Was Holding Onto Jeremy Hellickson A Critical Error for the
Rays?  Last offseason, the Tampa Bay Rays made a trade that will
define their franchise for the foreseeable future. They traded
James Shields, Wade Davis, and Elliot Johnson in exchange for
Wil Myers, Jake Odorizzi, Mike Montgomery, and Patrick Leonard,
and even a year later, it is already being considered one of
Andrew Friedman’s best trades. Shields had a strong season for
the Royals, but Myers emerged as the American League Rookie of
the Year, Odorizzi is set to start 2014 in the Rays’ rotation,
and even Montgomery showed signs in his first season in the
organization. But with the benefit of hindsight, would the Rays
make the trade again? The one reason to pause: the Rays were
thinking about trading not Shields but Jeremy Hellickson.
Shields was significantly more expensive, but Hellickson was a
Scott Boras client just one season away from being arbitration-
eligible. The Rays entertained the thought of trading him, and
several teams were reported