This afternoon, the Rays won a 5-4 decision against the Orioles, their latest effort in pursuit of an AL Wild Card appearance. Now in sole possession of the first play-in spot, the Rays managed a victory thanks to a solid bullpen effort and a clutch RBI knock from outfielder Tommy Pham. More notably, they took the field with an active roster unlike that of any other AL playoff candidate.
When manager Kevin Cash penciled in today’s lineups, he was working with a set of names that are, for most casual fans, unrecognizable. Players like Eric Sogard, Ji-Man Choi, and Willy Adames could all probably go unnoticed in a police lineup, but they’ve nonetheless been key contributors to Cash’s 81-58 Rays outfit. But, aside from their collective lack of renown, Cash’s players all share something else in common–nearly all of them arrived in Tampa via another club’s roster.
At time of posting, 27 of the players on Tampa’s 40-man roster were originally acquired by the club via trade or waiver claim.
Currently, there are only four players—Diego Castillo, Austin Pruitt, Nate Lowe, and Kevin Kiermaier—on the Rays active roster who can claim that Tampa was their first professional stateside club. Every other player suiting up for Tampa these days was signed, drafted, or developed by a different MLB organization.
For context, this is far more than most teams in the current AL playoff race. According to Roster Resource, the Red Sox (10), Yankees (18), Astros (15), Indians (19), and Twins (9) don’t even come close to the Rays in terms of trade-acquired 40-man roster players. The only other competitive team with a somewhat similar roster makeup is Oakland, with 25 such players.
That the Moneyball-grounded Athletics are the only other team with a similar roster construction is, obviously, not a detail to be overlooked. Though A’s executive Billy Beane is arguably the face of “value-oriented” baseball strategy, the employees at the controls of the Tampa war room seem to have just as much invested in the exploitation of market inefficiencies.
In November 2016, the Rays organization came under the control of three men: Senior VP and General Manager Erik Neander, Senior VP Chaim Bloom, and VP James Click. Since then, these men have directed a Baseball Operations department with a consistent ethos, which could be best described as a combination of payroll-cutting moves committed in concert with the acquisition of advanced (read: older) prospects and post-hype players on the fringe of other MLB rosters.
As you might expect, this strategy has welcomed its share of detractors. When the team traded All-Star outfielder Corey Dickerson to the Pirates in 2017 for pitcher Daniel Hudson, minor league infielder Tristan Gray and cash considerations, many were quick to decry the monetarily motivated decision–among the critics was former franchise icon Evan Longoria, who said that he “felt bad” for Rays fans in the wake of the trade.
Of course, that trade was perhaps a table-setter for another, more successful trade with Pittsburgh. At the 2018 deadline, the team dealt pitcher Chris Archer to the Pirates in exchange for pitcher Tyler Glasnow and outfielder Austin Meadows. In terms of Baseball References WAR, Tampa has already received more value from Glasnow and Meadows (3.9 combined WAR) since the trade than Archer has provided Pittsburgh (1.4 WAR). And that’s before accounting for the massive gains the club earned in terms of controllable years, or contractual savings (Archer has identical club options for 2020 and 2021 worth $8.25MM, while Glasnow and Meadows are both still pre-arb players).
There have been other “hits” for Tampa on the trade market along the way. This past offseason, the club sent former top-100 prospect Jake Bauers to Cleveland in exchange for infielder Yandy Diaz and minor league pitcher Cole Sulser (with cash going to Seattle to help facilitate the deal). Though Bauers was the younger, more widely renowned chip in the deal, Diaz ended up providing a solid 1.7 WAR campaign in limited action for Tampa before being felled by injury, while Bauers has struggled to a 78 wRC+ with the Tribe in 2019. This deal, though not a franchise-altering move by any means, is a perfect exemplar of the small, near-term wins the Tampa front office has continually milked out of trading partners.
This organizational inclination toward wheeling-and-dealing has obvious economic roots for the Rays, who have been locked in a roller coaster stadium saga that, in its most recent episode, saw the org announce plans for the team to split time between Tampa and Montreal in coming years. The Rays rank 29th in 2019 game attendance and are dead-last in organizational payroll with a $62,367,745 outlay (a figure which would account for less than 30% of Boston’s league-leading 2019 payroll).
Even if they will never be big spenders, per se, the Rays did at least loosen the purse strings with this offseason’s signing of starter Charlie Morton to a 2-year/$30MM deal–an organizational exception-to-the-rule that has paid massive on-field dividends in 2019. At 35, Morton is in the midst of his best season, with a 5.4 WAR valuation underscored by his 3.06 ERA, 2.80 FIP, and 11.04 K/9 through 170.1 innings of work. The Rays may not dip into free agency much but, in the case of Morton, they threaded the needle with aplomb.
It’s quite easy to be judgemental of the machinations of a baseball ops department so clearly constrained by the financial realities of working in a small market. Still, despite any prescriptive beliefs one might hold about how baseball teams should use their revenue, it’s important to recognize what Neander and Co. have been able to pull off in constructing their third consecutive 80-plus win ballclub this year.
In a game where much is often made of the culture-building aspects of draft-and-develop philosophies, the Rays have been able to squeeze wins out of a roster constructed more like a Lego set, where pieces are matched, assembled, and deconstructed again with purely modular logic.
These are not players that have come up through the ranks together; they are not players who have developed camaraderie over years of minor league bus rides and minor league meetings.
Today’s Rays are, simply, players who have come from everywhere but Tampa, to somehow steer themselves within arm’s reach of October.
I love my team and I love the way higher payrolls hate it.
They hate the Rays’ one weird trick. 😉
One weird successful trick!
What was that year again Tampa won the World Series?
Plenty of teams haven’t won a world series since 1998 and none of those teams have a lower payroll than Tampa.
Since 2008 13 teams have a league championship. The Rays are one of em while having the lowest payroll. Dont blame em for being proud of that.
same amount as these various spenders
Dodgers
Orioles
Blue jays
Tigers
Twins
Indians
Mariners
Rangers
A’s
Nationals
Mets
Braves
Pirates
Reds
Brewers
Padres
Rockies
Sounds like one of those “sponsored content” ads about beating the stock market or beating a casino.
Big Market Owners hate them.
How about something non traditional and some sort of split season scenario? It seems outlandish but 162 games when you’re out of it after 2 months gets old for teams & fans. Keeps things interesting for a lot more teams the 2nd half and may curb some of the mass sell off mentality. I’m a traditionalist but current situation is “no bueno” I think for every Astros success. there are 4 or 5 failures. Maybe not perfect but what is?
It varies year from year. In the NL there’s only six teams that are really out of it and we still have a month left in the season. I’d say having 60% of the teams still in contention with a month left is pretty good.
You could get bad teams that fall apart in the 2nd half. Might as well make it like hockey then: top three teams in each division make it, worst two of those play a “wild card” game, then remaining 8 in each league play until World Series.
No, I don’t mean it. Too many teams means a longer season or too many mediocre teams in the postseason.
Which begs the question of what is considered a failure really from a business perspective for team owners? Revenues continue to rise and average player salaries has started to go stagnant. Advertisers and fans keep spending money.
They had a split season during the strike year in 1981. Besides the strike making the season a bummer, they took the winners of the first and second half to the playoffs. This resulted in the Reds who had the best overall record (2nd place both times) missing the playoffs. The Cardinals same situation. And the Rangers missed the playoffs too I believe. It was a patched together season and I hate the Dodgers but Fernando Mania was huge and cut short. It wasn’t as bad as 1994 but I personally would hate to see a split season again.
They need to jump ship to England. Get in on the ground floor. They could easily draw with a small amount of the population attending, huge market all to themselves, they’d almost instantly be able to spend $100,000,000.
Maybe when teleportation becomes a thing
Lockheed Martin is working on “X-59” supersonic planes so it’s not far from reality for east coast games to also be in London. Concorde was able to fly commercially from NY to London in under 3.5 hours more than 15 years ago.
Find me a non gigantic market team that’s taking an X-59 to go to England. Good luck. I’m sure teams would be absolutely dying to increase their travel cost 10 fold.
The MLBPA would absolutely hate it if the Rays were to win it all.
That’s actually not true. If the Rays win a WS, it’ll lead to more gate receipts, more hotdogs/beer sold, higher fan interest, etc. which means the Rays can project to be able afford a higher payroll next year.
Actually, winning with such a low payroll would embolden some other owners to lower payroll and try the Rays model. So yeah, the MLBPA would hate it.
So would the commissioner and MLB.
Just dont start a pre breakout Liam Hendricks in the wild card game.
Just fleece another team that is building thru the draft as well. *Cough Cough* Archer.
I’d suggest that the Rays are doing nothing different then any of the other small market / heavy analytical teams – A’s, Indians, Pirates, etc.
The real “Alternative Team Building” is what the Mets did the past offseason…….
Eschewing (that word is bait for snide comments) conventional thinking of slowly trading away all veterans for prospects and losing for 3-4 years, the Mets pretty much elected to take on a bit more salary, bring in established veterans along with some youngsters, and let them compete with one another for playing time.
Compare what they did with what the Phillies did…….
The Phillies tanked for 3 or so years. They traded off vets. Said they were in a rebuild. Entering 2019 they felt they were ready, and this was the time to compete. So they spent lavishly for free agents (including Arrieta in 2018) and traded for a name veteran catcher. In fact, they had developed next to no core that could justify 3 years of being non-competitive.
As of tonight, the Phillies are a whopping 1-1/2 games ahead of the Mets – after an offseason love-fest from the national sports media, including this publication,
Instead of the Mets tanking in 2019, their fans have been watching a team that has played hard every day since the All-Star break. OK, they are not going to beat out the Braves and Nationals this year, but their fans didn’t have to sit around all season looking at minor league stats to see how their farmhands were progressing. Furthermore, it appears that they’re positioned well for 2020 – starting with a young core of Alonzo, Smith, McNeil, Rosario, Davis, along with young vets such as Conforto, Nimmo, Thor, DeGrom, etc.
In short, building a team has more to do with developing players – at the major league level – then playing fantasy league for real out of the front office. Quality managers and coaching staffs matter – in Atlanta, Minnesota, Cincy (pitching), DC (Davey and staff have finally implemented fundamental play….no coincidence that was not done until Harper and his special treatment was allowed to leave), Cleveland, Houston, and elsewhere.
Kudos to Callaway and his coaching staff. The Phillies analytic FO and Manager suck, and you can bet it was the Owner that stuck Charlie Manuel (has he ever even logged onto a computer) on the bench the last 6 weeks of the season to give him a rundown as to what the heck is going on after the season ends.
The Mets didn’t take an alternative approach to team building at all. Brodie Van Wagenen followed the oldest model in the book and traded all his prospects for major leaguers. What the hell is novel about that? They aren’t counting down the days for the prospects because most of the top ones are gone. He kept Alonso, who was ML ready, and that’s it. The Rays having a sub 70MM payroll and very few players they actually drafted is very different.
Literally the only thing gms used to know how to do lol trade young kids for old veterans with a name who don’t produce for years. The Mets will have to spend money to compete in later years because the farm is gone. You can’t say anyone has done this on the Rays level when they have the lowest payroll, there can only be 1 lowest
I think we’re ignoring the markets that the Phillies and Mets play in. They’re by no means in small markets and can afford to correct their mistakes by spending more money. The O’s in Baltimore are stuck with a terrible Chris Davis contract and keep giving him playing time. If he was playing in either NY or Philly, he would’ve been long cut from the team.
Great Article. !
Came to say the same thing, so I’ll just second your comment.
the Rays would get more credit if they didnt have to share the Florida market, not even due to payroll reasons, but due to getting lost in the shuffle. they’d be a well known and revered team if they had a bigger support base.
Great stuff Vandals.
Few fans stop to realize how young this group of Mets are.
Even some of their older players are only in their early thirties. deGrom 31, Frazier 33, Ramos 32, Cespadas 33, ( of course keeping him on the field is a problem) Wilson 32, Availan 30.
I see them only having to add some depth to the bullpen for next year.
BVW has exercised a great plan, even with the under performance of Cano,Diaz and Familia. Not to mention Lawrie.
Callaway has been tremendous in providing the atmosphere where a young team could grow.
Please Met fans appreciate quality leadership.
You’re talking about a soon to be 37 year old cano rebounding and expecting production from a 36 year old Jed lowrie next season? Before kissing the ring, the Mets should actually accomplish something. They’re a .500 team who is missing the playoffs and will largely have to improve from internal improvements from their existing players. They don’t have any prospects coming up or a ton of money coming off the payroll. Considering they will need to replace or resign wheeler, all that freed up cash probably goes right there.
I’m not saying the Mets couldn’t make the postseason next year because they very well could. But I don’t know how the hell anyone is praising Brodie for such a fantastic job. Considering almost all your high quality performers were already in the organization before he arrived.
I get it if you like the win now approach, but he hasn’t actually won anything. And I’d say he’s made about as many blunders as he has made good moves…
BVW has exercised a great plan
———————————-
And specifically was great about this plan?
Trading two good prospects for Cano & Diaz?
Signing Lowrie for $20M/2?
Signing Ramos for $19M/2?
Signing Familia for $30M/3?
Davis was certainly a good pickup, but that doesn’t come close to how bad his other deals worked out. Unless you were being sarcastic, I’m not sure how BVW doesn’t finish last in the GM of the year award.
“Players like Eric Sogard, Ji-Man Choi, and Willy Adames could all probably go unnoticed in a police lineup” is the best line ever written by mlbtraderumors.com‼️ Thank you Dylan and RAYS UP
Not fair to include Adames in that group. For years, he was a highly regarded prospect and one of the best at his position. That’d be like putting Gleyber Torres or Javier Baez (early in his career) in that group.
Adames does not fit into that group at all.
Neither does Sogard really. He’s only been there a month and really broke out on a Different team this year.
Bottom line, the Rays have yet to win a world series and the Marlins have won. This team needs to be moved, they have little or no support.
really the Marlins should be the ones to move simply because of what the organization is now compaired to Tampa. The Rays, ans Florida, both deserve better.
Lol, the Marlins are better in their almost 2 years of Jeter than they’ve ever been in their 15 years of Loria, idiot.
…and theyve still been terrible. its not like Loria is a high benchmark either.
Lol, the Marlins are better in their almost 2 years of Jeter than they’ve ever been in their 15 years of Loria, idiot.
——————————————–
They finished 27th and 28th in the past two years.
The marlins are building a pipeline of talent under Jeter. Something Loria also did at times. The question moving forward will be how Jeter runs the pipeline and what financial moves he makes. In these rebuilding years he’s incentivized to not spend and he’s not going to be ragged on for it. When the team gets competitive then we will see how things are really going to be run.
He could be Jeff Loria 2.0. Loria and his FO built pretty good teams from time to time. They just blew them up once anyone had to be paid. It’s tbd what the new ownership group will do.
Great job by the men who run the Rays but locally hard to support an owner who rarely puts money in if at all! Now wants the Tampa community to gift him a new stadium!
Don’t forget the goal is to stash $150mm in 3 seasons – hoping that’s all they have to contribute towards a $1b new stadium. Again local market pays for it!!!
Go look at support the lightning and that owners commitment to Tampa.
If the Rays win 90 games it is an amazing feat from that staff against all odds
owners only want to play in 2 cities just to acquire 2 tv contracts. All about money…Thats why it’s important to support the player association only!!! Owners can’t be trusted to do anything the right way.
I’m confused as to what the point is in this comment? So the Rays don’t have fans because they haven’t won a title? Dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Look at the Royals attendance a couple years after their title, wayyyyyy down again
Fun team to watch and have guys who grind out at bats. This is a switch from the home run hitting rays a couple years back. Only thing they are thin on, is strong end of game arms. They can develop starters but the reliever game is something they will need to focus on.
I had a feeling this year so I bought season tickets. I don’t know if they are playoff bound or not, but this has been one hell of a fun season. With Snell, Glasnow and Chirinos out, I thought it was over. But they seem to just keep winning. Yah, the crowds are pathetic. The jokes are justified. But I’m a fan, I love the team, so I really don’t care. I firmly believe they are leaving the minute their lease is up in 2027, but I will enjoy the ride until then. Go Rays! Let’s show the baseball world how we compete on a shoestring budget .
Well….I doubt the Archer heist had anything to do with the Dickerson deal, which was a complete disaster (remembering it also cost them 6M)….
Uncredited in the piece is pro scouting director Kevin Ibach, who just finds players on various levels of the minors who do very well. He’s the REAL MVP in the Rays’ FO.
And a not-insignificant point to make is that they’re in a division with two teams that waved the white flag on opening day.
Drafting continues to be a problem (as noted, most of their players come from elsewhere), though it’s gotten somewhat better. And, now that they don’t have to compete in Latin America with the heavy spenders (because of restrictions placed on the big boys), they’ve done an outstanding job in that area.
The real issue is what it’s always been; a lack of commitment to pick a window, and jump in with payroll expansion when that happens. No “brand” has ever been built in Tampa; as soon as they get decent, they start to disassemble. That just simply doesn’t work.
Given the points made in the article, the actually should be better than they are. Imagine what expanding that 60M payroll to 80-85M would have done; and agreed, you have to make the right choices. But everybody (well, mostly everybody) has that onus.
Every MLB team exists to make money. But from Vinnie to Stuie, it’s been grabbing the “short buck” versus building anything substantial. And that problem doesn’t appear to be going away.
Dickerson deal didn’t cost them $6m. Another one of bobs terrible takes
Here is the problem. This article justifies the following point:
The Rays strategy of trading drafted, developed mid to top level performers as they hit arbitration is played out. I think GMs are not going to be the next to make Archer-like acquisitions specifically with Tampa. Maybe other teams…but certainly not Tampa. Especially for a team that brings in ZERO revenue and thereby obviously collects revenue sharing (on top of other sources like…say…the BAMTECH sale which I believe saw Tampa ownership recoup close to equal or more than their current 2019 payroll) which means other owners likely are tired of seeing such lopsided moves that consistently dont turn out in their respective favour.
I will say this…the one positive is Montreal looks to be getting Major League Baseball back sooner than later. Hopefully. The folks in La Belle Province do love baseball and Montreal is one hell of a city!
If the Rays outlast my Yankees somehow in the postseason, I’d without a doubt throw my support behind them. Love how this team was constructed.
Seems like we should feel sorry for Evan Longoria instead
My thought exactly. Another fantastic trade made by the Rays, would be a huge waste of money on this small
Payroll
The Rays appear to be very strong in professional scouting and somewhat weaker in amateur scouting which might explain the team building strategy.
It’s amazing how they’ve fleeced so many teams lately. The last couple years alone they’ve literally stolen good major league talent from St. Louis, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh while giving up not too much in terms of value.
“Success is Revenge” (Tommy Pham 9-1-19). The Rays are not only going to make the playoffs, they will be a force of 40 team to be reckoned with!
Eric Sogard has part of 9 season in the big leagues. Willy Adames was regarded as a top prospect in baseball. Ji-Man Choi was signed as a minor league free agent but is on his 2nd season with the Rays. With the exception of perhaps Choi these are not “unrecognizable” players. And the only reason they are not more popular is because honestly the rest of baseball does not care about the Rays, despite them having some success. If Sogard/Adames/Choi played for the Dodgers/Yankees/Boston they would be headlining all the media outlets.
If I owned a baseball team and had a lot of money I would still create a team very similar to Tampa Oakland Money Ball scenario. The advantage I have is that I can always add to my payroll during the season and ensure my chances of winning. I don’t see why I would want to spend a lot of money at the beginning of the year if I didn’t have to. I also would put money into my farm system scouting and play a development. That way I’d have people to trade at the trade deadline. I would also evaluate how much more revenue I could bring in for every additional dollar I spent. And I would avoid long-term contracts wherever possible are absolutely necessary.