The Rays Have Given Up

When they tweeted this thing out I thought it was an honest, genuine, thing where the Tampa Bay Rays were going to show behind-the-scenes stuff for their couple-dozen fans. But in reality, the name Ray Tank was being taken in a much more literal context.

Over the weekend, the Rays inexplicably designated Corey Dickerson, a dude who smashed 27 bombs last year, for assignment. They also dealt Jake Odorizzi to the Minnesota Twins for a prospect. Today, they dealt Steven Souza Jr. in a three-way deal that netted them another prospect.

So, over the winter, the Rays have dealt Souza, Dickerson, franchise icon Evan Longoria, and they appear to be allowing Alex Cobb and Logan Morrison to walk in free agency.

WELCOME TO THE RAYS TANK LADIES AND GENTS LOL WE’RE GONNA WIN 18 FUCKIN GAMES NEXT YEAR.

This is a good thing for the Jays. The gap between New York/Boston and Toronto got bigger this winter as the Red Sox and Yankees loaded up with J.D. Martinez and Giancarlo Stanton. Nothing really changed, as Toronto was already worse than those teams and the focus was always on the second wild card seed.

But the gap growing between Tampa and Toronto is helpful too. When it comes to the wild card race, we assume one of New York and Boston will be Wild Card No. 1, while the Jays duke it out with Seattle, Anaheim, and Minnesota. Maybe Baltimore and Texas too. The Twins have an inside edge because they get to kick the crap out of horrible teams like Kansas City, Chicago, and Detroit all year. So the more, well, awful the Rays get, the more beat up games the Jays have.

I mean, nothing is absolute and Tampa Bay still plays at The House of Horrors in which an easy win is never as easy as you’d expect it to be, but having a division rival to pound up on is a good thing for the Jays in regards to the wild card race.

Embrace the Rays Tank, Tampa. It’ll probably work nicely for you long-term like it did with Houston and you don’t have a fanbase to piss of anyway. Lean even further into it, honestly. We need this.

Actually, fuck, while you’re at it, can we have Chris Archer?