TAMPA, Fla. (AP) The Tampa Bay Rays head into the upcoming winter meetings in the listening phase about ways to improve a roster that came within one win of reaching the American League Championship Series last season.

"Do we have to do a lot of things? No," Rays senior vice president of baseball operations Erik Neander said Thursday. "This offseason is a little bit different in terms of, like the needs of this club are not nearly as clear-cut and defined as they've been in years past."

The franchise with baseball's smallest payroll at just over $66 million looks to build on an outstanding 2019 in which the Rays took Houston to a deciding fifth game in the AL Division Series in their first postseason trip since 2013.