Tampa Bay Rays: Grievance Denied- Time to Break Bank on Kris Bryant

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Kris Bryant (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /

The Tampa Bay Rays have a solid roster, but third-base looks like one position they could stand to improve upon. Should the make an offer on one of the top third basemen on the block?

Tampa Bay Rays’ owner, Stu Sternberg, recently stated that the Rays would be willing to spend up to $80 million in payroll if they find the right deals.

They refuse to pay more than their valuation of a player. There’s no questioning the value Kris Bryant presents when compared to other players of his caliber.

Kris Bryant lost his grievance over service time with the Cubs. Bryant argued that his service time was manipulated during the 2015 season and that he should actually hit free agency following the 2020 season instead of the 2021 season.

Players need six years of service time to qualify for free agency. According to the CBA, 172 days on the roster qualifies a player for one year of service time. Unfortunately for Bryant, in 2015 he registered 171 days on the roster. Ouch!

It’s an understandable stance for Bryant, but he really had no hope of winning this. Rules are rules.

However, now that Bryant is locked into two more years of team control, his trade value is less ambiguous.

Bryant is due $18.6 million this year and has one more year of arbitration eligibility before hitting free agency in 2022.

$18.6 million is an incredible deal in an era where the game’s elite players are going for $30+ million per year.

At the Winter Meetings, Rays’ owner Stu Sternberg discussed the Rays’ way by using Didi Gregorius as an example. He revealed that Rays’ management had him valued at $10 million per year. He ended up signing for $14 million so they were out.

With that in mind, you have to believe that Kris Bryant is worth the $18.6 million-plus the players/prospects it would cost…As long as one of them is not named Wander Franco.

Kris Bryant (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images) /

How Good of a Value is Bryant?

$18.6 million for one of the best players in baseball is an incredible deal. It’s right in line with Charlie Morton‘s $15 million.

Morton finished third in the AL Cy Young voting in 2019. His contract is less than half of what each of the other two players is set to make in 2020. He’s expensive, but he’s a good value. That’s how the Rays roll.

Bryant is in the same boat. I’m going to steal a comparison from a previous article I wrote.

Peer Pressure

Bryant is in the upper echelon of third basemen. Anthony Rendon just signed a seven-year, $245 million contract. Is Bryant worth that? Check this out:

Games Played
Bryant: 706
Rendon: 916

Home Runs
Bryant: 138
Rendon: 136

Slash Lines
Bryant: .284/.385/.516
Rendon: .290/.369/.490

OPS+
Bryant: 136
Rendon: 126

Bryant is definitely in Rendon’s league as far as production goes. If he puts in another two solid years before free agency, most of his numbers will dwarf Rendon’s age-29 stats. At the end of his current contract, he will be due for a huge raise, but for now, he’s grossly underpaid…and that’s the way the Rays like it.

Even after a raise in arbitration next year, he’s still going to be underpaid for what he provides on the field.

The Rays have the deepest farm system in baseball. They have more prospects than any other team in Baseball America’s Top 100 Rankings and MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 rankings.

They were voted MiLB’s farm system of the year. They have a deep pool of talent to trade.

Kris Bryant (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

How to Sweeten the Deal?

A couple of top prospects (again) not named Wander, and perhaps a big leaguer with breakout potential. Yandy Diaz is a trendy breakout candidate but it is highly improbable that he turns into Kris Bryant at age twenty-eight. In fact, Bryant is younger than Diaz.

Diaz is a very good on-base player who hits the ball hard. Unfortunately, he mostly hits it on the ground. Last year he achieved a career-low in groundball percentage and it was still over 50 percent.

Additionally, Yandy had a career-high flyball percentage of around 32% last season but his home run to flyball ratio was only 17.5%.

Yandy’s strengths appear to be hitting it REALLY HARD on the ground and with line-drives. He’s still trying to figure out his swing. Last season saw his flyballs go up and his line-drives go down. With the increase in flyballs, he saw his average and his on-base percentage drop.

Yandy still had a fantastic offensive season and certainly got us all excited for 2020, but I’d prefer Kris Bryant.

I love Yandy Diaz and have no problem with him at third, but if the Rays are in a win-now mode, Bryant is a significant upgrade.

The Rays have shown they believe the time is now when they traded one of the top left-handed pitching prospects in baseball, Matthew Liberatore, to the Cardinals for Jose Martinez and Randy Arozarena.

They gave up a piece of the future to address current needs. Kris Bryant could be the final piece for the Rays to capture a World Series title in the next two seasons.

Whether they have to give up Yandy or could platoon him at first, the Rays are loaded with depth. The Cubs are looking to cut money and the Rays have tons of cheap players. It’s the Rays’ way!

If not Yandy, Nate Lowe has shown big-time slugging potential, maybe they like him? My point is, the Rays are in a position to upgrade. They have three potential Cy Young candidates at the top of their rotation, a favorite to win the Rookie of the Year in Brendan McKay, and last season’s number one bullpen still intact.

Offense is the one area they stand to improve upon. I don’t know about you, but I’m a lot more excited about a lineup that could feature Austin Meadows, Kris Bryant, and Hunter Renfroe in it.

Personally, as long as the Rays can hold onto Wander Franco, I say go for it.

Next. Rays Get a Hall of Fame Election. dark

Is it possible? Do you think Bryant is worth the price the Cubs might be asking?

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The Tampa Bay Rays have a solid roster, but third-base looks like one position they could stand to improve upon. Should the make an offer on one of the top third basemen on the block?

How Good of a Value is Bryant?

Peer Pressure

How to Sweeten the Deal?

Schedule