Fansided

MLB Rumors: Rays looking to extend Jake Odorizzi

By Nathaniel Reeves

Apr 18, 2015; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi (23) throws a pitch during a baseball game at Tropicana Field. The New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays 9-0. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 18, 2015; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi (23) throws a pitch during a baseball game at Tropicana Field. The New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays 9-0. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

The Tampa Bay Rays are hoping to keep one of their key young starting pitchers around for the long-term.

The Tampa Bay Rays have made a contract extension offer to 25-year-old starting pitcher Jake Odorizzi, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. 

Topkin goes on to note that Odorizzi has also been involved in trade talks, as the Rays are looking to deal some pitching to improve their anemic offense. If an extension was indeed signed, Orodizzi presumably wouldn’t be traded this offseason, but expect his name to come up often at the winter meetings either way.

It’s not hard to see why Tampa Bay would want to keep Odorizzi around for the long-term. Once a highly touted prospect acquired in the James Shields deal with the Kansas City Royals, Odorizzi posted a 3.35 ERA (3.61 FIP) with 150 strikeouts over 169.1 innings in his rookie season last yer per FanGraphs.  If Odorizzi continues to improve with experience, the Rays could have a strong top two in the rotation for years to come with Chris Archer also signed through at least 2019. Throw in a healthy Drew Smyly and Matt Moore, and Tampa Bay’s rotation could potentially have plenty of young upside.  Odorizzi stands out as a bit of a unique extension candidate, as he is just 25 years old with three arbitration years coming up, starting in 2017.

The Rays would pay more over the next couple of seasons with an extension, but given that Odorizzi would probably make more than $20 million in arbitration, the offer makes plenty of sense for the club.  Tampa Bay has made some similar offers to its young players before, including agreeing to a six-year, $25.5 million contract with Archer last season that included two team option years. Given that Odorizzi would still be fairly young at the end of an extension, the Rays may again try to include multiple option years in his contract.

A potential extension could buy out Odorizzi’s arbitration years plus the 2020 season for around $30 million total. If that deal gets done, the Rays could make Moore available in an effort to bring back a young position player. The Chicago Cubs look like possible trading partners for the Rays, with Jorge Soler being a possible fit.   

Home/MLB