A 99-win season last year had the Tampa Bay Rays entering the 2024 MLB season with hope on the horizon, eyeing more playoff success than last season’s AL Wild Card appearance. Yet, 68 games through their season, the Rays no longer look like a team capable of stinging their opponents, let alone advancing in the postseason.
Entering MLB games today with a 32-36 record, despite being just four games back of an AL Wild Card spot, the Rays are in last place of the AL East, and there have been few glimmers of hope. Their -63 run differential ranks as the third-worst in the American League and the fifth-worst in MLB.
As the July 30 MLB trade deadline draws near, teams are preparing their list of trade targets, and the Rays could become a very popular negotiation partner.
According to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, multiple executives are closely monitoring Randy Arozarena, Yandy Diaz, and Brandon Lowe’s situations in Tampa Bay. Each is one of the three highest-paid position players on the Rays’ payroll, yet none are living up to their contract status.
- Brandon Lowe salary: $8.75 million
- Randy Arozarena salary: $8.1 million
- Yandy Diaz salary: $8 million
While Lowe has been limited to just 27 games, Diaz has a below-average OPS of .680 and an OPS+ of 98. Arozarena has been much worse, with a pitiful OPS of .599 and an OPS+ of 74. Keep in mind, an OPS+ of 100 would be considered an average MLB player, but neither of these two has lived up to the billing so far.
According to Rosenthal, the slump of the Rays’ expensive position players now has other MLB teams hoping to “buy low” on Tampa Bay’s talent. However, the Rays aren’t quite interested in becoming trade deadline sellers quite yet. We’ll see if that changes over the next two months.
Related: See where Tampa Bay Rays land in Sportsnaut’s MLB Power Rankings