The Rays have won their arbitration cases against Colin Poche and Ryan Thompson, according to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter links here and here). Poche will be paid $1.175MM rather than the $1.3MM he filed for, while Thompson will take home $1MM in 2023 instead of $1.2MM.
Poche, 29, put up a 3.99 ERA in 58 2/3 innings for Tampa Bay last season, his first major league action since the 2019 campaign. It’s worth noting here that his ERA was sitting a lot better at 3.39 prior to a four earned run in a third of an inning outing for the Rays towards the backend of the season, an outing which saw him suffer an oblique strain that ended his season. The left-hander’s 26.1% strikeout rate in 2022 was well done from the 34.8% mark he posted in 2019.
This is Poche’s first trip through arbitration, so the Rays will also control him through the 2024-25 seasons as well.
Thompson, 30, wound up with a 3.80 ERA over 42 2/3 frames of work for the Rays last year. That was a bit of a step back from the 2.80 ERA mark he posted in 2021, and Thompson saw his strikeout rate dip by six percentage points between 2021-22. In any case, he’s established himself as a dependable member of the Rays bullpen after being taken from the Astros in the Rule 5 Draft back in 2018.
He dealt with triceps inflammation in August last year, and wound up on the injured list for the remainder of the season. This is also Thompson’s first trip through arbitration, so he’ll reach free agency in advance of the 2026 season.
Both Poche and Thompson figure to again be valuable members of the Rays’ bullpen in 2023. Poche gives them a third left handed option alongside Jalen Beeks and Garrett Cleavinger, while Thompson’s drawn an increasing amount of high-leverage work in recent seasons, and will again given them a dependable option late in games.
Good work! Over nothing really, but still a victory
Anyone know the score of Teams v Players this offseason? I’ve lost count. Seems the teams are up though.
Teams- 450, players- 2
Players dominated by owners in negotiations. A baseball tradition
Good to see teams winning the cases. Players asking for excessive amount of money to play a kids game.
Sometimes I wonder why people like you even bother following baseball
Why? Am I supposed to pray to the godly players?
No, watching the owners deposit their profits should be a lot more fun.
Maybe you can persuade them to get together and start up an owners’ baseball league where they play ballgames against each other. You might find that more entertaining than watching the best baseball players in the world, whom you apparently don’t like.
I can’t reply to deGrom Texas Ranger directly, but I’ll post this here:
‘Major League Baseball hit a home run financially in 2022, propelling itself to a new record for revenues.
‘After two years of revenues being adversely impacted by the pandemic, the business of baseball rebounded out of the pandemic faster than a ball off the Green Monster at Fenway Park.
‘Before any expenses, MLB saw revenues of between $10.8-$10.9 billion, a new record that has been confirmed by the league. The increase surpasses the prior record set in 2019 of $10.7 billion.’
https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2023/01/10/mlb-sets-new-revenue-record-exceeding-108-billion-for-2022/?sh=34234aee77ee
In 2006, MLB made $5.20 billion in revenue, and 56.00% of that revenue went to player salaries.
In 2018, MLB made $9.40 billion in revenue, and 54.80% of that revenue went to player salaries.
in 2022,
I guess following baseball means not being allowed to have a contrary opinion. Good to know. If only we could silence people with whom we disagree!
The way to do that now a days is to get the fbi and doj after them.
“I guess following baseball means not being allowed to have a contrary opinion.”
What gives you that impression?
Some don’t want to see in game ads, crazy sponsorships, and higher ticket prices to appease the babies who play a child’s game. When Nolan Ryan broke the 1 million threshold, it was 1980. For Scherzer to get to 43.3 in 42 years, it would take a 9.4% inflation rate: (43.3)^(1/42) – 1. Don’t be foolish. Baseball has gone from a past time to a sport that’s passed its time. Sure, other sports suck, but fan pressure and absurd minimum wage increases result in teams spending way mlre than is justified by the “growth” (or lack thereof) of this sport. If a person made 20k in 1980, that person would be making 866k in 2022. That is why people hate greedy players and especially Scott Boras. Maybe, they could have a cap for guaranteed money and add incentives, with CPI data increases, not these 10% ones nobody else gets. I got a 2% rasie last year, and I assume most of us didn’t get 9.4 either. If my company grew 7%, it would make more sense to go for that number. Boras manages to get sympathy for poorly performing millionaire MLB players in a way nobody does for millionaire CEOs getting paid handsomely when the company goes bankrupt. It’s all just propaganda.
because we love the game.and oldyork has a right to have own opinion,just like you.
There is no risk for a player to ask for more the first time up since arbitration is a multiple of the first time if things go well for a player. Unless owners are talking about passing along cheaper prices to the fans I will always prefer the players getting a good share of the revenue.
Does the union start questioning these results? I think we may be getting to that point. The wins alone aren’t as surprising as so many of the results being well below media and industry estimates.
Doubt it. None of this money moves the meter.
Also, if you’re a player – why not ask for as much as u can justify and then go to arbitration if it’s worth your time. That way you’re not leaving any money on the table
It moves the meter for those young players. There’s no guarantee they get a big payday. They could fizzle out or be injured. The union doesn’t just worry about the huge stars. It’s also worried about getting the everyday players the most they can.
I hope these grown men didn’t get their feelings hurt like some other players do during the arbitration process.
Welcome to arbitration… where even the ‘losers’ are winners!