ST. PETERSBURG -- Speaking at the Winter Meetings last week, Rays president of baseball operations Erik Neander sounded neither eager nor obligated to trade longtime second baseman Brandon Lowe. He pointed to how Tampa Bay had held onto Lowe and teammate Yandy Díaz, the Rays’ relatively good standing from a payroll perspective and Lowe’s irreplaceable power at second base.
Yet, the Rays ended up trading Lowe on Friday, sending him to the Pirates along with outfielder Jake Mangum and lefty reliever Mason Montgomery in a three-team deal that will bring back two prospects from the Astros: outfielder Jacob Melton and right-hander Anderson Brito.
TRADE DETAILS
Pirates receive: 2B Brandon Lowe, OF Jake Mangum, LHP Mason Montgomery
Astros receive: RHP Mike Burrows
Rays receive: OF Jacob Melton, RHP Anderson Brito
It’s a stunning move for the Rays, one that prioritizes the future over the present as they part with a prominent part of their recent past.
Lowe was a rare thing in baseball: a long-tenured Ray. He was just the sixth player to spend the first eight years of his career with Tampa Bay, joining franchise stalwarts Evan Longoria, Kevin Kiermaier, Carl Crawford, Ben Zobrist and B.J. Upton. That was possible because of the contract Lowe signed in March 2019, a six-year pact that guaranteed him $24 million with club options for 2025 and ’26.
But he was nearing the end of that deal and due $11.5 million next year, so the Rays became more willing to move him this offseason.
Lowe has hit 157 career homers, third-most in Rays history behind Longoria and Carlos Peña. His 446 career RBIs also ranked seventh in franchise history. That is a reflection of the power he possesses when healthy. Injuries were a problem after his career-best 39-homer, 99-RBI season in 2021, particularly a bothersome back issue, but he put those concerns behind him with an All-Star campaign this past year.
Lowe hit .256/.307/.477 with 83 RBIs in 134 games, his highest mark since taking the field 149 times in 2021. He recorded a franchise-record-tying 20-game hitting streak from June 11-July 5, a stretch in which he showed how he could almost single-handedly carry Tampa Bay’s lineup during one of his hot streaks.
Trading Lowe leaves the Rays with significantly less left-handed power potential in their lineup and no obvious solution at second base. Reports have connected them to D-backs second baseman Ketel Marte, and there is plenty of time left in the offseason to pursue other options, but their top internal candidate is likely infielder/outfielder Richie Palacios.
It felt inevitable that the Rays would trade an outfielder at some point this offseason, but swapping Mangum for the MLB-ready Melton does little to resolve that logjam.
Melton split this past season between the Astros and Triple-A Sugar Land. He hit just .157/.234/.186 with seven stolen bases in 78 plate appearances over 32 games for Houston, although he slashed .286/.389/.556 with six homers and 12 steals over 35 games in Triple-A.
A second-round pick out of Oregon State in the 2022 Draft, the left-handed-hitting Melton owns a career .255/.334/.462 slash line in the Minors. Ranked as the Astros’ No. 2 prospect at the time of the trade, Melton is regarded as a plus runner and a quality defensive center fielder.
Brito, 21, was Houston’s No. 7 prospect according to MLB Pipeline. An unheralded signing out of Venezuela in November 2023 -- he was 19 years old and received a mere $10,000 bonus -- he has put together a 2.36 ERA with 147 strikeouts in 103 innings over 27 appearances in the low Minors. Brito spent this past season with High-A Asheville and finished the year in the Arizona Fall League.
Mangum, 29, was a pleasant surprise in his rookie season. The gritty, switch-hitting outfielder hit .296/.330/.368 with 27 steals and played all over the outfield in 118 games. But Tampa Bay was overstocked on the grass, and while the Rays insisted it could work, it was hard to see them carrying Mangum and speedster Chandler Simpson in the same outfield.
Montgomery, 25, seemed poised for a huge season heading into this year after an eye-opening debut out of the bullpen in September 2024. But the flamethrowing lefty struggled to find command and consistency in 2025, and he wound up with a 5.67 ERA and 1.65 WHIP in 46 innings over 57 appearances.