Carl Crawford leads a talented crop of hitters for the D-Rays.

There has been a lot of justified hype given to the plethora of young talent that currently has Cleveland emerged in pennant fever. But there’s another American League roster just as impressive talent wise, yet seemingly stuck in the doldrums of economic purgatory in Major League Baseball.

With talented young stars like Jonny Gomes and Carl Crawford, the Devil Rays are finally, for the first time in the history of the franchise, showing signs of being a competitive ballclub. And by competitive, I mean not just escaping the basement in the ultra-competitive AL East, but actually are on the brink of competing for a playoff spot.

Weird? I know. But the Rays boast one of the better lineups in the AL. Speed, power and the ability to manufacture runs will keep them in almost every game they play this season. And that’s without mentioning that Aubrey Huff and Rocco Baldelli are currently on the DL, and that five-tool stud Delmon Young is waiting in the wings. For those who don’t know, Young was named the No. 1 overall prospect in baseball by Baseball America this past spring and is expected to be called up when the rosters expand in September.

The problem for the Rays, at least on the field, is pitching. Beyond Scott Kazmir, Chad Orvella, Travis Harper and maybe Dan Miceli, there just isn’t a whole lot there. Granted Mark Hendrickson’s a “balla” (he played in the NBA for a few years,)  but Casey Fossum? Meh. Seth McClung and his wrong-side-of-six career ERA? No, thank you.

So how do the up-and-coming Rays go from pretenders to contenders?

It seems simple enough to the casual observer. Go out and do what the Blue Jays did, throwing around ridiculous amounts of money at the likes of B.J. Ryan and A.J. Burnett. But those who know better understand that it’s not that simple. Toronto had planned and saved up for years to become players on the free agent market this past offseason, vastly overspending on both Ryan and Burnett, completely aware of the massive risks involved. Burnett has a recent history of shoulder troubles and Ryan has only been a closer for one season. If either of them don‘t pan out, the Jays are stuck throwing around millions in dead money, not to mention the fact that they won’t have the financial wherewithal to find a suitable replacement (either by trade or free agency) to keep them in a pennant race with the Yankees or Red Sox.

Ahhh, those Yankees and Red Sox. They’re the real keys in this whole mess.

While Travis Hafner, Grady Sizemore and company might lead the Indians to the club’s first title in 60 years, and could beat the Yanks and/or the Red Sox to do so, they should be thankful that they don’t share a division with both of them. The Indians road to the playoffs includes 19 games with Minnesota, Detroit and Kansas City. Three teams who not only claim small-market status but have owners (Carl Pohlad, David Glass, Mike Illich) who continue to cry and spend like it, too.

Though I highly doubt that the Yankees and Red Sox are the two best teams in baseball, let’s not go and discount the impact the massive wealth of those two franchises have on the future of the Devil Rays. Not only does Tampa Bay have to play 38 games against two teams  whose payrolls are in excess of infinity-billion dollars, they’ll have to outspend them for the likes of overpriced, overrated talent like Matt Clement and Kyle Farnsworth…..just to have a shot at making the playoffs.

Major League Baseball’s current revenue sharing plan was intended to curb the major financial gap between the Yankees and the Devil Rays and increase competitive balance. There’s no doubt that with four different World Series champions the past four seasons that one of those objectives has been met. But this past week has brought two bits of news which suggest that the big-market-small market gap is still growing larger.

Forbes this week has reported the New York Yankees are the first U.S. sports franchise worth upwards of a billion dollars. Not to be outdone in the fiercest of fierce rivalries, the Red Sox are about to sign a new local radio deal that will net them $14 million a year and part ownership of a local radio station. To put it into proper context, I believe $14 million is close to what the Marlins payroll is this season.  

There’s more…

Due to a loophole in the luxury tax, money that should be going from George Steinbrenner’s massively large pockets to small market teams like the Devil Rays is instead going toward the construction of a new Yankee Stadium. With the new facility comes the possibility of the first million dollar luxury suite, just one of many moneymaking possibilities in the new digs that should further enhance the billion dollar Yankee brand.

So what does all of this mean for the up-and-coming Rays?  

It means that the lone hope for the Devil Rays may be to move out of the AL East. With all the young talent swimming around at the Trop these days, it’s hard to imagine that the Rays wouldn’t be able to compete in every other division in baseball. But with the Red Sox and Yankees armed with checkbooks and ready to outspend their competition into submission. Baseball in the “The Other Bay Area” may just be a hopeless, lost endeavor.

Jake Duhaime covered the 2006 Olympic Winter Games for Atomic Sports Media. He can be reached at jake.duhaime@atomicsportsmedia.com

© Copyright by Atomic Sports Media, Inc.

Top of Page