The Tampa Bay Rays have officially traded the face of their franchise, Evan Longoria, to the San Francisco Giants. In return for their cornerstone third baseman, the Rays received outfielder Denard Span and prospects Christian Arroyo, Matt Krook and Stephen Woods. The Giants will also receive cash considerations as part of the blockbuster trade. Longoria wasn’t known for a flashy personality or historic numbers. Instead, he was a model of consistency for a franchise that needed winning to become something consistent. His trade marks the end of an era for Tampa Bay, who hadn’t seen any success as a Major League Baseball team until Longoria’s rookie year.
Tampa Bay entered the league in 1998 known as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Year after year, the team performed near the bottom of the league, never eclipsing more than the 70 wins they garnered in the 2004 season. Outside of their 70 win season, in which they finished next-to-last, the Rays finished in last place in the American League East division each year from 1998-2007. That wasn’t the type of consistency the team wanted.
Longoria, who was chosen with the third overall selection in the 2006 MLB Draft, made his much anticipated debut in 2008 when the team rebranded and changed their name and look. Featuring new yellow with dark and light blue colors and dropping the word “devil” out of their team name, the Rays hoped that the new look and new players would contribute to a new, winning direction.
As it turned out, the 2008 season proved to be the first step in becoming a successful franchise. The Tampa Bay Rays won 97 games, the first winning record in the teams history. Led by Longoria in his first season, the team completed a postseason run into their first World Series, bowing out in five games to the winners: the Philadelphia Phillies. Longoria, who had been voted into the 2008 All-Star Game that year, also won the 2008 Rookie of the Year Award with 27 home runs, 85 RBIs and a .272 batting average. He also led the charge for the Rays with a huge performance in the second round of the playoffs, in which he hit four home runs and drove in eight runs in the 2008 ALCS that went the maximum 7 games.
Since the historic 2008 season, Longoria has produced in every year he’s played for the Rays, leading the team to three additional postseason appearances. Longoria won a Silver Slugger Award in 2009 as the best hitting third baseman in the American League when he hit 33 home runs with a current career high 113 RBIs. He participated in the All-Star Game in the 2009 season, and added another All-Star award to his resume in 2010 when he hit for a .294 average, drove in 104 runs, and hit 22 home runs with 46 doubles.
On top of his accomplishments at the plate, Longoria also showed-off his defensive prowess, winning two Gold Glove Awards in this 2009 and 2010 All-Star seasons, before winning a third in his final season with the Rays in 2017.
Since Longoria’s rookie year and the Rays first World Series appearance, they have made the postseason three more times and have won 90 or more games four more times. Outside of the season in which he only played 74 games, Longoria has never hit less than 21 home runs and driven in less than 73 runs. He even hit a walk-off home run in the final game of the 2011 season to lead the Rays into the playoffs as a wild-card team. He leaves the Rays as their current home run and RBI leader, and will be forever revered as a consistent player who made winning more common and losing less consistent.
