TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa Bay Rays’ president of baseball operations, Erik Neander, met with the media at Steinbrenner Field on September 30, 2025.
Tom Layberger
Erik Neander summed up the Tampa Bay Rays’ 2025 season thusly: “Hard to live on a friend’s couch for six months even if they are incredibly welcoming.”
The Yankees offered a solution to Hurricane Milton-damaged Tropicana Field in the form of Steinbrenner Field, a $15 million rental for the Rays to play 81 home games, which they did without a single rainout. With the off-season having arrived September 30 following a 77-85 season, the team is looking forward to returning to a rehabbed Tropicana Field in 2026.
What will be most notable the next few months, though, is a new ownership group, led by Jacksonville-based developer Patrick Zalupski, most certainly placing its stamp on the franchise and region. The new owners have expressed a desire to play on the Tampa side of Tampa Bay making baseball more accessible to the bulk of the fanbase. That would mean selecting a stadium site and, ultimately, construction of a new home for the Rays. (The team’s lease at Tropicana Field runs through 2028.)
In other words, this is a critical juncture for the Rays in several ways. That includes on-field performance following a second straight sub-.500 campaign, something that had not happened since a five-season drought of 2014 to 2018.
“Arguably, our two biggest ticket items are in front of us,” said Neander, the club’s head of baseball operations, at an end-of-season press conference at Steinbrenner Field on Tuesday. “There’s a forever home that is not here. That needs to be figured out, and there is a championship to be won.”
The Rays, known for making the most of a payroll that has long been at or near the bottom of MLB, will presumably have deeper pockets with which to operate. Not that Neander, who remains with the organization, was prepared to speak to what the new owners might do as it pertains to the roster. However, he likes what he has heard from his new bosses.
“We’ll go about our business this offseason, getting to learn from one another, understanding what’s most important to them,” he said. “But the desire to win, (which is) what’s most important to us, appears to be most important to them.”
Getting things turned around on the field should not require much heavy lifting. After all, there is a nice blend of veterans and youngsters, the latter led by 22-year-old third baseman Junior Caminero.
Here are a few areas of the roster Neander addressed.
Many pieces are in place
Do not expect an overhaul. Not with a group of impressive young players that includes Caminero and Chandler Simpson (24) as well as a couple of players like Jonathan Aranda (27) and Jake Mangum (29) who are older, but had little or no experience at the big-league level prior to this season. There is also 23-year-old shortstop Carson Williams, who hit 20 homers and stole 20 bases in each the last three minor league seasons before getting his feet wet at the MLB level during the season’s final five weeks.
“There are a lot of ingredients that suggest with the right maneuverings from a roster standpoint, the right development from some players internally, that next year we won’t be having this press conference in September,” said Neander. “So, that’s how we are going about this off-season.”
There are some ingredients with the pitching staff as well. Ryan Pepiot, Shane Baz and Drew Rasmussen, who sparkled in his first extended work since a third elbow procedure, anchor the rotation. The bullpen has a nice makeup, but was bit at the most inopportune times. While Neander noted the relievers had MLB’s second-best strikeout rate (9.87/9) and second-best walk rate (3.08/9), a rather formidable combination of stats, the ‘pen also allowed the second-most homers (83) in the American League and had the third-most blown saves (28).
“We gave up a lot of homers and a lot of runs when we absolutely least could afford to do it,” said Neander. “It is something we struggled with all year. We didn’t close down tightly when we could have.”
Catching woes continued
It was a revolving door behind the plate in 2025. Frankly, the position has been a revolving door this decade. Manager Kevin Cash penciled five catchers into the lineup this season. Danny Jansen, a one-year offseason signing, Ben Rortvedt, Matt Thaiss, Nick Fortes and Hunter Feduccia combined to hit .186 a year after Rortvedt, Alex Jackson, Rene Pinto, Logan Driscoll and Rob Brantly hit .192. That’s nine different catchers in two years and anemic production.
Neander seems to think the right-handed hitting Fortes and the lefty-swinging Feduccia is the pairing that can get it done.
“He is somebody we continue to have more belief in than certainly the offensive results he showed,” he said of Feduccia, who hit .151 in 86 at-bats with Tampa Bay after being acquired from the Dodgers at the deadline.
A catcher that can do it all, of course, is a precious commodity. Maybe the new owners can put an end to the charade and bring in such a top-shelf player. Maybe not.
“Finding someone that excels offensively, excels defensively and excels in all of the intangibles that come with that position is nearly impossible,” said Neander. “There are only a handful of them out there. We will continue to do everything we can to find the right configuration back there and this winter will be no different.”
CHICAGO, IL – Chandler Simpson of the Tampa Bay Rays slides safely at second base during an MLB game against the Chicago White Sox on September 11, 2025 at Rate Field in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Outfield production
Simpson (.295, 44 SB) and Mangum (.296, 27 SB) were gems in their first MLB seasons, putting tremendous pressure on opposing defenses with their blazing speed. Indeed, no grounder was a sure out.
The Rays, though, need more power production from the outfielders. The hope was Josh Lowe would rebound from an injury-plagued 2024 and resemble the 20-homer, 31-stolen base player of 2023. Instead, he hit only .220, and no outfielder drove in more than 40 runs. Christopher Morel has hit .208 with 14 homers in 451 at-bats since he was obtained from the Cubs at the 2024 trade deadline.
“This year, perhaps for different and reasons, they just couldn’t find it,” said Neander. “There needs to be improvement. They know that. We know that. We need to determine how much to expect from each of them.”
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