Are the Rays and Mets proving payroll is overrated in MLB?

The 2023 New York Mets have the highest payroll in MLB history, yet they have an ugly 36-43 record. The Tampa Bay Rays are 28th in payroll, with the best record in all of baseball. What does this say about payroll? 

When the New York Mets transitioned from the Wilpons’ ownership group to big-spending Steve Cohen, Mets fans suddenly became optimistic. We’re gonna spend! We’re finally gonna do what it takes to win! 

The irony is: Does spending in MLB even have a direct correlation to winning anymore? Let’s dive in and look a little deeper.

The Tampa Bay Rays’ $77 million payroll is 28th in MLB, yet they have the best record. How is this happening? 

When you think about the Rays’ organization, management should come to mind. Low-payroll success may have begun with Billy Beane, the Oakland A’s and Moneyball, but owner Stuart Sternberg and president of baseball operations Erik Neander have taken this phenomenon to a whole new level in Tampa.

The Rays are currently 54-28, despite the fact that they’ve been without two of their best pitchers — and really, two of their best overall players — Jeffrey Springs and Drew Rasmussen for a good portion of the season.

How do they do it? How do the Rays keep the pace no matter what the circumstances?

Well if you look around and dig deep enough, some interesting articles have been written about the Rays’ keys to managerial success: Never take a game off. Never take an inning off. Never take a pitch off.

Sternberg, Neander and GM Peter Bendix are relentless about optimizing their roster, lineup and pitching hierarchy on a daily basis. You might even call it an hourly basis.

When you are hamstrung by a low payroll, you have to stockpile every little edge you can find.

The New York Mets’ stunning $344 million payroll hasn’t correlated to winning. What exactly is going on in Flushing?

I suppose ‘throwing money at it’ isn’t always the answer, right?

Justin Verlander (4.11 ERA) and Max Scherzer (3.95 ERA) are both currently the highest-paid pitchers in the history of baseball. They are making $43 million apiece this season.

Compare that to the Rays, who have arguably the best pitcher in baseball — lights-out lefty Shane McClanahan (2.23 ERA) — making just $737,000 this season. Even the Rays ‘big-money acquisition’ Zach Eflin (3.35 ERA) is only making $11 million this year (most on the team).

What does this all mean, though? Is payroll approaching irrelevancy in MLB?

The Rays aren’t alone in their model of success

In the Rays’ own division, the American League East, the Baltimore Orioles are finding stunning success despite being second-to-last in payroll.

Their minuscule $67 million payroll hasn’t seemed to matter, thanks to the great work of GM Mike Elias and assistant GMs Sig Mejdal and Eve Rosenbaum. All three came over from the highly-successful Houston Astros.

We’re all getting the correlation here, right?

Some of the Orioles’ best and most exciting young players are making under a million dollars this season. What is this,1988?

Superstar catcher Adley Rutschman is making just $733,900 per Spotrac, along with $732K for Tyler Wells (who has been one of the best pitchers in baseball), $732K for Felix Bautista (arguably the best relief pitcher in the world), $735K for Ramon Urias, $729K for Bryan Baker, $728K for Kyle Bradish and $723K for Gunnar Henderson.

This all comes from drafting, scouting and player development. It all comes from management.

While Mets fans have been clamoring to ‘let the kids play’ in New York, the Orioles, Rays, Reds and Marlins have been doing exactly that in their respective cities, to great levels of success.

In the end, I think you can tell where I stand on all this: Management is more important than payroll in MLB right now.

John Frascella is a published baseball author who has been covering MLB for 19 years. Follow him on Twitter @LegendSports7 for all things MLB, NBA and NFL throughout the year.