The JP Feyereisen DFA Stinks To High Heaven
I am going to personally attack Erik Neander today and I hope by the end of this post we can all agree that it was the right thing to do. At what point does performance on the field matter? At what point will teams stop hoarding prospects? At what point will general managers stop using fake numbers as the end all, be-all when making decisions? The decision to DFA JP Feyereisen stinks to high heaven and I’m going to tell you why.
The Rays 40 man roster is so packed that a guy that pitched a zero ERA didn’t make their team. How does that not bother anyone else? I understand that Tampa also got Drew Rasmussen in the Willy Adames trade too. It still doesn’t change the fact that it’s asset mismanagement. Tampa did find a taker after the Dodgers gave them a no-name back end prospect to land JP after the DFA.
Keep in mind, Feyereisen is still controllable through the 2026 season via arbitration. This isn’t a situation where the Rays couldn’t afford him anymore. 22 games with Tampa last year across 24.1 innings pitched. Zero ERA. Apparently, not good enough to make this Rays team. He’s also in the prime of his career at 29 years of age.
At what point do we look at this Rays team and just call them a waste of time? At what point do the made-up analytics go too far? I still haven’t forgotten the Kevin Cash fiasco in the World Series. Can we just be honest about the Rays; their smoke and mirrors method works to some degree but it will never get them over the hump. It’s just a rat team that creates a line of demarcation. Congrats on being the Cowboy Cerrone of baseball. The Rudy Gobert / Donovan Mitchell version of the Utah Jazz. A team that’s good enough to make the playoffs but never good enough to put the big boy pants on and win the damn thing.
The Rays should be embarrassed by this DFA. When you’re literally cutting a guy that posted a ZERO ERA for you, maybe it’s time to cash some of the chips in. Maybe it’s time to unload some of those precious prospects so people can actually take you seriously as a real contender. We already know the story when it comes to people like Neader and his former butt buddy, Chaim Bloom. They believe in their smoke and mirror numbers to a fault. Will never have the big boy pants necessary to actually win anything.
JP Feyereisen deserved better and the Rays should be ashamed of themselves. It’s egregious asset manager and further proof I’d run circles around these guys if given the chance.
