If the trade of Logan Forsythe by the Tampa Bay Rays was tough for you to see, imagine it through the eyes of Evan Longoria.
He is 31, and his chances are fading away. His team keeps trading todays for tomorrows, and the payroll remains low, and the team’s place is in the cellar. And now, a trusted comrade is bound for Los Angeles, following the departure of so many others. David Price and Ben Zobrist and James Shields and Carl Crawford and B.J. Upton and the rest of them.
And so you have to wonder: Are the Rays running out of time? Is Longoria?
Perhaps that is why it didn’t sit well with Longo when the team turned loose of Forsythe to obtain the Dodgers’ Jose De Leon.
“I’m surprised and upset at losing a player, clubhouse presence and friend like Logan,” Longoria told the Tampa Bay Times. “He’s a rare player.”
For the Rays, it’s the only way to keep afloat. The farm system hasn’t done well, and there is no money for the top free agents. So the only way the Rays can survive is to trade veterans, and their high paychecks, for younger players.
But that doesn’t mean it’s always a good solution for the players, who watch teammates leave.
And Longo. The guy in the third row?
He knows just how you feel.
