After being purchased for $100,000 from the Dodgers in May and subsequently becoming one of the Tampa Bay Rays‘ most productive hitters down the stretch, Travis d’Arnaud is headed towards free agency. d’Arnaud will be highly sought after this offseason as he joins Yasmani Grandal as one of the better free agent options behind the dish.
Sure, the Rays would love to retain Travis d’Arnaud as they await the arrival of Ronaldo Hernandez, their #7 overall prospect, but as always it will boil down to the dollars and cents. The Rays, who won 96 games and advanced to the ALDS despite having the lowest payroll (64M) in all of baseball, already have 60M tied up for 2020 leaving little room to sign d’Arnaud.