It’s been not even a week since the Tampa Bay Rays made a move that — on the surface — surprised the baseball community, including us here at DRaysBay, when they traded first baseman Jake Bauers to the Indians for jack-of-many-trades Yandy Diaz and 28-year-old reliever Cole Sulser.
But while we knew that Diaz was a target, albeit a secondary one to trade target Edwin Encarnacion, no one saw Jake Bauers being the sacrificial piece. Especially us. Probably because of this, which was tweeted out less than 18 hours ahead of the trade:
#Rays GM Erik Neander says the team will look at all options but he says that Jake Bauers “is our guy” at first base
— Juan Toribio (@juanctoribio) December 13, 2018
Additionally, we had also heard Kevin Cash sing Jake’s praises on Monday during his press conference, expressing his confidence that ‘he’ll figure it out’ and be a competent first baseman.