David Peralta, Jose Siri Added To Group Rays Feel Good About

The bulk of the Rays’ activity leading up to the trade deadline, and a part of its residual effects, was visible in the outfield Tuesday night against Toronto at Tropicana Field.

David Peralta, acquired from Arizona on Saturday, and Jose Siri, acquired Monday from Houston as part of a three-team deal that sent Trey Mancini from Baltimore to the Astros, were in left and center field, respectively. Randy Arozarena, who prior to Peralta’s arrival had started 78 games in left and none in right this season, was in right field, where he played 53 games last season.

Rays fans can expect such an outfield alignment to be the norm.

“He is going to be out there,” manager Kevin Cash said Tuesday afternoon, of Siri holding down center, where seven players have now started at least one game for the Rays in 2022, including Kevin Kiermaier who was lost for the season in early July due to a hip condition. “He is going to be playing and just want to see his athletic ability take over.”

Peralta, who had spent his entire career with the Diamondbacks after debuting with them in 2014, will occupy left field while adding a valued lefthanded bat to the lineup.

“There is a lot of benefit to adding a veteran like that to take a little bit of the edge off some of the younger guys that we are asking a lot of,” said Erik Neander, the Rays president of baseball operations.

Peralta’s bat can certainly help a team that entered play Wednesday having lost eight of 11 since the all-star break while scoring 14 runs in the defeats.

A seemingly endless parade to the injured list this season – 16 players are currently on the IL and 17 were on it for much of July – is why the Rays have had to rely on so many of their young players, including a few who otherwise might not have seen as much time with the big club, if any.

To that extent, a handful of players could return from the injured list in late August and early September. Neander has “high confidence” that Wander Franco (right hand) will be back “in a few weeks” and that Harold Ramirez (right thumb) and Manny Margot (right knee) will return in a similar timeframe.

Likewise, a number of pitchers, including Matt Wisler (neck strain), JT Chargois (left oblique) and Yonny Chirinos (Tommy John surgery), who last pitched for the Rays in August 2020, could return by the end of the month, with Wisler perhaps as soon as this weekend. Nick Anderson (right elbow) and Tyler Glasnow, who left a game last June and underwent Tommy John surgery last August, could return in September.

Because a handful of players are expected to return to a team in the middle of the American League wild card chase, Neander, general manager Peter Bendix and the rest of the Rays’ brass approached the deadline not with urgency, but looking to solidify the lineup while waiting for healthy bodies to make their way back.

“One of the challenges we talked about throughout, is that we have players returning,” said Neander. “These games matter, too, and we can’t go, ‘Oh, we’ll wait for them to come back.’ But they do eventually come back, and how do you make it all fit. Those were considerations that had us just trying to think real creatively about different possibilities.”

The possibilities included adding a catcher. with Willson Contreras’ name bandied about. Since Mike Zunino was lost for the season in early June due to left shoulder inflammation that was ultimately diagnosed as thoracic outlet syndrome, Francisco Mejia went on the injured list (right shoulder, possible return this week), Christian Bethancourt was acquired from Oakland on July 9 and rookie Rene Pinto has been up and down from Triple-A Durham.

“Losing ‘Z’ for the year was a big loss,” said Neander. “(Acquiring a catcher) was something we thought was a possibility for a little while now. Acquiring Bethancourt when we did was a bit in response to that possibility.”

The post-deadline roster does not include the popular Brett Phillips, who was designated for assignment after Siri was acquired. Phillips, who grew up close to St. Petersburg, was hitting .147 in 75 games, but in many ways was the face of the team. He was traded to Baltimore on Tuesday for cash considerations and will not have to wait long to return to the Trop as the Orioles are in town next weekend.

“Brett has been part of a lot of pretty fun times here with the Rays,” said Cash. “He brings a certain energy that a lot of guys are not capable of doing, so appreciate his efforts and certainly wish him well.”

The current roster combined with those who are due to come off the injured list over the course of the next few weeks have Neander feeling pretty good about where the Rays are.

“This is a group we believe in, certainly if they get healthier, and expect them to be healthier,” he said. “We will be okay. There is a reason why we won 100 games last year. There are some differences, certainly. But there is a lot of talent here and we just have to worry about us.”

Which is typically how the Rays go about conducting their business.