As a Rays fan, I've been surprised to see so many other fans upset about the return. Getting a borderline (arguably more than that) top 100 prospect in Arroyo as part of the deal is pretty solid, I think. Span's obviously there to offset some of Longo's salary, but it's not like he's completely devoid of value, whether that's in the Rays outfield or he gets flipped to another team. Krook and Woods are both lottery tickets, but both apparently have big stuff, and it wouldn't be a shock to see either of them turn into decent relievers.
Of course, Longo's the face of the franchise. Losing him sucks from that perspective. It's even worse because he brought up a family in the area, and it seems that he genuinely wanted to play here for his whole career. Outside of Carlos Pena, there aren't many other important Rays who seemed to embrace playing for the franchise like he did. That said, he's making a ton of money over the next five years, and has been really iffy offensively 3 out of the 4 last years (2016 being the exception). In terms of pure value, I think the Rays got the better end of the deal.
From the Giants end, this trade seems kind of inexplicable, as they don't appear to be in any position to compete this year. The last thing they need is another expensive veteran signed to a long-term deal. And I know, you can't predict baseball, etc, etc. Longo could, in theory, go off this year, and the Giants could make the playoffs. But they probably won't. It's hard to understand why they'd direct so much money and resources towards winning, like, 75-80 games instead of 70, which is the path they seem headed on right now.
