The future couldn’t have looked brighter for the Tampa Bay Rays early last year.
Tampa Bay started 2023 as the hottest team in Major League Baseball — going 23-6 over the season’s first month behind the play of young stars such as Wander Franco, Shane McClanahan, and Tyler Glasnow.
Some unbelievably bad luck has happened since, including Franco being (rightfully) banished from baseball, McLanahan (and others) suffering devastating injuries and Glasnow getting shipped off to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
It looks as though bad luck has facilitated a rebuild, with more trades likely on the way, per Bleacher Report’s Joel Reuter on Monday, who ranked the top 25 trade chips of this offseason.
If you’ve been paying attention, this shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.
Tampa Bay was a seller near the MLB Trade Deadline this past season, trading away Zach Eflin, Aaron Civale, Jason Adam, Isaac Paredes, Amed Rosario, Phil Maton, Shawn Armstrong and Tyler Zuber.
And while some of those deals were more of a restructure than a rebuild — Tampa Bay received some young talent back, such as Christopher Morel, Dylan Carlson, and a highly-regarded prospect in Dylan Lesko — they weren’t made to make their 2025 roster better.
According to Reuter, Yandy Diaz (No. 9), Brandon Lowe (No. 13), Zack Littell (No. 17) and Pete Fairbanks (No. 21) are among the top 25 best trade chips this offseason, which means Tampa Bay is expected to lean further into this rebuild.
Of these players, trading Diaz seems the most likely.
Not only was he a hot name in the rumor mill at the trade deadline this year, but he’s getting old (33), becoming expensive ($10 million salary in 2025) and could return one of the biggest hauls of talent.
“His three-year, $24 million deal was back-loaded, and his 2025 salary is poised to make him one of the highest-paid players on the Rays roster,” Reuter wrote. “He was a popular name at the trade deadline and could be shopped more aggressively this winter.”
While it’s unlikely all four of those players will be traded this offseason, especially cheaper players such as Littell (projected 2025 salary of $4.8 million per Reuter) and Fairbanks ($3.7 million in 2025), Rays fans shouldn’t panic.
This franchise has proven itself as one of the very best in baseball at identifying underrated and unproven talent and winning trades.
That being said, you might not want to expect too much out of the 2025 season if these moves are made.
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