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

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.