September 29
The TB Rays won a game today, to stay alive in Toronto. They must win tomorrow night in Texas to advance to the Wild Card play-in game, in Cleveland. If they win again, it’s off to Boston for the series opener.
This is why Wil Myers needed to be on TB’s opening day roster.
If you trade away James Shields for the 2012 MiLB Player of the Year, then he must be in the Rays lineup (which always desperately needs him), on opening day.
Owner/management played the arbitration game, and it has likely cost a great 2013 TB Rays team a decent shot at winning the WS. Fans do have a right to be disgusted with that.
TB Rays 2013 player payroll was $58 million. Only the Marlins & Astros spent less. Rays owner Stuart Sternberg, formerly of Goldman Sachs, is worth a reported $800 million.
RF Wil Myers was called up on June 17. The reason owner/management waited so long, was to prevent Myers from becoming a Super Two ($$) arbitration eligible player, after next season. Myers hit .293 with 13 HR & 53 RBI, while batting 3rd or 4th in the lineup, nearly everyday. If Myers is in RF on opening day, the Rays are closer to competing with the Red Sox for the division, than for the WC.
October 2 [after TB wins in Texas & Cleveland]
I’m feeling the TB Rays, while still standing by what I said in my last post.
Here’s another truth, no one in baseball admits: If you don’t win the WC play-in game, then you really didn’t make the playoffs.
October 5
The best team in baseball pounded a tired-looking Rays team last night.
2013 team payrolls according to ESPN:
Boston $140,657,500
TB $57,505,272
When it’s brains vs. $$; money usually wins.
October 5
Team payrolls are a fluid thing in MLB, as owners manipulate & hide where revenue and payroll goes, in order to escape paying income tax.
Today, espn.com has the Red Sox total payroll at $157,594,786, with the Rays at $59,070,272.
The difference between the Red Sox & Rays in 2013 total team payroll is around $100,000,000.
That difference is more than total payroll 16 MLB teams; and as a Rays fan, I must say that it’s pretty ridiculous to have to compete against that.
The Rays were eliminated last night, leaving the A’s ($65,447,000) & the Pirates ($66,289,524) as the only Moneyball teams remaining. Both are playing a decisive Game 5 against big-spending teams (the Tigers at $150,471,844, and the Cardinals more modestly at $115,722,085).
The Dodgers have also advanced, with their total payroll of $214,830,909.
I am rooting for the underdogs, but honestly this isn’t very interesting; watching payroll giants slowly crush the life out of short-stacked teams. RS
Postscript [10-10-13]: Both the Pirates & the A’s were completely dominated by big-money starting pitching in their Game 5’s.