A Year Later.....

Now a year later we take a look back at how the Tampa Bay Rays trades have turned out.

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[size=4]FIRST FLASHBACK[/size][/center]



At the time of the trade



Detroit trades:

LF Carlos Guillen (82)

LF Wilken Ramirez (74/84)

2nd Round Pick



Tampa Bay

LF Pat Burrell (83) (ML)



Now



Detroit trades:

LF Carlos Guillen (81)

LF Wilken Ramirez (79/88) [size=1](traded: Chad James, Wilkin Ramirez, Sean West for Jose Valverde, Hunter Pence, Drew Sutton)[/size]

2nd Round Pick- Chad James (61/94) [size=1](traded: Chad James, Wilkin Ramirez, Sean West for Jose Valverde, Hunter Pence, Drew Sutton)[/size]



Tampa Bay

LF Pat Burrell (83)





Opinion



I got a ton of talent back in this deal and player wise I feel like I won, but now Guillens contract is haunting me. At the time of this trade, I had plenty of salary room to take on his contract. That was before I went on my spending spree to build a World Series caliber team. Now, I am stuck paying Guillen 12 million a year and no one is willing to take him. Although Ramirez and James were very big pieces that helped me acquire Jose Valverde and Hunter Pence.



All in all I really can not be too upset because basically I traded Pat Burrell and Andy Sonnanstine (traded to Florida for Sean West and John Raynor) for Carlos Guillen, Jose Valverde, Hunter Pence, and John Raynor.

As the other half of this deal I have to say that I feel like things worked out fine for me. At the time I needed a big time right handed power bat, and Burrell is good for a high 800 to low 900 OPS. I needed to get rid of Guillen to make room salary wise for Burrell. The guy that I regret trading is Wilkin Ramirez because he is going to be a very solid major leaguer, probably better than Burrell. At the time though I was in win now mode, and I thought Burrell would put me close to over the top. I was wrong, but I don't regret taking my shot last year.

I'd be willing to take Guillen off your hands...if he's packaged with Tim Beckham.

He dumped Guillen and Crawford on LAD for a catcher that will never reach his peak.

[quote name='Dabynsky' post='98433' date='Jul 31 2009, 01:50 PM']He dumped Guillen and Crawford on LAD for a catcher that will never reach his peak.[/quote]



Yeah, I just saw that.

Next up the trade for Jake Peavy............

At the time of the trade:



Padres receive:



SP Wade Davis (68/92)

SP Jacob McGee (60/86)

SS Reid Brignac (75/88)

OF Matt Joyce (76/81)



Rays receive:



SP Jake Peavy (92)



Now



Padres receive:



SP Wade Davis (75/89)

SP Jacob McGee (65/82)

SS Reid Brignac (81/86)

OF Matt Joyce (79/80)



Rays receive:



SP Jake Peavy (94)





Opinion:



I feel that this was a big deal for me. At the time it seemed like I had just emptied out my farm system to acquire another ace for my staff, but now looking back on it, I feel like I sold my prospects at their peaks. If you looked, the prospects I gave have seemed to diminish. Wade Davis still has a shot at being a decent pitcher, but nothing compared to Peavy. The only other player in this deal that seems to have a shot of being an everyday Major Leaguer is Brignac, who has developed nicely for San Diego, but I have no need for him due to the fact that I have a prospect named Tim Beckham who will be my SS for years to come. Enough with the prospects, Peavy has been absolutely brilliant for the Rays so far and possibly wouldve gotten them a WS Ring is Kazmir hadnt gotten hurt. Not only has Peavy pitched great so far but he still is only 30 and has plenty of more years left in him. I am so glad that I pulled the trigger on this deal.

Next up is the trade for Derek Lowe.........