Tampa Bay Rays News and Links: The Kevin Cash Anniversary Week

Rays News

Salem Marrero, 25, is an analyst with the Rays. His hometown newspaper provided this profile.

The Rays have sent a record number of prospects to play in Australia, so you might want to check out this podcast if you want to follow them while they are Down Under.

R.J. Anderson’s list of Rays top prospects. No surprises at number one.

This week marks the sixth anniversary of the Rays announcing Kevin Cash as their manager. Cash was just about to turn 37; he would remain the youngest manager in the league for at least a few seasons. He was hired straight from a stint as the Indian’s bullpen coach, which is certainly not the usual path to a manager position. He’s grown into the role, forging winning teams, developing a real poise with the media, and if player interviews are to be believed earning a great deal of trust from his players.

St. Petersburg leadership is moving ahead with the redevelopment of the Tropicana Field site — with or without the Rays ($)

I’m never sure what to make of rumors like “Rays looking to trade Blake Snell.” Sure, Rays have indeed traded away top players signed to long term contracts, but usually not players who are as productive as Snell and still have multiple years left before free agency. So are these rumors started by bored journalists who want to write about something? Or are there really active trade talks? At any rate, Snell says he’d like to stay put ($)

And speaking of trading Snell, I think part of my reward for writing off-season news and links columns has to be getting to sneer at bad NY/BOS/national media Rays reporting at least every week or two. This week I give you this Daily News column that is dissing the Rays for...what reason? Yeah, I didn’t want them to walk away from Charlie Morton’s contract either, but nothing else written here makes any sense at all.

We’ve discussed the Rays-Padres Pham/Renfroe trade from a Rays perspective. Here’s a chance to see how it looks to Padres fans.

Around the League

Winter meetings start today, and they are virtual. The baseball winter meetings always had a formal agenda, but the main point seemed to be face to face deal-making, employment seeking, and general schmoozing. So it’s not clear whether a virtual get-together will be especially successful. Here are some thoughts about how it might go.

If you like Fangraphs, you will enjoy this article about the origins and history of Fangraphs ($).

On Mike Petriello’s list of possible landing places for top free agent catcher J.T. Realmuto, the Rays are mentioned as a team that literally has no catcher and yet are not one of the likely landing places for him. C’mon Erik, surprise everyone and sign the guy!

No question that arbitration this year will take us to, dare I say it, uncharted waters. Rosenthal discusses, and gives a shout out to the Minnesota Twins for their approach ($).

A few Rays prospects make this list of top potential Rule 5 draftees.

Old friend alerts: Sadly, Charlie Morton now falls into this category. Here’s a look at how park factors are likely to affect pitching outcomes for him in 2021.

Jacob Faria has signed a minor league deal with his home town Angels. I think I speak for pretty much all Rays fans in wishing him well.