Opinion: Yes, we root for laundry. Is that a problem?

Just before or at the trade deadline, the Rays traded Zach Eflin, Chris Devenski, Phil Maton, Shawn Armstrong, Jason Adam, Amed Rosario, All-Star Isaac Paredes, and former ROY and All-Star Randy Arozarena.

Some of these players were only here briefly and won’t be missed, but some had clear roles in the team’s present success — Jason Adam was a mainstay of the bullpen; Eflin one of the more dependable starters; Isaac Paredes one of the team’s few power threats — and Randy Arozarena was one of the most beloved and marketable players the Rays have ever had.

This sort of trade deadline activity is not common for any team, but particularly for a team as regularly successful as Tampa Bay has been.

Since 2019 this team has been a contender, and therefore more likely to be adding than subtracting major league talent for the pennant chase or postseason baseball. But we are certainly used to seeing the team move veterans for younger (and less expensive) players, whether that is at the trade deadline or in the offseason.

The Rays moves at this deadline received mixed reviews. The Athletic praised the Rays as “smart” sellers:

The Rays have a long history of selling well and they dominated the dealmaking once again, led by the acquisitions of outfielder Aidan Smith and right-hander Brody Hopkins from the Mariners, righty Dylan Lesko and Homer Bush Jr. from the Padres, and the sneaky pickups of outfielder Dylan Carlson and infielder Christopher Morel, two young players who haven’t come close to fulfilling their potential.

Craig Calcaterra, however, had unkind things to say about the Rays ownership/front office:

... and about Rays fans who are not gnashing their teeth about trading away Isaac Paredes:

Which has left me wondering which perspective is correct. Why has the recent string of trades not left me more chagrined? Have I been Stockholm Syndromed?

To be clear, I understand the value of having familiar names and recognizable faces, especially for kids (try explaining to the seven-year old with the Arozarena jersey why there’s no more Randyland) or casual fans. As someone who bandwagons with the Lightning when the playoffs come around but otherwise does not watch hockey, I know that the preservation of a core of players on that team has made it easier for me to pop in occasionally and still feel a connection.

It’s hard to be a casual fan of the Rays, because each year you need to learn a new roster. Heck, I watch nearly every game and there are days when I have no idea who is on their bench. And given my druthers, I’d rather still have Tyler Glasnow on this team than not have Tyler Glasnow on this team

But on the other hand...

1. The Rays could still compete for a playoff spot. This was not a total fire sale. Yandy Diaz, Pete Fairbanks, and Brandon Lowe are all still on the roster, and the Rays returned Christopher Morel who makes up for the loss in power traded away. Yes, in many ways it’s the “next man up” mentality, but with many top prospects knocking at the door, at some point the Rays need to give the kids a chance to play.
2. Re-stocking the farm system now makes sense. The Rays are a team that operates with a clear eye on the odds. Cash doesn’t use his A bullpen if the team is trailing, which can be frustrating when we watch a lesser reliever turn a 1 run deficit into a 4 run deficit, but your best high leverage relievers can’t pitch every night so it makes sense over the long run to conserve your resources. This holds true for front office decisions, too. The Rays are not completely out of the Wild Card chase, but with a -50+ run differential they were already on the outside looking in with a number of teams ahead of them. Could they catch fire? Maybe. Could they catch fire while four other teams all slump? Very unlikely. Chances are this isn’t their year even if they traded no one away, or taken the chance on adding a player like they’ve done in the past (even though the results from Nelson Cruz and David Peralta were not inspiring)
3. I like following a team that most years has a chance to win a lot of games. It’s great that Mike Trout has spent his career with the Angels, but how much joy do Angel fans get from watching him holding down centerfield and then going home at the end of September? Or Detroit fans watching Miguel Cabrera reach important milestones on a perpetually last place team? Baseball is a team sport. Even the best starting pitcher is only on the mound every five days, and your best hitter is only up at bat five times a game. There is little sense in holding on to fun players but then lacking the resources to put a competitive team around them. So I’ll take a team, and a front office, that is always looking for ways to improve, even at the expense of trading known names for players I’ll know later.
4. What the Rays are doing is normal, even if the timing is not. From so much “Rays are ruining baseball” discourse you’d think that most teams had stable rosters from year to year, but that just isn’t true. After the big trades of the past month the Rays had just four players on their active roster who had been on the Opening Day roster in 2021 (Yandy Diaz, Brandon Lowe, Pete Fairbanks and Jeffrey Springs). That seems pretty bad, right?

But let’s compare this to other teams with fewer payroll constraints. The Yankees, well there is a storied franchise that doesn’t churn through players. And they are clearly better than the Rays because they have... five players on their current active roster who were also active on opening day 2021 (Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Gleybar Torres, DJ LeMahieu and Gerritt Cole). The Atlanta Braves are paragons of consistency; they still have six players on their roster who also broke camp with them in 2021. Players like Joe Mauer, Jose Altuve and Mike Trout who have long careers with a single team stand out because those examples are rare. It is far more common for players to move around a bit, whether via trades or in pursuit of free agent contract. Gerritt Cole is on his third team. Both Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander started with the Tigers and have since moved around quite a bit. Mookie Betts....well, we know about him. Juan Soto, a generational talent who is not even 26 years old, is playing for his third team.

So the idea that the Rays are a huge outlier is simply not true. Every stadium is filled with people wearing beloved jerseys of players who are with other teams.

I’m not pretending that the experiences of Rays fans are identical to those of say Cubs or Dodgers fans. The Rays are unlikely to make competitive offers to top free agents, not just or even primarily because they are unwilling to pay the say $25 million a year that is the going rate, but mostly because they are not willing to commit to $25 million a year for multiple years, often well beyond a player’s prime.

There are critics who believe this is because Rays ownership is unusually cheap, but I assume all owners operate within a budget. It’s just that teams that are regularly filling 40,000 seat stadiums have larger budgets than a team that sells half that number of tickets. Because most baseball teams are not publicly traded, we don’t get to examine their books so we just don’t know for sure*, but those who have attempted estimated assume that the Rays spend about the same percentage of revenue on payroll as other teams.

*Personally I think any business, including a sports franchise, that is receiving significant public subsidy should be required to share their financials. You try getting any sort of government subsidy — food stamps, unemployment benefits, university financial aid — without disclosing your financial situation! But this has not been the norm for teams and local governments do not seem to require it.

There are times when the Rays have made moves that seem focused on saving money rather than improving the team, and those instances are certainly aggravating.

The Rays and their fans valued Evan Longoria more than other teams did, and as a result the Rays traded away their franchise player for pretty much nothing. And I will never stop being angry about failing to pick up the option for Charlie Morton for 2021. The Rays saved $15 million in a year in which they have everything lined up for a deep playoff run. The upshot? The Rays got to go home early and watch Morton bring a World Series championship to Atlanta. I hope that $15 million looks good in the trophy cabinet.

But using middling years like this one to re-stock talent for the future seems like the sort of thing a good front office ought to be doing. And, while this may sound like excuse making, it can be fun getting to know new players who have more interest to me when they put on a Rays uniform. Rooting for laundry can be ok, especially when it’s the “laundry” and not the stars that gets you to the postseason more often than not.