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As we now know, Evan Longoria is going to be a Tampa Bay Rays for a long time. A loooong time. If he remains a Rays through the entirety of his contract, he'll be with the Rays until 2022 (or 2023 if the Rays pick up that final team option).
It can be a little bit difficult to wrap your mind around a date that's so far in the future, so in order to help, the DRaysBay staff yesterday took a stab at rosterbating for the 2022 season. If we pencil Longoria in at first base -- since he'll likely be moved across the diamond by that point -- what other players could the Rays have under team control at that point as well?
1B: Evan Longoria
2B: Ryan Brett
SS: Jake Hager
3B: Tyler Goeddel
LF: Granden Goetzman
CF: Andrew Toles
RF: Drew Vettleson
DH: Josh Sale
C: Oscar Hernandez
SP: Taylor Guerrieri
SP: Felipe Rivero
SP: Jeff Ames
SP Blake Snell
In order for a prospect to still be under team control in 2022, they'd need to get first called up in 2016. As Glass stated yesterday, this is a fun list to put together, but it's an exercise in futility. All of these players are so far away from the majors, it's impossible to tell how many of them will ever make it -- and if they make it, what sort of player they'll end up being.
We may not know much about the Rays future, but we do know one thing: Evan Longoria will be a part of it. No matter what may come in 2016 or 2019 or 2022, that's a comforting thought.