clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Rays non-tender Ben Francisco

After coming to arbitration agreements with their other eight eligible players, the Rays decided not to tender a contract to outfielder Ben Francisco.

By Bryan Kilpatrick
Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE

The Tampa Bay Rays chose not to tender a contract to outfielder Ben Francisco before the deadline on Friday night, according to MLB.com's Bill Chastain.

Francisco, who was the Rays' only arbitration-eligible player to be non-tendered, will become a free agent. He joined the team on Aug. 31 after being acquired in a trade from the Houston Astros for a player to be named later. Francisco went on to hit .228/.270/.421 in 63 plate appearances with Tampa Bay, and finished the 2012 season with .234/.282/.402 batting line in 117 plate appearances with the Rays, Astros and Toronto Blue Jays.

Francisco's best season as a big leaguer came in 2008 with the Cleveland Indians. He hit .266/.332/.438 with 15 home runs and was one of the better defensive corner outfielders in the game.

Before deciding to non-tender Francisco, the Rays had already reached arbitration agreements with David Price, Jeff Niemann, Burke Badenhop, Matt Joyce, Sean Rodriguez, Reid Brignac, Sam Fuld and Ryan Roberts.

Photographs by cstreet.us, thelastminute, turtlemom nancy , fesek, kthypryn, justinwright, sue_elias, pointnshoot, and scrapstothefuture used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.