Sep
29
2011

The 2011 Tampa Bay Rays: This Year’s 2002 Oakland A’s

An article by Clayton Collier

Coming off a postseason berth, the 2010 Rays were gutted beyond comprehension. Their star left fielder and sparkplug Carl Crawford left for Boston. Their shut down closer Rafael Soriano, now sporting pinstripes. Carlos Pena going to the windy city, Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett dealt for prospects, and a bullpen left in tatters. All that they got to replace these cornerstone players was a past-his-prime outfielder and a few relievers. Yet some how, some way, the Tampa Bay Rays are now once again back in the post season.

Does a story like this ring a bell?

If it does, the 2002 Oakland Athletics is most likely what you are thinking of. As most of you know, the A’s lost their star outfielder, first baseman and closer, yet were able to still make the playoffs. Now so too have the Rays, losing their star outfielder, first baseman, and closer; not to mention nearly their entire bullpen, their shortstop, and one of their top starters; yet now stand tall as wild card winners in a dramatic game 162.

The 11 players the Rays lost this past offseason have earned around $67 million, about $25 more than Tampa’s entire payroll. They spent just under $15 million in signings to replace those players, and yet they came up with the same result: October baseball.

The Rays, much like the A’s of 2002, have a terrific 1-2-3 punch in the rotation, and two solid sluggers in Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton; the rest are rookies, journeymen and once washed up veterans. They have defied the odds to top the $160 million dollar Red Sox, now they take on the $92 million dollar Texas Rangers in a 2010 ALDS rematch. The A’s had the second smallest payroll in the American League, the lowest in their division, and beat the $105 million Texas Rangers, the $80 million Seattle Mariners, and the $61 million Angels to take the division with 103 wins.

The 2002 A’s stunned the baseball world to return to the playoffs after losing nearly every key franchise player, the Rays have now done exactly that. Of course Tampa fans will be hoping for a better result in the postseason than the 2002 Oakland A’s, but there are numerous similarities. The Rays didn’t exactly use sabermetrics like the A’s, but they still managed to take a no-name lineup -with the exception of Longoria and Upton- and bullpen, and make it to the playoffs. They were gutted beyond recognition, yet still clawed and scratched their way to October.

About the Author: Clayton Collier

Clayton, a Long Island native and die-hard Mets fan, started writing online about three years ago. He is currently a Journalism major with a minor in Broadcasting at Seton Hall University. Although very disappointed with the current state of the team, Clayton remains hopeful that the young prospects in the farm system will bring the Mets back to a respected franchise in baseball once again. Besides writing for MMO, Clayton is also a staff member at 89.5 WSOU, Seton Hall's modern active rock radio station. You can contact Clayton by following him on Twitter: @Clayton_Collier or E-mailing him at MaybeNextYearMets@yahoo.com

10 Comments + Add Comment

Mr North Jersey September 29, 2011 at 2:18 pm

In a division many consider the toughest in baseball the Rays won 91 games. Just incredible.
alex68 September 29, 2011 at 2:48 pm

ahhhh, the moneyballin A’s.. i remember. they still LOST in the first round that year.
Bayonne Mets Fan September 29, 2011 at 3:20 pm

This idea of thinking that teams the win with lesser payrolls are somehow smarter or onto something is ridiculous and it’s really getting out of hand now. It also is throwing a monkey wrench into enjoying what is REALLY happening and that is good ballplayers playing better than other good ballplayers at any time. Also sometimes high contracts can be a burden on the performance of the player who signed it as we’ve seen before so there are a lot of intangibles that come into play.

When the A’s beat the Mets in the 1973 World Series we weren’t bothering looking at each team’s payroll so see if somebody was smarter than the other guy.

When the Mets beat Boston in 1986 i don’t remember talking about each team’s payrolls back then either.
Or when the Mets beat the Cardinals in 1988 did we waste time discussing the team’s payroll?
Same when Mets won in 1999? What was Braves payroll or Mets? Or Arizona’s I really do not care to be honest

I don’t even know the Yankee payroll vs. Mets payroll in 2000 and I’m sure it didn’t matter. Or the Mets payroll and the Giants payroll that year either. I wasn’t thinking about that when Benny Agbayani hit that HR

I could go on and on like t agee but you get my point.
- Clayton Collier September 29, 2011 at 3:54 pm
  
  Bayonne, my point in this was saying “Wow, the Rays were absolutely gutted, and yet here they are in October yet again.”
  
  I thought that last night when Longoria hit that home run, then my next thought was, “Wow the A’s were gutted in 2002 as well and managed to do the same.”
  
  I wasn’t trying to say “Moneyball Rays” because that isn’t what this is. They had alot of young talent in the farm system, not to mention alot of them with speed, that kept them in it despite the massive loss of players.
- Donal September 29, 2011 at 4:06 pm
  
  So, your whole argument can be boiled down to “magnets, how the #$%^ do they work?”
Metsie September 29, 2011 at 4:30 pm

And when they get eliminated in the first round of those playoffs will it prove once and for all that letting your best players go in the name of not spending money is a BIG MISTAKE and can’t ever win anytyhing but false hope?
- t agee September 29, 2011 at 4:50 pm
  
  Didn’t they lose in the first round last year? I believe they did. Plus they didn’t even just let guys go free agent, they also traded a pretty damn good pitcher from the Major League roster for the #27 ranked prospect, Chris Archer 23, AAA and the #92nd rated prospect Hak Ju Lee, 20 SS AA and younger AAA depth.
  
  So they’ve replenished an already very good farm system with 11 picks in the first 60, made a trade for two higher end prospects not far away, picked up younger emergency fill in/backup types and still won 90 games and made the playoffs.
  
  Hmmmm. So a team can prepare to win today while simultaneously preparing (ahead of time) to win tommorow, and even do it on 40 M?
  
  Wow. Who woulda thought.
XtreemIcon September 29, 2011 at 9:02 pm

Clayton, I don’t think you’re giving the Rays enough credit. Longoria’s a beast, sure, but Upton had a disappointing year. It was good, but no one would look at this numbers and think they were solid. And the rest being rookies, journeymen or washed up, I think Matt Joyce, Ben Zobrist and Casey Kotchman would beg to differ. The 1-2-3 punch is there, but Davis and Niemann are very solid back of the rotation pitchers. They also had a great year from their closer.
- Clayton Collier September 29, 2011 at 9:10 pm
  
  I forgot about Zobrist, I’ll give you that. But Kotchman is somewhat of a journeyman and Joyce never proved himself really until this year.
  
  1-2-3 punch I am talking about the postseason rotation.
  
  And yes their closer had a good year… But that’s not the point.
  
  The point is they lost Soriano and just about every man in the 2010 bullpen and still put together a top of the line pen, offense and rotation.
  - XtreemIcon September 29, 2011 at 9:22 pm
    
    I get it.

NL East Standings

Team	W	L	Pct.	GB
Braves	23	18	.561	-
Nationals	23	19	.548	0.5
Phillies	20	22	.476	3.5
Mets	16	23	.410	6.0
Marlins	11	31	.262	12.5

Last updated: 05/18/2013

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