RAYS SUCCESS
By Donnie Kolakowski
The Rays were never going to get Josh Hamilton.
Nor were they going to get Albert Pujols or Prince Fielder the year before. Top free agents are attracted to money, and the Rays do not shell out the kind of money required to sign stars. Alex Rodriguez will make over half the money of the entire Rays’ roster in 2013, according to ESPN.com.
Yet, it is the Rays who have won at least 90 games in four of the last five seasons. It is the Rays who have made the playoffs three times in that same time span, and it is the Rays who, when all is said and done, many experts are picking to emerge from the American League East once again this year.
According to many members of the organization, the secret to the success is a group of people who will never play on the baseball diamond or manage from the dugout. The secret is the front office.
By flushing the minor leagues with talent and consistently making quality picks in the draft, general manager Andrew Friedman and his staff have the Rays in contention year after year. And, unlike teams that spend most of their resources on signing free agents, the Rays depth of talent at the minor league level allows them to survive injuries and major league players leaving in free agency.
Tampa Bay plays in a division that has three of the top ten highest spending teams in baseball. In fact, the difference between the Yankees payroll and the Rays payroll for 2013 (about $146 million) is more than the salaries of 25 teams.
The Blue Jays, Red Sox and Orioles all spend more money than the Rays as well. The only teams with lower payrolls for 2013 are anticipated bottom-dwellers Miami and Houston.
So, to be successful, the Rays have to rely on their front office’s ability to pick out young talent and develop it. Fortunately, this is where the team excels.
The Rays have the third strongest farm system according to minorleagueball.com, and have had a top ten system almost every year since Friedman took over as general manager in 2005. The major league team is stocked with young talent as well, as over half of the current 25-man roster is under the age of 30, according to mlb.com.
The front office’s ability to draft well and identify young talent has landed them current stars such as Evan Longoria and David Price. All seven non-relievers named to the All-Star team in the past three years for the Rays were originally drafted by the team.
The success of the Rays’ minor league system can be attributed not only to the talent brought into it, but also to the way the system is run. By having coaches that focus on developing players at every level in the minor leagues, the Rays see growth in their prospects and a much more rapid and consistent rate.
[Friedman’s] a smart guy; he knows what he’s doing,” Skeeter Barnes, the baserunning coordinator for the Rays, said. “He lets the instructors, the coaches and the teachers do their job and doesn’t interfere.”
Barnes credits Friedman for getting coaches that are good at developing specific talents and letting them work with players throughout the organization. Barnes knows that development is crucial to the Rays success more than other teams in the division.
“We can’t go out and buy free agents like the Yankees,” Barnes said. “So we have to develop our own here in the farm system.”
Developing players requires patience, and Barnes says it is this patience shown with the Rays that helps players reach their full potential.
“We want what’s best for the player, not necessarily what’s best for the organization at the time,” Barnes said. “[We don’t] promote them too fast; we make them earn it.”
Kevin Kiermaier, a prospect for the Rays, agrees that players with the Rays have to earn promotions. He says the organization tries to develop all players equally, regardless of where they are drafted.
“I was a 31st round [pick] out of junior college,” Kiermaier said. “I’m just the same as any other guy out here who got paid a million dollars.”
Kiermaier is a perfect example of a Rays prospect whose success was unexpected by many. He is the only player from the 31st round of the 2010 amateur draft to have played in AAA. He attributes this success to the way the Rays run their organization.
The story of players having unexpected success in the Rays organization is not unique to Kiermaier. Desmond Jennings was selected in the 10th round of the 2006 amateur draft, and is a key player on the major league team. Last year, Jennings hit 13 home runs and stole 31 bases to follow up a 2011 campaign in which he finished 7th in Rookie of the Year voting.
“[The team] keeps developing their assets,” Jim Paduch, another minor leaguer in the Rays’ organization, said. “and when [a player] gets to the big league, [he’s] ready and prepared and polished, and ready to contribute right away.”
By combining the consistent approaches of the front office and the coaching staff, the Rays have been able to have success with the
odds stacked against them. And with Friedman at the helm, it’s a success that seems sustainable for the foreseeable future.