Headlines

  • Yordan Alvarez Shut Down Due To Setback With Hand Injury
  • Giants Exercise 2026 Option On Manager Bob Melvin
  • Astros Place Jeremy Peña On Injured List With Fractured Rib
  • Tucker Barnhart To Retire
  • Tyler Mahle To Be Sidelined Beyond Trade Deadline
  • Reds Release Jeimer Candelario
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

Remove Ads
  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Guardians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Oakland Athletics
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2025 Trade Deadline Outlook Series
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Agency Database
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

The Rays Did It Again

By Steve Adams | May 9, 2024 at 6:19pm CDT

Unless you're brand new to baseball fandom -- and if that's the case, welcome! -- you know by now that few teams around the sport have managed to maximize player performance like the Rays. It's become a point of consternation among fans of other clubs and an oft-memed joke on social media, but the Rays have a knack for unearthing hidden gems like practically no other club in the game. In recent seasons, they've turned low-profile pickups of Jeffrey Springs, Drew Rasmussen, Ryan Yarbrough and Collin McHugh into high-end performances. They've signed mid-range free agents like Zach Eflin and Charlie Morton and coaxed borderline ace-level performance from them. They've bought low on former top prospects like Tyler Glasnow and struck gold.

That doesn't even factor in buy-low pickups of position players like Isaac Paredes, Randy Arozarena, Harold Ramirez, Jose Siri and others. The Rays may have dropped "Devil" from their name back in 2007, but there are plenty of fans who still lament the Rays' devil magic, which has propelled the team to near-perennial contention despite consistent bottom-of-the-league payrolls.

And if you haven't been paying attention over the past calendar year -- they've done it again.

Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription

BENEFITS
  • Access weekly subscriber-only articles by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams, and Anthony Franco.
  • Join exclusive weekly live chats with Anthony.
  • Remove ads and support our writers.
  • Access GM-caliber tools like our MLB Contract Tracker
Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email0

Front Office Originals MLBTR Originals Membership Tampa Bay Rays Zack Littell

Athletics Outright Lázaro Armenteros
Main
Cardinals’ Drew Rom Undergoes Shoulder Surgery
View Comments (27)
Post a Comment

27 Comments

  1. davengmusic

    1 year ago

    I don’t care what team it is. I will always follow a team that employs a guy named Joe Rock

    Reply
  2. User 4245925809

    1 year ago

    Logical way to look at Rays situation is they never pay anybody anything, so therefore anyone they have is going to be a budget/surplus type pickup as it is.

    Every single team in the league will hit a HR from scouring thru the rubbish heap for a find. Yes, TB has done a remarkable job of doing just that. They have also done a remarkable job of never paying anyone, keeping near bottom payrolls, keeping an empty stadium.

    Tired long ago of seeing this tripe of how Tampa is good at signing discards, when it’s the only way they can compete, due to their buisnes model they forced themselves into.

    Could go on and on. So many harp and harp on this exact same thing and it’s sickening. Where is all the outrage (selective) when this team unloads any contract that just begins to pay anyone? Oh man..

    7
    Reply
    • User 3048809731

      1 year ago

      Way more impressive than just throwing 300 million plus contracts at all the top free agents

      1
      Reply
      • Simm

        1 year ago

        Idk I’d be pretty impressed if the rays did that.

        The 300m contact that is.

        Reply
    • NYCityRiddler

      1 year ago

      They spend nothing, they win nothing, they deserve nothing. Next! Ahahaha!

      Reply
    • Rays in the Bay

      1 year ago

      As a Rays fan it’s incredibly frustrating. I blame the owners of course. And I absolutely agree with everything you said. All of us fans know when a player is on his way out (when he performs amazingly well and they can flip said player in a trade or let them walk before arbitration). Lots of casual fans have accepted this as normal, but it’s far from that. A cheap owner with no skin in the baseball game cheaping out on team spending and giving less craps about attendance. If it made sense for him he’d likely try to move the team as soon as he could. He doesn’t care about the fans or the community… Only money. I wish one day the team will be released from his grasp and maybe then they can actually win a WS. Luck runs out eventually, it always does, so even if a bunch of scrap heap players have career years, that luck always runs out in the playoffs.

      Reply
      • prodave

        1 year ago

        If Sternberg wants to know what loosening the purse strings looks like, he just needs to look at the Dodgers, where Friedman is absolutely killing it with a combo of Rays-like savvy and the ability to write a check once in awhile. And sometimes *cough* Ohtani *cough* not until after he retires..

        Reply
      • JoeBrady

        1 year ago

        Rays in the Bay
        As a Rays fan it’s incredibly frustrating.
        ====================
        I understand. 95 wins and making the playoffs every year must be horrible.

        Reply
        • Jbigz12

          1 year ago

          @Joe

          Yeah. Going to St Pete and seeing how little fans actually care about their baseball team is jarring. Guess there’s too many transplants from up north. They love the lightning down there but not the Rays.

          Reply
        • Rays in the Bay

          1 year ago

          And what did those 95 wins get us? No wins in the postseason. I’d rather be terrible and have hope for the future in the draft rather than being competitive. I’m ready for a rebuild!

          Reply
      • JazzJazz

        1 year ago

        RitB: If the owner doesn’t give a sheet about attendance, that means he doesn’t need attendance to stay rich—meaning he’s getting paid, very well!, some other way.

        So who’s clandestinely financing this team, and why??

        Reply
        • Rays in the Bay

          1 year ago

          He’s getting money from TV deals because the Rays have a pretty lucrative one that reaches beyond Tampa Bay. He pockets that money and spends about 10% on the team. He artificially keeps tickets low because he knows locals won’t pay to watch patchwork teams play, and he can make a pretty penny when the Yankees and Red Sox and Cubs are in town.

          I genuinely believe Sternberg has zero interest in growing the team… Even if he gets that new stadium. He has to pay for half of that so I expect the Rays to just be awful in the new stadium (although an optimist might think that’s the time for a big shift in mentality towards the team by Sternberg and Co).

          1
          Reply
    • Jbigz12

      1 year ago

      It’s not just signing and developing guys that they’re good at. It’s discarding the guys at the right time too. Even on small moves like Luke Raley.

      Reply
  3. CrikesAlready

    1 year ago

    Yeah, I get it that they want to monetize, buuuuut…

    4
    Reply
  4. Johnny utah

    1 year ago

    rays are brilliant at scouting as well as flipping players and developing unknowns into all stars/cy youngs.
    BUT they are also very prone to developing players that end up riddled with injuries, going down with TJ and other ailments. if a pitcher ends up in tampa 2 things are likely- he’ll win a cy young, and he’ll have TJ surgery

    5
    Reply
    • RobM

      1 year ago

      The type of pitches they teach leads to a higher incidence of arm surgery.

      4
      Reply
      • CleaverGreene

        1 year ago

        Really?? what pitch is that? because they value different pitching types with different specialties.

        Reply
    • holecamels35

      1 year ago

      It’s tough to pinpoint why but when they buy low on middling relievers and convert them to starters, they get some run out of them but they get injured. They are getting starters on the super cheap this way but have to keep developing and hitting on every move. This year it finally looks like some of the magic is running out, but oddly enough, it seems like the more established guys (Aroz, Diaz, Civale, Fairbanks) are the ones hurting the team the most.

      Reply
      • Johnny utah

        1 year ago

        the magic’s still there for the pitchers. littell and eflin have been good. pepiot is going to win a cy young someday for tampa. and taj is back tmrw, he might give the tm a boost. its the offense thats off to a slow start. yandy hitting .220, arozarena .140, siri .170

        tampa’s got great coaches and small market tms give players the confidence to flourish bec theres zero pressure in a place like tampa bay as opposed to larger markets like boston, new york, la, chicago. same can be said about small market teams like minnesota, cleveland, milwaukee

        Reply
  5. Ben10

    1 year ago

    It actually happened

    2
    Reply
  6. bruceperdew

    1 year ago

    Max Muncy wants a word… Because the Dodgers do the same thing

    1
    Reply
    • sad tormented neglected mariners fan

      1 year ago

      Max muncy and who else, I can only think of Chris Taylor

      Reply
      • Americanentropy

        1 year ago

        would you count phillips as well as muncy?

        1
        Reply
      • mlbdodgerfan2015

        1 year ago

        Besides Taylor and Muncy, you had Justin Turner. Evan Phillips. Tyler Anderson one season. Andrew Heaney borderline one season. They also maximize bullpen guys like Vesia, C Martin, Brasier, Almonte, etc. as Friedman doesn’t believe in spending too much money on bullpen.

        3
        Reply
        • sad tormented neglected mariners fan

          1 year ago

          That’s not a lot of guys, a lot of them are about average or slightly above average in terms of their stats with the dodgers
          Turner and muncy and Phillips are the most distinguished (and the Anderson season) but none of them have ever lasted (turner and muncy had like 2 great seasons)

          Reply
        • Jbigz12

          1 year ago

          Friedman was the architect of the Rays model. He started what they’ve done down there. No surprise the Dodgers can do it too.

          Reply
  7. MLBTR needs to hire editors

    1 year ago

    What does this have to do with transactions and rumors?

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.

Log in Register

    Top Stories

    Yordan Alvarez Shut Down Due To Setback With Hand Injury

    Giants Exercise 2026 Option On Manager Bob Melvin

    Astros Place Jeremy Peña On Injured List With Fractured Rib

    Tucker Barnhart To Retire

    Tyler Mahle To Be Sidelined Beyond Trade Deadline

    Reds Release Jeimer Candelario

    Dave Parker Passes Away

    Griffin Canning Diagnosed With Ruptured Achilles

    Pirates Reportedly Have Very Few Untouchable Players At Trade Deadline

    Griffin Canning Believed To Have Suffered Achilles Injury

    Mariners Looking For Corner Infield Bats; Ownership Willing To Bump Payroll

    Wander Franco Found Guilty Of Sexual Abuse

    Mariners Place Rowdy Tellez On Release Waivers

    Max Meyer To Undergo Season-Ending Hip Surgery

    Whit Merrifield Announces Retirement

    White Sox Sign Noah Syndergaard To Minor League Deal

    Corbin Carroll Placed On IL With Wrist Fracture

    Hoops Rumors Has The Latest On NBA Draft, Free Agency

    Mets Option Francisco Alvarez

    Reds To Promote Chase Burns For MLB Debut

    Recent

    Yordan Alvarez Shut Down Due To Setback With Hand Injury

    Jorge Mateo To Miss 8 To 12 Weeks With Hamstring Strain

    Reds To Sign Buck Farmer To Minor League Deal

    Pirates Trade Hunter Stratton To Braves

    Rockies Designate Sam Hilliard For Assignment, Select Austin Nola

    Orioles Select Jacob Stallings, Designate Emmanuel Rivera For Assignment

    Rangers Select Billy McKinney, Transfer Tyler Mahle To 60-Day IL

    Marlins Claim Nick Nastrini

    Giants Exercise 2026 Option On Manager Bob Melvin

    Poll: What Will The Twins Do At The Deadline?

    MLBTR Newsletter - Hot stove highlights in your inbox, five days a week

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Sandy Alcantara Rumors
    • Luis Robert Rumors
    • Alex Bregman Rumors

     

    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android App Store Google Play

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • Remove Ads, Support Our Writers
    • Front Office Originals
    • Front Office Fantasy Baseball
    • MLBTR Podcast
    • Trade Deadline Outlook Series
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • MLBTR On Twitter
    • MLBTR On Facebook
    • Team Facebook Pages
    • How To Set Up Notifications For Breaking News
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors

    Rumors By Team

    • Angels Rumors
    • Astros Rumors
    • Athletics Rumors
    • Blue Jays Rumors
    • Braves Rumors
    • Brewers Rumors
    • Cardinals Rumors
    • Cubs Rumors
    • Diamondbacks Rumors
    • Dodgers Rumors
    • Giants Rumors
    • Guardians Rumors
    • Mariners Rumors
    • Marlins Rumors
    • Mets Rumors
    • Nationals Rumors
    • Orioles Rumors
    • Padres Rumors
    • Phillies Rumors
    • Pirates Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Rays Rumors
    • Red Sox Rumors
    • Reds Rumors
    • Rockies Rumors
    • Royals Rumors
    • Tigers Rumors
    • Twins Rumors
    • White Sox Rumors
    • Yankees Rumors

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives
    • RSS/Twitter Feeds By Team

    MLBTR INFO

    • Advertise
    • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

    Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

    hide arrows scroll to top

    Register

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version