Tampa Bay Rays: The Biggest Contracts the Past 12 Years

Without a salary cap, baseball contracts have no limit on the way they can be structured. We have seen everything from players making less than a million dollars a year until they turn 35 to players signing deals that will guarantee them close to half a billion dollars by the time they turn 40. Some teams are crafty in the way they structure contracts (i.e Byron Buxton's new extension with the Minnesota Twins) and other teams give out big money without any trade clauses (i.e Bryce Harper's contract).

The Biggest Contracts in Tampa Bay Rays History

The Tampa Bay Rays are known around the league as the team who does not hand out big contracts often. Instead of keeping a player for a majority of their career, the Rays like to sell high on players and receive youthful prospects that will help in the future. Let us take a look back at the 12 biggest contracts the Rays have given out the past 12 years.

David Price 1yr/$14M (2014)

In 2012, David Price dominated the Major Leagues posting a league best 20 wins and 2.56 ERA on his way to a Cy Young Award. The previous year, Price led the league in starts with 34 and sported a 3.49 ERA while doing it. Following his Cy Young season, Price also led the league in strikeouts per win at 5.59, walks per 9 at 1.3 and complete games with 4. Price was one of the best pitchers in all of baseball and it was only a matter of time before he was paid like one

Following his dominating 2012 season, Price was set to enter arbitration but instead was offered a 1 year $10 million contract. This helped out both sides because the Rays saved on what was going to be a large payday, and Price had a guaranteed amount of money that was agreed upon going into the season. The same idea followed the following year in 2014, this time with a $4 million pay raise from the previous year. Price ended up being dealt to the Tigers at the deadline for Drew Smyly and Willy Adames before receiving his big pay day from the Boston Red Sox in 2015.

Ben Zobrist  4yr/$18M (2010)

Ben Zobrist had one of the longer tenures in Rays history but at the same time only holds the 11th biggest contract in Rays history. Zobrist played 9 years for the Rays and did fairly well with them. Zobrist's best year came in 2009 where he batted .297 over 152 games and had 27 home runs, 91 RBI and drew 91 walks. Zobrist was selected to the all star game that year and also finished 8th in MVP voting.

That great year for Zobrist earned him a 4 year extension worth $18 million. To the Rays, this is a significant amount of money but in hindsight, this was a steal. To put it into perspective, the Rays offered Zobrist his extension when he was 29 years old, the peak of a baseball player's ability. In 2016, the Chicago Cubs offered Zobrist a 4 year $56 million contract at the age of 35. The slash lines of Zobrist on the Rays versus the Cubs are extremely similar so it is safe to say the Rays won this deal.

James Loney 3yr/$21M (2014)

James Loney is the first player on this list where the contract did not work out in the Rays favor. After signing his extension, Loney hit .290 for the year and had 600 at bats for the first time in his career. That is really the only stat that stands out when it comes to James Loney. He was sidelined for almost half of the season in 2015 due to injuries only playing in 104 games. In 2016, Loney did not make the opening day roster and the Rays released him, eating the rest of the contract for 2016. Overall, Loney came to the Rays, secured a big pay day and left without providing much value.

Carlos Pena 3yr/$24M (2008)

Carlos Pena originally signed with the Devil Rays in 2007 on a 1 year 'prove it' deal after bouncing around a few teams before the age of 30. In 2007, Pena batted .282 hitting 46 home runs with 121 RBIs and 99 runs. Pena was 9th in MVP voting that year and was also a Silver Slugger. This is probably the best case scenario for Pena.

In 2008, the Rays offered Pena a big extension in their regards and signed him to a 3yr/$24M contract. Over those next 3 years, Pena averaged 95 RBI, almost 33 HR (leading the league in 2009 with 39) and 77 runs. Pena also received his only all star nod in 2009 with the Rays before moving on to play with 4 other teams (and coming back to the Rays for a year). This contract for the money was a massive win for the front office.

Brandon Lowe 6yr/$24M (2019)

While similar in dollar amounts to the Carlos Pena contract, Brandon Lowe's contract came at a longer time frame with more commitment. Lowe has only been in the majors since 2018 with this contract starting in 2019 so it is difficult to grade just how good or bad the contract is. However, in his first full season in 2021, Lowe appeared in 149 games and hit 39 home runs with 99 RBIs all while slashing .247/.340/.523. The Rays seem to have their middle infield locked up for the foreseeable future with Lowe at second base and Wander Franco at shortstop.

Chris Archer 6yr/$25.5M (2014)

When it comes to lopsided trades, the Chris Archer deal to Pittsburgh might be the most famous one. In 2018, Archer was traded to the Pirates for ace Tyler Glasnow, Austin Meadows who has been an above average outfielder and Shane Baz who made his major league debut in 2021 and looks to be a main part of the Rays rotation in 2022. However, before this trade was made, Chris Archer was one of the most dominant pitchers in all of baseball.

In a 4 year span from 2014-2017, Archer started 129 games throwing 790.1 innings (leading the league in starts twice), striking out 888 batters and finishing with a 3.63 ERA. Some more stats that show just how dominant Archer was include a 10.11 K/9, 2.94 BB/9 and a 0.98 HR/9. Chris Archer is the textbook definition of buy low and sell high (and then buy low again). Archer signed a 1yr/$6.5 million contract in 2021 with the Rays and currently is a free agent looking for a new team.

Charlie Morton 2yr/$30M (2019)

The Charlie Morton saga might be one of the most painful in Rays history. Coming off a 15-3 season with the Houston Astros, Charlie Morton signed a two year deal with the Rays. Surprisingly to some, Morton was able to replicate his stellar season all star season with another one, going 16-6 with a 3.03 ERA, a second all star appearance, and a 3rd place finish in the Cy Young voting. Morton threw 9 games in 2020 but what happened after is what hurts the most.

In typical Rays fashion, they looked to save money any way they could in 2021. This included declining Morton's $15 million team option and letting the dominant pitcher test free agency. The worst part of the entire situation is that Morton ended up signing with the eventual World Series champion Atlanta Braves for a total of... you guessed it. $15 million. Morton showed minimal signs of declining and the Rays problem late in the season and into the postseason was a lack of starting pitching. Charlie Morton leaving the Rays will forever be one of the biggest 'What ifs?' in recent Rays history.

Kevin Kiermaier 6yr/$53.5M (2017)

Kiermaier is entering the final year of his contract before the Rays can decided whether to buy him out or exercise his club option for 2023. Since the beginning of his contract, Kiermaier has been a very solid outfielder, statistically speaking. Over the past 5 seasons, Kiermaier has hit .243 with 230 runs and 182 RBIs. His weighted runs created + (wRC+) is a 93 which means that over that span, he is 7% below the league average in regards to creating runs.

However, the real value lies in his defense. Over his career with the Rays, he has won 2 Gold Gloves and has a defensive WAR of 17.4 which is higher than his offensive WAR of 15.1. After 2021, assuming no major injuries, I would expect the Rays to exercise his team option for 2022. Paying $13 million for a Gold Glove center fielder is a no brainer and surely teams are willing to spend more than that.

Evan Longoria 6yr/$100M (2012)

To be clear, the specifics that are being mentioned here is his six year extension that Longoria received from the Rays. The total of his two contracts came out to about 15 years and a total of $144 million which is a still a lot of money to the Rays standards but also a steal to many other teams standards. Since his debut in 2008, Longoria may be the first name that people think of when they think of the Tampa Bay Rays. In his 10 years as a Ray, Longoria was a Rookie of the Year, won 3 Gold Gloves, one Silver Slugger, was a 3 time All Star and finished with MVP votes 6 times.

In 2018, Longoria was traded to the San Francisco Giants for Christian Arroyo (later traded to the Guardians), Stephen Woods (later traded to the Royals), Matt Krook (later selected by the Yankees in the Rule 5 Draft) and Denard Span (played a total of 43 games for the Rays). Overall in terms of player production, the Giants were the winners of the trade but if saving money is the name of the game, the Rays came out on top. From 2018 to the end of his contract, Longoria was owed $81 million across 5 years. While the player himself might be missed by Rays fan, the money owed will not be missed by the front office.

Wander Franco 11yr/$182M (2021)

To no surprise of anyone, the biggest contract in Rays history belongs to shortstop Wander Franco. The young 20 year old burst on to the big league scene in 2021 in a big way. In 70 games Franco slashed .288/.347/.463 and finished 3rd in AL Rookie of the Year voting with fellow teammates Randy Arozarena finishing 1st and Shane McClanahan finishing 7th. The rookie looks to lock down the shortstop position for the foreseeable future and will be paid life changing money.

Although it is the biggest contract in Rays history, the Rays seem to be making out like bandits in this deal. The deal is structured in an extremely team friendly manner. Franco is set to make less than $10 million a year for the next 4 years, and at the highest point of the salary, Franco is set to make $25 million for the last 5 years. If Franco is not the player that the Rays expect him to be (or even if he is) the Rays should have no problem trading him to another team for the discounted money that he will be receiving. However, if the Rays do decide to keep him and he turns out to be the superstar his projections say he will be, the Rays have a top 5 SS in baseball locked up for well below AAV of other star short stops on the market today.