caulfield12

"The Rays have formally announced the departure of longtime Assistant General Manager Carlos Rodriguez. When Chaim Bloom (current StL GM) departed the Rays to run the Red Sox in 2019, the team did not elevate a General Manager due to the equity found in talent between Peter Bendix, James Click, and Carlos Rodriguez. Since that time, James Click was recruited to be the General Manager of the Houston Astros in 2020 (winning the World Series in 2022), and Peter Bendix was named General Manager ahead of the 2022 season before being recruited to become President of Baseball Operations of the Miami Marlins after the 2023 season..." https://www.draysbay.com/rays/85871/rays-announce-departure-of-agm-carlos-rodriguez This article neatly summarizes the rationale for Rodriguez's departure. Basically as part of a four headed Asst GM situation and under both Eric Neander and advisor Jon Daniels (ex Rangers)...there was nowhere left to go organizationally under new ownership as Matthew Silverman and Auld both stepped down from top exec roles. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/46295886/rays-presidents-silverman-auld-step-part-sale&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwifz_aA38aRAxUAHUQIHUNCL2AQFnoECBQQAg&usg=AOvVaw2NwCh9zLK7AsmRKOQjryjA Rays during the Carlos Rodriguez years 2010 96 wins 2011 91 2012 90 2013 92 2014-2017 *77/80/*68/80 2018 90 2019 96 2020 40-20 (108-54 pace) 2021 100 2022 86 2023 99 2024 80 2025 *77

"As for Rodriguez, it’s not surprising to see the Cubs explore poaching a Rays’ executive. The Rays have proven adept at building a farm system that should keep Tampa competitive for years to come. Former Rays’ executives hold top positions in Los Angeles, Boston, and Houston, and they’ve proven successful both in and outside of Tampa Bay. Rodriguez is their vice president of player development and international scouting. For the Cubs, they are desperate to build a development team that can do a better job of sustaining success than their previous efforts." https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/10/cubs-narrow-search-for-new-general-manager.html Out of those Cubs' interviews, James Harris went on to interview for the Houston Astros' GM position and is still one of three Asst GMs with Cleveland under Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/01/guardians-announce-several-organizational-promotions.html

What's the latest out of this new role?

What happened to Dan Fabian/ND that ran things for at least 10-15 years?

TLR lol...Rodriguez is more than experienced enough to be the actual GM.

The main point he never even pitched once for CLE in the majors...

Promoting the most diverse group of coaches and front office execs over the years of any team in baseball over the last 45 years, arguably. Loyalty Loyalty Loyalty ... double-edges sword. Add to the list as you wish...this just off top of my head in reaction to Carlos Rodriguez front office announcement. Kim Ng J.Barfield Carlos Rodriguez Kenny Williams...more diversity than other 29 teams' front offices combined arguably Jin Wong formerly KC contracts guy, Bobby Witt, Jr. extension Venable/Jose Leger (DR Academy) Terry Francona R.Renteria TLR Grifol C.Montoyo (even if Robert didn't know him) Ozzie Guillen and family (almost hired Cito Gaston) Man Soo Lee ... first Korean coach in the majors, 2005 WS team Willie Harris Jason Bourgeois Marcus Thames D.Boston/Dave Wilder (not so great) Loyalty to most of those guys, except Razor Shines, Raines, S.Santos and Vizquel (beyond obvious reasons there) All the various Sox ambassadors like Baines, Minnie Minoso, Jose Contreras Entire long history of the Cuban Connection... L.Aparicio/C.Carrasquel Don Wakamatsu Takatsu/Iguchi Joey Cora coaching tree/Camp Cora Pre-JR (Can thank Veeck here...who was an absolute pioneer starting with Satchel Paige) Larry Doby later served as the second black manager in the majors with the Chicago White Sox, and in 1995 was appointed to a position in the AL's executive office...played with Sox twice and retired from MLB with them before going to Japan to finish career. Two biggest negatives to me were treatment of Frank Thomas (KW 50% to blame) as well as HoFer Dick Allen.

https://www.draysbay.com/2021/11/21/22793071/the-rays-newest-prospect-junior-caminero On the other hand, the quietest great trade in MLB history... Tobias Myers (later started for Milwaukee in 2024-25 after CLE minors and Charlotte AAA flops) for budding young 3B Junior Caminero. Myers was a 40 man roster crunch victim in Tampa.

Here's the HUGE elephant in the room that was excised from his official bios. Both a plus on the scouting board, but a huge minus on the character/maturity/background side of things, quite obviously. It turned the fate of the entire Rays' organization around, and led dealing most of their core veterans away the last 2-3 seasons. "Wander Franco, who hails from Bani, Dominican Republic, was scouted and signed by the Rays' director of international scouting Carlos Rodriguez and Dominican Republic scouting supervisor Danny Santana."

Yes he was already a finalist for the Cubs' job that Carter Hawkins eventually got four years ago...that will be repeated numerous times, surely.

By the way, he left his job with the Rays at the conclusion of this past season. So he'd been looking for a new opportunity for about two months or so now. https://www.tampabay.com/sports/rays/2025/10/23/hamilton-marx-assistant-gm-carlos-rodriguez-samantha-bireley/&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwiHzaWPpsaRAxV6kyYFHUDSCgUQFnoECAgQAg&usg=AOvVaw2jEksjpHzU6onK6o0QlgVy "Bokhari and Banner should be mentioned in future GM searches, especially if the Cubs rebuild faster than anticipated. Hoyer’s GM search also included two finalists who are on similar trajectories: Rays VP of player development and international scouting Carlos Rodriguez, a native of Puerto Rico; and Cleveland VP of player development James Harris, a Black man who previously held high-level jobs in football, serving as Chip Kelly’s chief of staff at the University of Oregon and with the Philadelphia Eagles." Long long article about the Cubs' attempts to diversity their front office. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/2975520/2021/11/24/as-major-league-baseball-talks-about-diversity-the-cubs-have-to-put-words-into-more-action/

From 2015-19, Rodriguez served as director of international scouting after three years as director of Latin American scouting (2012-14). During this time, he expanded the Rays’ global scouting presence and refined their international evaluation and acquisition processes. He played a key role in scouting and signing notable players such as José Alvarado, Jonathan Aranda, Vidal Bruján, Genesis Cabrera, Diego Castillo, Yonny Chirinos, Ronaldo Hernández, René Pinto, Cristopher Sánchez and Jesús Sánchez. Rodriguez joined the Rays in 2010 as a professional and international scout after four seasons as an area scout with the Blue Jays. In 2009, he signed Yan Gomes, who became the first Brazilian-born player to reach the major leagues. A native of Puerto Rico, Rodriguez attended the University of North Florida, where he played and later served as an assistant coach. He graduated in 2004 with a double major in international business and economics. He and his wife, Omayra, reside in Tampa with their daughter, Eva Marie. mlb.com

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/12/twins-dan-altavilla-agree-to-minor-league-contract.html Altavilla to Twins' pen likely

What happens with Robert (and eventually Benintendi) should tell us a lot...

Sponsorships/promotions/t.v. advertising rates falloff as well.... You also have to account for Dominican academy costs. Brewers reportedly spent $20-30 million there, for example. We don't have any reason to believe Ishbia would write a check to completely bail JR out of a $130-150 million debt. It's probably spread pretty evenly with the Reinsdorf family, Ishbia and 10-15% remaining minority shateholders. https://www.mlb.com/news/munetaka-murakami-deadline-to-sign-with-mlb-club-is-december-22 Sox not listed as an option here. DBacks added.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/12/giants-designate-joey-wiemer-for-assignment.html Joey Wiemer instead of NPB stars lol?

https://www.mlb.com/news/munetaka-murakami-mlb-star-potential-analysis

https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DiiRRNlzXYuM&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwihkIjI_sWRAxU_kmoFHZvhBsgQFnoECBEQAQ&usg=AOvVaw13w_67O5GSLvRqS0HvQV_g It's all about scouting and making adjustments coming over from NPB. Do you trust your people or not? We can compare offensive profiles...but still apples and oranges when you look at the mostly offspeed/high spin rate diets over in Japan vs. the US. "Murakami's walk-off double His hardest-hit ball tracked in the tournament was a 115.1 mph home run off Merrill Kelly in Japan's win over the U.S. in the championship game. This year in MLB, only 19 players hit a home run 115 mph or harder."

"Teams that are willing to take on more risk and bet on the big upside may wind up having more interest in Murakami, while scouts view Okamoto as a more polished hitter who has a little bit more defensive versatility than Murakami. Okamoto could be targeted more by win-now teams that are looking for a higher-floor player. One evaluator believes Okamoto may out-hit Murakami during their first two or three years in the Majors, but assuming he signs a long-term deal, Murakami will have time to work out the kinks in his swing and become a very productive player." mlb.com Conclusion: Sox pretty much have to roll the dice on players that can be stars versus just very good/solid pros. Wasting first two years of Okamoto doesn't make sense at age 30-31. Murakami Robert, Jr. Braden Montgomery Schultz H.Smith Cholowsky 2026 #2 pick (CF/SS) To hopefully go along with Teel/Colson...Carlson has way too many unknowns at this point.

You're going to draw the Ire of He Who Shall Not be Named.

https://risingapple.com/ny-mets-kazuma-okamoto-contract-prediction-aligns-one-exception 4/$64 million for Okamoto? He can actually play 3B well. Big differentiator. Higher offensive floor than Murakami. Biggest problem is he will be turning 32-33 in 2028/29 competitive window years. Seems a number of teams are hesitating on that fourth year. Basically Murakami the sizzle, Okamoto the steak. "FanGraphs' international scouting page lists Okamoto as having an average hit tool (50-grade) and above-average raw and in-game power. Murakami, by comparison, has a well-below-average hit tool (30-grade), but elite raw power (80) and high-end in-game power (70). Given that Okamoto is more than three years older than Murakami, he is unlikely to command a significant investment in terms of the length of his contract. It's an appealing package for teams that might be concerned about the long-term viability of free agents like Pete Alonso or Kyle Schwarber, who could reasonably expect to receive deals worth at least $100 million." https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25305984-who-will-sign-kazuma-okamoto-latest-top-mlb-landing-spots-and-contract-projections

December 17th: The Cards officially announced May’s signing today. May will make $12.5MM in 2026 and the mutual option is worth $20MM, per Passan. It’s a $12MM salary and a $500K buyout on the option, per Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat. mlbtraderumors.com

Even with the Colts ND Purdue?

NW Indiana?

Can afford not equal to will spend. Otherwise, Cincy would have Schwarber and the Pirates would actually have a legit middle of the order bat to go with that pitching. "Cincy GM Nick Krall refuted that narrative. Deferred money was part of the effort to get Schwarber. “I never said we were going to extend [payroll]," Krall said. "I’ve always told you guys that where our payroll was … we were trying to figure out how to be creative to get him to fit in. We were trying to be creative in year one to figure out how to continue to get him.” mlb.com The problem here is that the main strategy behind Schwarber was a theoretical attendance bump for the hometown hero. The only player in this market Cincy believed could have that type of impact. And still short $25-30 million in the end.