It has been a cycle that Rays fans have gotten fairly used to over the past few years. The club develops a glut of pitching, reaps the benefits of that depth for a year or two and then uses the excess to acquire young talent that will help the club down the road.
We saw it in the James Shields trade, where the club acquired Wil Myers, Jake Odorizzi and Patrick Leonard, all pieces not yet big league ready. We saw it when the Rays dealt Matt Garza, acquiring Chris Archer, Robinson Chirinos, Brandon Guyer and Sam Fuld, and the again trade took years for the Rays to finally see a significant benefit from it.