The face of the Tampa Bay Rays franchise is no longer Evan Longoria.
The third baseman was traded Wednesday to the San Francisco Giants, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times was first to report.
“Evan is our greatest Ray. For a decade, he’s been at the center of all of our successes, and it’s a very emotional parting for us all,” Principal Owner Stuart Sternberg said in a statement. “I speak for our entire organization in wishing Evan and his wonderful family our absolute best.”
Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports reports that a pair of Tampa Bay-area natives, outfielder Denard Span and infielder Christian Arroyo, will be sent to the Rays in the deal, along with minor-league pitchers Matt Krook and Stephen Woods.
Longoria, drafted third overall by Tampa Bay in 2006, was the last Rays player that appeared in the team's only World Series appearance in 2008 to still be with the team. He won the American League Rookie of the Year award in 2008, was an All-Star in 2008, 2009, and 2010, and won three Gold Gloves, including one last season. The 32-year-old leaves as the franchise's all-time leader in games played (1,435), home runs (261), RBI (892), doubles (338), extra-base hits (618), slugging percentage (.483), total bases (2,630), runs scored (780), and walks (569).
Span, who played his high school baseball at Tampa Catholic, is going into his final guaranteed year of a three-year deal he signed before the 2016 season. He's coming off a 2017 that saw him play in just 129 games, but hit .272/.329/.427 with 12 home runs and 43 runs batted in.
Arroyo, taken in the first round in 2015 out of Hernando High School, made his big-league debut with the Giants in 2017. In 34 games, he hit .192/.244/.304 with three home runs and 14 RBI. He hit .396/.461/.604 in 25 games with Triple-A Sacramento.
Krook, a fourth-round pick out of the University of Oregon in 2016, spent 2017 with High-A San Jose in the California League. He went 4-9 with a 5.12 ERA in 25 appearances, including 17 starts, and struck out 105 batters in just 91.1 innings pitched.
Woods, an eighth-round pick in 2016 from SUNY-Albany, spent 2017 with Augusta of the South Atlantic League, where he went 6-7 with a 2.95 ERA in 23 starts. He was also drafted in the sixth round by the Rays out of high school in 2013, but chose to attend college.
Listen to Evan Longoria's comments on the trade below!
Rays general manager Erik Neander speaks about the trade.
Rays president Matt Silverman speaks about the deal.