This story was excerpted from Adam Berry's Rays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
DENVER -- There were times over the last few days, Erik Neander admitted, when he wasn’t sure the Rays would get much done before Monday’s Trade Deadline.
There were a lot of teams looking to add and fewer sellers than usual. Asking prices were high. It was a “sleepless” week or so for Tampa Bay’s front office executives, the Rays’ president of baseball operations said, and they occasionally wondered if it might end with little to no activity.
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“There were times where we thought there was a real chance that we might just roll with what we have, and we were going to be OK with that,” Neander said. “This group itself does have the best record in the American League as is.”
Instead, the Rays found ways to improve their roster. They added a potential frontline starter in Freddy Peralta. They picked up a left-handed-hitting catcher who fits their lineup perfectly in Liam Hicks. They landed another high-leverage reliever in Tyler Wells. And they picked up some Triple-A depth in the form of outfielder Jack Suwinski.
“To be able to add to [the roster] the way we did, yeah, really satisfied with it,” Neander said.
Here are three takeaways from the Rays’ Deadline activity.
1) They didn’t get the biggest names, but they found the right fits
If you could have created a shopping list for the Rays two weeks ago, it likely would have included a starting pitcher with a strong track record, a left-handed hitter who could lengthen their lineup from a premium defensive position and a high-leverage righty reliever.
In your imagination, that might have been Tarik Skubal, Luis Arraez and Mason Miller. It wound up being Peralta, Hicks and Wells. The names aren’t the same, but they still addressed the Rays’ biggest needs and set them up well for the rest of the season.
“They don't have to be the most famous players going to be good,” Neander said. “I actually have no idea how the moves have been received. I know they've been popular internally, because they know how good these players are -- and they know how good a team we have and what we might be able to accomplish this year.”
2) They leveraged their incredible organizational depth
The Rays dealt away eight Minor Leaguers who were ranked among the organization’s Top 30 at the time they were traded, an impressive feat and a real testament to the depth of the Rays’ system.
They didn’t have to dip into the elite tier of players that includes Theo Gillen, Nathan Flewelling, Caden Bodine, Cooper Flemming, Brody Hopkins and others, but they made additions by aggressively including others like right-hander Michael Forret (the top-ranked prospect they traded), outfielder Aidan Smith and infielder Brayden Taylor.
It’s entirely possible that several of the prospects they traded turn out to be impactful Major League players. Maybe they all will. But you have to give up talent to get talent in return, and the Rays did that without burning down the farm.
“That's a credit to our staff for putting us in a position to have a deep system, to have a lot of desirable talent,” Neander said. “Feel like we have a lot of blue-chip talent that remains in our system. We still think it’s really deep. Not as deep as it was, but … that was the right time to make that kind of trade-off.”
3) They kept the clubhouse in mind
The Rays have been saying since the beginning that this is a tightly knit team, a group that may be outperforming expectations due in part to the incredible chemistry and unity they’ve displayed since Spring Training. Yes, the “power of friendship” is real.
They didn’t want to disrupt that, and it doesn’t seem like they did. Peralta, Wells and Hicks are joining the Rays with excellent reputations as teammates, and the only Major League player they immediately took off the roster was catcher Hunter Feduccia, who said his emotional goodbyes in the clubhouse on Monday afternoon.
“You’re always looking for talent, right? You’ve got to keep that there," said Neander. "But [we] have been disciplined, especially with this group, to make sure that what you’re bringing in fits into what’s going on. This group is as connected, top to bottom, as any that I’ve experienced, and we’ve been fortunate to have some really good ones. It was never lost on us.”