What the Rays need to add this offseason

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ST. PETERSBURG -- The World Series is winding down, which means it’s time for the Rays to start constructing their roster for next year. Here’s a quick primer as the Hot Stove season begins.

Which players have contract options?
Longtime center fielder Kevin Kiermaier has a $13 million club option that the Rays are expected to decline in the coming days, making him a free agent. Kiermaier’s buyout is $2.5 million.

Which players are free agents?
Kiermaier will join catcher Mike Zunino, starter Corey Kluber and Trade Deadline pickup David Peralta in free agency the day after the World Series ends. The Rays will at least keep the door open for Zunino, and potentially Kiermaier, to return.

Who needs to be reinstated from the 60-day injured list?
Five days after the World Series ends, the Rays must reinstate the following players to the 40-man roster or cut ties with them: Nick Anderson, Shane Baz, J.P. Feyereisen, Andrew Kittredge, Brendan McKay, Ryan Thompson and Brandon Lowe. They’ll also have to make some minor moves to clear space on the roster.

Who is arbitration-eligible?
Who isn’t? The Rays have 19 players eligible for salary arbitration, most in the Majors.

They are: Ji-Man Choi, Yonny Chirinos, Yandy Díaz, Ryan Yarbrough, Shawn Armstrong, Jalen Beeks, Andrew Kittredge, Francisco Mejía, Jeffrey Springs, Roman Quinn, Nick Anderson, Harold Ramírez, Colin Poche, JT Chargois, Pete Fairbanks, Christian Bethancourt, Ryan Thompson, Jason Adam and Randy Arozarena. Adam and Arozarena qualified as “Super Two” players.

Are there any non-tender candidates?
Some arb-eligible players could be traded or cut loose prior to the tender deadline. Teams must formally tender contracts to unsigned players, including those eligible for arbitration, by 8 p.m. ET on Nov. 18. If a player is non-tendered, he becomes a free agent.

The Rays’ top arb-eligible non-tender candidates are probably Choi, Yarbrough and Anderson. Choi is projected by MLB Trade Rumors to earn $4.5 million next season after a brutal second half, Yarbrough is likely to make $4.2 million after being shuttled between the Majors and Triple-A, and Anderson is projected for $845,000 after two injury-marred seasons.

Who needs to be protected from the Rule 5 Draft?
The Rays should perhaps prepare to lose some prospects in the Rule 5 Draft, which will be held during the Winter Meetings in San Diego on Dec. 7. They have a ton of eligible players and a roster crunch that makes it impossible to shield them all.

The deadline to add players to the 40-man roster to protect them from the Rule 5 Draft is 6 p.m. ET on Nov. 15. The slam-dunk choices are top prospects Taj Bradley and Curtis Mead, who should debut next year.

The list of other eligible prospects to consider is not short -- and still not fully comprehensive: Xavier Edwards, Greg Jones, Colby White, Heriberto Hernandez, Osleivis Basabe, John Doxakis, Brett Wisely, Kameron Misner, Austin Shenton, Blake Hunt, Ronny Simon, Michael Mercado and Ruben Cardenas.

What kind of help do the Rays need?
Their pitching is in a good place, but they could pursue a back-of-the-rotation veteran and the typically undervalued relievers they identify so well to provide further depth.

They need help offensively. They scored 666 runs last season, 21st in the Majors, after ranking second with 857 runs in 2021. It falls upon the front office to decide which returning hitters will bounce back with better health, whose underperformance is cause for concern, who they can count on to improve and where they’re vulnerable.

They clearly need better left-handed hitting, as their .630 OPS from the left side was third-worst in the Majors. They also need more production at first base, where their .704 OPS ranked 20th in MLB.

Whom might they be willing to trade?
Turnover is inevitable with the Rays, so they’ll likely at least entertain sensible offers for anyone besides Wander Franco, Shane McClanahan and the recently extended Tyler Glasnow. It can’t be ruled out, but it’s hard to imagine them parting with integral hitters like Arozarena and Díaz while searching for more offense.

More likely, the Rays could part with some arb-eligible players and pitching depth -- they have more bullpen options than available spots. There are four strong lefty relief candidates in Brooks Raley, Garrett Cleavinger, Poche and Beeks, for instance, and it’s unlikely they’ll carry all of them.

The Rays often make deals involving Rule 5-eligible prospects they can’t protect. They traded pitcher Tobias Myers for young prospect Junior Caminero last winter, for example, and packaged Seth Johnson and Jayden Murray in a three-way deal that brought back Jose Siri before the Trade Deadline. Similar deals this offseason would make sense.