Randy ArozarenaCole Burston/Getty Images
Transaction No.1: Tampa Bay sends RHP Chris Archer to Pittsburgh Pirates for RHP Tyler Glasnow, RHP Shane Baz, OF Austin Meadows (July 31, 2018)
Transaction number 2: Tampa Bay sends OF Nick Solak to Texas Rangers for RHP Pete Fairbanks (July 13, 2019)
Transaction number 3: Tampa Bay sent LHP Matthew Liberatore, Center Edgardo Rodriguez, and a second-round pick to the St. Louis Cardinals, and acquired OF Randy Arozarena, OF Jose Martinez, and a first-round pick (January 9, 2020)
Transaction number 4: Tampa Bay sends RHP Tobias Myers to Cleveland Guardians to acquire IF Junior Caminero (November 19, 2021)
Transaction No.5: Tampa Bay sends OF Austin Meadows to Detroit Tigers for UTIL Isaac Paredes and second-round pick (April 5, 2022)
At this point, it's an annual right of passage for Tampa Bay to snatch someone outright in a trade.
And this is not even a comprehensive list. The Rays also acquired 2023 American League batting champion Yandy Diaz from Cleveland in the 2018 three-team trade for Edwin Encarnacion, and acquired Manuel Margot for Emilio Pagán in 2020. , acquired Jeffrey Springs from the Red Sox in 2021, and Sean Armstrong in 2021 for cash consideration. They traded for both Luke Lally and Harold Ramirez in the spring of 2022, but almost gave up on either trade.
It's puzzling that teams are still willing to negotiate with the Rays.
While the Glasnow and Archer trades are often talked about as huge getaways, the last three trades could be even worse for a team that faced Tampa Bay at the negotiating table.
There's still hope that Liberatore will work out in St. Louis, but the Arozarena trade has been a complete nightmare for the Cardinals so far.
While Caminero is currently considered one of the top prospects in all of baseball, Myers has bounced around four different teams in the minors and is far from reaching his expected potential.
And the acquisition of Paredes and draft picks for Meadows was the best thing ever in a lopsided trade for Meadows, who had not had a home run in two seasons with Detroit and was originally part of the trade for Archer.
