The Tampa Bay Rays have dumped many of their best players ahead of Major League Baseball’s trade deadline on Tuesday, a move that was prompted in part by a failed attempt to buy the team, according to information obtained by The Washington Post.
Rays owner Stuart Sternberg, who led the partnership that bought the AL East powerhouse for $200 million in 2004, was in talks to sell the team to a group of Tampa-area investors for $1.6 billion, a source who was part of the buying group told The Washington Post.
But a lead investor who was set to buy a 35% stake in the team pulled out, and plans for a deeper buyer worth about $10 billion fell through, the people said.
“The whole deal has fallen apart,” the source said, adding that sale talks have now collapsed.
“Baseball teams are hard to sell.”
A Rays spokesman declined to comment.
Only one MLB team has changed ownership in the past four years, when the Baltimore Orioles were sold to Carlyle Group founder David Rubenstein earlier this year for roughly $1.7 billion.
Recent auctions by the Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Angels were unsuccessful.
Billionaire hedge fund manager Steve Cohen paid a record $2.4 million to buy the New York Mets in 2020.
The Rays have far outweighed their small-market status by making the playoffs each of the past five years, including the 2020 World Series, and were valued by Forbes magazine at about $1.25 billion before the start of the season.
That’s a far cry from the staggering sales figures for NBA and NFL franchises over the past few years, including the Phoenix Suns’ record $4 billion and the Washington Commanders’ $6 billion.
According to Forbes magazine, the Rays generated $68 million in operating profits last year while having the second-lowest payroll in the 30-team league.
Sternberg, who is reportedly worth $800 million, is working to raise funds for a new stadium to replace the Rays’ aging Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, investing $700 million in the $1.37 billion stadium construction.
His momentum grew Tuesday when county officials voted to approve public funding for the remainder of the new stadium.
“It feels great. We’ve been working on this for a long time,” Tampa Bay Rays co-president Brian Auld said. He spoke to local media..
An infusion of revenue from a new stadium was expected, but it came too late to retain some of the team’s current stars.
The Rays traded All-Star third baseman Jhonny Paredes to the Chicago Cubs, slugger Randy Arozarena to the Seattle Mariners, starting pitcher Zach Eflin to the Baltimore Orioles, relief pitcher Jason Adam to the San Diego Padres and shortstop Amed Rosario to the Dodgers last week, mostly in exchange for unproven prospects.
Just before Tuesday’s trade deadline, they sent pitchers Phil Mutton to the Mets, Aaron Civale to the Brewers and Shawn Armstrong to the Cardinals.
Despite playing in a division dominated by the Yankees, Orioles and Red Sox, the team remains in the running for a playoff spot with a 55-52 record.
But attendance continues to be sluggish: The Rays are averaging 16,871 fans at Tropicana Stadium, third-worst in baseball.
Originally called the Devil Rays, the team was one of two expansion clubs that entered the league in 1997.
