John Romano: Sounds nutty, but did the Rays win the offseason in the AL East?

John Romano, Tampa Bay Times on Feb 19, 2025

Published in Baseball

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PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — Now that the last of the big-name free agents have come off the board, here’s a question you do not often hear:

Did the Rays finish near the top in value added?

Sounds goofy, no? For all their success in recent seasons, the Rays rarely chase players on the free-agent market. Yet, between Ha-Seong Kim, Danny Jansen and Eloy Jimenez, Tampa Bay could be on the hook for $39.5 million in future salaries, according to MLB Spotrac.

That may sound paltry to fans of the Mets, Dodgers and Yankees, but it’s only the second time in the past decade that the Rays exceeded $35 million in free-agent spending in a single offseason.

And while the cash outlay is unusual, it is not the most important part. It’s the value. The potential return on investment.

Sure, Juan Soto signing with the Mets was the biggest acquisition of the winter. Willy Adames, Max Fried, Blake Snell and Corbin Burnes were major deals, too. But those contracts all carry varying degrees of danger. Soto will be making $46 million a year from ages 30 to 40. Do you suppose that salary will age well? All the other deals will also take players into their late 30s with hefty payroll numbers.

Meanwhile, Jansen and Jimenez are both on one-year deals and Kim has a player option for 2026, which could shave off nearly half of the $39.5 million that the Rays committed to the three players.

So how could those short-term contracts possibly compare to mega-money deals?

If you go by WAR (wins above replacement) figures for the past three seasons, you might argue Kim was the third-most valuable player on the open market, according to baseballreference.com. From 2022-24, Kim compiled a WAR of 13.2. Only Soto and Alex Bregman had higher numbers in free agency.

Sounds suspicious? Okay, according to WAR figures from Fangraphs.com, Kim was the No. 8 player on the free-agent market.

Either way, you’re talking about a top-10 acquisition on a one- or two-year deal for either $13 million or $29 million, depending on whether Kim picks up the $16 million salary for his second-year option. Soto, on the other hand, got $765 million. Burnes got $210 million. Snell and Adames each got $182 million.

If there was a bang-for-your-buck category on the back of baseball cards, Kim’s deal might lead the league.

Now, some of his value was reduced because he’s coming off shoulder surgery and could miss the first four to eight weeks of the regular season, but that’s exactly why the Rays were able to compete for a free agent who would normally be out of their price range.

Making the deals even better, Kim and Jansen were at two positions — shortstop and catcher — where the Rays struggled in 2024.

“These are two players that we had marked and prioritized at the beginning of the offseason,” baseball operations president Erik Neander said. “These were two guys we really wanted and we’re lucky they wanted to be here, too. Really thankful that the perception of our organization throughout the game is a positive one. Ha-Seong Kim coming off the shoulder surgery, obviously a disappointing development for him but saw this as a place where he can come reestablish himself and go from there.”

These are not players who are going to put up power numbers that compare with Soto or Anthony Santander or Teoscar Hernandez or Pete Alonso. But that’s not necessarily what the Rays were trying to accomplish.

Yes, the lineup needed an offensive boost but if the Rays are contenders in 2025, it will be due to run prevention. So the priority was to increase scoring without weakening their defense and range.

“Catcher, shortstop, centerfield. We left last year talking about our offensive production at those defensively-dominant positions, it was well below even the standards for those positions,” Neander said. “If we could improve in those areas and lift our floor in those areas, which I believe we really have done without giving back too much defense, that was going to be our best path to improvement.”

Every team in the American League East spent money in the offseason. The Yankees spent more than $238 million to sign Fried and Paul Goldschmidt. The Red Sox spent $174 million and brought in Bregman, Walker Buehler and Aroldis Chapman. The Blue Jays dropped $158 million while signing Santander and Max Scherzer. The Orioles signed deals for $89 million to acquire Tyler O’Neill, Charlie Morton and Andrew Kittredge, among others.

All four teams were among the offseason’s top-10 spenders.

The Rays spent a fraction of that amount but, at least for 2025, will arguably get as much value as any division rival.

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