I'm not sure if anyone on this board follows the Rays or not, but seeing as that it's a Florida team, I thought there might be a few. I have been a fan of the team since their inception and I really need to vent. After last season, where we finished 30 games over .500, I was super stoked about the future direction of this team. Unfortunately, in the last 2 weeks, my frustration has boiled over as they have lost 2 of my favorite players on the team. The Rays catching situation has been an absolute mess for years. Season after season we've had to watch our catchers not only struggle at the plate, but in many cases they can't even even hit a measly .200. Finally, last year we found Travis d'Arnaud and things turned around. He hit .263 with 16 HRS and 67 RBI's in some very key situations. I could even make an argument that we was the main reason we were able to make the playoffs last season. Having a good offensive catcher made a huge difference. He should've been priority #1 in free agency, but instead, we let him go to the Braves on a two year $16 million deal. On top of that, how do we replace this huge loss at a key position? We re-sign Mike Zunino. The same player who hit .165 last season and .202 for his career. Ugh! As if that isn't bad enough, today comes word that we traded Tommy Pham. He hit .273 last season with 21 HRs and was the picture of consistency in 2019. He might've been our most consistent player. Who did we get in return? Hunter Renfrow. Yes, he did hit 33 HRS last season, but he also hit a paltry .216 for the season. Is the trade off for more home runs worth worth giving up so much consistency at the plate? I don't think so at all. We were so close last season and now, I see us starting to disintegrate once more. Why can't we have nice things? O.K., I'm done venting.

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