Tampa Bay Rays Trade Third Baseman Evan Longoria to the San Francisco Giants
The Evan Longoria era in Tampa Bay has officially come to an end.
The Rays have announced that they have sent Longoria, along with cash considerations, to the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday, and they are getting top infield prospect Christian Arroyo, veteran outfielder Denard Span and pitchers Stephen Woods and Matt Krook in return.
"It's obviously a tough day for myself and for my family, and for all of the friendships and relationships that I've made over the years," Longoria said, via MLB.com.
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Longoria is the longest-tenured player in franchise history, so seeing him leave is going to be difficult for supporters of the team. In fact, a lot of fans were really upset when they heard the news. However, the Rays had to put nostalgia aside and pull the trigger now rather than later.
The three-time All-Star was scheduled to earn 10-and-five trade veto rights in April, and if the Rays didn't make a move now, things would have become complicated. Rays general manager Erik Neander has admitted that this has factored into their decision to trade him.
"It's there. It's something, much like the finances are something, and those things are relevant to any player," Neander said, according to MLB.com. "I'm not going to run from that as a consideration, but that wasn't an overriding, overwhelming factor in our decision to do this. It was probably just one of many different things that were factored in that we talked about," he continued.
Well, at least the Rays are getting Arroyo in return as part of the package for Longoria.
Arroyo in his first season in the majors, but he has a bright future ahead of him. In 34 games last season, Arroyo posted a 0.192/0.244/0.304 slash line, and he had three home runs, 14 runs batted in, five doubles in 135 plate appearances.
