PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — The Rays feel they gained a lot in trading Austin Meadows to the Tigers on Monday night.
They landed Isaac Paredes, the offense-first infielder they expect to help them this season, and the No. 70 or so draft pick that came with him from Detroit.
They got space to add multi-talented outfield prospect Josh Lowe to their opening day roster, and the accompanying lineup flexibility of rotating several players through the DH spot Meadows figured to hold down.
And, though team officials insisted it wasn’t a factor, the Rays saved $4 million of Meadows’ salary.
But the biggest question, as the Rays are set to embark on a season with championship aspirations, is if they have enough to replace the offense they lost. Around a 2020 plagued by injury and illness, Meadows had been one of their most productive hitters, leading the team with 33 homers in 2019 and 106 RBIs last season.
“It’s a great question,” said baseball operations president Erik Neander.
“We’ll see,” answered manager Kevin Cash said. “We’d like to think so. … But there’s no doubt that Austin could really carry us at certain parts of the season.”
The answer will be multi-faceted.
In what they hope to get from Lowe, the 24-year-old lefty hitter whose 20-20 performance as Triple-A Durham’s team MVP showcased not only his power but also the speed they expect to be impactful. (Plus the net benefit of him being a much better defender than Meadows).
And in what they expect to gain by using the flexibility of the rotating DH spot to keep impactful players, such as Randy Arozarena, Ji-Man Choi, Brandon Lowe and Josh Lowe, in the lineup on days they otherwise would have been off.
“I’ll look a little different, but I think that fluidity will open up a lot opportunities for our group,” Neander said. “And it’ll be a lot of smaller parts to the puzzle that I think will come in and replace the contributions that Austin made.”
Lowe, the younger brother of former Ray Nate Lowe, is obviously being counted upon quite heavily.
Even in trying to take the pressure off him by not making the deal “all about” Lowe, Neander said in the same breath: “He has the potential to be an All-Star player. That’s how we see him.”
Lowe has the speed, skills and arm strength to fit right into any of the three spots among the Rays already elite-level outfield group of Kevin Kiermaier, Manuel Margot and Brett Phillips, with Arozarena, who was a Gold Glove finalist, a step down.
The bigger gamble is whether Lowe is ready to contribute offensively given he has had only two September plate appearances in the majors — though he does have a 1.000 career batting average.
“He’s a very dynamic talent,” Neander said, and, while obviously “less proven” than Meadows, one the Rays feel comfortable is “ready physically, mentally, emotionally to take this step” based on what they saw last season at Durham and this spring.
The move was similar to what the Rays did last May, when they traded shortstop Willy Adames to clear a space initially for promising prospect Taylor Walls — and ultimately for Wander Franco — and that seemed to have worked out okay.
At some point this summer, they also may make room for Paredes, 23, to join them from Durham. Neander said the Rays have liked the right-handed hitter for a while, noting his defensive abilities at second and third base and touting his plate discipline, contact ability, increasing power and overall offense.
“For someone that’s 23 years old,” he said, “it’s about as advanced an approach at the plate when it comes to the pitches he’s swinging at.”
Insisting the “financial considerations were not a part of this at all,” Neander said in essence they feel they are a better team now with Lowe than Meadows.
“I think collectively, as a group, the sum of our talent and how those at-bats will be distributed, keeping guys fresh, it might manifest itself in ways that aren’t just, ‘OK, well here’s an extra 27 homers and 100 RBIs or whatever it is,’” Neander said.
“We’re in a spot where we’re looking to win this year. That is really important to us. So in any decisions we make, that’s not something where we’re looking to take steps back. Our identity might move around a little bit.”
