Rays signed LHP Matt Moore to a five-year, $14 million contract with club options for 2017, 2018 and 2019.
The deal carries a maximum value of approximately $39.75 million. It's a risk to give a pitcher with just 9 1/3 career innings that much money, but if Moore pitches like everyone feels he will, the deal should be a very favorable one in the long run for the Rays. Though executive VP of baseball operations Andrew Friedman says this doesn't necessarily mean Moore is locked into a rotation spot for 2012, we would expect room to be cleared for him by a trade of either Wade Davis or Jeff Niemann sometime before spring training.