Rays & Pirates
Submitted by: suncoastdome
Rays
| Name | Age | Level | P1 | P2 | Availability | Years | AFV | Salary | Surplus | Low | Median | High |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joey Bart | 29 | Majors | C | High | 2 | 11.8 | 6.8 | 5.1 | 4 | 5.1 | 6.1 | |
| Kyle Nicolas | 27 | Majors | LRP | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Round A Comp Balance Pick | Minors | 5 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
Total Value:
10.1
Pirates
| Name | Age | Level | P1 | P2 | Availability | Years | AFV | Salary | Surplus | Low | Median | High |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brandon Lowe | 31 | Majors | 2B | Low | 1 | 14.6 | 11.5 | 3.1 | 2.5 | 3.1 | 3.8 | |
| Cash | 5 |
Total Value:
8.1
Comments
5
Are the Rays kicking in cash to buy prospects or because the Pirates are too poor to afford Lowe’s $11.5MM salary?
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Hey MP, from a Pirates perspective if they can get the offensive upgrade (Lowe) for a net of 6m per, it would allow the Pirates to allot more for the remaining offensive needs. Nicholas still has potential and the Rays Snyder does great work, so there's some hope there for Kyle. The Rays highly value draft picks and it alone could possible offset the loss of 1 year of Lowe. The Rays have gotten very little offense out of the catchers position. Granted, the Rays probably value defense at catcher even more than most, but Bart could get them some offense. I don't think the Pirates would miss Bart too much. The hope would be to get more out of Davis and something from either or both Flores and Endy.
Gotcha. I guess the Rays could eat some salary, but since their payroll is already over their 2026 budget according to Topkin, I doubt they would do that. Also, I think the narrative that the Rays value draft picks was blown up last year when they traded a draft pick for a reliever. Speaking of which, the Rays should have a good/deep Pen as-is with all the resources they’ve poured into it in the past 6 months. Add it all up and I don’t think this trade is likely.
Well, even if the cash was less than 5m, they still would be trimming down from the 11.5 due Lowe. As far as a pick, it's an asset that the Pirates can use NOW, to help acquire talent.
And that was the reason given by the Rays when they traded last year’s pick.