Tampa Bay Rays Designate Infielder Osleivis Basabe For Assignment to Complete Trade

In order to officially acquire swingman Alex Faedo in a trade with the Detroit Tigers, the Tampa Bay Rays decided to remove Osleivis Basabe from their 40-man roster.

St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Osleivis Basabe (37) hits an RBI single against the Colorado Rockies in the fourth inning at Tropicana Field. / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

The Tampa Bay Rays have designated infielder Osleivis Basabe for assignment, the team announced Monday afternoon.

Tampa Bay was required to remove a player from its 40-man roster in order to officially acquire swingman Alex Faedo in a trade with the Detroit Tigers. The Rays gave up cash considerations and catcher Enderson Delgado as part of the deal, but Delgado was not on their 40-man roster

Basabe, who turned 24 years old in September, will either be traded or placed on waivers in the next seven days.

The Tampa Bay Rays have acquired RHP Alex Faedo from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for C Enderson Delgado and cash considerations.

To make room on the 40-man roster, INF Osleivis Basabe has been designated for assignment.

— Rays Communications (@RaysPR) February 3, 2025

Basabe was one of the three prospects the Texas Rangers traded to Tampa Bay in exchange for first baseman Nathaniel Lowe in December 2020. By the midpoint of the 2023 season, Basabe was ranked as the No. 6 prospect in the Rays' farm system.

Tampa Bay called Basabe up to make his MLB debut on Aug. 13, 2023, when he was still just 22 years old. He proceeded to hit .218 with one home run, 12 RBI, a .587 OPS and a 0.4 WAR in 31 games down the stretch, primarily playing shortstop but also seeing time at second and third base.

Basabe returned to Triple-A to open the following season, suffering a fractured wrist soon after. His batting average and OPS with Durham dipped from .296 and .777 in 2023 to .248 and .629 in 2024.

The Rays signed Gold Glove infielder Ha-Seong Kim to a multi-year deal last week. Even though he is expected to miss the first month of the season recovering from shoulder surgery, Kim's arrival still made it difficult for Basabe to survive a roster crunch.

Yandy Díaz, Brandon Lowe, Junior Caminero, Taylor Walls, José Caballero and Jonathan Aranda are expected to be the infielders that make Tampa Bay's Opening Day roster. After Kim returns from injury, top prospect Carson Williams could be deemed big-league ready in his own right.

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