The best player in franchise history will sign a one day contract with the Rays on June 7th
On June 6th, 2006, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays selected third baseman Evan Longoria with the 3rd overall selection of the draft.
On June 7th, 2025, the Tampa Bay Rays will sign Evan Longoria to a ceremonial one day contract so he will retire from Major League Baseball as a member of the Rays.
In the 19 years that took place between those two dates, Evan Longoria would be the American League Rookie of the Year, make three All-Star games, win three Gold Gloves, and be awarded the Silver Slugger once; he also received consideration for the Most Valuable Player award six times. Longoria played in a total of 51 playoff games and reached the postseason six times; he played in the World Series twice.
Longoria has three of the top six seasons in franchise history in terms of fWAR. He is second on the team’s all-time hit list and holds first place by a wide margin for most career HR and fWAR.
On September 28th, 2011, Longoria hit one of the most memorable home runs in baseball history as he lined a ball over the shorter corner wall in left field at Tropicana Field to send the Rays to the playoffs. A moment that the Rays immortalized with a statue at one of the entrances to Tropicana Field.
Longoria signed two team friendly long term extensions that should could have made him a Ray for the entire duration of his big league career. However, he was traded to the San Francisco Giants following the 2017 season. After five seasons with the Giants, Longoria was a free agent for the first time in his career and signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks for the 2023 season and reached the World Series for the second time of his career.
Longoria became a free agent once again following the Diamondbacks’ loss to the Rangers. There was mutual interest between Longoria and the Rays that offseason but nothing came to fruition and for the first time since beginning his professional career, Lonogira did not play at all during the 2024 season having all but retired.
Now, Longoria will officially announce his retirement in a special ceremony with the Rays on June 7th. In the future, the Rays will almost certainly retire Longoria’s #3 and enshrine him into the team’s Hall of Fame (which is on hiatus this year due to Tropicana Field being unusable).
Evan Longoria’s career officially ends with him hitting .264/.333/.471 with 342 HR and a 117 wRC+. Longoria accrued 55.2 fWAR, which is 25th all-time among primary third baseman in MLB history. From 2008 through 2023, Longoria posted the 7th highest fWAR, had the 8th most HR, and the 10th highest DRS of anyone in the game.