During the past offseason, Alex Cobb was one of the more persistent names to come up in trade rumors. As he had missed the majority of the past two seasons as he recovered from Tommy John surgery, and was a year away from free agency, it was expected that the Tampa Bay Rays would have interest in trading him. However, they resisted those efforts, refusing to sell low on a former top starter.
That decision to retain Cobb has worked out thus far. While he is still working his way back, Cobb has pitched relatively well thus far in 2017.