Rays Roster Roundup: 7 trades, 27 players... so far

Moving into 2015, there's been no shortage of trades. Let's recap what's happened thus far:

November

The Diamondbacks (our 1998 expansion team pals) snagged Hellickson, 2011 AL Rookie of the Year. In return, we received outfielder Justin WIlliams and shortstop Andrew Velazquez. Both minor league prospects, but given Hellickson's struggles with velocity, control, and previous elbow surgery to remove loose bodies, a better trade than some thought possible.

Joel Peralta was traded to the Dodgers for pitching prospects José Dominguez and Greg Harris. Dominguez is a 24 year old prospect, cousin to Álex Colomé, both carrying previous suspensions for failing random drug tests. Cesar Ramos, went to the Angels in exchange for Mark Sappington, also a 24 year old pitching prospect. Following the exit of these two bullpen arms, the Rays inked Frieri to a 1-year contract worth $3.8 million.

December

The Myers Trade: Part 2. There seems to be a split among fans about whether or not this was a "prudent" move. Trading off Wil Myers and Ryan Hanigan, the Rays entered into a 3 team trade with the Nationals and the Padres, bringing in Jake Bauers, Burch Smith, René Rivera from San Diego and Steven Souza, and Travis Ott from DC. Hanigan has since been shipped to the Red Sox in exchange for Will Middlebrooks. Given Jose Molina's release, Rivera, 31, may become a backup catcher sooner rather than later.

Following the signing of Frieri, Sean Rodriguez was designated for assignment and subsequently traded for a PTBNL (Buddy Borden) to the Pirates. Another former Angels relief pitcher, Kevin Jepsen, joined Tampa Bay in exchange for Matt Joyce. Cole Figueroa signed with the Yankees and Jerry Sands signed with the Indians. Asbrubal Cabrera was signed for 1 year at $7.5 million which led to an 11-day freak out about where Ben Zobrist would go.

January

On the 10th, Ben Zobrist and Yunel Escobar were traded to the Oakland Athletics in exchange for John Jaso, Daniel Robertson, and Boog Powell (thankfully a different Boog Powell). Soon after, Escobar was traded to the Nationals, current home of the walk off, ice cream eating hero of ALDS Game 3, José Lobatón.

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That's a lot of trades to keep track of. Borrowing from our friends at Athletics Nation, here's an interesting way to keep track of all the new faces on the 40-man roster:

In all, the Rays have made 7 trades involving 27 players, with potentially another move or two on the way, depending on what becomes of David DeJesus.  Here's the full list of comings and goings:

And yet that's not the full picture. Released players Jose Molina, Cole Figueroa, and Jerry Sands have departed the Rays, and the team has signed many others, including Asdrubal Cabrera and Ernesto Frieri.