Rays starting pitcher Chris Archer took to the radio waves to express some frustration in terms of his team spending money on the on-field product on Thursday afternoon.
Archer's words were less a "get me out of here" complaint and more hoping that they can spend a little more on the players and stop focusing on having a "competitive disadvantage." On SiriusXM MLB Network Radio, Archer said the following:
At this point I've been with the Rays for parts of five seasons, four full seasons, I'll be honest with you, man, I'm kind tired of hearing in interviews about a "competitive disadvantage" against these other teams.
I get it. We might not be capable of spending with the Yankees and Red Sox. But if we keep harping on it then it permeates the minds of the players. And we don't want the players to think that we're at any competitive disadvantage.
As for the money portion, here's what he had to say:
I think in order for us to be successful, we've got to spend more money.
You look at the teams that were in contention this year and they were all around the $100-million payroll mark or more. And we're in the $70 million payroll.
I hate to go all "well actually" on Archer, but the Indians started last season with a payroll of roughly $74M, ranking 27th in the majors and they almost won the World Series. The Yankees opened the season first in payroll and missed the playoffs.
Still, those were outliers and Archer's got a point.
Here are the opening day payroll ranks of the playoff teams:
| Los Angeles Dodgers | $221,288,380 | 2nd |
| Boston Red Sox | $188,545,761 | 4th |
| Texas Rangers | $186,038,723 | 5th |
| San Francisco Giants | $172,253,778 | 6th |
| Chicago Cubs | $154,575,168 | 7th |
| Baltimore Orioles | $145,533,782 | 8th |
| Washington Nationals | $141,652,646 | 11th |
| Toronto Blue Jays | $138,701,700 | 12th |
| New York Mets | $133,889,129 | 14th |
| Cleveland Indians | $74,311,900 | 27th |
The Rays were dead last at just over $57 million compared to the World Series champion Cubs at nearly $155 million (Source: USA Today).
So there is a gap there.
With Major League Baseball flooded with money -- league-wide revenues are expected to exceed $10 billion in 2016 -- the Rays shouldn't really be so left behind here.
Despite Archer not wanting to discuss it -- and as a member of the team, he's definitely correct that they shouldn't focus on it -- the Rays do have several big disadvantages.
First off, they are in one of baseball's smallest markets in the Tampa-St. Pete area. Secondly, they are stuck in a sub-par ballpark on the St. Petersburg side in a lease that runs through 2027, making attendance an issue on a regular basis. They were also dead last in TV revenue during the 2016 season (per Fangraphs).
Getting a better television deal -- their current deal runs through 2018 -- and moving to the Tampa side in an outdoor (retractable roof?) stadium would probably help matters and enable the Rays to push up into the low-20s in payroll and that's probably all they'd need to be more consistently winning.
Of course, they had a winning record every year from 2008-13, making the playoffs four out of six years and going to the World Series once. We saw the Indians go to the World Series after two straight Royals appearances.
It can be done and the Rays have done it before. Given that in baseball players are under team control for six full seasons before hitting free agency and that the prime age is getting younger and younger in the post-steroid era, just having a huge payroll doesn't guarantee anything. Ask the 2016 Yankees.
Archer also has a point that the team would be better served if it were able to spend even just a little bit more on players. Plus, the big-spending teams can more easily absorb mistakes in free agency.
As with everything in the game, it's complicated.
Archer's fully transcribed comments can be seen on tampabay.com.
