ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Rays announced a pair of trades late Friday afternoon, one of which provides an option at shortstop, something that has been a pressing issue with Wander Franco’s future appearing gloomier by the day.
Luke Raley, whose power and hustle made him one of the more popular Rays during a breakthrough 2023 season, was dealt to Seattle for infielder Jose Caballero. The 27-year-old Caballero started 70 games as a rookie last season, including 13 at short. The bulk (53) of his starts were at second base.
The right-handed hitting Caballero, who is listed at 5-foot-9 and 185 pounds, hit .221 with four homers in 231 at-bats. He stole 26 bases in 29 attempts. Putting the bat on the ball can be an issue as he struck out 66 times.
Read: Judge Conditionally Releases Tampa Bay Rays’ Wander Franco
The native of Panama was drafted by the Diamondbacks in 2017 out of Chipola College in the Florida panhandle city of Marianna. Caballero, who started 94 games at short in the minors while also seeing time at second and third, was dealt to Seattle during the 2019 season. He has stolen 85 bases in 238 minor league games.
In addition to Franco’s legal issues, Taylor Walls is recovering from hip surgery and his status for at least of the early part of the season is unknown.
The Rays also obtained outfielder Richie Palacios from St. Louis in exchange for reliever Andrew Kittredge. The 26-year-old Palacios split last season between the Cleveland and St. Louis organizations and appeared in 32 games (.258, 6 homers) with the Cardinals after being acquired in June. The Brooklyn native made his MLB debut in 2022 with Cleveland, hitting .232 (no homers) in 54 games.
The 5-foot-10 and 180-pound Palacios is a .288 career hitter with 25 homers in 289 minor league games.
The oft-injured Kittredge went 18-7 with 15 saves and a 3.41 ERA in 181 games with the Rays. The 33-year-old righthander appeared in 14 games last season after returning from Tommy John surgery. He debuted with Tampa Bay in 2017 and has spent his entire MLB career with the Rays.
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