Rays deal Wood, Arroyo to Tribe for prospect

ST. PETERSBURG -- The Rays have traded right-hander Hunter Wood and infielder Christian Arroyo to the Indians in exchange for 21-year old outfield prospect Ruben Cardenas and international slot money.

According to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand, the Rays get $250,000 in international slot money from the Indians.

Wood, 25, has seen time with the Rays and Triple-A Durham this season, posting a 2.48 ERA in 19 appearances with Tampa Bay. The decision to trade Wood was largely due to the fact that the Rays needed to clear room on the 40-man roster to complete the deal for infielder Eric Sogard, whom the Rays acquired from the Blue Jays on Sunday.

Arroyo was the top prospect that Tampa Bay received from San Francisco in the Evan Longoria trade in 2017. The 24-year-old struggled to stay healthy in his two seasons with the Rays, landing on the injured list multiple times last season and going on the 60-day injured list this year with right forearm tendinitis. He appeared in just 36 games with the Rays.

With Matt Duffy, Joey Wendle, Mike Brosseau and now Sogard all providing quality infield depth for the Rays, it became unclear what role Arroyo would have had when he returned from the injured list.

Because Arroyo is on the 60-day injured list, the infielder didn't count toward the Rays’ 40-man roster, leaving the roster at 40 with the addition of Sogard. Both Arroyo and Wood would have been out of options next season.

Cardenas, 21, was drafted in the 16th round of the 2018 Draft and is batting .284/.343/.475 (91-for-320) with 19 doubles, six triples, 10 home runs and 54 RBIs in 84 games this season with Class A Lake County in the Midwest League. The outfielder ranks among Midwest League leaders in slugging percentage (third), OPS (.818, fifth), triples (tied for fifth), RBIs (fifth), extra-base hits (35, third) and total bases (152, tied for third).

In another move on Sunday, the Rays traded right-hander Ian Gibaut, who was designated for assignment last Sunday, to the Texas Rangers for a player to be named or cash considerations.