BOSTON — Rather than add to an offense that ranks among the American League's worst, the only deal the Rays made by Friday's nonwaiver deadline was to trade one of their top relievers, Kevin Jepsen, to the Twins for a pair of lower-level minor-league pitchers.
Baseball operations president Matt Silverman said extensive talks led to possibilities — plural — of acquiring hitting, but they felt they were better off with the group they have, and were confident — if those players perform better — they can remain in contention for a playoff spot.
"We don't have a glaring hole that we thought the trade deadline could fill," Silverman said on a conference call. "When you look at the club we have on the field, and especially with (injured outfielder Desmond) Jennings coming back, we believe the offense should be able to score enough runs, especially given our pitching and our defense.
"We have players who haven't performed as well as they would want and we would want. We haven't timed it up as well as we would like. But without that glaring hole that we thought the deadline could fill, we wanted to press ahead with the group that we have."
Actually, Silverman said, it was their confidence in that group that kept them, after trading Jepsen and outfielder David DeJesus (to the Angels on Tuesday) from dealing away more pieces — reliever Jake McGee appeared another possibility — in what turned out to be a seller's market. And Silverman did say they would continue to pursue possible waiver deal additions during August.
"If we didn't feel that way it might have been a different trade deadline for us," he said. "But … we decided to keep this team intact and let those other guys (Jennings and starter Drew Smyly) come back healthy and see what this club can do over the next couple months."
Rays All-Star ace Chris Archer, who on Thursday said he was "hoping" management did its part to address "areas of need," said they would just have to battle on as is.
"We have to look past what we've lost and focus on what we have. Our full effort and focus will not be affected,'' Archer said. "You can only control what you can control. So cliché, but that's all I can say. … I'm not really thinking about being let down or it being tougher because that's not a winning/championship mind-set."
The loss of Jepsen, acquired in December from the Angels for Matt Joyce, did not go over well. Manager Kevin Cash and several players praised him for his work on the mound — a 2.81 ERA, 2-5 record and five saves in 412/3 mostly high-leverage innings — and clubhouse leadership. The Rays will use several pitchers to fill his role.
"It (stinks)," McGee said. "But that's kind of the business, and you go from here."
Silverman said a "key motivator" in the deal was getting Class A right-handed pitchers Chih-Wei Hu and Alexis Tapia. Finances also were likely a factor, as Jepsen was making $3.025 million this year and projected to make around $5 million in 2016, his last before becoming a free agent.
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Explore all your optionsJepsen said even though there had been reports that the Rays would trade a reliever he didn't expect to be dealt, and definitely didn't think he would end up going to a team the Rays are competing with for a wild-card spot.
"It is a little surprising on that part,' Jepsen said.
Going into play Friday, the Rays (51-52) trailed the Twins (53-48) by three games for the second AL wild-card spot. Several other teams in similar position to the Rays, albeit from larger markets, did make big moves, such as the Mets who, at 52-50 and three games out, acquired slugging outfielder Yoenis Cespedes from Detroit.
Contact Marc Topkin at mtopkin@tampabay.com.