MLB Trade Rumors: Rays Surprisingly Have Young Pitcher on Trade Block

The Tampa Bay Rays, as per usual, are right in the thick of the playoff chase this season, despite playing their home games in a minor league ballpark, and all the other traps that come with being a small-market, small-budget team.

They're in 4th place in the AL East, but just a game back of a Wild Card berth, and only 5.5 games out of first place in the division.

As they await ace Shane McClanahan to make his return from Tommy John surgery (potentially within a couple of weeks), the rest of their starting staff continues to hold down the fort, as they sit 4th in WHIP in the majors, and right around the top 10 in many other key pitching stats.

They're "open for business," according to insider Bob Nightengale of USA Today, when it comes to making deals to try to improve their roster for the stretch run.

It comes as a bit of a surprise, however, that they're apparently open, says Nightengale, to "listening to offers for Taj Bradley."

Currently the 5th starter in their rotation, Bradley has not had a great season, pitching to a 4.60 ERA in 19 starts. His strikeouts are way down this season, to just 7.7 per nine innings, from the 10.5 K/9 that he averaged over his first two big league seasons.

But the 24-year-old is obviously still young, and was ranked as high as the 18th prospect in all of baseball in 2022.

But if it comes to contending for this season, Bradley is apparently looked at as expendable by the Rays.

With McClanahan coming back, and Ryan Pepiot, Shane Baz and Zack Littell doing a nice job in the rotation, we'll see if they decide to move on from Bradley.

He's under team control through to 2030 before he's eligible for free agency, making him an attractive piece for teams to take a look at.