The Tampa Bay Rays went full sell this season, even though the team sits two games above .500 at the moment.
Over the weekend, Tampa Bay has unloaded Randy Arozarena, Zach Eflin, Jason Adam, Isaac Paredes, and Amed Rosario, with the potential for more moves to come before the deadline hits this afternoon.
Obviously, the team is looking towards the future with these trades, setting themselves up for the 2028 season, which is when the impending stadium is scheduled to open its doors to the public, but do these trades happening this weekend offer a glimmer of hope for what’s to come?
Only time can tell, but one thing is for certain, the team is looking ahead to what is next.
Building For The Future
The Rays have definitely brought in a significant haul for their five contributing players dealt.
The biggest may have came from the Jason Adam-Padres deal that saw RHP Dylan Lesko, OF Homer Bush Jr. and C J.D. Gonzalez come into the organization.
The Cubs deal with Paredes may have given the Rays the most MLB-ready players with Christopher Morel and Hunter Bigee bringing MLB stats lines to the club, but they may not be long term assets for the team moving forward.
The Rays are trying to load up while they can and adding in top prospects in these deals rejuvenates the team’s farm system, depth that already was relatively solid to begin with.
The big key for the team will be to get them ready for big league action. It will be massively important to have these acquisitions big-league ready to help them contribute to the team down the line once we get towards the opening of a brand new ballpark.
Who’s Next
It will be no surprise to see another one or two players potentially seeing a new horizon ahead before the end of the deadline for Tampa Bay.
Obviously, Yandy Diaz probably brings the most desirable product, being one of the top 1B in all of baseball. Diaz may be someone that the Rays could cash-in while they can and bring in a load.
Others that could see a shift could be Pete Fairbanks or even Jose Siri to try and capitalize on their talents while they can.
Beyond those three, their isn’t many other big name Rays stars that could see the shift to a new club, at least ones that would bring in a sizeable fortune.
Jeffery Springs could have been someone, but due to him just now returning back from injury, it is highly unlikely teams will jump on him until they see his workload play out here in 2024.
Final Thoughts
There is definitely promise with some of the moves that the Rays made this weekend.
For fans in the present, it is a bit disheartening given that Rays are putting 2024 on the shelf, but you must trust the process.
We have seen the Rays time and time again prove the critics wrong and it may be done here.
With the potential of the stadium getting approved today, many of these trades will be a blast in the past and the Tampa Bay community can begin looking towards the next era of Rays baseball.
