{"id":405583,"date":"2025-11-26T08:51:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T08:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/405583\/"},"modified":"2025-11-26T08:51:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T08:51:11","slug":"rays-sign-jake-fraley-mlb-trade-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/405583\/","title":{"rendered":"Rays Sign Jake Fraley – MLB Trade Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Rays announced the signing of outfielder Jake Fraley<\/a><\/strong> to a one-year deal. It\u2019s reportedly a $3MM guarantee for the CAA client, who can earn an additional $400K in bonuses \u2014 $100K apiece for 85, 115, 145 and 175 days on the active roster. The Rays non-tendered him last week but were reported to be interested in bringing Fraley back at a lesser rate than his projected arbitration price tag (which MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz<\/a> pegged at $3.6MM).<\/p>\n

Fraley, 30, was originally drafted by the Rays with the No. 77 overall pick back in 2016. He wound up in Seattle, where he\u2019d go on to make his MLB debut, after being included in the trade that brought catcher Mike Zunino<\/a><\/strong> to Tampa Bay. Fraley played parts of three seasons with the M\u2019s before again being traded, this time to Cincinnati as part of the return for Eugenio Suarez<\/a><\/strong> and Jesse Winker<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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In parts of four seasons with the Reds, Fraley hit .260\/.336\/.421 with 38 homers, 54 doubles and a pair of triples in 1202 plate appearances. Calf, shoulder and oblique injuries combined to limit him to just 76 games and 217 plate appearances this season, during which he batted .241\/.332\/.382. The Reds placed Fraley on waivers in August, at which point he was claimed by the Braves. Atlanta waived Fraley after the season, and the Rays claimed him \u2014 only to non-tender him last week. He\u2019s now back on what are surely more favorable terms for the team.<\/p>\n

Fraley doesn\u2019t hit lefties whatsoever (.175\/.271\/.237 in 240 career plate appearances), but he\u2019s a .261\/.344\/.432 hitter in more than 1300 attempts versus right-handed pitching. He runs well \u2014 this season\u2019s average sprint speed of 28.4 ft\/sec sat was a career-high and sat in the 77th percentile of big leaguers \u2014 and is a capable defender in either outfield corner. His arm strength checked into the 86th percentile of big league outfielders in 2025, per Statcast.<\/p>\n

The addition of Fraley gives the Rays an even more crowded outfield mix. He\u2019s a third pure lefty swinger joining Chandler Simpson<\/a><\/strong> and Josh Lowe<\/a><\/strong>, as well as the right-handed-hitting Jonny DeLuca<\/a><\/strong> and switch-hitting Jake Mangum<\/a><\/strong> in the mix for playing time. Lefties Tristan Peters<\/a><\/strong> and Richie Palacios<\/a><\/strong> are also on the 40-man roster. The exact manner in which playing time shakes out will hinge on subsequent moves and spring performance, but Fraley should see time in both corners and at designated hitter against right-handed pitching. He\u2019s a good enough fielder and runner to profile as a late-game substitute, whether that\u2019s as a defensive replacement, a pinch-runner or a pinch-hitter against a tough righty.<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay currently projects for a $94MM payroll, per RosterResource<\/a>. Fraley will obviously push that number north a bit. That\u2019s already higher than the payroll in 2025, a season spent in a minor league park wherein the Rays ranked second-to-last in the majors in attendance. The Rays already made the somewhat surprising option to decline their $11MM club option on closer Pete Fairbanks<\/a><\/strong>, and it stands to reason that further veteran pieces could be moved. Brandon Lowe<\/a><\/strong> and his $11.5MM salary are available on the trade market<\/a>, and speculatively speaking, Josh Lowe<\/a><\/strong> (projected $2.9MM salary) could be easier to part with now that Fraley is on board.<\/p>\n

Marc Topkin<\/a> of The Tampa Bay Times<\/a> first reported the agreement and the $3MM salary with $400K in bonuses. The Associated Press<\/a> reported the bonus specifics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Rays announced the signing of outfielder Jake Fraley to a one-year deal. It\u2019s reportedly a $3MM guarantee…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":405584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[10],"tags":[89719,62,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-405583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-jake-fraley","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115615149875049890","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}