Sternberg: Payroll Will Remain Flexible

NEW YORK - The Rays' bank vault swung open again last week when the team locked up reliever Dan Wheeler through at least 2010 for a guaranteed $10.5 million.

Coming on the heels of an offseason that saw Carlos Pena and James Shields rewarded with lucrative contract extensions and a two-year commitment of at least $8 million made to Troy Percival, the natural question is whether the money will keep flowing.

When it comes to the possibility of picking up a player or two later this season, Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg said all options remain on the table.

"We have room to cut payroll, we have room to grow payroll," he said, before invoking the organizational buzzword once again. "We'll be opportunistic. I know you guys have heard it, but we're never going to take our eye off of that. If somebody happens to want a high-priced talent of ours and we can get low-priced talent, great. And if they want a low-priced talent and we get high-priced talent that we think is very additive, that's fine, too."

That falls in line with earlier promises by Sternberg and executive vice president Andrew Friedman that the Rays under their watch probably would never be defined strictly as "buyers" or "sellers" when the midseason trade deadlines rolled around.

The Rays posted the largest increase in Opening Day payrolls from 2007 to 2008 of any major-league team, about 82 percent, but the rise won't continue at that rate.

"You can do it," Sternberg said, "but it leads to a crash, and that's not a healthy way to run your business or your life."

The Rays will never go payroll-to-payroll with the Yankees and Red Sox, but the Rays certainly will spend more in the future than they are now. Even then, their hopes for success will lie in having a very high production-to-payroll ratio.

For instance, the 12-8 record, 3.85 ERA and 215 innings they got out of Shields last season was far more than could be expected for a player being paid $394,900. The same goes for B.J. Upton (.300, 24 homers, 82 RBIs, 22 stolen bases) at $386,900 last season. Shields already has had his payday and Upton's will be coming, but the Rays have to find a way to maximize value like that as long as they can.

"We have a bunch of guys that generally out-perform their salaries, and I think whether you're paying a guy the minimum or $20 million, you want that to happen," Sternberg said. "That's how you can get it right."

NOT DONE WITH ROCCO: Apparently there was a perception in some quarters that the Rays' decision last week to decline Rocco Baldelli's contract options for 2009 and beyond represented a move to cut ties with him altogether.

That isn't the case at all. The Rays had to make a call on his $6 million option for 2009 by April 1, and there was no way they could justify picking it up considering Baldelli's murky health status. But Friedman emphasized last week, just as he did when Baldelli revealed details of his medical problems last month, that the Rays are committed to helping the outfielder recover and plan to keep him in the organization.

"We'll do anything in our power to keep him in a Rays uniform as long as possible," Friedman said.

NOTEWORTHY: Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Journal included Sternberg on its list of 20 people to watch in MLB this year, citing his role in trying to get a new stadium built in downtown St. Petersburg. ... FSN Florida's season premiere of "Inside the Rays," featuring a look at Pena's rise to stardom, will debut today at 4 p.m.