Phillies Acquiring Rays Prospect Yoniel Curet

The rule 5 draft (both a loss and an addition) wasn’t the only source of waves the Phillies made on Wednesday.

The team also completed a trade with the Rays for Yoniel Curet.

Curet had been DFA’d, but is listed as the Rays #22 prospect – and was the #2 prospect in the system prior to the 2025 season.

Phillies are acquiring righty Yoniel Curet from the Rays for minor-league reliever Tommy McCollum, sources said. Curet, 23, had been DFAd by Tampa Bay. Plus fastball, but control issues. Could be reliever. Goes on 40-man roster. Has a minor-league option.

— Matt Gelb (@MattGelb) December 10, 2025

Heading to the Rays in the deal is Tommy McCollum.

The Phillies had McCollum make some changes at the start of last season and he was their most dominant bullpen arm in AA for most of the season following his return from those changes.

The 26-year-old posted a 3.20 ERA in AA Reading with a 1.09 WHIP, a .225 batting average against, and he held a 48 to 11 strikeout to walk ratio.

Yoniel Curet, meanwhile, will take up a 40-man roster spot. He has one option available for this season.

The 23-year-old had his first season since 2021 with an ERA above 3 last year, with a 6.03 ERA in AAA. He has the “stuff”, relying heavily on a 96+mph sinker, but he struggled with command issues and missing bats as a result.

It’s the same MO as lots of Phillies prospects and people they take fliers on – can throw hard, but lacks control.

He has a cutter and fastball to compliment the sinker.

The last several trades the Phillies have made for Rays young pitchers have netted them Jose Alvarado and Cristopher Sanchez, so it’s safe to assume those worked out. The Phillies will hope they can do the same again here.