It’s a nonstarter: Rays have arms, but likely won’t deal them

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In a bleak landscape for pitching, the Tampa Bay Rays are awash in talented young starters with affordable contracts and several years of club control. Survey the available options, and Tampa is an oasis of promise in a desert of back-end, complementary types.

But as the Aug. 1 deadline nears and speculation builds that Andrew Cashner and Jeremy Hellickson will soon be on the move, and Jose Quintana might be in play, and Rich Hill will be dealt if he can get past that pesky blister, the snippets of news out of Tampa Bay have been underwhelming.

As each day passes without a match, potential trade partners are becoming more convinced that Tampa Bay will sit this deadline out.

Several teams that have had conversations with the Rays have concluded they’re perfectly willing — and leaning toward — hanging onto their big assets and waiting to act during the winter, when they can engage with 29 MLB teams rather than a handful making playoff pushes. While the Rays will probably trade Steve Pearce and could find a new home for reliever Erasmo Ramirez over the next few days, there’s a growing sense in baseball circles that starters Chris Archer, Matt Moore, Jake Odorizzi and Drew Smyly will end the season where they started it.

“I think they’ll take it to the offseason,” said an official with a club in the starting pitcher market. “They’ll get a lot of information now. They’ll find out who’s really serious, and then they’ll take the month of August to really scout that organization and see who they have a good fit with. There’s no urgency for them to do stuff now. They can set a price, and if they don’t get it, they’ll take it into the offseason and go from there.”

The Rays are 38-61 and 20 games out of first place in the American League East, and run prevention issues have been a major culprit. Tampa Bay’s starters rank 15th in the majors with a 4.25 ERA, and barring a late turnaround, this season will mark the first time since 2009 the Rays’ rotation has been above 4.00 as a group.

Some factors are beyond the pitchers’ control. During one ugly stretch from late May to early July, outfielders Kevin Kiermaier, Brandon Guyer, Steven Souza Jr. and Desmond Jennings all landed on the disabled list. After posting an aggregate 44 Defensive Runs Saved in 2015, Tampa Bay’s outfielders are at 12 this season. In addition, the Rays gave a significant amount of playing time to catcher Hank Conger, who flopped offensively and defensively before Tampa Bay optioned him to Triple-A Durham during the All-Star break.

Still, the numbers are still disappointing, …

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