TB Rays 2014/2015 off season

[Tobywan]

Might be early, but there has already been a transaction involving the Rays as minor league pitcher Cory Burns was claimed off waivers by the Toronto Blue Jays. He hadn't been with the organization very long, The Rays had gotten him off waivers from the Texas Rangers at the end of June. He made 23 appearances between Montgomery and Durham.

[Tobywan]

In what is likely to end up being the biggest off season move, Andrew Friedman resigned today to start a new job with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Matt Silverman will take on the role.

From Rays magic to Magic Johnson.

[Tobywan]

Alex Cobb traded in his glove for a stick over the weekend when he took to the ice with the TB Lightning. He went to a practice session at the newly renamed home of the Bolts, Amalie Arena and got some time with Steven Stamkos and Ben Bishop on Saturday. Just some of the perks of being an athlete.

[Tobywan]

Evan Longoria and Ben Zobrist will be heading to Japan next month as part of the MLB All-Star team. They will lay five games in four cities from Nov. 11-20, some other players slated to go are Robinson Cano, Bryce Harper, Yasiel Puig and Albert Pujols.

Kevin Kiermaier, was named to the Baseball America's All-Rookie team, "The Outlaw" led the team with a .765 OBP.

The Rays and the Princeton Rays (Advanced Rookie) have extended their agreement through 2016.

[Tobywan]

With Andrew Friedman heading off to Hollywood, there has been talk that Joe Maddon might follow. Both he and Dodgers manager Don Mattingly have a year on their contracts. Though word here that the first thing on the agenda for new POBO Matt Silverman is to lock up Maddon to a long term deal. Matt and Stu Sternberg have stated negotiations have been on going, a snippet from a phone conference from Stu to our local media said "the ball was in Joe's court" sounding like an offer is on the table for him to accept or decline. Maddon has also stated he is now "embedded" in the area, he has his charity and invested in a local high end restaurant.

Should be an interesting off season.

[Tobywan]

The Rays have signed RHP Michael Kohn, he had spent most of the season in the minors for the Angels, he was DFA'd and became a free agent.

[Mach]

With Andrew Friedman heading off to Hollywood, there has been talk that Joe Maddon might follow. Both he and Dodgers manager Don Mattingly have a year on their contracts. Though word here that the first thing on the agenda for new POBO Matt Silverman is to lock up Maddon to a long term deal. Matt and Stu Sternberg have stated negotiations have been on going, a snippet from a phone conference from Stu to our local media said "the ball was in Joe's court" sounding like an offer is on the table for him to accept or decline. Maddon has also stated he is now "embedded" in the area, he has his charity and invested in a local high end restaurant.

Should be an interesting off season.

And now Maddon is out, citing breakdown of extension talks.

[Tobywan]

The Rays just announced that Joe Maddon has opted out of his contract and leaving the team immediately. There no real details and no statement yet from Joe. The teams says they were trying everything to keep him long term.

[Tobywan]

Wow, Mach we were posting at the same time, I haven't seen a statement from Joe yet.

[Mach]

Nope, all I've seen is this:

ESPN's Buster Olney reports that Rays manager Joe Maddon has exercised an opt-out clause in his contract and will leave the club immediately.

Wow. Maddon said just over a week ago that he "absolutely" wanted to remain the Rays' manager following the departure of Andrew Friedman, but he had a change of heart after extension talks with the club fell apart. The natural assumption is that he'll follow Friedman to the Dodgers, but CBS Sports' Jon Heyman says the "early word" is that Maddon is not considering the Dodgers as an option "at all," as he understands Friedman is committed to Don Mattingly. He'll obviously be a hot commodity for anyone considering a change at manager. Dave Martinez is a likely option to succeed Maddon in Tampa.

[Mach]

maddon could have opted out immediately after friedman left. word is, there were some "contentious" days since.

[Tobywan]

Yeah, from the bits and pieces I am getting looks like Joe didn't like the offer, said he wanted to wait and see what offers he might get and the team said take the offer or go now.....thus "Joe has decided to opt out of his contract". My first thought was Davey, too Though if this isn't as amicable as they always want you to believe perhaps Davey might think twice.

[Tobywan]

Official statement from Sternberg...

[Tobywan]

Joel Sherman who claims to have talked to Maddon personally on the phone states that he is looking for a five-year deal worth roughly $25M.


Have no idea if that was the issue in the Rays negotiations, Joe says he wasn't aware he could walk if Andrew Friedman left until Silverman told him it was a clause in hist contract. Local reporters say he has always had money dictated to him over his career and now he wants to see what his worth is on the market.

[Tobywan]

Tampa Bay Times Marc Topkin, was at the Trop all day along with most of our local sports writers and anchors until Silverman left around 7 tonight.


Some of the quips he had..(more in the link below)

The Rays state they will look within and outside for candidates. Maddon told the Times . "I have never had this opportunity to research my employment on my terms. Never, never, never. I mean never. And I think anybody given the same set of circumstances would do the same thing."

It appears the Rays offer was $3M with incentives annually, Maddon/agent counter offered, Rays had a second offer. At some point Maddon had sought permission to speak other teams but the Rays said NO, so he took the opt-out.

The clause was if either Friedman, Silverman or principal owner Stuart Sternberg left the team, he had 2 weeks to decide if he wanted to leave.

This is probably about as much insight as we'll get until much later when someone starts speaking freely.



Bye bye Joe!


The article of course mentions Martinez but also, possibly Gabe Kapler, that's interesting. I would also like to see them talk to Charlie Montoyo if Dave turns it down and before they go outside.