Rays seeking catching help during Meetings

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Bolstering the catching ranks remained the compelling pursuit for the Rays as the first day of the Winter Meetings unfolded on Monday.

MLB.com and MLB Network will have wall-to-wall coverage of the 2016 Winter Meetings from the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center outside Washington, D.C. Fans can watch live streaming of all news conferences and manager availability on MLB.com, including the Rule 5 Draft on Thursday at 9 a.m. ET.

If the season began today, the Rays would have the catching tandem of Luke Maile and Curt Casali. Both have their strengths, but the club would like to upgrade at the position. However, such an upgrade is a tall order given the lack of available quality catchers.

• Hot Stove Tracker

Among the group of available free-agent catchers are Matt Wieters, Wilson Ramos, Alex Avila, Kurt Suzuki, and Welington Castillo. Of that group, the Rays have been rumored to have interest in Castillo, who became a free agent on Friday when the D-backs did not tender him a contract.

More than likely, the track the Rays would follow in finding a new receiver would be via a trade, that could cost the club one of its coveted starting pitchers.

“It’s no secret that catching depth is hard to come by in this game and certainly it’s a priority for us to …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com