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According a report from Mark Feinsand and Juan Toribio of MLB.com, the Tampa Bay Rays have ‘expressed interest’ in acquiring first baseman Jesus Aguilar from the Milwaukee Brewers.
Sources tell me and @juanctoribio that the Rays have expressed interest to the Brewers in Jesus Aguilar. He’s performed better in July (1.080 OPS) than the first three months (.634 OPS), so deal would have to help Milwaukee now for Brewers to move Aguilar.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) July 24, 2019
The Rays offense has been in a tailspin for the past two months and if not for the emergence of Travis d’Arnaud the past several weeks, things could have been a lot worse. Now, with Yandy Diaz landing on the 10-day Injured List with a left foot contusion, the Rays offense is in immediate need of assistance.
There have already been several reports of the Rays pursuing right-handed bats, such as Hunter Pence of the Texas Rangers and Nicholas Castellanos of the Detroit Tigers. Another name can now be added with the reports of the Rays interest in Aguilar.
Although he has experience across six Major League seasons, 2019 is just his third as a full-time big leaguer. He broke out in a big way in 2018 when he crushed 35 HR and produced 134 wRC+ over 149 games last season. In 2019, he has slumped a bit, but has picked up the pace mightily over the past several weeks.
Thus far this season, Aguilar is hitting .229/.327/.383 with 8 HR over 254 plate appearances and his wRC+ has dwindled to 86. In July though, Aguilar is slugging .667 and has a 163 wRC+ over 44 plate appearances.
The trade deadline is just one week away.