Tampa Bay Rays trade Wendle to Marlins, sign Choi
ST. PETERSBURG, FL - SEPTEMBER 24: Joey Wendle #18 of the Tampa Bay Rays bats against the Miami Marlins of a baseball game at Tropicana Field on September 24, 2021 in St. Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Mike Carlson/Getty Images)
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The Tampa Bay Rays signed reliever Brooks Raley to a $10 million, two-year contract Tuesday with a club option for 2024.
The defending AL East champions also traded All-Star infielder Joey Wendle to the Miami Marlins for minor league outfielder Kameron Misner, and agreed with first baseman Ji-Man Choi on a $3.2 million, one-year deal that avoids arbitration.
The Rays tendered contracts to their 13 remaining arbitration-eligible players. They are right-handers Nick Anderson, Yonny Chirinos, Tyler Glasnow, Andrew Kittredge and Matt Wisler, left-handers Ryan Yarbrough, Jalen Beeks and Jeffrey Springs, catcher Francisco Mejía, infielder Yandy Díaz, and outfielders Manuel Margot, Austin Meadows, and Brett Phillips.
Tampa Bay also is working to finalize a free-agent deal with starting pitcher Corey Kluber.
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Raley went 2-3 with a 4.78 ERA in 58 games with Houston this season. The 33-year-old left-hander struck out 65 and walked 16 in 49 innings.
"I just feel like there’s more in the tank, and I want to grow as a player and as a person and I thought Tampa was a perfect fit for that," Raley said. "I felt like we found common ground and made it all work."
In four major league seasons, Raley is 3-6 with a 5.62 ERA in 93 games and has 122 strikeouts over 107 1/3 innings. He appeared in 14 games from 2012-13 with the Chicago Cubs and spent 2015-19 in South Korea before returning to the majors in 2020.
Kluber, a two-time Cy Young Award winner in Cleveland, was slowed by a shoulder injury last season with the New York Yankees. He went 5-3 with a 3.83 ERA in 16 games, including a no-hitter. The right-hander was limited to 36 2/3 innings from 2019-20 by injuries.
Wendle, a strong and versatile fielder, batted .265 with a career-high 11 home runs and 54 RBIs this season for the Rays and made his first All-Star team.