Quite possibly THE biggest criticism being thrown around after the tirade of trades the Rays have managed lately, aside from the timing (which wasn’t entirely under their control), is money.
Rays ownership has been called cheap, they’ve been accused of taking the money from MLB transfers and pocketing it instead of re-investing in the players, and much much worse.
Some in the media, truthfully, are going overboard.
If you search long enough on Twitter, there’s very little in the way of positives reference these deals, unless you read the thought provoking work Darby Robinson wrote or read Fangraphs writers, such as Jeff Sullivan, and their thoughts on the trades.