Kevin

Cash

Drellich and Rosenthal add that the finalized sale is expected to be completed as early as September and that the Zalupski group plans to keep the club in the greater Tampa area with a preference for Tampa over St. Petersburg. It’s the first change in ownership for the franchise since Stuart Sternberg purchased the club for $200 million back in 2004.

Steinbrenner Field is the spring training home of the New York Yankees and the summer home of the Tampa Tarpons, the Yankees A-ball team. According to Statcast data, the stadium played average amongst A-ball stadiums for runs, slightly above average for hits but below average for home runs overall and well above average for left-handed power. The dimensions are 318 feet down the line to left field, 318, 408 feet to center field, and 314 feet down the line to right field. Tropicana Field was deeper in the gaps and down the right field line and tended to play more pitcher-friendly, so this will seem to be a slight downgrade for pitchers in Tampa Bay and a boost for left-handed hitters.

The total estimate to repair damage from last month’s Hurricane Milton is $55.7 million, according to a damage assessment report sent earlier this week to the St. Petersburg City Council. The biggest takeaway here for fantasy purposes is that the Rays will almost certainly be forced to play the entire 2025 season in a spring training stadium somewhere else in Florida. We saw the significant impact that had on offensive statistics for the Blue Jays, which skyrocketed during the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign when they played out of Dunedin. There likely won’t be any clarity on Tampa Bay’s plans until sometime closer to spring training, but fantasy managers should continue to monitor the situation closely.

In spite of its seeming vulnerability, Tropicana Field was set up as a staging area for recovery efforts from Milton, with beds meant for responders lining the entire outfield area. Fortunately, though, no one was on the premises for the event, which pretty much shredded the entire roof of the domed stadium. Whether a fix is possible prior to the 2025 season is hard to say at the moment. The Rays might find themselves playing in an open-air stadium next year.

That was quick. Uceta will begin serving the suspension immediately and will be available for the Rays beginning Friday against the Guardians. Kevin Cash is also serving his one-game suspension.

Uceta was deemed to have thrown at Nick Castellanos during Tuesday’s contest, and he caused a minus ruckus after. The right-hander has the right to appeal the suspension and it’s unclear at this time whether he will do so. Kevin Cash was also suspended for one game for his involvement.

Rays officials will not discuss the extension until a scheduled media conference to open spring training, so the full details are unknown at this time. However, Cash was heading into the final season of his contract and while the team held a 2025 option, that has allegedly been incorporated into the new deal. Cash won back-to-back American League Manager of the Year awards in 2020-21 and finished third in 2018, 2019 and 2023. He is now the longest-tenured manager in the majors with his current team. Rays baseball operations president Erik Neander also signed a contract extension.

As of now, it sounds like the rest of the coaching staff will remain intact. Look for Rays’ skipper Kevin Cash to work to fill those vacancies as quickly as possible once the offseason begins.

Rays third base coach Rodney Linares is expected to replace Matt Quatraro, who was recently hired as the Royals’ new manager, as the team’s bench coach next season. Williams gets the call to the majors after managing Triple-A Durham for the last four years. Williams has been with the Rays organization since 2009.

Moncada, who is replacing a retiring Stan Boroski, has been with the Rays organization since 2006. He’s served as a minor league pitching coordinator since 2016.