Marc Topkin’s Sunday Column featured the annual salary bemoaning we expect from the Rays owner Stuart Sternberg, but this time it came with a threat!
After noting the Rays saved $33 million by trading Tyler Glasnow and Manuel Margot to the Dodgers, Topkin shared these thoughts on the Rays payroll that inches north of $90 million to start this season:
Principal owner Stuart Sternberg said the hike doesn’t come easily. “I’m swallowing more than hard because it’s going to lead to real losses this year,” he said.
But he said he is willing to do so for what, ultimately, is a good reason.
“I’d like to keep this rolling at this point,” he said. “Certainly, if we can.”
The Rays have made the playoffs the last five seasons, which only three other teams have done, and want to extend that streak while avoiding being eliminated in their first round like the last three years.
“We think this is, like, our sort of time, and we don’t know if we’re going to have this opportunity in a year or two,” said Sternberg, noting If they don’t win this year, they could “pull back” for 2025, which adds to the stakes.
[…]
“The arrows are pointing up across the board right now,” he said. “So I wanted to make sure we gave it a chance to continue to grow, and see if we can get things up to a point. And I’ll feel even better when we get the stadium deal done, and we just roll right into that.”
It’s probably not worth breaking down the comments overall — if you think the Rays are a loss-leader, why wouldn’t they be sold off by now? — but it’s what we’ve got.
First up is the comment that this year is “going to lead to real losses” for the Rays. We assume he means financial losses, not win/loss results. Is it reasonable to think the Rays will lose money because they pay Randy Arozarena $8.1 million?
No.
In fact, it’s stands to reason that Randy’s existence on the team drives ticket sales generally as the most exciting player on the team (even if he wasn’t the “face” on this year’s media guide…) and the only one with a multi-section portion of the stadium named after him for Friday home games.
Second is the comment that, “We think this is, like, our sort of time.” How would you feel if your boss thought you had a chance to “sort of” have a good year, but also thought the clock was ticking on your ability to do well, especially after so many seasons of putting up quality results with little funding?
If Sternberg thinks the future is bleak, does that mean Erik Neander is on the hot seat? If you’re answer to that question is “No,” then what do you think defines success for the Rays front office, or the organization generally?
Next is the real threat: the idea that the Rays might “pull back” on payroll spending if this year doesn’t end in a playoff run. As if he was not already intent on trading players like Eflin (whose salary jumps from $11 million to $18 million next season), or any of the other players in line for eight-figure incomes. Arozarena should be around $12 million, Brandon Lowe and Jeffrey Springs $10.5 million each, and Yandy Diaz will make $10 million.
What does it mean to “pull back” other than to trade the name-brand assets?
Sternberg’s printed comments end with a semi-promise that he will feel better about taking these financial losses “when we get the stadium deal done” but at this point, what good do any of these comments do what the St. Petersburg City Council is split on approving the stadium deal at all?
What the Rays owner should be saying — dare I say it — goes something like this: “We are running a higher payroll than I might prefer from a pure business standpoint because I am so enthusiastic about this team.”
End of discussion!
Who is he threatening here, and why does he think it gets him anything?
Is he threatening fans? Well we have no control over the product on the field. And if he’s meaning to address the subset of fans in Pinellas county who control the purse strings, threatening to field an uncompetitive team is an odd way to show he’s committed to supporting the organization that wants to control 80+ acres of downtown St. Pete.
Is he threatening players? The Rays standard operating procedure is to trade them when they get expensive even if the team does win or make the playoffs. Also, they all want to play well and win. They are professionals. They don’t need his threats of getting traded to perform well.
Is he threatening the front office? The Rays have never fired a head of baseball operations since Sternberg took over the team. Indeed, the only poor performer was simply moved to another part of the organization to be co-president of business operations.
We appreciate Stu Sternberg the baseball fan, who seems as excited by great plays as we are. But his annual spring ritual of bemoaning his alleged financial losses and issuing threats is one Tampa Bay baseball tradition we would love to see retired.
