Rays Buy IPO Evan Longoria
I said previously that we use the Longoria decision as the measuring stick of where this Rays franchise is headed. In an unprecedented move, they took the 1990 Cleveland Indians blueprints of locking up your young players, and threw it out the door. In doing so, they are using the minor league track record as a basis for locking up a young player as their every day hot corner for the next decade. So, instead of waiting for this stock known as Longoria to reach its upward spiral, they are buying him at an IPO price.
We have seen teams like the Rockies buy into this partially, with their Rookie shortstop from last year. But, never have we seen this done before with this small a major league sample size. This is like taking Chase Utley after his first ever at bat where he hit a grand slam and rewarding him with a ten year deal. You think Utley would not taken this type of deal?
This deal strikes me of genius. Only in this case, Longoria wont whiff the minors ever again.
Filed under: American League, MLB, Rays
The Rays made it 100% clear they mean business. This is a decent bet, that EL will be a deal by the middle/end of the contract, and it let’s their fan base, and prospective fan base, aware of their commitment to winning. Great decision.