I don't doubt that there is a clubhouse culture element to their success (though being in first place tends to make any clubhouse more harmonious). But it seems pretty obvious to me that the key for the Rays is their ability to identify talent that others do not readily see, enjoy the lower salaries that come with such "undervalued" players, their ability to get off of those players before they start making too much money, and then their ability to replace them the same way.

Look at their current roster:

Randy Arozarena - Acquired in 2020 from St. Louis with a minor leaguer and a 1st round draft pick for Matthew Liberatore and a 2nd round pick. Then they take the player they drafted with the pick and flip him for a useful reliever earlier this year.

Isaac Perales - A nice young third baseman making $750k this year, with an OPS+ of 143. This is such a typical Rays story. They get him from Detroit for Austin Meadows right before the 2022 season started. Meadows himself was coming off his second season in three years where he finished in the top 20 in the AL MVP...but he was going to start making money. How did they get Meadows? Pittsburgh traded Meadows, Tyler Glasnow, and Shane Baz for Chris Archer. Unreal.

Yandy Diaz - They got a reliable power hitting 1B for...cash and Jake Bauers.

Luke Raley - His 163 OPS+ on a $725k salary was acquired in early 2022 from the Dodgers for...Tanner Dodson, a 26-year-old relief pitcher in AA.

I mean, you can do this all day with their roster. They have hit on some draft picks (Shane McClanahan, Josh Lowe, etc), and nailed international free agency with Wander Franco, among others. But it is not like they are killing the draft more than any other team or anything - they just evaluate available talent better than anybody. If they called my team and said they were interested in some minor-leaguer we had, I'd almost certainly start thinking that player was better than I thought.

They have done it so often, I'm surprised that more teams aren't questioning why they are trading this guy to the Rays. Should be a huge sign that they are overlooking something.

I remember thinking the Arozarena trade was dumb for the Rays. I'll never make that mistake again.

I don't know how anybody can dislike the Rays. They are the kind of team that makes following sports so much fun. I'm completely neutral on all things Tampa, but I can't help but root for them.

If they called my team and said they were interested in some minor-leaguer we had, I'd almost certainly start thinking that player was better than I thought.

yes, sometimes real baseball has an analog with fantasy baseball - and this is one example.

a couple of guys, I'm thrilled when they go sniffing after one of my prospects that I'm starting to wonder about.

then I politely decline the offer - and wait for the inevitable revival by that player.

It wasn't like Randy was some trash panda for St Louis. He was hitting for them as well. Paredes as well was showing he could and he was traded straight up for Meadows a guy who had shown to be a pretty good major leaguer. The Rays aren't really picking guys out of obscurity. The Rays have major league talent they're willing to trade and to get it other teams have to give up value. They all know this going in and many do it because for many "GM" being viewed as successful now is far more valuable to their job security than being proven somewhat right in the future.

It's not like they're perfect. Just two years ago the Red Sox stole promising young catcher Ronaldo Hernandez from them for journeyman pitcher Jeffrey Springs.

I guess #7 is a joke? Neither of those players come up on a BBREF search.

OK, not a joke. I wonder why they didn't pop up?

Anyway, Springs seems to be excellent and Hernandez is putting up so-so numbers at AAA at age 25. Maybe that's the joke.

7 is definitely a joke.

Anyway, Springs seems to be excellent and Hernandez is putting up so-so numbers at AAA at age 25. Maybe that's the joke.

That's the joke. (/McBain)

It seemed like a no brainer to a lot of Red Sox fans at that time, but we've since learned our lesson.

If they called my team and said they were interested in some minor-leaguer we had, I'd almost certainly start thinking that player was better than I thought.

Its not that they're good at "spotting" talent. They're amazing at developing it. If you turn down their trades, you already weren't developing those guys.

A perfect example is Eflin. The Phillies tried for years to muck with his pitch mix to get more than a filler #4 SP out of him. Tampa signs him to a big contract (for them) and promptly jiggers his pitch mix to have presumably the best Eflin possible, certainly better than how he performed for Philly anyhow.

They do this over and over again. But, you're not getting fleeced because if you keep the guy, he's not going to turn out like that.

Drew Rasmussen is another great example. MLW, which is pretty good at developing pitching themselves, couldn't get Rasmussen to be great. Tampa just says "hey, throw 96 instead of 99 and use your 2-seamer more often and you can be a 5-inning starter who is good instead of a 1-2 inning reliever with control issues." It sounds amazingly stupid, like "it can't be that easy, right?"; but, they do this #### over and over, so yeah, for Tampa it seems it is that easy.

Rich Hill is one of their failures. They did not make 41 year old Rich Hill any better than usual old Rich Hill is. I mean, you can't fix everyone. But, they still filled a rotation spot capably and even traded him midseason, when it was clear he wasn't going to be better, for a guy who they might trade on in a year or two, if he doesn't end up being their starting 3B for a few years or something.

Its not that they're good at "spotting" talent. They're amazing at developing it. If you turn down their trades, you already weren't developing those guys.

interesting counterpoint

I'm extremely proud of the Twins for getting Joe Ryan for Nelly Cruz. Winning a trade against the Rays just means more.

Luke Raley - His 163 OPS+ on a $725k salary was acquired in early 2022 from the Dodgers for...Tanner Dodson, a 26-year-old relief pitcher in AA.

Serving as a reminder that the Dodgers FO has lost its touch regarding what minor-league talent can be safely dealt away. For a long stretch, starting well before Freidman's arrival, there almost never was a guy who blossomed into usable talent after LA traded him. (Carlos Santana doesn't count, as everyone knew he was talented when shipped off for Casey Blake – but those were the handcuffs on Colletti due to McCourt being a cheap-ass ############.)

Its not that they're good at "spotting" talent. They're amazing at developing it. If you turn down their trades, you already weren't developing those guys.

I suspect it is both spotting and developing talent...but, of course, those are sort of the same thing. The Rays may also define talent a little differently than most teams, focusing on what a player can do, rather than on what they cannot do.

As John says in #13, the Brewers saw Rasmussen as a frustrating two-inning relief pitcher. The Rays saw an effective five-inning starting pitcher.

And, of course, the Rays don't always get it right. In that Ronaldo Hernandez traded joked about above, the Red Sox gave up two pitchers: Springs and Chris Mazza. Mazza continued to be awful for Tampa. I mean, if Mazza and Springs were both obviously going to be successful, the Red Sox wouldn't have traded them. It's just that they seem to do this more often, and better, than anybody.

One other note about Hernandez and that trade. He was about to reach a point where he'd require a 40-man spot to be protected. The Rays had several catchers they liked better already on the 40-man, so they traded him, rather than risk losing him for nothing, anyway. That's another benefit of a well-run organization: If the 3rd or 4th-best catcher in your farm system is good enough that somebody is willing to trade for them, you're doing a nice job drafting and developing your own players. The Red Sox were so barren of players worthy of protecting on the 40-man that they'd protect Hernandez.

Its not that they're good at "spotting" talent. They're amazing at developing it.

The Rays may also define talent a little differently than most teams, focusing on what a player can do, rather than on what they cannot do.

These two lines describe it perfectly. The Rays do such a good job figuring out what a player can do and putting him in a position to do those things and succeed than almost anyone else. Last night, their #1 and #3 hitters, Yandy Diaz and Harold Ramirez, were castoffs from Cleveland, no slouch of an organization itself, but one which had decided that it couldn't keep either player in the lineup because of their defensive shortcomings. Now the Rays are tied for 1st in wRC+, while Cleveland is 24th, and paying Josh Bell $17M to put up a 88 wRC+ from the DH spot.

Yandy was traded by Cleveland to get Carlos Santana and Jake Bauers. TB also got Cole Sulser who they put on waivers at the end of the year. Baltimore snatched him up, he would put up some exciting numbers for them in a season and then they traded him off.


The Indians didn't castoff Yandy because of his defensive shortcomings but because they didn't have a spot for him. They had Jose Ramirez, Carlos Santana, and Edwin Encarnacion and a host of other players that looked as good or better than a 26 year minor leaguer that hadn't caught on yet.

Thr Indians picked up Ramirez off waivers and then sold him to the Cubs after he put up a 92 OPS. I'm not sure why the Indians needed to invest heavily on him. Sure they probably sold him too cheaply (not sure on his arbitration status) but he's not some guy that looks like a huge "how could you have done that" type guys.

Related: With Kevin Cash reaching 700 wins, we asked his Rays what makes him good