Over the past week, Evan Longoria dealt with plantar fasciitis in his foot, an injury that has prevented him from playing defensively the past few days. Between Longoria’s current ailment and the fact that the Rays simply want to rest him as much as possible over the course of the season, it’s important that they have players available to back him up. For the entire season, that was Ryan Roberts. Sean Rodriguez and Ben Zobrist also had experience at third base, but neither was comfortable there so Roberts was the guy. Whenever Longoria got a half or full day off, Roberts was the player who slotted in at third. The issue has been, though, that Roberts hasn’t been hitting. His batting line on the season is just .238/.294/.349 (81 OPS+), and while he hit lefties extremely well (.905 OPS), he was completely unplayable against right-handed pitching, managing just a .162/.230/.191 line in 74 plate appearances. When Longoria was the designated hitter or got the day off against a right-handed pitcher, the Rays were essentially surrendering 3 automatic outs a game if not more by playing Roberts at third. The Rays had to find a better solution than that.

The Rays certainly were not going to make a trade to find a backup third baseman and it was going to have to come from within their roster. Despite their previous struggles, Zobrist and Rodriguez seemed like obvious candidates. However, Rodriguez has the same issue as Roberts as he has just a .522 OPS against right-handed pitching, and playing Zobrist at third base would just make everything more complicated. If Zobrist was at third base with a lefty on the mound, Kelly Johnson could play second base, but either Sam Fuld or Matt Joyce was going to have to play the outfield, certainly not the ideal. So the solution became simple: keep Zobrist comfortable by keeping him at second base, move Johnson to third base, and put Wil Myers as the right fielder, erasing all the Rays’ issues–if Johnson could play third base.

Before this season, Johnson’s last time at third base was 2005, when he played 4 games there at the Braves’ Triple-A Richmond affiliate. Overall in the minor leagues, Myers played 15 games at the hot corner, managing just a .881 fielding percentage. But after everything that Johnson has done this season, the Rays had ample reason to try again. After Johnson played exclusively second base from 2007 to 2012, already this season he has played left field for the first time since 2005 and done a great job, and he has also played first base for the first time in his professional career. After the Rays’ unlocking of Johnson’s versatility has emerged as a highlight for them this season and a great statement to their team’s ability to utilize all their players in the most creative way possible, why not see if he could add one more position to his repertoire? Johnson hasn’t been the prettiest defender but played errorless ball the last four games at third base, giving the Rays confidence that he can at least be a backup when Longoria rests. And once they confirmed that, Roberts became a redundant player who could be sent down in favor of Myers, with his ability to play third base covered by Johnson and his proficiency against lefties certainly made up for by the righty-hitting Myers.

The Rays were hoping that somehow the situation with Wil Myers would just work itself out and an injury would give him a wide-open opportunity in the major leagues. When that didn’t happen, though, they found a creative way to create an opening and get Myers his chance. What other team in baseball would possibly think of using their starting left fielder at third base? No one, only the Rays. When Wil Myers bursts onto the scene in the major leagues, we will have to credit the Rays for their innovative ways to utilize their players and Kelly Johnson for his ability to play third base.

Sure, Kelly Johnson’s only position was second base from 2007 for 2012 was second base. But at the end of the day, he didn’t play very well there. UZR rated him at 9.0 runs below average while FRAA was even more negative at -13.4. His UZR/150 was -1.9 as he basically was an average to slightly below-average defender all the way through. It’s not that Johnson was bad–but Zobrist and Roberts were better. In left field, though, Johnson had the ability to be more. In his one season in left field in 2005, his UZR was 10.8, and while that was far from enough to conclude that he was really a plus defender at the position, there was optimism that he could be above-average. So far this season, Johnson has done exactly that, leading major league left fielders with six outfield assists and is second in assists among outfielders. That’s despite the fact that he has played just 29 times at left field among the Rays’ 55 games, much less than quite a few of the other league leaders. How good of a fielder Johnson will be over the course of the season has yet to be determined, but it’s unlikely that Johnson was ever going to stand out like that at second base. Johnson may have played second base the most by a wide margin entering 2013. But the Rays didn’t care about his primary position but his best position. They were willing to think outside the box and put him at left field, and Johnson’s outstanding defense to begin this year has been their reward.

Both players were recognized in an article Jonah Keri wrote about the biggest bargains in Major League Baseball. Loney may have cooled off after a hot start that had him leading the American League in batting at one point, but he is still hitting a robust .329/.389/.485 on the season. Most impressively, Loney has continued to take walks and has begun to hit for a bit of the power he displayed at the beginning part of his career. Perhaps all he really needed was a change of scenery to become the player that he was expected to be. Outside of the pressure of large markets such as Los Angeles and Boston, Loney appears to have blossomed into the good hitting/great fielding first baseman he was thought to be.

Johnson, likewise, is in the midst of a career revival. Despite having not played left field since 2005, Johnson has established himself as the Rays regular left fielder, and has been impressive defensively, gunning down six baserunners from the outfield. Along with Loney, the Rays have done an excellent job at putting Johnson in a position where he can succeed, and have been able to limit his deficiencies as much as possible. In exchange, the Rays have been rewarded with a player who has been hitting as he did back in 2010, when he appeared on the verge of being a very solid second baseman. He also leads the Rays in home runs and RBIs, while ranking third on the club in batting average and on base percentage.

Both players have also seen their performances be rewarded. Johnson has been hitting third over the past few games, while Loney has been providing the protection behind Evan Longoria. In fact, both players have been a major reason as to why the Rays offense has been one of the best in baseball, scoring the fourth most runs in the American League. The concerns at the start of the year as to how the Rays would be able to protect Longoria and score runs have been answered, in no small part, due to their level of play.

Joel Peralta was also named as an honorable mention. Another player that the Rays had grabbed off the scrap heap, Peralta had become their primary setup man, someone that Joe Maddon could turn to at any given time to get that crucial out when needed. This year, he has stepped his game up even more, and has become the most consistent reliever the Rays have had. With the struggles of the bullpen, there is some relief in knowing that there is at least one pitcher who has been able to get the job done.

For a team with the payroll constraints that the Tampa Bay Rays have, being able to locate players such as Loney, Johnson, Peralta and the others they have acquired over the years is a major part of building a contender. These players may be on the All-Bargain Team, but they are also indicative of the Rays seemingly innate ability to take players that are essentially afterthoughts and turn them into far more than anyone would have expected.