Fastball

Tampa Bay Rays Sign Rehabbing Reliever to Two-Year Deal

Right-handed reliever Garrett Acton has signed a two-year deal with the Tampa Bay Rays, though he is expected to miss the entire 2024 season as he rehabs from Tommy John surgery.

Brady Farkas

Tampa Bay Rays Sign Rehabbing Reliever to Two-Year Deal
Tampa Bay Rays Sign Rehabbing Reliever to Two-Year Deal /
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Right-handed relief pitcher Garrett Acton has signed a two-year deal with the Tampa Bay Rays.

He is expected to miss nearly all of the 2024 season as he recovers from Tommy John surgery but he could be an option for Tampa Bay in 2025.

Per Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times:

#Rays have signed RHP Garrett Acton to a minor-league deal, as @JonHeyman said.

It’s a 2-year deal, as Acton is rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, so no invite to major-league camp in ‘24.

Signing a two-year deal is smart for both sides here. For Acton's perspective, he gets a place to do his rehab, guaranteed money and an instant chance at a job in 2025. For the Rays, they get a guaranteed chance to keep Acton on the roster for 2025 if he is healthy enough to be productive.

The 25-year-old righty appeared in six major league games in 2023 for the woeful Oakland Athletics, pitching to a 12.71 ERA over 5.2 innings.

In the minor leagues, he's gone 11-11 with a 4.66 ERA. He has served primarily as a reliever.

There's no telling how the 2025 Rays will look but taking fliers on interesting arms is what they do, so this makes sense. As far as the 2024 season is concerned, Tampa Bay has more concerns on the staff: Drew Rasmussen, Jeffrey Springs and Shane McClanahan are all expected to miss all or most of the season because of serious arm injuries.

The Rays won 99 games and finished second in the American League East last season.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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