It has been far from a dream season for the Tampa Bay Rays. But despite the team’s struggles through the first 78 games, the Rays should hold firm at the MLB trade deadline and retain their top talent.
There’s little doubt the Rays find themselves in an unfamiliar situation in 2024. After all, they’ve been one of the American League’s more successful teams in recent years, having made five consecutive postseason appearances.
The 2024 season has not gone their way so far however, as they hover around .500 but remain a daunting 13 games back in the elite American League East. No, they are not going to overtake the juggernaut New York Yankees, or even the spunky and talented Baltimore Orioles.
Yet the question of whether the Rays can make a sixth straight trip to the postseason is still very much in the balance as the team is just four games out of a Wild Card berth.
An organization that’s had this much success of late and boasts exciting young talent to go along with an ultra team friendly payroll (under $100 million, good for the third lowest in baseball) needs to see how the season plays out, find out how their squad handles adversity and avoid making any rash decisions that could keep them at the bottom of the standings for years to come.
The Rays' perfect trade deadline is a hold
No one would accuse the Rays of overachieving in 2024. But for as bad as things started out, improvements can be seen. A combination of their hottest hitters swinging cold bats and a rash of injuries sunk the start of the season and dropped Tampa Bay to mere Wild Card hopefuls, on the outside looking in.
But talent rises to the top and the Rays undoubtedly have talent. Randy Arozarena, Brandon Lowe, Jose Siri and Yandy Díaz–essentially the players you’d expect to lead this team–have all elevated their games of late. It just hasn’t led to a whole bunch of winning. Still, they have time to turn things around if the organization is willing to give them the chance.
Will a second half resurgence be enough to fully recover and get back into contention? Maybe not. But the Rays will only know the answer to that all important question if they refrain from giving up on their core and commit to letting them play out the season.
Of those four players, the oldest is just 32 and none makes more than $8.75 million this year. That’s a group you’ve had success with in the past and can build around for future contention.
The problem is that the rest of the league realizes this as well. And if the Rays continue their losing ways leading up to the trade deadline on July 30, needy teams in win now mode–or smooth operators sensing a buy low opportunity–will be sniffing around the Rays, offering up unproven talent for Tampa Bay’s top players.
You could also add offensively gifted third baseman Isaac Paredes, 25, and talented righty reliever Garrett Cleavinger, 30, to the list of players too valuable for the Rays to part with at the deadline.
Can the Rays avoid panic mode and stay the course? If so, their reward could be five more consecutive postseason appearances beginning next season (or maybe, just maybe, this season). If not, they could lose out on that rarest of baseball situations they currently find themselves in where production far outpaces payroll.
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