The greatest player in Tampa Bay Rays history will be sporting black and orange in 2018.

Evan Longoria was traded from the Tampa Bay Rays to the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday. Longoria and cash considerations will be sent to the Giants, and the Rays will receive top Infield prospect Christian Arroyo, veteran outfielder Denard Span, along with Class A Right-Handed Pitcher Stephen Woods and Class A Left-Handed Pitcher Matt Krook.

Longo broke on to the scene in 2008 (winning a Rookie of the Year) and immediately became one of baseball’s premier third baseman. In his career, Longoria has won 3 Gold Gloves, a Silver Slugger, and is a 3-time All-Star. In his 10-year career, Longoria has amassed 261 home runs, 892 RBI, a .270 batting average, and has put up a career WAR of exactly 50.0.

One thing that the San Francisco Giants have been lacking for a while now is power in the middle of their lineup. The Giants were 28th of all 30 MLB teams in home runs last year and have failed in all of their attempts to put another power bat in their lineup besides Buster Posey. Furthermore, Giants third baseman in 2017 had the lowest batting average, home run total, RBI total, and OPS of any other team’s third baseman. Longoria gives San Francisco a power bat and fills in their hole at third.

The Rays made this move, for the most part, to cut payroll and will save the total of $86 million left on Longoria’s contract. This will allow them to acquire some more young talent in order to build their team for the future. In addition, Brandon Arroyo is ranked 4th on the Rays prospect ranking and will most likely become the third baseman of the future for the Rays. Arroyo was a first-round pick in the 2013 draft.

Evan Longoria is also likely to improve due to the change of scenery. It will likely be a huge energy booster for Longoria to go from a depressing stadium in Tampa with the lowest attendance in baseball almost every year, to a beautiful ballpark in San Francisco in front of a packed house every night.

This was a very smart move on both ends, with the Rays acquiring a top-notch prospect and cutting payroll dramatically, while the Giants receive cash considerations and a stud third baseman with good power.

Longoria has also expressed that he is looking forward to playing for the Giants, saying this on the trade, “It’s an even year coming up and I know the Giants win in even years.