Free agency doesn’t offer much excitement. It seems safe to assume the Rays won’t sign Bo Bichette. Open market options beyond that include Willie Castro, Ramon Urias And Luis Rengifo. The biggest swings they can experience occur in the trading market.
Tampa Bay is not prominently linked Brendan Donovan. They’ve had conversations with the Diamondbacks about Kettle Marte back to the Winter Meetings. Those preliminary discussions involved both Baz and… Ryan Pepiot. That framework is clearly no longer an option, and while the Rays could craft a compelling package with Pepiot and verifiable relief, Arizona General Manager Mike Hazen indicated earlier this week that they could soon halt talks on Marte altogether. Each of Jake Cronenworth, Nico Hoerner And Jazz Chisholm Jr. feel like long-term trade candidates.
If the Rays can’t find a clear answer outside the organization, where can they turn at the keystone?
Richie Palacios
Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times wrote last month that Palacios would likely be the best in-house option. The left-handed hitter was acquired from the Cardinals in the 2023-2024 offseason and posted a .223/.346/.318 line over 316 plate appearances in his first season with the club. He hit .333 with a .396 on-base percentage last year, but was limited to 17 games. Palacios broke his right ring finger during Spring Training and started the season on the injured list. He returned in April but soon suffered a right knee sprain that kept him out until September.
Palacios had missed two months late in the ’24 campaign with a same knee sprain. Over the past two seasons, he has played in barely more than a third of the team’s games. “(He’s) a player we really like, but he has to prove healthy,” president of baseball operations Erik Neander told Topkin in December. “He is certainly a candidate internally, but we are going to give ourselves some time to figure this out.”
At his best, Palacios shows the qualities of a potential bat with a high OBP. He takes a lot of pitches and has good contact skills with solid line drive speeds. Palacios doesn’t have tremendous power, but has an on-base percentage of .370 over five Triple-A seasons. While the Rays haven’t given him much exposure against lefty pitching in the major leagues, he has more than held his own in his limited opportunities.
Taylor Walls
Walls are a better known product. He’s a 29-year-old who owns a career .195/.286/.298 batting line in over 1,500 plate appearances. He’s not going to produce at the plate. The Rays like Walls as a defensive player at center. Public statistics are bizarrely divided about his work. Statcast’s Outs Above Average rates him below average, but Defensive Runs Saved annually rates him as a Gold Glove-caliber infielder.
The Rays’ internal evaluation must align much more closely with the DRS vision. They wouldn’t bring Walls back through arbitration if they didn’t view him as a defensive asset. He will play next season with a salary of $2.45 million and is controlled through 2027 via a $3.1 million team option. Walls will see plenty of action in midfield, but he will likely start the season on the left side of the pitch.
Tampa Bay has waived Hi Seong Kim in August and used rookie Carson Williams as their shortstop for the final month of the 2025 season. The 22-year-old was overmatched, striking out 44 times and hitting .172 in 32 games. Williams also struck out in more than 34% of his Triple-A plate appearances. He has power and is a defensive shortstop, but will likely return to Triple-A to continue working on getting his contact rate to a manageable level.
That would leave Walls with the only real choice to play shortstop early on. Free agency and the trade market are even thinner there than at second base. Walls could move to second base midseason if Williams plays his way back to the Majors.
Hypothetical position changes
While the Rays generally have a stock of multi-positional players, that isn’t as much of a strength of the current roster. Jonathan Aranda came on as a second baseman, but left the position for defensive reasons. He played just 141 innings there in the major leagues and was a full-time first baseman last year. Aranda is a below-average athlete and runner who is unlikely to return to the defensive spectrum.
Chandler Simpson was a middle infielder in college but has been a full-time outfielder since being drafted in 2022. Topkin notes that the 25-year-old did some pregame infield drills late in the season, though it’s not clear if the Rays will continue that next year. Despite being one of the fastest players in the sport, Simpson is not a particularly gifted defensive outfielder. Maybe that will make the coaching staff seriously consider testing him on the field in 2026. Simpson stole 44 bases while hitting .295/.326/.345 with zero home runs in 109 games as a rookie.
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