Tampa Bay Rays

The Rays’ flurry of moves before the trade deadline reduced their payroll commitment for next year while bringing in several major league-ready players as they start to rebuild.

“Are we better right now? In all fairness, probably not,” manager Kevin Cash said. “We’re getting young players. ... We’re certainly optimistic that we’re going to be better because of some of these deals.”

The biggest loss was righthander Chris Archer, who had been one of the Rays’ cornerstones since they acquired him from the Cubs in January 2011. He was sent to Pittsburgh for outfielder Austin Meadows, right-hander Tyler Glasnow and a player to be named.

The Rays also traded pitchers Nathan Eovaldi, Matt Andriese and Jonny Venters, catcher Wilson Ramos and infielder Adeiny Hechavarria. Their most notable acquisition was outfielder

Tommy Pham in a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals.

❚ Through Aug. 5, the Rays had 19 losses when allowing three or fewer runs and 11 losses when allowing two or fewer runs — both the most in the major leagues. The club record for losses in each category is 24 and 12, respectively.

“Something like this is a little tough to just forget about. … We got an early lead, a big lead, obviously couldn’t hold onto it, and from there they just kept pounding the baseball and we kept trying to run it down and throw it back in.” Brett Gardner Yankees outfielder, to the “New York Post” after his team’s 15-7 loss to the Red Sox