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Rays Get A Raise

The Associated Press

The Rays offseason acquisition of Pat Burrell won't break the bank at a meager $7 million.

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By MARC LANCASTER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 27, 2009

ST. PETERSBURG - Player payroll: It's a topic baseball fans love to debate and front offices invariably hate.

But as the offseason shopping season nears its end with spring training only three weeks away, the 2009 numbers are beginning to fall into place.

Even though recent seasons have clearly demonstrated that there is no absolute correlation between spending and success - witness the Yankees' failure to win it all since 2000 and the Rays' run to the World Series in 2008 - the perception remains that baseball's big-money teams have a built-in advantage.

Despite their gains on the field and another payroll increase this winter, the Rays once again will find themselves near the bottom of the MLB hierarchy and staring up at everyone else in the division when it comes to dollars doled out in 2009. They believe they have filled their primary needs, but that hasn't made it any easier to watch the Yankees commit nearly half a billion dollars to CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and A.J. Burnett or see Rays icon Rocco Baldelli depart for the Red Sox because Tampa Bay couldn't match his potential earnings in Boston.

"The AL East and the spending of the Yankees and the Red Sox are our reality," said Rays president Matt Silverman. "We know our margin for error is smaller. All we can do is work within the current system and do our best to succeed."

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