The Tampa Bay Rays are one of the teams who have a number of players teams around the league are interested in making a trade for this summer, with the Los Angeles Dodgers eyeing Erasmo Ramirez, and the Texas Rangers looking at Matt Moore.
Moore might be one of the more sought after pitchers as we approach trade season. He has a disappointing 5.04 ERA this year, and over the last two seasons has a 5.20 ERA with a 1.438 WHIP, but his strikeout-walk ratio is back on the rise again, and so is his ability to strike out batters. He’s showing signs of going back to his form from before the Tommy John surgery and more importantly, he’s only 27, not to mention a very workable contract: He makes $5 million this season, and the next three years on his deal are all team options, with plenty of milestone bonuses along the way, giving the team that takes him plenty of outs.
The Rangers have been linked to almost every decent pitcher that might on the trading block so far in June. Despite being the best team in the American League so far, they’re lacking in both rotation and the bullpen. Meanwhile, the the starting rotation might be getting a bit crowded for the Rays, particularly once Alex Cobb comes back from his own Tommy John procedure, and from what it seems this is a seller’s market when it comes to pitchers.
Another starter the Rays might offload (not sure about both of them together) is Erasmo Ramirez, who is being tracked by the disappointing Dodgers. Their offense is a mess, and besides Clayton Kershaw, there isn’t anything too be happy about when it comes to pitching too. Ramirez is now a long relief option for the Rays, but has been a starter for most of his career (he’s 26, up for arbitration at the end of the season), and the Dodgers will probably prefer to use him a starter at first.
He has a 3.75 ERA this season (just like last year), but his strikeout rate keeps dropping (6.4 per nine innings), with his WHIP and strikeout-per-walk ratio taking a slight nosedive compared to his first season in Tampa Bay. He played in Seattle for the first three years of his major league career.