10:17pm: The sides are in agreement on what is believed to be a multi-year deal, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post.
10:04pm: The Rays are closing in on a deal with free agent left-hander Steven Matz, reports Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times. The deal is still pending a physical.
Matz spent the 2025 season working out of the bullpen. The 11-year big league veteran split the season between the Cardinals and Red Sox. He combined for 76 2/3 innings of 3.05 ERA ball. Matz has a long background as a starter and worked in a swing role with St. Louis as recently as 2024. He could compete for a rotation spot or work multiple innings out of Kevin Cash’s bullpen.
The 34-year-old Matz just wrapped up a four-year, $44MM free agent deal that he’d signed with St. Louis. The signing didn’t really go as the Cardinals planned. Matz had a difficult time staying healthy. He missed most of the 2022 season to a shoulder impingement. A lat strain shelved him in the second half of the following season, and a lower back injury wiped out much of 2024.
Matz combined for just 197 1/3 innings over the first three seasons of that contract. He posted a 4.47 ERA with a slightly below-average 21.9% strikeout percentage. The Cards only gave him a pair of spot starts this year. He still frequently worked into a second inning out of the bullpen but wasn’t tasked with as significant a workload. Matz managed to stay healthy and turned in arguably his best season since 2021.
More to come.
