Hopeful Rays Look to Rise in 2025 MLB Season
Hope, according to deep thinkers and others, is not always the wisest strategy.
But as the Rays open spring training next week in Port Charlotte to formally start preparations for what they strongly believe will be improvement over last year’s 80-win showing, they are banking on a lot of things going right.
- That their starting pitchers, several of whom have workload concerns, are all healthy from opening day on.
- That the young/less-experienced relievers who emerged impressively during 2024 can be as good or better over a full season.
- That their two significant veteran acquisitions, catcher Danny Jansen and shortstop Ha-Seong Kim (who is targeted for a late-May return from shoulder surgery) provide the expected contributions at the plate, on the field and in the clubhouse.
- That 21-year old Junior Caminero, who showed flashes of immense talent last year, is ready to ascend to a leading role.
- And, most of all, that their offense, which dropped precipitously to among the league’s worst, is significantly more potent despite only modest additions.
That rise is based on hope.
Hope for bounce-backs from a few players who had down years for different reasons (such as Jonathan Aranda, Josh Lowe, Christopher Morel). For additional production from some who will get expanded opportunities (Jonny DeLuca, Richie Palacios). And for more consistency from key veterans (Yandy Diaz, Brandon Lowe).
“I’d like to think we’re a lot of things as an organization, and we’re proud of being a lot of different things, but we try to stay measured, we try to stay grounded with our expectations,” baseball operations president Erik Neander said. “At least objectively speaking, we believe there are reasons for optimism on an assortment of guys that didn’t have their best year in 2024.
“So you combine that with just some of the natural, physical ability and the potential of someone like Junior Caminero and you can see a path for this offense rebounding in a very meaningful way. So, we’ll see. We’ll get into camp, and we’ll assess it as we go.”
Though much of the competition for 26 roster spots appears to be somewhat on the fringe — a couple of bench and bullpen jobs — there still will be plenty to talk about over the next six-plus weeks. Here are eight other likely topics:
Six equals five
The Rays open camp with six strong starters and plans for a five-man rotation. Getting to late March with all healthy and facing a tough decision on who to send to the bullpen, minors or another team would be among the best problems to have.
Health and workload capacity will be factors.
Shane McClanahan is coming off Tommy John surgery that sidelined him all of 2024. Drew Rasmussen returned in August from his third elbow surgery in a limited relief role. Shane Baz hasn’t thrown more than 120 innings in a season and Taj Bradley 150. Ryan Pepiot doubled his innings from 2023 to 2024. Zack Littell also had a big hike and needed a late-season fatigue break.
Neander noted that they have had strong groups going into camp before, such as 2023, and saw injuries create havoc.
“If everyone’s physically right and proper, and we’re rolling through camp, that’s something we’ll figure out a little bit later on,” Neander said. “But we just believe it’s in our best interest to come in a little bit heavy and sort it out than the alternative.”
What they don’t plan on doing is using all six in the rotation, preferring to have an eighth reliever on the 13-man staff.
