Tampa Bay Strikes Again Adding Lefty Slugger Carlos Pena

With spring training less than 2 months away, the Tampa Bay Rays have added another veteran bat to their lineup. Carlos Pena recently signed with the Rays, giving Tampa another left handed bat to boost their lineup. He’s taking a bit of a paycut, as Pena agreed to a deal worth $7.25M for one year. Pena had a solid rebound season with the Cubs, hitting 225/357/462 with 28 home runs and 80 runs driven in with just 500 under PA. More importantly, Pena showed he could still crush right handed pitching, coming in with a very impressive 892 OPS. Hopefully the Rays will decide to platoon Pena, as he is extremely ineffective against left handed pitching. With the additions of Luke Scott and Pena, the Rays have added two veteran bats who can easily replace the production of Casey Kotchman and Johnny Damon. While Damon and Kotchman are more likely to hit for a higher average, Pena and Scott should provide the Rays with better on base skills and more importantly more power. This should l...