Cincinnati Reds: Three reasons to avoid trading for Willy Adames

2. The Reds should beware of doing business with the Rays.

The Tampa Bays Rays may be one of the best-run organizations in all of professional sports. Okay, throw out the attendance statistics, as that has nothing to do with the product on the field. In terms of talent evaluation, there’s not too many teams in major league baseball that can outdo Tampa Bay, and the Reds should be leery of doing business with Rays.

By now, the baseball world is familiar with the name Randy Arozarena. Thankfully, for the Cincinnati Reds, the St. Louis Cardinals screwed up big time and dealt Arozarena and José Martinez to Tampa Bay in exchange for Matthew Liberatore, Edgardo Rodriguez, and a draft pick. That’s a mistake the Cardinals’ front office will have to deal with for some time.

But that’s not the first time Tampa Bay’s shrewd front office has swindled an unsuspecting organization. Former GM Andrew Friedman was at the helm when the Rays traded Matt Garza to the Chicago Cubs and brought back Chris Archer. Archer was then flipped to the Pittsburgh Pirates seven years later for Austin Meadows and Tyler Glasnow.

Those are just a few of the best deals we’ve seen from the Rays over the years. Tampa Bay is known throughout the league to have some of the best talent evaluators, scouts, and front office personnel. That’s no reason to avoid doing a deal with the Rays, but be forewarned, a few years from now, the Reds front office may look back and think, “What in the world did we do?”