impressive spring could accelerate his timetable.

Player was ranked as the team’s 4th top prospect after 2006