Longoria is traded from Tampa to San Francisco
The San Francisco Giants found the offence-producing third baseman they sought this off-season, acquiring Evan Longoria and cash from the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday for outfielder Denard Span, infielder Christian Arroyo and two minor league pitchers.
The 32-year-old Longoria leaves Tampa Bay as the longest-tenured player in franchise history, after spending nearly 10 seasons in a Rays uniform. He is the club’s alltime leader with 1,435 games played, 261 home runs and 892 RBIs. Of the 30 post-season games in Rays history, all 30 have featured Longoria starting at third base.
Longoria batted .261 with 20 homers and 86 RBIs last season. He is expected to fill a void for San Francisco at third, where the Giants mixed and matched during a lastplace season in 2017. Longoria has played at least 156 games in each of the past five seasons. He was the AL Rookie of the Year in 2008 and won three Gold Gloves.
“Evan gives us a Gold Glove-calibre player at third base and also provides us a middle of the order presence in the lineup,” Giants general manager Bobby Evans said. “His durability and leadership will strengthen our club moving forward.”
Rays general manager Erik Neander said trading Longoria “was in the best long-term interest of our franchise.”
“The decision itself was one that was incredibly difficult for us to make,” Neander said.