Rays can't afford to lose Andrew Friedman

Column

There was the time Boston Red Sox President and CEO Larry Lucchino suggested the Red Sox were "the little engine that could" compared to the New York Yankees.

There was the time Yankees general manager Brian Cashman suggested that in some ways it's tougher to run a club with a $200 million payroll than a small-market club.

I've always wondered if those are the moments when Rays executive vice president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman hides a smile or bites his lip.

Anyway, it's moments like those that have us wondering if Friedman, who did so much of the building the Rays into a winner, will be seriously interested at some of the job openings around baseball.

The Houston Astros, his hometown team, needs major rebuilding. The Chicago Cubs, 103 years without a world championship, 66 years without a World Series, just jettisoned their GM. Rumors that are none of Friedman's doing are flying.

Anybody out there need a Whiz Kid?

"Of course everybody wants him," Rays manager Joe Maddon said. "He's that good."

The Rays can't afford to lose Friedman. He is the real little engine that could — helping the Rays to two division titles, an American League pennant and what looks like a fourth consecutive winning season. He should be at the top of any team's prospective GM list.

Consider this season. The Rays dumped $30 million in salary, roughly 40 percent of their payroll. Their seven highest-paid players walked away or were traded. You know the names. The bullpen had to be almost completely rebuilt. Manny bombed.

But here were the Rays, 13 games over .500 as they played the Tigers at the Trop on Monday night. Detroit entered the game leading the AL Central by 4½ games. If the Rays were in the Central, they'd be a game and a half up. Instead, they were eight back in the AL East.

You get the idea. And the idea is that maybe even Andrew Friedman, who takes rightful pride in twice outlasting the combined nuclear arsenals of New York and Boston, might have finally had his fill of the AL East.

Or is that the juice?

Truly, I think that uneven playing field is part of the lure the Rays had to Friedman, who left a lucrative career in finance to be Baseball Guy at age 29. Having to compete with the Yanks and Sox is the best thing about his job — and the worst.

Is it time he had a war chest?

Cubs and former Rays pitcher Matt Garza has already publicly endorsed Friedman for Cubs GM. Isn't that a hoot? I'm sure Friedman would thank Garza profusely if he ever takes the job — then trade him again.

I happen to think Friedman loves what he has in Tampa Bay, his working relationships with owner Stu Sternberg, team president Matt Silverman, and manager Maddon.

But Friedman might have some thinking to do. Here's your hometown team, the Astros, which needs real help. Or here's a storied franchise with a payroll well over $100 million looking to win a World Series for the first time since 1908. They'll make a statue in Andrew Friedman Square if that happens.

Movie me eye! Hey, they just made a movie about a baseball GM and "Moneyball" master Billy Beane, and Brad Pitt is playing Beane. I wonder who would play the undersized Friedman. "A leading child actor," one Rays type said.

Andrew Friedman has played Moneyball as well as if not better than Billy Beane, who, by the way, is still GM in Oakland — and a minority owner . Something like that could be in the offing for Friedman.

The real worry for the Rays is if he leaves because things aren't working here — stadium working, stadium building, with the money streams that come from it. The Rays and Friedman's future might be tied to the stadium's future.

I don't think this is a grass is always greener kind of guy. No, the Rays aren't the Yankees or Red Sox, but it's like Andrew Friedman said last month while looking at the division and league pennants hanging at the Trop.

"Those moments up there are incredible, something you can't replicate anywhere else."

We shall see.