Rays Trade Away Price Anyway

The Tampa Bay Rays made what many thought was an inevitable trade: sending off their ace pitcher David Price to another team that is in better contention for the playoffs this year.  That the Rays have painstakingly climbed back into the playoff picture this year at 53-55 after beginning with a horrendous 24-42 record seems to have been irrelevant in the decision.  The Tampa Bay ownership and management have long had a policy of paying their players as little as they possibly can, and have in the past let go of stars that they did not want to pay up to other teams' levels (e.g. Carl Crawford).  Let's face it: Price's annual salary is $14 million...the starting pitcher that Detroit sent to them in the trade for Price, Drew Smyly, is making $502,000.  Quite a difference, and the young Smyly has had a record of some strong pitching performances.  He may turn out to be a strong pitcher in their rotation.  But the bottom line in this transaction, which also involved the Rays picking up a couple of minor players form the Tigers and Seattle, is the desire on the part of the team's management to reduce payroll and give them future flexibility.  Seeing the general winning success they have had over the past few years with their frequent playoff appearances, it's hard to argue too vehemently against their strategy.  Yes, Price is a good, good pitcher and I'll miss him...I'll probably root for him when he's pitching at Detroit (but not against my teams).  Still, I'll repeat what I have said earlier: making these mid-season trades is a bad idea in general, when teams are touting their stars to their fans and trying to generate interest...only to confuse them suddenly and shuffle the players around.  I'm especially sympathetic to the Boston Red Sox fans, who are suddenly without their pitching heroes Jon Lester and John Lackey, along with outfielder Jonny Gomes.  Sure, they picked up Oakland's home run slugger Yoenis Cespedes to put in the outfield, but if you're a fan of the team and have bonded to the players you've had (and won in the past with, including last year's World Series for the Sox), it's got to hurt a little...