Rays turn attention to playoff push after chaotic Deadline

This story was excerpted from Adam Berry’s Rays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

As frenetic and fun as the Trade Deadline may feel for those following along, the best part for those inside the clubhouse of a contending team often comes when the last deal has been made, and the flurry of transactions gives way to the game’s typical pace.

That’s when they can look around the room and think, as Rays starter Nick Martinez said earlier this week, “All right, this is the group of guys that we’re going to battle [with] the rest of the season and make that playoff push and hopefully a deep run into the playoffs.”

The Rays can say that now. The Trade Deadline has come and gone, and the perception is that they did well for themselves. The front office made their moves, acquiring starter Freddy Peralta, catcher Liam Hicks, reliever Tyler Wells and Triple-A outfielder Jack Suwinski.

Take a look at the roster. This is their team. What happens next is up to the people inside the clubhouse.

“Now it’s time to go play baseball and put the entirety of our focus back to what we have, rather than what we don’t have,” president of baseball operations Erik Neander said. “And that’s always a lot of fun once you get past the Deadline.”

With that in mind, let’s look at what the Rays have heading into the post-Deadline dog days of August.

Prime postseason position

The Rays still have the best record in the American League, at 68-46, thanks to a 12-4 run since they came out of the All-Star break on the wrong end of a four-game sweep at Fenway Park.

They control their own destiny in the AL East race, with the potential to also secure the league’s top seed in the postseason. With 48 games to go, they have a 4 1/2-game lead over the Yankees.

It won’t be easy to hold off the Yankees or Red Sox, but FanGraphs gives the Rays a 99.6% chance to make the playoffs and a 66.2% chance to win the division.

“I felt really good going into the Deadline [and] coming out of the Deadline,” manager Kevin Cash said. “We’ve got a good club. They’ve given us a lot of reasons to feel good about it.”

A deep pitching staff

You could easily argue this was already the Rays’ strength, yet two of their three big league trades brought in more pitching.

We’ll see if the Rays made the right bet on Peralta, whose struggles with the Mets followed him to Coors Field in his team debut. Regardless, he’ll help cover important innings that would otherwise go to less-proven pitchers or starters with workload concerns that must be managed.

Whenever Shane McClanahan returns, the Rays can choose how they want to run out Drew Rasmussen, Martinez, McClanahan, Peralta, Griffin Jax and Ian Seymour, with bulk-inning options like Mason Englert and Jesse Scholtens in Triple-A. That should help keep their top arms fresh for the most important games of the year.

They also may soon run into the issue -- hard to call it a problem -- of having too many quality bullpen options.

The high-leverage group includes closer Bryan Baker, Kevin Kelly, Wells -- who looked nasty in his Rays debut -- and lefties Garrett Cleavinger and Cam Booser. Casey Legumina has capably handled many different roles, and they want to see what they can get out of lefty Steven Matz.

Right-hander Manuel Rodríguez is making progress on his rehab assignment, giving them another late-inning arm if he returns to form, and righty Cole Sulser (back spasms) wasn’t expected to be sidelined long. Plus, there’s the potential to move one of the starters into a relief role when the rotation is at full strength.

A slightly longer lineup that’s still top-heavy

It’s too soon to say that the Rays’ “Big Three” has become a “Big Four,” even after Hicks’ incredible first impression, but having him in the cleanup spot behind Yandy Díaz, Jonathan Aranda and Junior Caminero changes the way you look at the lineup.

All of a sudden, you’ve got four on-base/power threats atop the order before chaos agents like Chandler Simpson start slapping the ball around, dropping bunts and running all over the place.

The most valid criticism of the Rays’ Deadline is that they’re probably still a bat short, but Neander pushed back against that idea a bit on Monday night, pointing out the ways the Rays have put together the AL’s best record.

“All you hear is, ‘Oh, we need more bats.’ … And I understand. You’re always looking for ways to get better,” Neander said. “But there’s a lot of other ways to win baseball games, and these guys do it. They do it in some ways that are measurable with their legs, with the way they play situational baseball, the way they play just baseball, right? And the way they play defense. They do a lot of little things well.”