MIAMI — The Rays checked out a few other hitters during the off-season, getting into talks with Nelson Cruz and DJ LeMahieu among other free agents, exploring some trade options big and small.
When none of those deals happened for various reasons, they ended up signing Avisail Garcia in mid-January for a relative bargain rate of $3.5 million with some incentives, a bit of a gamble as he was coming off knee surgery following a down year with the White Sox that led to him being non-tendered.
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And that has worked out pretty, pretty well.