Tampa Bay Rays’ fire sale of top players sparked after busted deal to sell team: source

The Tampa Bay Rays dumped many of their best players ahead of Tuesday’s Major League Baseball trade deadline — a fire sale partially sparked because a potential deal to buy team fell through, The Post has learned.

Rays owner Stuart Sternberg, who led a partnership that purchased the American League East stalwarts for $200 million in 2004, was in talks to sell the team to a group of Tampa-area investors for $1.6 billion, a source who was part of the buying group told The Post.

However, the lead investor who was going to scoop up a 35% stake in the team dropped out and plans for a deep-pocketed buyer worth about $10 billion to step in didn’t pan out, the source said.

“The whole deal fell apart,” the source said, adding that sale talks are now dead.

“Baseball teams are hard to sell.”

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A Rays spokesperson declined to comment.

Only one MLB team has changed hands in the past four years, with the Baltimore Orioles being sold to Carlyle Group founder David Rubenstein for around $1.7 billion earlier this year.

Auctions for the Washington Nationals and the Los Angeles Angels in recent years were unsuccessful.

Billionaire hedge fund manager Steve Cohen paid a record $2.4 million to buy the New York Mets in 2020.

The Rays — who have punched well above their small-market status by making the playoffs the past five years, including the World Series in 2020 — were valued at around $1.25 billion by Forbes before the start of the season.

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That’s a far cry from the eye-popping sales of NBA and NFL franchises over the past couple of years, including a record $4 billion for the Phoenix Suns and $6 billion for the Washington Commanders.

Last year, the Rays made $68 million in operating income, according to Forbes — while having the second-lowest payroll in the 30-team league.

Sternberg, reportedly worth $800 million, has been trying to raise money for a new stadium to replace the Rays’ outdated Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, committing $700 million to build the $1.37 billion ballpark.

He got a boost Tuesday when county officials voted to approve public funding for the rest of the new stadium.

“Feels great. We’ve been working on this for a very long time,” Tampa Bay Rays co-President Brian Auld told local media outlets .

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The expected infusion of revenue from a new stadium came too late to keep some of the team’s current stars.

The Rays traded All-Star third baseman Johnny Paredes to the Chicago Cubs, slugger Randy Arozarena to the Seattle Mariners, starting pitcher Zach Eflin to the Baltimore Orioles reliever Jason Adam to the San Diego Padres and shortstop Amed Rosario to the Dodgers, largely for unproven prospects, in the past week.

Shortly before Tuesday’s trade deadline, they also unloaded pitcher Phil Maton to the Mets, pitcher Aaron Civale to the Brewers, and pitcher Shawn Armstong to the Cardinals.

The team remains in playoff contention with a 55-52 record despite being in a division dominated by the Yankees, Orioles and Red Sox.

However, attendance continues to languish. The Rays are drawing an average of 16,871 fans to The Trop, third-worst in baseball.

The team, originally called the Devil Rays, was one of two expansion clubs s to enter the league in 1997.

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