The Rays have agreed to a one-year deal with free-agent outfielder Colby Rasmus, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com and Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that Rasmus will receive a guarantee around $5 million, with incentives potentially upping the deal’s value to $7 million.
The Rays have looked for outfield help all winter, and were linked to top remaining options like Jose Bautista and Brandon Moss before closing in on Rasmus. Rasmus will join Corey Dickerson, Kevin Kiermaier, Steven Souza and Mikie Mahtook in the Rays’ outfield mix, likely seeing significant playing time at all three spots.
Rasmus, 30, drew some interest from the Orioles and Blue Jays this winter after hitting just .206/.286/.355 with 15 homers in 107 games for the Astros. He is viewed as a strong bounce-back candidate on a one-year deal for Tampa.
Rasmus is the second significant free-agent addition of the offseason for the Rays, who added catcher Wilson Ramos on a two-year deal during the winter meetings last month. Tampa Bay is still considering the possibility of trading a starter like Chris Archer or Drew Smyly, and has been discussing many scenarios involving both pitchers for most of the winter.
Rasmus is a veteran of eight major-league seasons with the Cardinals (2009-11), Blue Jays (2011-14) and Astros (2015-16). In that span, he owns a career .241/.311/.434 line with 156 home runs in 1,037 games.