Rays have reportedly received trade interest in All-Star infielder

In a recent column at The New York Post, Jon Heyman looks at some notable players that could be dealt before the deadline. Heyman lists Rays infielder Isaac Paredes and says that “his name is out there more” than his teammate, outfielder Randy Arozarena.

It’s unsurprising that Paredes would come up in trade talks, both because of his performance and the way the Rays operate. Since being acquired from the Tigers ahead of the 2022 season, Paredes has hit 66 home runs in his 1,325 plate appearances. He’s also drawn walks at an 11% clip and kept his strikeout rate down to a rate of 17.7%. All that amounts to a wRC+ of 131, indicating he’s been 31% better than league average in that time.

On top of that offense, he’s provided defensive versatility, bouncing around to all four infield spots. Most of his time has been at third base, where he has racked up four Defensive Runs Saved and two Outs Above Average since coming to Tampa. His shortstop workload has been just 11 innings but he’s spent decent chunks of time at second and first base as well, with passable grades.

Now 25 years old, he just reached arbitration for the first time in the most recent offseason as a Super Two player. He’s making $3.4MM this year and is slated for three more passes through the arbitration system in the seasons to come.

With the combination of his skills, his affordability and his club control, of course clubs are interested. Those same traits also make him valuable to the Rays but there are also reasons to imagine he could be pried loose from Tampa.

The Rays, in general, trade key players before they reach free agency. It’s usually just a matter of when. With Paredes, there is no strict hurry because the club has those three extra years of control, but his trade value will only go down from here as his salary rises and his window of control shrinks.

The club isn’t in clear seller mode at 46-47, just below .500. But they are 5.5 games back of a playoff spot and could perhaps lean a bit more to the sell side, making certain players available without necessarily tanking their chances here in 2024. They already made one such move out of their rotation, trading Aaron Civale to the Brewers but quickly replacing him by recalling Shane Baz.

Amed Rosario and José Caballero are each on the roster and have a bit of third-base experience. Curtis Mead has been hitting well in Triple-A since being optioned earlier this year. There’s also Junior Caminero, one of the top prospects in the league. He’s missed a lot of this year due to quad strains but recently began a rehab assignment. Austin Shenton, Osleivis Basabe and Jonathan Aranda are also on the 40-man, although Aranda is currently out with an oblique strain.

The Rays always have some degree of openness to trading a player approaching free agency and then replacing him with a younger and/or cheaper version. Paredes would be an extreme example since he’s still fairly affordable and has plenty of control left, but perhaps there are factors making the front office consider it. The Playoff Odds at FanGraphs only give the Rays a 13.4% shot of cracking the postseason this year, with the PECOTA Standings at Baseball Prospectus even less optimistic at 8.9%.

They are not totally buried but perhaps they might look at their long odds and decide to prioritize the future by exchanging Paredes for whatever haul of prospects he could bring back. If Caminero or someone else can come up and replace a portion of Paredes’ production, their chances of making a late run here in 2024 wouldn’t even drop by all that much.

As always, the likelihood of a trade actually happening will depend on what kinds of offers are put on the table. The relative lack of attractive infield trade candidates could work in Tampa’s favor. Jazz Chisholm Jr. seems likely to be moved but he’s mostly been in the outfield lately, meaning a club eyeing him as an infield solution would be taking on risk in putting him back on the dirt. Luis Rengifo would draw interest but he’s currently on the injured list and the Angels are reportedly leaning towards hanging onto controllable guys. Players like Gio Urshela, Brendan Rodgers and Paul DeJong could be available as well but aren’t likely to generate much excitement.

Contending clubs such as the Dodgers, Yankees, Diamondbacks, Mariners, Red Sox and others could all be on the lookout for infield help between now and the July 30 deadline. With few attractive options on the block, it’s understandable that Paredes is coming up in conversations. Perhaps the market conditions, the Rays’ depth and their position in the standings could all work to push a deal over the line in the coming weeks.