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- On Saturday, the Rays made a couple of moves that one could probably defend fairly well, depending on their arguing skills, on pure baseball terms. They acquired C.J. Cron, a solid little first baseman/DH who has had some extremely mild success in pro ball, while designating 2017 All-Star Corey Dickerson for assignment after his atrocious second half. They also traded often-disappointing Jake Odorizzi to Minnesota for a mid-level (at best) infield prospect. Of course, this is all about the money, and everyone knows it. The team stands to save about $10 million with these moves that very clearly make the product on the field worse, and this comes after they traded away longtime face of the franchise Evan Longoria. They are now also rumored to be picking up the pace in their Chris Archer trade talks. Back to Longoria, though, as the now-Giant says he feels bad for Rays fans, and I have to agree with the sentiment. I know the joke will be about how few there are, but there are people who genuinely follow this team that just is never going to be able to put money into the team and that’s a disservice to those fans and the sport as a whole. The team needs new owners and a new park, and they need those things yesterday. Of course, in the meantime, the Red Sox are the beneficiaries.
- Chris Carter signed a minor-league deal with the Angels, essentially replacing Cron. I’m fairly confident that this will not move the needle one way or the other in the American League playoff chase.