How They Were Acquired: The Tampa Bay Rays’ ALDS Roster
The Rays’ path to building a 96-win playoff team is about as unconventional as you can imagine. They aren’t active in free agency, although both of their offseason signings worked out great. They don’t have a lot of homegrown players, but one is a former Cy Young Award winner and another was an All-Star as a rookie in 2019. They’ve filled out nearly 70% of their roster through trades that mostly didn’t include top prospects going elsewhere. While the constant turnover might not help in growing their fan base — they averaged fewer than 15,000 per home game this season — it’s been a recipe for success on the field.
Here’s how every member of the Rays’ 2019 ALDS roster was originally acquired. The team’s full RosterResource Depth Chart and Payroll pages are also available as a resource.
Homegrown (6)
- Kevin Kiermaier, CF: Drafted 31st Round 2010
- Blake Snell, SP: Drafted First Round (52) 2011
- Yonny Chirinos, RP: Amateur Free Agent (Venezuela) June 2012
- Diego Castillo, RP: Amateur Free Agent (Dominican Republic) March 2014
- Brandon Lowe, INF/OF: Drafted Third Round 2015
- Brendan McKay, RP: Drafted First Round (4) 2017
Total WAR: 10.0
Signed in Free Agency (2)
- Charlie Morton, RP: December 2018 (HOU) — Signed to two-year, $30 million contract ($15 million vesting option in 2021).
- Avisaíl García, OF: January 2019 (CHW) — Signed to one-year, $3.5 million contract.
Total WAR: 7.9
Acquired Via Trade (17)
- Willy Adames, SS: July 2014 (DET) — Acquired in trade that sent David Price to the Tigers and Austin Jackson to the Mariners.
- Matt Duffy, INF: August 2016 (SFG) — Acquired in trade that sent Matt Moore to the Giants.
- Ryan Yarbrough, RP: January 2017 (SEA) — Acquired in trade that sent Drew Smyly to the Mariners.
- Joey Wendle, INF/OF: December 2017 (OAK) — Acquired in trade that sent Jonah Heim to the Athletics.
- Chaz Roe, RP: July 2017 (ATL) — Acquired in trade that sent cash considerations to the Braves.
- Colin Poche, RP: May 2018 (ARI) — Acquired in trade that sent Steven Souza Jr. and Taylor Widener to the Diamondbacks and Brandon Drury to the Yankees.
- Ji-Man Choi, 1B: June 2018 (MIL) — Acquired in trade that sent Brad Miller and cash considerations to the Brewers.
- Tommy Pham, OF: July 2018 (STL) — Acquired in trade that sent Génesis Cabrera, Justin Williams, and Roel Ramirez to the Cardinals.
- Austin Meadows, OF: July 2018 (PIT) — Acquired in trade that sent Chris Archer to the Pirates.
- Tyler Glasnow, SP: July 2018 (PIT) — Acquired in trade that sent Chris Archer to the Pirates.
- Mike Zunino, C: November 2018 (SEA) — Acquired in trade that sent Mallex Smith and Jake Fraley to the Mariners.
- Yandy Díaz, 1B/3B: December 2018 (CLE) — Acquired in trade that sent Carlos Santana, Jake Bauers, and cash to the Indians and Edwin Encarnación, cash, and 2019 competitive balance pick to the Mariners.
- Emilio Pagán, RP: December 2018 (OAK) — Acquired in trade that sent Jurickson Profar to the Athletics and Brock Burke, Kyle Bird, Eli White, Yoel Espinal, and international bonus slot money to the Rangers.
- Oliver Drake, RP: January 2019 (TOR) — Acquired in trade that sent cash considerations to the Blue Jays.
- Travis d’Arnaud, C: June 2019 (LAD) — Acquired in trade that sent cash considerations to the Dodgers.
- Eric Sogard, INF/OF: July 2019 (TOR) — Acquired in trade that sent Curtis Taylor and Edisson Gonzalez to the Blue Jays.
- Nick Anderson, RP: July 2019 (MIA) — Acquired in trade that sent Ryne Stanek and Jesus Sanchez to the Marlins.
Total WAR: 25.9
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This team wins almost every trade. Pretty incredible group considering what they gave up as a whole.
I think more impressive than that is the guys they picked up for nothing besides money… Morton way outperformed his contract, same for Garcia. Oliver Drake and D’Arnaud are both significant pieces they got for nothing. The stuff on the margins is what allows teams like the Rays and A’s to consistently outperform bigger-spending, but seemingly more careless, teams like the Red Sox, Mets, and (at least until recently) even the Yankees.