I've seen the following thought expressed in various articles; the Prospectus Hit List just happens to be the most recent (and thus most readily available). Regarding the Longoria extension:
"If nothing else, the move obliterates any questions regarding the financial motivations behind his late-spring demotion."As I write this, the fact that the Rays waited a couple weeks to call Longoria up is completely irrelevant. It will have no bearing on any decision either Longoria or the Rays make in the future.
That doesn't mean it didn't have an effect in the negotiations. Having Longoria under control for an extra year gave the Rays that much more leverage. Since that's an extra year of arbitration rather than receiving his true value on the free agent market, it decreased the expected value of Longoria's career earnings at the time. At least in theory, this would cause Longoria to agree to a less favorable contract.
Not breaking camp with Longoria in the big leagues didn't end up having any direct effect, because he signed a contract extension after playing six games with the Rays. But it's likely that it had an indirect effect, and I don't see how the extension proves that keeping him in AAA wasn't a financial decision. If anything, the opposite is true- do you really think Tampa actually thought that a guy they were about to give $17MM didn't deserve to start over Willy Aybar?
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Yeah, really. If anything, the Longoria contract proves that they held him down there for financial reasons.
Obviously the negotiations didn't start a week before they reached a deal, so one would assume that while they were negotiating the early deal, the Rays sent him back down -- perhaps calling a bluff -- in order to maximize their contract signing leverage, as you pointed out.
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