It's become as reliable a summer tradition in Tampa as the heat index: the Rays showing up on the trade rumor mill looking for a catcher. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that Tampa Bay is once again in the market for help behind the plate as the deadline closes in, and MLB Trade Rumors ran with it as one of the bigger storylines of the week.
This isn't a new problem. The Rays have cycled through Nick Fortes, Hunter Feduccia, Christian Bethancourt, Alex Jackson, Ben Rortvedt and Matt Thaiss over the past several seasons trying to find a cheap answer at catcher, and none of it has stuck. Fortes and Feduccia have handled the bulk of the workload this year, with Fortes hitting .267/.312/.364 — basically league-average for a catcher, but not the kind of bat that scares anyone in a playoff series.
The Rays didn't do themselves any favors recently either. They designated catcher Dom Keegan for assignment to clear a 40-man spot, and the Orioles scooped him up off waivers before optioning him to Double-A. That's one fewer internal option just as the front office starts window-shopping externally.
The name generating the most buzz is Minnesota's Ryan Jeffers, an impending free agent who was raking before a fractured hamate bone in his hand sent him to surgery. Before the injury, Jeffers was slashing .295/.408/.541 with 7 home runs and matching walk and strikeout rates around 15.6%. He's currently on a rehab assignment and expected back soon, which only raises his price tag for a deadline suitor. The Yankees, Rangers, Diamondbacks, Pirates and Padres are all reportedly in on him too, so Tampa Bay isn't the only club circling.
A cheaper fallback could be Cincinnati's Tyler Stephenson, another 29-year-old rental making a nearly identical salary to Jeffers. Stephenson's numbers are down this year — .233/.321/.367 — but he's drawing walks at a career-high clip and still making hard contact, the kind of buy-low profile the Rays have historically preferred over paying full price.
None of this is shocking given how Tampa Bay operates — find the market inefficiency, avoid overpaying, hope it clicks. The problem is that strategy has whiffed at catcher for years now. If they land a real bat like Jeffers it changes the complexion of a lineup that's needed juice up the middle for a while. If they settle for another reclamation project, expect this exact same headline again next July.