The Rays HATE Their Fans

the Tampa Bay Rays have built a very impressive model and system of winning over the last really 15 years after being so bad for the first decade of their existence they went to the World Series in 2008 and have been one of the most consistent winning franchises in baseball since from 2008 through 2013 the Rays made the postseason four times had a 5-year Hiatus until 2019 where they have made the post season every year 2018 could have been a year they made it to the playoffs too they won 90 games but it also happen to be a year where you had to win at least 97 games to make it as a wild card team in the American League but since 2019 like I said the Rays have been playoff bound every year 5 years in a row now 96 wins in 2019 100 in 2021 99 in 2023 two division titles a World Series appearance in 2020 I mean they have become a good example for any front office in baseball to emulate they draft well they develop even better they pick up guys from other organizations who were given up on and turn them into really valuable players they're basically a much cheaper and less expensive version of the Dodgers and they also fleece teams and trades speaking of the Dodgers they're current general manager Andrew fredman was with the Rays before being hired by the Dodgers in 2014 Heim Bloom is another guy hired away from the Rays to join the Red Sox although he was just recently fired James click is a pretty highly regarded front office person in the industry who was hired by the Astros eventually not having his contract renewed by their owner but is now with Toronto as one of their head guys the Marlins just hired Peter Bendix from the ray front office to be their new president of baseball operations I mean I think you get the point by now there's a reason teams love hiring guys from the Rays FR an office they have smart people working there the overall system the Rays have is smart they stick to it they do all the things I mentioned and more while also not spending a ton of money and being emotional about anything and what I mean by that is no matter how good or beloved a player is the Rays have shown that they have no issue flipping that player to another team for younger assets to help for the future Austin meta meows is a good example of this they trade for him from the Pirates Meadows ends up being really good for the Rays becomes an Allstar helps them win and when the team no longer sees a need for him they trade him to the Tigers for a couple younger players rinse and repeat it's clearly A system that works at least it has been working but it's also a system that may turn some dare I say many people away and the latest news regarding how the Rays May handle this off season has me feeling like they just straight up hate their fans at this point really quick I'm trying to get to 140,000 subscribers before 2024 so if you enjoy the content or are new and having hit that button yet consider doing so thank you the Rays despite their winning ways have built themselves a reputation similar to a team like Oakland when it comes to their star players they tend to not extend their players and trade them before it's time to pay them the big bucks after the 2017 season Ray's third baseman Evan Longoria was about to head into a 2018 season that was the last of his current contract despite having been AR Ray for 10 years the face of the franchise and someone who had made it clear in the past pass he wanted to stay array forever this is how the team responded get out get out get out so Longoria has traded away and in that 2018 season Ray's Young starting pitcher Blake Snell won the sayong award and before the 2019 season the team decided to lock him up signing him to a 5-year contract extension worth $50 million so wait maybe things were different now perhaps the Rays were starting to think to keep their best players and pay not necessarily what the Yankees Red Sox Dodgers teams like that would pay their players but maybe they were starting to spend some more and commit to guys well it seemed that way with Snell in 2019 and 2020 after he signed that contract and then 2021 came along and despite Snell being arguably their best pitcher the Rays went get out it's funny because during the offseason leading into 2020 we all got a live reaction of Snell seeing Tommy fam traded to the Padre's Tommy fam was a good player for the Rays in 2019 but again the race felt they could flip him for younger assets and so they did and snow wasn't too happy about it when learning about the trade during a live stream we give a fam up for rro and a damn slab dick Prospect and a little over a year later Snell was then traded also to the Padre's ironically reuniting with Tommy fam skip ahead to where we currently stand today the rays are coming off another successful regular season but overall disappointing year following up that regular season by getting swept in the Wild Card series for the second year in a row I'm not going to sit here and claim the world is ending now that the rays are doomed they're going to start to suck everything's on fire but I'm also not going to spread a bunch of Hope in the air because if I did that would be false hope the future of the Rays may not look nearly as Bleak as some other franchises I mean things could be worse a lot worse the Royals for example are a team that's been rebuilding for seven years yeah look like they're just starting their rebuild virtually making no progress Oakland doesn't even technically have the A's anymore like things aren't so bad for for the Rays in that sense in fact the Rays did come to an agreement with the city of St Pete to stay in St Pete and build a new ballpark although some including I would argue that was dumb to do and they should stay in that area but build a ballpark in Tampa to make it easier and more pleasant for fans to go to but that's a whole other conversation the point is the Rays aren't some dead franchise they can very well win in another 90 plus games in 2024 but their philosophy of trading their best players even the ones under contract extensions hasn't gone away and this offseason has the potential to be the toughest one yet for rays fans to swallow Tyler glas now an extremely talented and hard thrwing starting pitcher for the Rays who has traded along with Austin Meadows from Pittsburgh back in 2018 just feels like a walking trade and it's felt that way for at least a year now he even signed an extension with the team late last year not necessarily anything huge but a contract that would keep him array through the end of 2024 now I will say this trading Tyler glasnow at least in my opinion is the least sad and frustrating thing the Rays will potentially do this off season and this is for multiple reasons he does only have one year left so even if he was fully healthy I could see the Rays wanting to flip him for younger players and on top of that he isn't near fully healthy glasnow has dealt with elbow issues for the last few years getting Tommy JN surgery in 2021 pitching just over six innings in 2022 and then 120 Innings this last season in 2023 after missing the first two months because of a left oblique string the 120 Innings that glas now threw in 2023 is the most he's ever thrown in his career not just with the Rays in his entire eight years in the big leagues up until this point he's obviously not reliable to take the mound every 5 days he's getting paid $25 million next year add that on to the fact that he has just one year left and a trade almost seems so obvious to the point where I don't even know how much the Rays could get back in a hypothetical trade it seems like the money is what they're most concerned about anyway so in that case whatever team hypothetically trades for glass now would take on at least most of the 25 million and then give up nothing crazy back to the Rays because of the fact that they're doing them a favor by taking on the money for 2024 but overall Tyler glass now is rumored to almost a 100% be getting traded it's only a matter of which team he's getting traded to even before these rumors I felt this was inevitable and the more I look into it it makes sense but unfortunately for Ray fans Tyler glasow isn't the only player likely to be traded according to reports now before you say it if you haven't already yes the Rays have fans the trop can be very Dreadful even in the playoffs when they had a record low attendance for their games against the Rangers which was pathetic but they still have a good fan base of people watching their games on TV or whatever and for whoever is a raay fan I'm sure it's hard to figure out which player to get a jersey of because it's become very clear that that Jersey will become outdated within like 2 years Max you can't get attached to anybody nobody is a ray for life so glas now is basically a lock to be traded but that's not where the Ray are stopping Randy a r roara has been one of the more exciting players in all of baseball since he officially introduced himself to the world in October of 2020 making history for all the home runs he was hitting oh and he wasn't even a rookie technically because he didn't play that much that year during the regular season so he went out the next year in 2021 and won Rookie of the Year he's only gone on to continue being a reliable hitter and overall player for the Rays but he's also got some swag some fun to him he's got a personality that I and so many others can't help but just love I mean just look at this look at this man how can you not love Randy the way he plays he just seems so wholesome yet such like a badass at the same time he really showed that on a massive stage during the latest World Baseball Classic followed that up with another good year with the Rays to help lead them to the postseason and after all he's done for this team in the last 3 years the value and the fun he brings to the team this is how the Rays seem to be responding to Randy Ros Arena and I want you to get out of this office right now I'm sorry Z no way you brought you brought it on yourself I don't want you here I'm so sorry George I didn't think it would go like this OU out Ted I got your voucher out so the raises do not want to commit long-term to guys ever and even when they kind of do and extend them they still don't commit to them because they end up trading them Midway through or at the end of the contract just a continuous cycle that doesn't seem to have an end in sight the Rays don't commit to players being on their team forever no matter how good they are and the one time they did that giving a young star player an 11-year deal the longest in franchise history that player ends being a whato good luck expecting the ray to hand out a contract like that again so Tyler glass now is likely gone although it makes more sense to trade him than keep him but now Randy a r roara come on he's such a big reason why people watch the ray in the first place the dude even had his own section at the Ballpark called Randy land in left field where Randy plays where every fan wears a Randy landan T-shirt with signs and Fathead cutouts being raised up to cheer him on and you're going to trade that guy whatever I guess that's just very on par with the Rays operate Manuel Margo and Harold Ramirez are another two names being mentioned as trade candidates I wouldn't be shocked at this point if yandi Diaz was reported to be on the trade block their first baseman who just won the batting title made his first Allstar team and finished six an MVP votes yeah he's really good trade him too the fans will hate it so the Rays may not have as dark a future ahead as some other teams but it certainly doesn't look exciting is it ever I mean any player you like on that team will be gone no matter who it is how good they are you better cherish them while they last because there's a 99.9% chance they won't be there that much longer pretty depressing but it's just how the Rays operate I guess let me know what you think thank you for watching and I'll see you in the next video