By: TJ Hartnett

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

Going into any offseason, there’s also tons of focus on big-name free agents and stars that might available for trade.

This year there was Gerritt Cole, Anthony Rendon, Josh Donaldson, and a host of other players available on the market, as well as potential trade targets like Mookie.

In the past few years there have been several big names that held out for months; sometimes into the next season itself, before inking with a new team. This year, as Spring Training is here, that didn’t really happen. The players at the top of the free agent list have signed and know to whose camp they need to report to.

But there is one player, a guy who has managed to go relatively overlooked until suddenly he became the lone holdout of the offseason, who is still looking for his next contract: Yasiel Puig.

Puig is a former All-Star for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who finished up a very good year split between the Cincinnati Reds and the Cleveland Indians.

His big personality and reported troubles in the clubhouse have continued to follow him around, overshadowing the .267 batting average, 30 doubles, 24 homeruns, 19 stolen bases, and .785 OPS that he managed in 2019, not to mention that his batting average and OBS improved down the stretch after the trade (his slugging percentage did take a .475 to .423 dip).

These are the kind of offensive numbers that any team would be delighted to have roaming around in their outfield. However, he hasn’t gotten much love through the offseason until now.

People are starting to wonder if he might not find himself in Tampa Bay.

At first glance that seems unlikely: The Rays are notably crowded in the outfield, with plenty of players fighting for at-bats and innings as it is. Plus, there’d be no guarantee of 500+ plate appearances even for a player with Puig’s pedigree. So, what would be the appeal for Puig?

Well, the big money, multi-year deal he was certainly hoping for has not panned out, so he may be looking for somewhere to sign a short-term contract and try again after the 2020 season has ended.

Platooning wouldn’t be a logical choice, but the appeal of playing in Tampa would bring two other things: championship opportunity and image rehab.

The Rays, as we seem to have to learn year after year after year, can never be counted out in the AL East.

Despite the New York Yankees going full Yankee and signing Cole to a contract they’ll likely regret and putting themselves even further in front of the division (on paper), the Rays are talented enough, savvy enough, and have enough of a proven track record that they may very well challenge for that title. If nothing else, at least continue to battle for an AL Wild Card spot.

A team that might give him a one-year contract to play full-time in the outfield might not be contending for a playoff spot and while he could pad his numbers in a place like Kanas City or back in Cincy, surely, he’d like to fight for the postseason?

Plus, it benefits to Puig’s image. If he goes to a team where he willingly accepts a smaller role in order to help the team win it can erase whatever’s left of teams’ hesitancy to bring him into their clubhouse in the future.

It remains to be seen if these rumors will turn into factual reporting (and I’d be curious to see what kind of monetary value Puig and the Rays could meet in the middle with) but Puig to Tampa is a real possibility – and a very interesting prospect.