The Tampa Bay Rays: Making Sense of Low Market Baseball
Originating in 1998, the Tampa Bay Rays have emerged as one of the top organizations in Major League Baseball (MLB). Consistently finishing with a top-ten record, the Rays have certainly established themselves as a team with a winning culture. However, any sensible baseball fan would claim that the Rays are not your average baseball team. They are known to have the lowest payroll in baseball, with only three teams paying their players less in the entire league. Yet, year in and year out, they continue to compete with the big market teams in the league.
There is much speculation as to why this is, but the answer is simple: the Rays make the most of what they have. Efficient usage of the payroll, as well as the genius of the front office, has allowed for great success. Of the many unique things the Rays front office has, the most important is their personnel. Peter Bendix, current general manager for the Rays, graduated from Tufts University with a clear understanding of sabermetrics, the deep statistics of baseball, and has been with the Rays ever since (MLB.com 2023). Previous general managers include Chaim Bloom, current general manager of the Boston Red Sox, and Andrew Friedman, current general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. It is evident that the personnel in the Rays’ front office has become known as the best in the league, as two of the past executives for the Rays now have positions with other teams.
As mentioned before, the Rays have the 27th lowest payroll out of 30 teams, paying their players a combined total of just over 63 million dollars (Spotrac.com 2023). This is relatively nothing in comparison to the top payroll in the league, with New York Mets paying their players a combined total of over 335 million dollars, five times that of the Rays (Spotrac.com 2023). The Rays have bought into the new school of baseball—analytics, deep numbers, and statistical projections. With this knowledge, the Rays have been able to make the most out of their team in a variety of ways. One managerial practice that the Rays are notable for is giving young players contract extensions. Essentially this saves the team money while extracting the most value out of the player. For example, Brandon Lowe, second baseman for the Rays, received a contract for six years worth 24 million dollars at age 24, while only having played 43 games at the major league level. At first glance, this contract can seem gaudy, especially for a player with as little experience at the highest level (Spotrac.com 2023). However, diving deeper into the contract will allow inexperienced fans to understand the genius behind it.
When a player officially reaches the MLB, the team that drafted them officially has six years of control over that player (MLB.com 2023). During the initial years of service time, players usually make the league minimum salary. This salary usually increases every year, and in 2022, the league minimum salary was $700,000. During the last two years, their pay is based on their performance relative to the league and how similar players performed. This process is known as arbitration, which can get very dicey for both the team and the player, especially when the sides do not agree on a salary. In this scenario, the salary of the player is determined by an arbitrator, or unbiased mediator, who examines both sides and makes a decision. In some cases, arbitration creates bad blood between a player and their team, as the player might not think the team values them as much as they value themselves. In the case of Brandon Lowe, this problem is taken away entirely. By agreeing to the extension, the Rays took a risk on Lowe. On one hand, if Lowe fails to develop into the great player they expect him to be, the Rays only have to pay him 24 million dollars over six years–a serviceable, yet below-average salary over six years. But, if Lowe does pan out as the great player expected, the Rays are able to avoid the years of arbitration where players can earn upwards of 15 million dollars per year. Instead, only having to pay him four million dollars per year would be a massive underpay for a potentially elite player. This allows the team to save what could ultimately be a large sum of money while getting the maximum value out of their players.
Another strategy the Rays use is the value of trades. The Rays are notorious for not paying their big-name players once they become unrestricted free agents, yet they still find ways to get maximum value out of them. For example, Chris Archer, a starting pitcher for the Rays from 2012 to 2018, signed a similar contract (six years, 25.5 million dollars) as Brandon Lowe in his second year (Spotrac.com 2023). As Archer’s contract expiration was approaching, the Rays evaluated Archer on his statistics and skill to that point in his career and determined that his value to the team was not going to be worth the money they paid him. So, they traded him. The Rays traded Chris Archer to the Pittsburgh Pirates for left fielder Austin Meadows, right-handed pitcher Tyler Glasnow, and right-handed pitcher Shane Baz. This turned out to be one of the most lopsided trades in MLB history, as Austin Meadows became an All-Star outfielder, Tyler Glasnow became an All-Star pitcher, and Shane Baz has been highly touted as one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball (Petriello 2023). This comes as a testament to the analytics and scouting department of the Rays, as well as the front office for being able to once again find a way to maximize the value of their players.
There is no true way to determine what exact statistics the Rays use when evaluating players other than working from them, but whatever they have been doing has shown a track record of excellence. Billy Beane, former General Manager of the Oakland Athletics, was the first to coin the term “Moneyball,” as he effectively used a similar strategy to lead the A’s to winning seasons. Since then, that strategy has become the baseline of how the Tampa Bay Rays run their organization—maximizing the value of players. It is definitely unconventional, and at some times, can appear as foolish, but the decisions made by the Rays almost always pay off, making them true contenders for the World Series almost every year.
References
MLB.com. n.d. "Free Agency: Glossary." Accessed March 28, 2023 https://www.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/free-agency.
MLB.com. 2023. "Peter Bendix: Tampa Bay Rays." Accessed March 28, 2023. https://www.mlb.com/rays/team/front-office/peter-bendix.
Petriello, Mike. 2023. "The 10 Biggest MLB Trades of the 2010s." MLB.com, February 15. https://www.mlb.com/news/the-10-biggest-mlb-trades-of-the-2010s.
Spotrac.com. 2023. "MLB 2023 Payroll Tracker." Accessed March 28, 2023. https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/payroll/.
Spotrac.com. 2023. "Brandon Lowe." Accessed March 28, 2023. https://www.spotrac.com/ml