As a small-market team in a division full of income-driven, free-spending colleagues, the Tampa Bay Bays have always had to do things differently. They sell off their best players at the right time — or so they hope — and reload their farm system with the next wave of young stars.

It's worked well for two decades, winning two American League pennants (2008, 2020) and making the postseason nine times. All that has eluded them is a World Series title, which they home comes their way some day.

The Rays have new owners now, but the game plan looks the same as we head toward the 2026 regular season. The Rays are selling off pieces, and building for the future, and they made two high-profile deals over the weekend toward that goal.

Gone are second baseman Brandon Lowe, who is on his way to the Pittsburgh Pirates after spending 10 years with the organization and was a two-time All-Star, including last year. The 31-year-old is owned $11.5 million this season, so the Rays thought it was a good time to move on. They got a haul for him.

They got a great deal too for starting pitcher Shane Baz. He's just 26 and has a workable contract expected to be about $3 million, but he's been up and down. The Rays, who have other options in their rotation, put a high price tag on him — and the Baltimore Orioles were willing to pay it.

Here's how the deals went down.

Lowe moved on to Pittsburgh in a three-team deal with the Pirates and Houston Astros. The Pirates, who were dead last in offense a year ago, needed his bat, which accounted for 31 home runs a year ago and 157 in his Rays career. Here's who got what:

* Pirates get: Second baseman Brandon Lowe, outfielder Jake Mangum, lefty relief pitcher Mason Montgomery from the Rays.
* Astros get: Pitcher Mike Burrows from the Pirates.
* Rays get: Outfielder Jacob Melton and right-handed pitcher Anderson Brito. Both are considered top-5 prospects in the Houston organization. According to mlb.com, they rank No. 4 and No. 6 on the Rays' prospect list after the trades. 

Baz has always been one of the Rays' top prospects. The hard-throwing right-hander who can hitt 100 mph occasionally debuted in 2021, but needed Tommy John surgery after just six starts in 2022. He missed all of the 2023 season, they were careful with him in 2024, where he made only 14 starts and pitched just 79 innings.

He started 31 games in 2025 and everyone was thrilled that he pitched a full season. He was 10-12 with a 4.87 earned run average, but at his best he was one of the top right-handers in the game. He had seven starts where he didn't allow a run, and three more where he gave up just one.

Those 10-best starts? He was 8-1 with a 0.44 ERA. But he got knocked around, too. Want a good sample size? In his 10 worst starts — where he allowed four runs or more each time — he was 1-8 with a 7.35 ERA. 

To trade Baz within the division, the haul had to be exceptional — and the Rays think it was.

Here's who got what:

Orioles get: Right-handed pitcher Shane Baz from the Rays.
Rays get: Catcher Caden Bodine, outfielder Slater de Brun, pitcher Michael Forret and outfielder Austin Overn, all top-20 Orioles prospects. They rank No. 7, No. 8, No. 12 and No. 22 in the re-ranking of the Rays' system.

This is a time of transition for the Tampa Bay franchise. They have new owners, moving on from Stuart Sternberg with a group led by Patrick Zalupski. They took over in September, but will likely follow the same ecomonic plan that Sternberg was forced to follow. Their revenues pale in comparison to their American League East rivals, the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles.

After making the playoffs for five straight years, the Rays have been on the outside looking in now for two straight seasons. They were 80-82 in 2024 and 77-85 last year when they played outdoors in Tampa after Hurricane Milton did major damage to their domed stadium, Tropicana Field, in the fall of 2024.

The stadium is being completely renovated and is expected to be ready for baseball by the Rays' home Opening Day, which is April 6. They are excited to return to the Trop, their home since 1998.

Zalupskli and his ownership group are working hard to find a new home for the Rays, presumably on the Tampa side of the bay. It is top priority for them.

The great unknown is how willing they are to spend to compete for division and World Series titles right now. This isn't uncommon, trading off pieces when they get expensive. They also declined to pick up the option for closer Pete Fairbanks, who was owed $11 million by the Rays on their team option.

Rays baseball operations president Erik Neander, a holdover from the Sternberg era, told reporters that this was more about taking one step back and two steps forward down the road. Giving up Lowe for Melton and Brito was well worth it, he said.

“(Friday’s) deals were, I think, more about losing a little bit in ’26 to gain an awful lot as we look into the future,” Neander said. “We’re really high on Jacob Melton. We think he’s someone that has the potential to be a 20-homer, 40-steal-plus centerfielder or elite outfielder, wherever he is out there, and not terribly far off.” 

It may take a while longer for the Baz trade to deliver at the major-league level, but it's the kind of deal the Rays like to make. They feel like they got four future big-leaguers in exchange for Baz.

That's worth it, in their minds. 

“It’s in your division, it’s in front of you, and we think Shane (Baz) is about to take a really big step forward, and that part is difficult,” Neander said. “But just the return, we were able to get what we thought was a premium because we were willing to be patient and accept a proposal from them that was focused on players a lot further away from their major-league club.

"Those are the kind of things that, they’re difficult, but we’ve got to do them.”

The Rays have three years left on their lease at the Trop, and if all goes well they'll move into a new stadium in 2029 with increased revenues — and increased payroll.

It's going to be interesting to see how much they are interested in spending to contend during these next three years, though. It's also curious if they'll need to spend an extra year at the Trop of site location, planning and construction gets delayed by a year.