DENVER — After adding a starting pitcher on Sunday, acquiring Freddy Peralta, the Tampa Bay Rays addressed two other areas of need Monday, upgrading at catcher by acquiring Liam Hicks from the Miami Marlins and in the bullpen by getting Tyler Wells from the Baltimore Orioles.

Right before the 6 p.m. ET deadline, the Rays also made a small deal to add outfield depth. They acquired Jack Suwinski, who was with the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Triple-A team, in exchange for Hunter Feduccia, who had lost his job with the acquisition of Hicks. Suwinski, 28, has played parts of four seasons in the majors with the Pirates.

The Hicks deal was done early Monday. Word of the acquisition of Wells, which has not yet been announced by the team, spread in the late afternoon.

The 32-year-old right-hander, who is 6-foot-8, has spent six seasons with the Orioles. After missing much of 2024-25 due to elbow surgery, he is having arguably his best year.

Over 43 appearances covering 54 innings, Wells has a 2.67 ERA, 53 strikeouts compared to 13 walks and a 0.963 WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched). He is 2-2 with four saves.

To get Wells, the Rays sent pitching prospect Michael Forret back to the Orioles.

The Rays got Forret as part of their impressive haul in the December trade of Shane Baz that also included three prospects — catcher Caden Bodine and outfielders Slater de Brun and Austin Overn (minors) — and the No. 33 pick in this year’s draft, which the Rays used on prep shortstop Taj Marchand.

Forret, ranked the Rays’ No. 8 prospect by mlb.com, did well this season, starting with Double-A Montgomery and moving up to Triple-A Durham. Overall, he has a 7-2 record and 3.29 ERA in 19 starts.

Wells is making $2.445 million this season, will be arbitration eligible again in 2027 and then a free agent in 2028.

To get Hicks, the Rays are sending three minor-leaguers to Miami: infielders Brayden Taylor and Adrian Santana and pitcher Jacob Kisting.

As the Rays made the Hicks deal, the Orioles traded All-Star catcher Adley Rutschman to the division-rival Red Sox.

Hicks, 27, is a left-handed hitter from Canada who was drafted out of Arkansas State in the ninth round in 2021 and signed by Texas. He was traded to Detroit in July 2024, then taken in the December 2024 Rule 5 draft by the Marlins. He made his major-league debut with Miami in 2025.

The Rays had interest in taking Hicks in the 2024 Rule 5 draft, but the Marlins beat them to it, and kept him — until Monday.

This season, Hicks is hitting .282 with 14 homers, 62 RBIs and a .795 OPS over 101 games. The Marlins made him available following the emergence of another lefty-hitting catcher, rookie Joe Mack.

Hicks, who is under team control through 2030 (and not eligible for arbitraton until 2028), will replace Feduccia, the lefty-hitting part of the current platoon with Nick Fortes, who was acquired from Miami at last year’s deadline.

Feduccia, acquired from the Dodgers at last year’s deadline, is hitting .234 with two homers, 12 RBIs and a .646 OPS. He also has made a series of defensive misplays. He is now headed back.

Taylor, ranked No. 16 on mlb.com’s list of top Rays prospects, is the highest rated of the three being sent to the Marlins, whose president of baseball operations is Peter Bendix, a longtime Rays executive.

Taylor, 24, was the Rays’ first-round pick in 2023 out of TCU and got off to a good start in his pro career before struggling mightily at Double-A Montgomery in 2025. The lefty swinger rebounded strongly after returning to the Biscuits this season, hitting .284 with 17 homers, 56 RBIs and an .897 OPS.

Kisting, a 23-year-old right-hander acquired from Minnesota in the November trade of reliever Eric Orze, was ranked 26th in the Rays system by mlb.com. He has had a dominant season at High-A Bowling Green, going 6-0 with a 1.67 ERA over 18 games (16 starts), striking out 96 over 86 innings while walking just 18. He was a 14th-round pick out of Bradley University by the Minnesota Twins in 2024.

Santana, 21, was drafted 31st overall in 2023 by the Rays out of Miami’s Doral Academy. He is still at the Class A level but doing well and ranked 27th among their prospects by mlb.com. In his second season with Bowling Green, he is hitting .316 with three homers, 23 RBIs, 23 steals and a career best .781 OPS.

None of the three prospects are included in Baseball America’s top 30 list, which was updated to include several players from the recent draft.

Also Monday:

— Reliever Alex Cook, who made his debut over the weekend, was optioned back to Durham, and Michael Grove was recalled.

— Veteran reliever Craig Kimbrel was designated for assignment, as reported Sunday, to make room to add Peralta to the active roster.

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