With playoffs almost out of view, here’s a look at Rays’ future

No banners are awarded for having the best farm system, and even if there were, the Rays wouldn’t hang them with those acknowledging their American League pennants, division championships and wild-card appearances.

But as they sputter toward the disappointing end of their five-year playoff run — barring what, at this point, would be a stunning September surge — they can take some solace in how they improved their future.

Obviously they could have opted to keep their underachieving team together and hope for a late-season hot streak. Could have gambled that top prospect Junior Caminero was ready to make an impact earlier or added a bat from elsewhere. Could have banked on a couple teams they were chasing in the American League wild-card race folding.

But once they decided in the weeks leading up to the July 30 trade deadline that those weren’t the wisest choices, they went hard — though not all out — in trading veterans for prospects they hope will bolster their chances in the years ahead.

“Once we recognized that if this year is not going to be our best, then we wanted to do everything we can to ensure that best is in our future,” baseball operations president Erik Neander said Monday. “We want to win a championship. We want to bring that to this franchise, city, community, all of our fans. That’s the goal. We didn’t put ourselves in the best position to accomplish that this year.

“But once you kind of are where you are, you just need to do what you can to make the most of your circumstances.”

What they tried to do was keep enough talent to stay at least on the fringe of the race — going into play Tuesday night seven games out of the third wild-card spot with 31 to play — but trade enough to notably improve the quality and depth of their farm system. Which they feel they did with multi-talented outfielder Aidan Smith and power pitcher Brody Hopkins topping the list for now; both were acquired from Seattle in the Randy Arozarena deal.

Plus, they got a head start on their offseason work of trimming roughly $40 million from a payroll that, from a team-record $96 million at the start of this season, was otherwise going to push past $135 million. And they potentially got a better return in July from motivated teams.

“Once we were in a spot that was disappointing relative to our expectations for this season, our job is to make the most of it,” Neander said. “In this particular case, the way it played out, it was to strengthen our chances to be in a much better position than we were this year down the road.”

Predicting prospect success is challenging, but the experts in the field seem to like what they did.

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MLB.com, in its post-deadline/draft updated rankings, promoted the Rays from the sixth-best farm system to No. 1, and slotted nine of the new players among their top 28 prospects.

They were also rated No. 1 by Fangraphs.com, which uses more of a value-oriented formula in bumping them up from fourth. ESPN.com, which has different methodology, moved then from seventh to second and ranked newcomer Smith the game’s No. 80 overall prospect.

Joking “we’ve got a few top prospects trophies somewhere,” Neander made clear that their end goal is not winning the prospect rankings but the World Series. And that boosting their prospect pool — including “strength in numbers” — is a tool to get there.

“We love our talent base and where it sits right now looking ahead,” Neander said. “But the excitement that comes from that is the hope of one day of bringing you a championship. And that’s ultimately what we’re after.”

In trading nine players off their big-league roster, the Rays got 15 back, plus another minor-leaguer from Seattle, to be chosen from a list after the season.

Three joined the Rays (outfielder Dylan Carlson, infielder Christopher Morel and reliever Hunter Bigge, who was later sent to Triple A), but most of the rest were at the lower end of the minors.

That wasn’t as much by design but adapting to the market as teams were reluctant to give up major-league ready, or close, talent.

“To find the players that we were most excited about, we had to, in many cases, go a little bit deeper and have a little more patience with their developmental timelines,” Neander said.

“We’re in a position where I think we’re fortunate to be able to operate with patience if we think in the long run that’s going to be what serves us best. And that’s how we felt this deadline.”

By doing so they didn’t get the advanced pitching prospects they could have used, but did add pitchers and position players at mostly the Class-A level to form a wave behind their current top group.

With Caminero presumably in the majors to stay, the Rays have reason to feel good about who else is on the way, with shortstop Carson Williams and first baseman Xavier Isaac considered among the game’s top-20 prospects, infielder Brayden Taylor in the 50-60 range, and outfielder Chandler Simpson running (88 steals) and hitting (.357 average) that way.

Also of benefit, those four are playing together at Double-A Montgomery along with five other of their top 27 prospects: steady-hitting first baseman Tre’ Morgan, catcher Dom Keegan, starters Yoniel Curet and Trevor Martin, and outfielder/first baseman Matthew Eztel, who was acquired from the Orioles in the Zach Eflin trade.

Similarly, many of the players acquired in trades are playing at High-A Bowling Green.

“Having a bunch of really talented, high-potential players that have a chance to go out and compete and win games together, having those experiences through the minor leagues is a big deal,” Neander said. “We saw it when we turned it around back in 2008 (and made the playoffs the first time) and when we got it going again in 2019 (starting this run). …

“Good players surrounded by good players, they have a way — if they’re made right, and these guys are — of elevating each other’s game. And we’re certainly seeing some signs of that.”

New faces

A list of the top prospects the Rays acquired in July trades, with their age, former organization, current team and MLB.com ranking:

OF Aidan Smith, 20, Mariners, Class A Charleston, No. 10

RHP Dylan Lesko, 20, Padres, High A Bowling Green, No. 12

RHP Brody Hopkins, 22, Mariners, Bowling Green, No. 13

RHP Jackson Baumeister, 22, Orioles, Bowling Green, No. 19

INF Mac Horvath, 23, Orioles, Bowling Green, No. 20

SS Gregory Barrios, 20, Brewers, Bowling Green, No. 21

OF Homer Bush Jr., 22, Padres, Bowling Green, No. 24

OF/1B Matthew Etzel, 22, Orioles, Montgomery, No. 25

C J.D. Gonzalez, 18, Padres, Charleston, No. 28

Also acquired: RHP Hunter Bigge (Triple-A Durham), RHP Michael Flynn (Durham), RHP Paul Gervase (Montgomery), RHP Ty Johnson (Bowling Green). OF Dylan Carlson and INF Christopher Morel are with the Rays.

Top prospects

An aggregated list of the Rays’ notable in-house prospects, with their age, current team and MLB ranking:

Position players

3B Junior Caminero, 21, Rays, No. 1

SS Carson Williams, 21, Double-A Montgomery, No. 2

1B Xavier Isaac, 20, Montgomery, No. 3

INF Brayden Taylor, 22, Montgomery, No. 4

OF Chander Simpson, 23, Montgomery, No. 5

OF Theo Gillen, 18, Class A Charleston, No. 6

OF Brailer Guerrero, 18, complex league, No. 7

1B Tre’ Morgan, 22, Montgomery, No. 11

C Dominic Keegan, 24, Montgomery, No. 14

SS Adrian Santana, 19, Charleston, No. 16

Pitchers

RHP Gary Gill Hill, 19, Charleston, No. 8

RHP Santiago Suarez, 19, Charleston, No. 9

RHP Yoniel Curet, 21, Montgomery, No. 15

LHP Ian Seymour, 25, Triple-A Durham, No. 18

LHP Joe Rock, 24, Durham, No. 23

RHP Trevor Harrison, 19, Charleston, No. 26

RHP Trevor Martin, 23, Montgomery, No. 27

RHP Jose Urbina, 18, Charleston, No. 30

LHP Mason Montgomery, 24, Durham, NR

RHP Cole Wilcox, 25, Durham, NR

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