The Tampa Bay Rays are willing to listen to offers for closer Alex Colome according to Jon Morosi of Fox Sports.
Multiple teams are having active trade discussions with the Rays about the closer with the St. Louis Cardinals among the teams showing strong interest.
Colome, 28, led the major leagues with 47 saves in 2017 to go along with a 3.24 ERA, 1.20 WHIP and 2.52 SO/W. The right-hander saw an increase in his HR/9, BB/9 and big decrease in his K/9 last season.
Colome’s best season came in 2016 when he posted a 1.91 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 4.73 SO/W and had 37 saves for the Rays. He is arbitration eliugible for the first time this offseason and is under team control for three seasons.
Last offseason it was reported by Peter Gammons that the Mets asked the Rays about Colome but that didn’t get far after Tampa insisted on a deal including one of Amed Rosario or Michael Conforto.
Morosi also reported on Wednesday that the San Francisco Giants have talked to the Pittsburgh Pirates about a trade that would include outfielder Andrew McCutchen.
The Giants are looking at other outfield options as the pursuit of Giancarlo Stanton carries on. The veteran McCutchen had a bounce back 2017 campagin hitting .279/.363/.486 with 30 doubles, 28 home runs, 88 RBI and 11 stolen bases on his way to a 2.5 WAR season.
Jon Heyman of Fan Rag Sports reports that the Boston Red Sox are one of the teams in active talks with the Chicago White Sox regarding first baseman Jose Abreu.
The Red Sox are looking to add a slugger this offseason after having the third worst ISO in MLB last year at .149 and hitting only 168 home runs.
MLB News and Notes
The Detroit Tigers had preliminary talks with free agent starter Chris Tillman according to Morosi. The right-hander went 1-7 with a 7.84 ERA, 6.93 FIP and allowed a whopping 24 home runs in 93 innings last season.
Free agent catcher Alex Avila said on MLB Network Radio yesterday that he is willing to play in a back-up role on a contending team. Avila hit .264/.387/.447 with 14 home runs, 49 RBI and posted a 2.7 WAR between the Tigers and Cubs.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are willing to trade catcher Yasmani Grandal after losing his starting job down the stretch to Austin Barnes. Grandal has only one more year of control left and hit .247/.308/.459 with 22 home runs in 2017. He led the league in passed balls for the second straight season.
With the non-tender deadline coming up on Friday at 8 p.m. ET teams are looking to deal players to get some value back. One of those names is right-handed pitcher Mike Fiers of the Houston Astros. Fiers is expected to make $5.7 million through arbitration and is coming off a rough 2017 season. Fiers had a 5.22 ERA, 1.43 WHIP and allowed 32 home runs in 153.1 innings.
Former Mets Josh Edgin and Ruben Tejada have signed minor league deals with the Baltimore Orioles.
Outfielder Ryan LaMarre signed a minor league deal with the Minnesota Twins. The 29-year-old hit just .247/.328/.300 in the minors this past season and went 0 for 7 in the big leagues.
The Atlanta Braves and Toronto Blue Jays had recent talks regarding outfielder Nick Markakis according to Morosi.
