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Rays make minor trades
The last few offseasons in baseball have been defined by the lack of activity, especially in the early parts of the winters. This one has been no different, and in fact has probably been worse. Granted, it was not exactly unexpected given the labor strife hanging over the entire winter, but the fears have indeed come true. We bring this up because, well, over the entire weekend the only notable transactions were a pair of very minor trades from the Tampa Bay Rays.
The one that stands out the most is one that made with the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday. In this deal, Tampa Bay sent infielder Mike Brosseau to the Brewers with right-handed relief prospect Evan Reifert. Brosseau is likely a name many remember who followed the 2020 run, and particularly late in the regular season and in the postseason for the Rays. Brosseau had some beef with Aroldis Chapman late in the year when the latter threw a fastball over the former’s head, and then later he ended the Yankees season with a home run to help lead to an ALDS-clinching win. This past year was less impressive, as he finished with a 73 wRC+ in 169 plate appearances. He adds some depth to the Milwaukee’s bench, while Tampa Bay gets a big arm in Reifert, who struck out about 40 percent of his opponents in High-A this past season.
The other minor trade from the Rays was involving Louis Head, who was a transaction machine this past year being sent up and down from Triple-A to the majors 12 times in 2021. He will hope for more stability moving forward after being sent from the Rays to the Miami Marlins. Tampa Bay gets cash in exchange.
As far as Red Sox impact on these deals, there certainly isn’t a whole lot to talk about with the players leaving the Rays roster, as they were mostly just depth. Really, the takeaway here is the freeze on the offseason, and the hope things will pick up at least a bit for a couple weeks before the CBA expires at the start of December and things go on an official freeze.