Tampa Bay Rays: Re-Grading Every Offseason Acquisition

It was a productive offseason for Tampa Bay Rays general manger Andrew Friedman, as he significantly bolstered the team's offense and organizational depth.

The Rays made headlines this winter when they pulled off a huge blockbuster with Kansas City, trading away James Shields and Wade Davis for a talented haul of prospects which included Wil Myers. Tampa Bay also filled in some crucial holes on its roster via free agency, signing James Loney to play first base and Yunel Escobar for shortstop.

Of course, some acquisitions haven't turned out to be as good as others, but at the end of the day, it was a successful offseason for the Rays.

Here's my updated evaluation and grading on every offseason signee.

*Take note that only players on the 25-man active roster are included. I also excluded players who were re-signed (Kyle Farnsworth and Luke Scott) from this article.

Kelly Johnson

Kelly Johnson has been arguably the best free-agent acquisition for the Rays, well exceeding expectations so far this season. Johnson, who had not-very-productive 2011 and 2012 seasons, has rebounded in a huge way in 2013.

He's posted a .275/.340/.515 slash line with 10 homers, 35 RBI and a 134 wRC+. Johnson has been strong defensively as well, compiling a 2.4 UZR after putting up a -6.9 UZR last season.

It's safe to say that he's well worth the $2.45 million that he's being paid in his one-year deal.

Grade: A+

Roberto Hernandez

When the Rays lost James Shields and Wade Davis in the Wil Myers blockbuster, Friedman felt that it was necessary to pick up an additional arm to contribute to the starting rotation and/or bullpen. He went out and signed veteran sinkerballer Roberto Hernandez, formerly known as Fausto Carmona, to a one-year deal worth $3.25 million.

After 10 starts with the Rays, Hernandez has posted a 4.87 ERA with a 4.69 FIP and 7.85 K/9. Nobody really expected him to return to frontline-starter form, but if he keeps up this kind of performance, he'll eventually be demoted from the rotation to either a bullpen spot or the minor leagues.

With the emergence of Alex Torres, Chris Archer, Jake Odorizzi and Alex Colome, Hernandez's job is definitely in jeopardy. If Hernandez can't maintain his rotation spot, hopefully he can make a positive contribution to the bullpen with his ground-ball services.

Grade: C-

James Loney

After a down year with the Dodgers and Red Sox in 2012, the Rays didn't know how much production they would get out of James Loney this season. So far he's been more than a best-case scenario, batting .324/.390/.516 with a very impressive 150 wRC+.

The $2 million that the Rays are paying their starting first baseman this year is more than a bargain.

Loney has not only outperformed Carlos Pena offensively as Tampa Bay's first baseman, but he's also provided a lot of value defensively, as he's been one of the better-fielding first basemen in the league for a while. He's been a key part of both the Rays' improved offense and defense in 2013.

Grade: A+

Yunel Escobar

Acquiring Yunel Escobar was another smart pick-up by Andrew Friedman this offseason. Adding Escobar was a great decision in all respects: the Rays gave away only a Single-A [not-top] prospect in the trade for him and also have the veteran shortstop under a reasonable $5 million contract through 2015.

Although Escobar hasn't been very productive offensively (currently owns a .299 wOBA, which is actually higher than projected and not too bad for a shortstop), he's been extremely valuable to this Rays team.

In the previous two seasons, the Rays couldn't get any kind of stable production from the shortstop position, tooling around with different mediocre-at-best players such as Sean Rodriguez, Elliot Johnson and Reid Brignac. With Escobar, the Rays no longer have that problem.

For the first time since 2010, Tampa Bay has a defensively-solid everyday shortstop. 

Grade: A+