Two teams defined the 2024 MLB trade deadline on Tuesday.
And one trade in particular summarizes the distinctly different approach to a roster shuffle in the middle of the season.
While the San Diego Padres went into go-for-broke mode, the Tampa Bay Rays revealed a heavy dose of self-awareness and sacrificed a potential playoff berth this season for championship aspirations down the road.
The deadline was defined by buyers and sellers.
While the Padres were serious buyers, willing to unload their 401K for happiness today over future security, the Rays were in something of a seller-buyer hybrid mode. That blurring of the lines seems plausible in the hands of the unpredictable Tampa Bay front office.
The Padres were trade-deadline darlings as recently as 2022, when they added outfielder Juan Soto and closer Josh Hader.
Then they were panned this past offseason when they moved Soto to the New York Yankees while plotting a new path forward.
This week, they have drawn attention for deciding their time to strike is, again, the present.
The Rays remain in wild-card contention, but just because you have a sleigh doesn’t mean you’ll make it to the bottom of the bobsled run, much less finish in first. And with finances to consider, Tampa Bay has once again leaned hard into its talent evaluators.
That leads into what can be considered the move of the deadline season, and it has nothing to do with Jazz Chisholm Jr., Jack Flaherty, Isaac Paredes or Randy Arozarena. Well, it might inadvertently have something to do with Arozarena.
When the Padres landed right-handed reliever Jason Adam and bequeathed a trio of top prospects to the Rays, both teams were able to follow their game plans to perfection.
Sure, the Padres could have used a difference-maker for the rotation, but they did the next best thing by building a bullpen to envy in order to dominate games on the back end. Adam has 24 saves over the past three seasons for the Rays and now lines up as a set-up man in San Diego.
In addition to Adam, the Padres also acquired bullpen pieces in All-Star left-hander Tanner Scott and right-hander Bryan Hoeing, both from the Miami Marlins. Left-handed starter Martin Perez was acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Now the Padres will try to track down a wild-card spot, as well as the NL West rival Los Angeles Dodgers, who had additions of note that included a pair of right-handers: Jack Flaherty from the Detroit Tigers for the rotation and Michael Kopech from the Chicago White Sox for the bullpen.
According to MLB Pipeline, the Padres sent three of their top 12 prospects to the Rays: right-hander Dylan Lesko (No. 3), outfielder Homer Bush Jr. (No. 8) and catcher J.D. Gonzalez (No. 12). The Scott/Hoeing deal cost San Diego four prospects, including three in the top five.
The Rays could still end up in this year’s playoffs, although it will be a tall task. Tampa Bay might have concluded it was time to adjust on the fly right around mid-June when they fell 16 games off the American League East lead. The deficit is much tighter now.
Yet even amid Tampa Bay’s wheeling and dealing for a brighter future, they landed some major leaguers in infielder Christopher Morel, outfielder Dylan Carlson and right-hander Hunter Bigge. Morel hit a home run in Tuesday’s win over the Marlins, and Bigge ended the game with a scoreless ninth inning.
In July alone, the Rays traded nine players off their major league roster, including Arozarena to the Seattle Mariners, right-hander Aaron Civale to the Milwaukee Brewers and right-hander Zach Eflin to the Baltimore Orioles.
Dueling strategies can each garner acclaim. Maybe one day in the future, the Padres and Rays can see who really got the best of the 2024 trade deadline in a meeting for the title.
