A busy offseason continued on Friday, as the Tampa Bay Rays officially shipped outfielder Wil Myers to the San Diego Padres.
The Padres announced the full details of the blockbuster deal:
The team announced this afternoon that they have acquired 2012 Rookie of the Year outfielder Wil Myers, catcher Ryan Hanigan, left-handed pitcher Jose Castillo and right-handed pitcher Gerardo Reyes from the Tampa Bay Rays. As part of the deal, the Padres will send catcher Rene Rivera, right-handed pitcher Burch Smith and infielder Jake Bauers to Tampa Bay, as well as right-handed pitcher Joe Ross and a player to be named later to Washington.
Dennis Lin of U-T San Diego provides details on Myers' expected role with the team:
Following a Rookie of the Year campaign in 2013, Myers disappointed last season, hitting .222/.294/.320 with six home runs and 35 RBI in 87 games.
Still, he's only 24 years old, has a very bright future in front of him and, perhaps most importantly, doesn't even become arbitration eligible until 2017. It's not exactly like the Rays to sell low on such a talented player on a friendly contract, especially after president of baseball operations Matt Silverman, via the Tampa Bay Times' Marc Topkin, readily admitted Myers' struggles were injury-related:
We don't have any questions about Wil. The guy we saw last year was injured and didn't really have a chance to demonstrate what he has. We look at him as a rookie of the year who really missed most of the season and expect him to be back in that form as a formidable bat in the middle of the lineup who also plays a pretty good outfield.
There had been some rumblings about teams showing interest in Myers, but it's still a bit surprising to see the Rays pull the trigger on a deal.
The hope for San Diego is that Myers, who missed half of last season with a fractured wrist, simply approaches his 2013 numbers. In 373 plate appearances, he hit .293/.354/.478 with 38 extra-base hits. Although he wasn't eligible, his 131 OPS+ would have been 15th-best in the American League, per Baseball-Reference.com.
Entering just his third MLB season, the former top-five prospect has the talent to enjoy a bounce-back year, especially if he's healthy.
If that happens, it may not be long before the Rays start to regret this deal.
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