Rays fans are no strangers to seeing beloved players traded at the drop of a hat. In just the past year, the franchise has become almost unrecognizable, with the longest tenured players being shipped off to new homes to give the Rays young prospects. Such is the way of baseball.
Still, even as the Evan Longorias and Chris Archers of the team don new jerseys, we find ourselves connecting with different players, maybe ordering new jerseys of our own, and we find new favorites.
At the same time, when you’ve cheered for a guy for his whole major league career, you can’t just be expected to stop caring what he does.