For years, the Tampa Bay Rays have been accused of being cheap, often running payrolls near the bottom of the league, trading players who are approaching free agency to avoid paying them, and not handing out huge, multi-year deals that they might regret later down the road.
While some of those things may be true, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
If the last couple of years have shown us something, is that you can build a perennial winner while taking this approach, if you do it like the Rays.
The Rays are the perfect example of maximizing resources: they do a lot with little money, and as long as their model is successful, criticizing it is a futile exercise.
Now, they rewarded their general manager Erik Neander with a multi-year extension and a promotion to president of baseball operations.
BREAKING: #Rays have signed GM Erik Neander to a multi-year contract extension. Announcement coming soon.
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) September 8, 2021
Doing A Lot With Limited Resources
Tampa entered the 2021 season as the 26th team in total payroll, with $70.2 million committed in salaries.
Yet they have the best record in the American League, at 88-52, something that they also achieved last season, when they went to the World Series and took the almighty Los Angeles Dodgers to six games.
Instead of investing in the decline phase of expensive free agents, the Rays work to have resources and tools to develop their own players and get the best out of them.
They invest heavily in their analytics department, player-development staff, scouting, and talent evaluation.
The scouting part is vital for the Rays model, too, because they are extremely active in the trade market, and their scouts have a very good eye at the time of bringing talent to the organization.
This is a club that traded the declining Chris Archer to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for Austin Meadows, Tyler Glasnow, and Shane Baz.
Meadows and Glasnow developed into stars under the Rays’ watch.
There are several other examples, like Randy Arozarena, Yandy Diaz, Nick Anderson, and many more.
Amateur scouting is also extremely important for Tampa: they signed and developed the best prospect in baseball, Wander Franco, and he already looks like a star.
Wander Franco extends his on-base streak to 36 games with a triple, tying Mickey Mantle for the most consecutive games reaching base safely for a player age 20 or younger. pic.twitter.com/bAcNzvgexY
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) September 6, 2021
The influence of the Rays front office extends to the field.
For years, baseball has been a game in which general managers and president of baseball operations build the team, and the manager is the one making all decisions on the field using those human resources.
Analytics Are A Game-Changer
Now, analytics have allowed clubs to understand that some trends, patterns, and matchups need to be taken advantage of or avoided, depending on the case.
The Rays, as an organization, have adopted this approach: of course, the skipper leads the clubhouse and the dugout, but the work of the front office is reflected on the field.
A team like Tampa avoids having their pitchers see opposing lineups for a third time, hates bunts, adopts strategies like the opener and the “bulk” reliever, and so on.
This is good for baseball, whether some fans like it or not: it’s their way of playing, and it has worked for them.
Those premises shouldn’t be too hard to copy, if you think about it.
Performing those in the real game may be a tad more complicated because teams like the Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, New York Yankees, and the Rays have made getting this kind of personnel a priority.
Teams that have been stagnant for years need to invest in scouting, player development, analytics, and coaching instead of throwing all their money at free agents or rebuilding for several years.
The Rays model is cheaper, and definitely more effective.
NEXT: Rays And Dodgers Could Be Primed For World Series Rematch