Why the Rays are smarter than Yankees and Red Sox

Capitalism in Baseball Creates Underdogs

The Rays have roughly 25% of the payroll of their division rivals. In fact, the Yankees and Red Sox have a payroll number that rivals the Rays’ gross revenue.

The Rays shouldn’t be able to compete with these monsters. This is what makes baseball so queer and yet so intriguing. The NFL and the NBA have salary caps, every team spends the same amount of money, regardless of the market. It creates true underdogs. Personally, I like the capitalistic nature of the League. The Yankees and Red Sox are pillars of the league and they bring in so much revenue they deserve to spend what they feel is necessary to please their fans. Afterall, their fans are the ones doling out the cash.

This system also creates true underdog stories. The only time you have underdogs in the NFL is when a team is just not as good as the other. Financially, they are on the same playing field. The NBA relies on who has the most talented friends. Major League Baseball is a truly entrepreneurial endeavor.

Why a Salary Cap is Unfair

The average Major League payroll sits at $137 million. Let’s say the MLB implemented a salary cap in that area. That’s not fair to the Yankees or their fans. It isn’t fair to the Red Sox or their fans. There would have to be an endorsement to the revenue-sharing model to make something like that work. $137 million would more than double the Rays’ payroll from last year. To make it worse, the Yankees and Red Sox would be financing it.

The Yankees and the Red Sox deserve their exorbitant payrolls, they earned them. No, the Rays don’t deserve a bigger payroll unless they earn it. The thing that really makes this all so interesting is that the Rays don’t need it.

While I may be coming from a slightly envious standpoint, there sure are some hilarious contracts coming out of New York and Boston.

Let’s take a look at mistakes that the Rays are too smart to make, and the Red Sox and Yankees can afford to make.

The Rays are a legitimate contender to win the division in 2020. They are stacked with great young talent and a couple of key veteran investments. How does a team assemble a roster that competes on a quarter of the money?

They avoid bad contracts like a ten-foot pole one refuses to touch with another ten-foot pole due to a crippling fear of the imminent return of the bubonic plague, and the possibility that one of these poles has been previously contaminated. I hate the plague.

The Rays have mastered the art of selling players when their values are high and before they earn a big paycheck. They are usually able to turn those players into multiple young prospects and repeat the cycle.

Here’s a look at the Red Sox, Yankees, and Rays contracts of $5 million or more.

2019 Red Sox Contracts $5MM+

• David Price                                         $31,000,000
• J.D. Martinez                                      $23,750,000
• Rick Porcello                                      $21,125,000
• Mookie Betts                                     $20,100,000
• Pablo Sandoval                                 $18,445,000
•  Nathan Eovaldi                                 $17,000,000
• Dustin Pedroia                                  $15,125,000
• Chris Sale                                            $15,000,000
• Xander Bogaerts                               $12,000,000
• Jackie Bradley Jr.                               $8,550,000
• Mitch Moreland                                $6,500,000
• Eduardo Nunez                                 $5,000,000

2019 Yankees Contracts $5MM+

• Giancarlo Stanton                             $26,000,000
• Masahiro Tanaka                               $22,000,000
• Jacoby Ellsbury                                  $21,142,857
• Aroldis Chapman                              $17,200,000
• J.A. Happ                                              $17,000,000
• Zack Britton                                       $13,000,000
• D.J. LeMahieu                                     $12,000,000
• Didi Gregorius                                    $11,750,000
• Adam Ottavino                                  $9,000,000
• James Paxton                                    $8,575,000
• C.C. Sabathia                                      $8,000,000
• Brett Gardner                                    $7,500,000
• Dellin Betances                                 $7,250,000
• Aaron Hicks                                        $6,285,714

2019 Rays’ Contracts $5MM+

• Charlie Morton                                   $15,000,000
• Kevin Kiermaier                                  $8,166,667
• Edwin Encarnacion                            $5,000,000 (picked up in three-way trade with Cleveland and Seattle)

The Red Sox had 12 players making at least $5MM, the Yankees had 14, and the Rays had three. Of those three, only two were actually on the Rays roster, Encarnacion ended up on the Yankees. You are welcome Yankees.

On top of the talented young Major League roster, the Rays were rated the number Minor League system, as well.

All of this led to the Rays being named Baseball America’s Organization of the Year. So Yankees, and Red Sox, you may have more championships, but you we laugh at your wasted money.

Did you know the Red Sox and Yankees paid Ellsbury, Standon, Happ, Porcello, Sandoval, and Eovaldi a combined $163,712,857 last season? That’s $100,000,000 more than the Rays entire payroll in 2019. Hilarious.

I will never understand the Eovaldi contract. Think about that, Eovaldi and Happ are getting paid more than Charlie Morton this year. Pablo-stinking-Sandoval is getting paid more than Morton this year.

Look, we aren’t jealous… or maybe we are. We also appreciate being able to compete with the mega-spenders.

Dear Yankees and Red Sox,

Even though we think you suffer from an inferior intelligence level, we still enjoy having you in the AL East. What is Star Wars without a big, dumb, old Darth Vader? A better comparison would be:

The Rays are like the Ninja Turltes where the Yankees and Red Sox are like the bankrolled buffoons of Bee-Bop and Rocksteady. 

Don’t get too upset, this is all in fun. I can claim we are smarter all I want, but we have no Championships…yet.

So here’s to 2020, and hopes that you have to use cash to sop up the tears in the northeastern United States when the Rays win the AL EAST. Oh yeah, and all the tears for the Yankees/Red Sox fans in Florida…we’ll leave room on the bandwagon.

Do you think the Rays should waste more money like their AL counterparts? Let us know in the comments below.