Texas Rangers: Four best fits for Kyle Gibson in a trade
By Sean Basile
Tampa Bay Rays
An American League Cy Young is not out of the question for Gibson at this point even with his recent skid, so remaining in the AL would certainly be in his best interest.
One thing that the Rays do very well is manage a pitching staff. What they’re low on right now is actual guys to manage. They’ve suffered a bunch of injuries to the starting rotation and their pen is still trying to get itself healthy with Nick Anderson, Chaz Roe, and Oliver Drake all looking to get back into action in the coming month.
Tampa is in play to not only get to the postseason but win the AL East outright, so a big need they have to fill now is starting pitcher, especially after they traded Rich Hill away.
The problem with these bullpen-heavy teams is that they eventually run out of steam (at least in this day and age in the early stages of the strategy’s evolution). We saw the Rays run out of steam a bit last year in the ALCS which then transitioned into the World Series. The same thing went for the Milwaukee Brewers back in 2018 and the Oakland A’s in both of their Wild Card Game losses in ’18 and ’19. The Los Angeles Dodgers look to be going through something similar right now.
At this stage, another quality starter would go miles for a team like the Rays who need to preserve some of their bullpen’s energy if they’re going to try and make another run at the crown.