Drew Rasmussen's 2027 club option escalates to $17M or more, a top Rays trade candidate

What happened

Drew Rasmussen is expected to emerge as one of the offseason's top trade candidates once Tampa Bay's postseason run concludes, per MLB Trade Rumors. The reason is a contract structure that has quietly grown more complicated — and more expensive — than it appeared when it was first signed.

Rasmussen is currently in the second season of the two-year, $8.5MM deal he reached in January 2025, per MLB Trade Rumors. That agreement bought out his remaining arbitration window and included one additional season of club control: a 2027 option. The base salary on that option was $8MM, but the deal also carried a substantial package of escalators — up to an additional $12MM — tied to health milestones. Per MLB Trade Rumors, those escalators have now kicked in, pushing the value of the 2027 option into the range of $17MM or more depending on where Rasmussen lands within that structure.

That is a meaningful number for a franchise that has long operated with one of the more disciplined payroll structures in the sport. And it is the kind of number that tends to generate phone calls.

Why it matters

The Rays built this contract with optionality in mind. A healthy Rasmussen at $8MM would have been a straightforward decision; a healthy Rasmussen at a figure approaching that upper range is a different conversation entirely, particularly for a club that has historically preferred to move controllable assets before they reach their most expensive years rather than after.

Per MLB Trade Rumors, other teams are expected to inquire about Rasmussen's availability once the offseason gets underway. That framing — inquiries about availability, not a stated intention to trade — is worth preserving. The Rays have not announced any decision about the 2027 option, and MLB Trade Rumors is not reporting a club directive to move him. What the report describes is the structural logic that makes a trade conversation plausible: an ace-caliber arm, a rising price tag, and a front office with a well-documented appetite for converting future value into present flexibility.

None of that means a trade happens. It means the calls will come, and Tampa Bay will have to decide what the option is worth to them relative to what the market might offer in return.

The numbers

The Rays carry an 84-57 record (.596) and sit first in the AL East with a division magic number of 18. They have led the division since the beginning of July, per MLB Trade Rumors, and currently hold a 4.5-game cushion on the Yankees for the number-one seed in the American League.

That cushion matters for how this story develops. A club grinding toward a wild card plays the offseason differently than one that has controlled its division for two months. Tampa Bay's front office will enter the winter from a position of strength, which typically means more leverage in any trade negotiation — and more patience about whether to exercise or shop a high-value option.

Per MLB Trade Rumors, the Rays have played .500 or better ball in every month this season and have gone 27-17 since the All-Star Break. The team on the field has earned the right to have this kind of offseason problem.

Where the club stands

At 84-57 with a division magic number of 18, the Rays are on a one-game winning streak and have the AL East well in hand. The schedule ahead offers a useful window into what the rotation looks like right now: Griffin Jax is the probable starter Wednesday against the New York Mets at Tropicana Field, Shane McClanahan takes the ball Thursday when Tampa Bay opens a road series against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field, and Nick Martinez is lined up for Friday's follow-up in that same series.

That rotation picture — Jax, McClanahan, Martinez across three days — is its own kind of context for the Rasmussen conversation. The Rays are not a team that would be left thin by moving one arm; they have built depth as a matter of organizational philosophy. Whether that depth makes a Rasmussen trade easier to contemplate, or whether Rasmussen himself is central to any postseason ambitions, is precisely the kind of question the front office will be weighing once October is finished.

What we don't know yet

MLB Trade Rumors has not reported that the Rays intend to trade Rasmussen, only that he is expected to be among the offseason's most prominent trade candidates and that other teams are anticipated to ask about him. The club has not announced any decision regarding the 2027 option — whether to exercise it, decline it, or use it as a trade chip.

The value of the escalated option is reported as reaching $17MM or more, with the precise health milestones that determine the final figure not detailed in the report. That gap is not trivial in a negotiation, and the specifics of what triggered the escalators remain unspecified.

It is also worth noting that the immediate focus, per MLB Trade Rumors, remains on the postseason. Any trade scenario is an offseason matter. The Rays are still playing meaningful September baseball with a division title and a top seed within reach, and nothing in the report suggests the front office is doing anything other than concentrating on that.

What to watch

### Will the Rays exercise the 2027 option?

That is the decision everything else flows from. If Tampa Bay picks up the option, Rasmussen stays under club control at a figure the report places at $17MM or more, and the trade conversation shifts to what his value looks like with one guaranteed year attached. If the club declines it, the calculus changes entirely. The report does not indicate which direction the Rays are leaning, and no timetable for that decision has been reported.

Beyond the option question, the volume and nature of trade inquiries this winter will tell its own story. Per MLB Trade Rumors, Rasmussen is expected to draw significant interest. How Tampa Bay responds to that interest — and whether the gap between what they value him at and what the market offers can be bridged — is the thread worth following once the postseason concludes.

For now, the Rays have a magic number of 18, a 4.5-game lead, and an ace whose contract just got a lot more interesting. The offseason can wait.