How The Rays 'Moneyball' Strategy Finally Ruined Them 

They got ruined because Wander Franco cant keep his meat in check and Shane and the rest of their pitching staff has fallen to Tommy John and its in no way their fault they are just extremely unlucky

Typical guy who doesn’t actually know much about the rays thinks their franchise is over because of a bad 75 game stretch with their best three players being injured, a convict, or playing terrible. Not to mention a plethora of other injuries to key rotation pieces as well

What do you mean "ruined them"? Its one bad season. They've shown they can rebound year-to-year so, so so, SO MANY times. Its silly to use the term ruined.

Billy Beane's version of Moneyball wasn't only about On base percentage and cheap players. The Moneyball philosophy is fluid not static.

lol? Half of there rotation has been hurt all year and their best prospect hasn’t played all year. So I wouldn’t say it’s ruined them

I don't sympathize w/ this video. The Rays had been one of the best teams in baseball for over a decade coming into this season despite being a low budget team. now they're having ONE bad season - a bad season without mcclanahan, others with injuries, and with a low-performing Randy - and we're saying their Moneyball strategy "ruined them"? No. Not at all. It's ONE season, and it's in no way their team management approaches that caused Franco to become a convict, McClanahan to need TJS, and Randy Arozarana to be umperforming. This has been one of the most consistently good teams in baseball. We shouldn't go acting like their approach is a failure so prematurely.

Moneyball=On base+ cheap is such a simplification of past and present analytics its insulting.

To say it’s ruined is a bit much. 4 of our SPs from last season are all out. It was a domino effect starting with Springs; literally 2 starts into his 2023 season, goes down. Then Rasmussen, and then McClanahan, etc. I don’t think it’s ruined; a team is trying to perform and carry a very depleted pitching staff (with Fairbanks - our best closer - going down last week or so); injuries are something you can’t just bat an eye at. McClanahan was on his way to a Cy Young, at least finishing top 3 in the race, he was that dominant. Sure hitters can perform better but in this sport; I don’t hold that much weight against hitters because these are the best arms on the planet. We are very much used to our pitching being so great and the offense being streaky. Right now, we’re just streaky. The pitching isn’t there. Had they been healthy, 95+ wins like we usually do. The title/tagline is a lot if you ask me. The franchise isn’t ruined; if the pitchers were healthy, we’d be just fine. Yes, Franco’s situation is terrible; but the organization will be fine. This is just one bad season.

Last time the rays were bad they shipped out certain players and replenished their team with Glasnow, meadows, and baz. They also acquired Tommy Pham. They will do the same thing this year

Damn bruh one bad year and the ravens come. The entire starting rotation is injured.

You don't grasp the ray way on talent. Glasnow his contract was basically up. We don't even want them to go to arbitration. This year we are 3 games out of the wild card and we get springs, and baz back in the next couple of weeks and rasmousson after the all star break. Yes the hitters are a little bit off this year but we had so many injuries that it was a put together line up most of the time, and the young guys have shined. We are one of the tops in stolen bases, and winning 1 run games. Yes a slow start but we have guys coming back, and others getting on track. Before you hit the panic button one more time we will probably have a new stadium for the 2028 season and I'm sure things will point in that direction also. As a fan I'm not watching the same guy go out there night after night year after year and into his decline. Every year I'm yelling com on kid at some new guy and watching them either figure it out or move on. I don't get that excited watching big contracts get old and hurt and getting the bottom of the barrel out of the minors for the rest of the season. That's exactly what you get with the big market teams, and they traded away the top prospects to get another name player for a playoff run. Sometime in mid summer we will have a run of wins, will it be enough to catch the Yankees and Orioles? Doubtful. But come playoff will we be there? Maybe. We have by far the best TV in baseball. The largest TV market and the best announcers, Dewayne Staats and Brian Anderson are so much better than the national guys so you really can't judge them on attendance either. To say it's different here, well it just is and they make it work.

Rays go to the playoffs 5 years in a row...'dID mOnEYbAlL rUiN tHeM?'. Rays are 4 games behind the WC and have hovered around .500 for most of the season. Moneyball doesn't protect you from injuries or 'pedophiles'. They'll be getting Baz and Springs back. They have Caminero, Aranda, Mead and Basabe coming up to help them. Rays operations have ran well despite the circumstance.

Talk about Snell being pulled too early, but the reason why the Rays won their 2nd game in that series was because Dave Roberts still believed in Kenley Jansen, when qanybody watching knew he was washed. He handed game 5 to the Rays, robbed Kershaw from being the winning pitcher in a series-clinching game 5.

How is the league winning percentage is 0.511 if the league teams play each other and the amount of wins is the same amount of losses ?

The thing is, Moneyball pretty much objectively works. Moneyball is the reason that even your average fan knows what "sabermetrics" is. The problem for the Rays is not that it's broken and doesn't work, but that the comparative advantage of being a small-market analytics-focused Moneyball team vanishes when everyone else in the league is doing it. The Braves, Dodgers, and Astros are teams that have all employed Moneyball tactics in recent seasons to great success, and all three of them are currently or recently dynastic (and tbh, I'm not sold on the idea that the Astros dynasty is dead. 2024 might be a lost season for them at this point, but they still have mostly the same roster as last year, injuries have just ruined them). But also, all three of them are willing to spend in sometimes risky ways to get their success. They aren't necessarily as big on spending as the New York teams or the Padres and Phillies (although the Dodgers are most definitely big spenders), but they're all a lot closer to the top of the spending leaderboard than they are to the A's, Marlins, and Rays.

Ah yes. Counting out the Rays. Because that’s always sure to age well. I’ll believe the Rays are ruined when they’ve spent 4 consecutive seasons in the basement, not a day before.

I love Harold Ramirez, hope he finds a good home somewhere

I mean… leaving Snell in there wasn’t any guarantee. You also need some runs. If the Rays could have gotten 2 or 3 more runs, maybe there would have been a seventh game.

I think this video does a pretty good job of understanding how the Rays build a team, but I don't understand how this strategy has "ruined them". Not being able to compete with larger markets puts the team at a consistent disadvantage, especially in the postseason. That is something we can argue fairly easily. But as was mentioned in this video, this team was consistently considered one of the best in the AL the last 5-6 seasons, and won a pennant. This year, the Rays aren't doing anything different than they have... If anything, they have MORE money on the books than usual. But in this down year - which, by the way, every team has them - there are a lot of factors the team didn't anticipate. Nobody saw Wander getting in trouble with the law. Had it not happened, it's likely he is consistently a 6+ WAR player each year of his deal and is a perennial All-Star candidate. Because that did happen, the Rays had to fill the SS position by trading a player who should have been on the team this year, Luke Raley. They already had a shortage of lefty power bats, and they move on to fill the gap - not a money ball situation. They didn't account for a slow start from the 2021 ROTY and the 2023 batting champion, but that happened. Perhaps the most significant thing they couldn't account for were the injuries, that were mentioned. The Rays likely would have moved on from Glasnow anyway (which in theory wasn't a bad idea given how injury prone he was), but they wouldn't have needed to lean on Pepiot or one of their top prospects in Taj Bradley had they not had an entire rotation on the IL... And finally, this team usually has one of the best bullpens in baseball. This year, they have been off and on injured, inconsistent, and at times downright unlucky. The starters have been unusually prone to giving up home runs as well. Those are the reasons for one down year, but they do not explain how the "money call strategy has failed".

Man the rays are going to get 90+ wins and be right in that 6th spot

bro really just said the mlb's average winning percentage over a 3 year stretch wasn't .500 when that's literally impossible in a sport without ties

I would not be so quick to write them off. They have shown a great resiliency over the years. They have a deep farm system with prospects like Junior Caminero, Chandler Simpson, and Carson Williams on the horizon. They also have their injured starting pitchers coming back, McLanahan, Rasmussen, Springs, and Bass. The Rays organization has done a good job with scouting, drafting, and player development. Hopefully, the ballpark situation will be resolved and attendance will greatly increase.

So they can unload contracts this year, bring up Caminero to replace Franco and then next year get all their young pitchers back?? And Taj Bradley has more experience as well If anything this allows them a small reset

I'm a Rays fan and I'm not going to lie; in October, I checked the team's individual stats and Wander Franco, who didn't play at all in August and September was in the team's top 3 in every stat. It was really disappointing.

I'm just a few mins in, but I'd say that it's not the fault any any approach that they're taking that Arozarena has been doing awful, or that Wander Franco would disappear from baseball forever. Then there's the season-ended injury to McClanahan. I'm not a Rays fan, so I'm probably missing some relevant other events that are independent of their managerial, developmental, and coaching practices. You change even two of these things this team is doing notably better.

At least the Rays did pull Blake Snell.. Still wonder what could have been if Buck Showalter pulled Ubaldo Jimenez for Zach Britton like he should have. They both still burn for the fanbases, but inaction based on gut feelings is arguably worse :/

People completely misunderstand the concept of money ball. Its about finding market inefficiencies. If no one is valuing OBP? Go sign a ton of those guys cheap. If the pendulum were to swing and no one was signing big power hitters? load up on those. It was about paying as little as possible for a specific skill set, not just about getting on base.

Stronly competitive every season in the lower tier of payrolls. They are the envy of the league outside of NY and LA.

Hard to break it to you man but every team is driven by analytics to some degree, a lot of it comes down to spending money rather than being mathematically driven

"The League's .511 Winning Percentage". Were there games where both teams won?!

I disagree with the assessment on the Miami Marlins. The Marlins were doomed before Peter Bendix stepped foot into office, so it's unfair to pin their collapse on him. 6 years of bad drafts, mostly bad trades, and an inabillity to develop bats within their farm system will do that to a team.

I wouldnt say the redsox got completely destroyed by this. We have several young promising players who have carried us to the record we have rn. The mookie betts trade was rough, but looking at the other trades it made sense at the time. Chris sale could not stay healthy so it made sense why we ditched him even if vaughn grissom doesnt pan out.

I was going to come here to rip this guy for declaring the Rays dead after half a season, but I see plenty of you already beat me to it. Well done.

While they have not been good this year, I’d say ruined is a stretch. They’ve got an entire playoff caliber rotation on the shelf and you bring all of them back healthy today, you’re looking at: McClanahan Eflin Rasmussen Springs Bradley Baz Pepiot For your starters plus Caminero teetering with a call once he’s healthy too. Tough years from the lineup surely don’t help but they’ll be in the thick of it next year

6:24 I respect analytics, I love the concept and when your team is winning it feels like it really works, but I think the problem is managers/HCs/etc feel like they can either trust analytics or their gut but not both. I think it’s only a matter of time before they merge both though. The ability to recognize when to follow the analytics but also knowing when your pitcher just has “it” that day can win a lot more games than just one or the other

I still don’t see flaws in introducing a salary cap for teams. This makes it so that “Moneyball” won’t be necessary because every single team will have the same amount to be spend varyingly. If a team has to pay a superstar, take for example ohtani, then they would have to be much more careful where the spend the remainder of their money. Which would result in less super teams.

Baseball needs a salary cap. I'm sick of billionaire owners being praised for being cheap. Dealt with it in Baltimore for years, so many great talents move on because Bal didn't want to pay their talent. I know Elias is somewhat righting the ship, but our history is steeped with losing. We need a championship back here in charm city.

As a fan of an underdog, this one hurts. Thanks PB!

The Money ball strategy mentioned is working. The key point you left out is the owners got their wish for an expanded playoffs. Now you barely need to be above .500 to get in. There is very very little odds change to winning the World Series between the 6 seed and the 1 (look at the Rangers, Diamondbacks last year and Phillies in 22). What I'm trying to say, you used to need to spend because you needed to win throughout the regular season. It's always been random for who wins it all, now you don't have to win a lot. You just need to win about 54% of your games and get lucky in the playoffs.

Moneyball isn’t about statistics or being cheap. It’s identifying market inefficiencies using data - whether it’s statistic or otherwise - to discover it in order to operate more efficiently. For the A’s it was OBP. The white Sox teams in the mid 2000s prioritized durable pitching to put perform their projections consistently. The Giants cornered the market on defensive metrics. And while they are a small market team on the surface, the Rays are not a small market office or player development system - they’re the best in the league; which when you think about it - is a pretty traditional approach. People go so far out of their way to get mad at baseball teams for trying to innovate it’s so weird and dumb.

The injuries and the Franco situation are to blame, they have to start a lot of their back ups and none have stepped up. Being cheap makes the situation worse but it’s not the reason they’re mid this year. They would’ve been godlike without injuries + Franco’s departure

I don't think Chaim failed the Red Sox. He lacked certain creativity at the deadline but a look at the farm system, and it's miles better. Bendix has only been in charge for 8 months and while I don't get selling off in April, they had TJ wipe their whole rotation out. The Marlins becoming the Rays, might be a good thing as they haven't developed anyone in the last 8 years. The Rays should be back to their old ways next year. They were due for a clunker season and it's when their CY Young caliber pitcher is down.

This shows you just don’t understand the rays. They got unlucky, they’re not ruined forever 💀

Um, how does the league have an average winning percentage of .511? Doesn't the league as a whole by definition have a .500 winning percentage? Every game someone wins, someone loses.

So much wrong with this video. A's moneyball was more than "gets on base and cheap" it was simply finding out what was undervalued and exploiting that. Everybody knows getting on base is super important now, and that costs money, so moneyball can't be about that. The winning formula for the Rays has been their ability to make pitchers better. The other thing the Rays have done better than almost anybody is developing prospects, aided by frequently trading guys at the peak of their value for more prospects. The Rays have fallen off, not because they have forgotten how to do this, but because they have so many injuries.

So Oakland and Tampa Bay are competitive with no payroll and its historic and Cleveland does the same thing for longer and with as much success and no one acknowledges it

I would say the location of the team is also a main factor y the Rays can do it. If the team is in like Utah or Colorado I doubt it would work as well.

They also don’t play in Tampa

As a Rays fan we need to stop being cheap.

“I eat crayons” - purely baseball, probably

hold up, over the last 3 seasons the MLB's win percentage is 0.511? how tf is it not 0.500? someone please explain

How could the league have a .511 winning percentage? In aggregate, it has to have a .500 winning percentage. Others there's games being played with a winner and no loser.

Red Sox are in a pretty good position. Our young players are awesome.

How can you blame the Rays roster building strategy for the future face of their franchise facing prison time? How can you blame it for the injuries? They're only four ganes under .500 and 6 games back from a Wild Card spot at the time of this comment. It is also June, and there's a lot of baseball left. This is a ruined season? That's a bit of a drastic over-statement. This season has been an almost worst case scenario for the team, and they're still fielding a competitive roster. They're still in the hunt for the Wild Card. They still give teams a tough time. It's just baseball. What are you going to do? Every team goes through swings.

Oh boy… this video….so many onesided view points… here is some balance… First… “one of the best to average…” they were one of the best teams to start last season because of their elite pitching a strong offense. The offense has under preformed and the Rays endured injuries to every pitcher last year in their starting line up. This year they started off with no proven LH hitters due injury and their pitchers they are relying on were unproven or under performing lathe while waiting on their injured pitchers to come back. Yet again they offered contracts to free agents who opted to go elsewhere where. Second. The Rays are not doing moneyball. You have outlined yourself. In ‘09 they came out the with the book called “the extra 2%, “ which is a different approach. It’s like comparing the Adkins Diet (popular in the turn of the century) to Keto diet. Yes, they both involve food, but they are different. The rays relate on roster manipulation meaning they they have treat a 26 man roster like 35. Also, the Rays have been doing this since 2006, it just became more recognized since 2008… or per your video… 2018. Third- The rays trade players at their peak value and only if they get prime value that blows them away. They have shown tendency to hold on to players like Carl Crawford, BJ Upton, JP Howell, Grant Balfour, without getting anything back. Yes, they have learned from that. There have been only three nightmare trades where they traded a guy for nothing (see Nelson Cruz/ Joe Ryan, see Jake Ordorizzi, and See Cory Dickerson). Typically, they don’t want trade their guys but if a great deal comes across (because the Rays havent had a to 5 pick since 2017. Fourth- the rays have been to the World Series twice during their extra 2% era. Not just 2020. Fifth- Blake snell. Throughout the entirety of the ‘20 yet again struggled to get through the lineup a third time and was heavily guarded. Also, cash did the same thing to Charlie Morton in the ALCS. No one talks about Morton because the Rays won. Also, they played a more rested and comfortable dodgers team who hadn’t had to relocate states and go through COVID protocol when going from Cali to Texas. Why? The Dodgers had the slightly better record all the while struggling against .500 teams that year. Additionally, per the umpire auditor Twitter account, the dodgers benefitted from 46 bad calls where the rays benefitted from 24. Back to Snell. Had Anderson gotten then batters out, as he had … it’s a non issue. Anderson failed, the Dodgers won. Cash is the scapegoat for making the right call. Had he left Snell in and he got blown up, they would wonder why cash left Snell in even though he never did during the regular season or… even though he did not do that for Morton days prior. Remember Cash has won manager of the year for a reason. Six- Snell was traded for four players. Morton opted to sign with Atlanta after the rays didn’t use their extension. Seven- the rays have gone for top talent and have been finalists for top talent like Freddie Freeman. Often forgotten. Eight- the expectations are always low. Almost every year the rays are locked low to last. Nine- Snell won the Cy Young after struggling in San Diego. Ten- Glasnow is often injured and he was moved on because of this. The Rays are not in last place, they are picking up. Eleven- the process is not failing. The Rays prospects are coming around, started slow. This video may not age well. One-sided and low hanging fruit. “Finally be coming to an end,” sounds a little bitter. I would love to debate you if you want.

Blaming their "moneyball" strategy seems silly when you can outline 3 major factors that are completely unrelated from that. Pitchers will recover, their elite scouting team and pitching development will rebuild them, and Randy will figure it out, or not...

You know moneyball was a book right?

This is bs bro no way you think the rays being barely under .500 means they were ruined

Okay, I have a dumb question; how is it possible that the rest of the league have a .511 winning percentage? Wouldn't it be .500?? One game has one winner and one loses. I'll try not to lose sleep lol.

Wait. He just said rays have a .600 win% when the rest of the league has .511. If every team is playing each other the highest win% would be .500 but if you take out the rays wouldn’t it be lower? Also rays win% the last 3 years (not including 2024) is only .586

High sell low buy is a very good strategy in business.

So... your whole premise of them being "ruined by moneyball" is actually that they've been ruined by injury. Got it. Also comparing Pepiot (maybe one combined MLB service year) to Glasnow based on one season is asinine. You can't say a trade failed -- especially with the Rays' strategy, based on one season.

While I do agree that being cheap has its downfalls, I can't exactly blame the Front Office for their lack of success to start 2024. Trading Glasnow seems like just good asset management given his horrible injury history. You could argue they could have kept Snell given how many years he had left on his deal, but he's very inconsistent. I don't think it was on anyone's cards for Randy Arozarena, Yandy Diaz, and Harold Ramirez who were all very productive the last couple of seasons to fall off a complete cliff in offense production. And to top it off, how many teams just straight up lose the 'face of their franchise' in the middle of the season and probably won't play another game for them ever again'? Like imagine if the Mariners just lost Julio Rodriguez or the Orioles lost Gunnar Henderson from their roster for the rest of time. Like obviously that would hurt their teams significantly, right? I'd say the fact they are even .500 right now is a testament to their perseverance and that once they return to form/get players returning to injuries, they'll be a 'scary' team once again. Maybe not this season, but they'll be back next year for sure.

I am one of very few real rays fans that actually care about the team. No one around the city of Saint Pete that I live in genuinely care about how they play or know anything about baseball. Watching this team from 2020 and the magic we had until gm 6, in 2021 and selling the easiest Alds of all time, to getting swept in back to back years in the wildcard, the 13-0 start to still get shit on in the postseason. Wander Franco. Everything that ever happens to the rays makes me suicidal.

shouldn’t the leagues average be .500 because every time a team wins the other loses

In your video, It's a little unclear what is the difference between a Moneyball strategy and ownership being unwilling to spend. In Boston, for example, ownership was unwilling to pay market price for key players, so Bloom was backed into a corner and had to make trades without much leverage. An unwillingness to spend on premium talent will eventually ruin any time. You fail to mention that former Rays GM Friedman went to LA and is using a similar strategy as in Tampa, but WITH spending. Thus, they can sign players like Betts. Freeman, Ohtani, while also finding cheap talent through the farm (Buehler, Smith) and Moneyball-style trades and claims (Muncy, Phillips). Unlike in Florida and Boston where GMs were pressured to trade expensive stars, LA keeps them and pays them (usually) Moneyball is a strategy to find value that is overlooked by the larger baseball marketplace, acquiring it at a cheap price, and getting more than your money's worth from it. It is more complex than being constrained financially. Beane used OBP, among other stats, to find unexpected value. Now that it's been 20 years and statistics has evolved, Moneyball will evolve too.

Bro waitied years to drop this 😂

Moneyball is useful for turning a team in a bad situation around but I think that executives successful at it overestimate their ability to pick which prospects from other teams are going to develop, It's one thing to develop Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, and Barry Zito, Miguel Tejada, Eric Chavez, and Jason Giambi at the same time, but to think you can just ditch all those guys before they require multi-million dollar contracts b/c you'll find their direct replacements, and then be able to do that a third time is arrogance. When you have a good core you have to take the risk and invest in it, especially when you're getting close to post-season success. Yes some of those guys will fall off a cliff and you will eat bad contracts and lose value from them, but I don't think fans are ever as upset at teams that tried to go all-in and failed as they are at teams that folded and walked away from the table when success was at hand. I also don't really buy the idea that the A's and Rays can't afford to spend the money b/c they're in a small market. Are the A's suddenly gonna spend on free agents in Vegas or the Rays spend money in Nashville or Charlotte? I doubt it. They're in it for mediocre payrolls and revenue sharing money. Success is incidental to their business plans.

He pulled Snell for a chance to use him in relief in Game 7

Wait for the first time in 5+ years they’re playing .500 baseball 80 games into a season and now they’re ruined? 😂 Tell me you don’t know ball without telling me

Thinking about it, if wander franco was not a p3do, the rays may have been turned into THE American league team to beat in the next year or two. Considering they have carson Williams, junior caminero, curtis mead, and franco at the big league level (est. 1-2 yrs). I believe that would've been a fantastic infield. And their pitching staff coming off of injury in the next year, man this team would've been phenomenal. A rotation of mclannahan, rasumussen, bradley, baz, pepiot, efflin, and other pieces would've been extravagant. Especially with the veteranship of yandy diaz. It's tough to see such a bright future crash and burn like this.

I mean in reality what can the rays really do? They are not going to compete with big market teams like the dodgers and Yankees in a traditional way. They are kinda forced to do this. Also, their fanbase is one of the worst in all of sports. They are good every year and their fans dont show up. Then cry when they can't afford to sign big contracts.

LAD is actually rays system team.Moneyball is not a bad strategy.

Small market teams have no choice😭 if they can’t implement a money ball strategy how are they expected to go after top FA’s and be competitive when teams like the Dodgers and Yankees can simply outbid everyone, this is exactly why the MLB needs to implement a salary cap and if small market teams continue to try and use money ball than that’s on them

high quality video you def deserve more subs

I wouldn’t say they’re ruined, and I don’t think their philosophy is the issue. Shane McClanahan getting injured and not having wander Franco anymore is a big aspect of why they’re struggling

Lazy, clickbait title. "Moneyball" (if you can even call it that, hint: you can't) has nothing to do with their entire core lineup in Yandy, Randy, Brandon and Josh Lowe all slumping in unison. They've had an entire elite rotation in McClanahan, Springs, Rasmussen and Baz go down with injuries which they've had to supplement with AAA callups and waiver acquisitions. And to top it off, their bullpen, who is usually top 5 in the league haven't performed to usual Rays standards as well. The Rays had the 4th best offense by OPS in 2023 and on paper their 2024 roster was mostly an improvement going into the season. Obviously you can't predict an entire team-wide offensive slump (see also: Braves, Rangers, Dbacks). Not to mention the O's and Yankees being top teams in the league. I wouldn't even attribute that much to Wander either, since losing him on Aug 12 last year, they went 28-13 (.683) to end the regular season. Obviously it's a huge loss of production, but one player doesn't make or break a team (see: Mike Trout). Based on their past couple weeks, it does seems like Yandy, Randy, both Lowe's, Paredes and especially Siri are all heating up. If their pitching can get back to form I wouldn't be surprised to see them competing for a wildcard spot. I think many in the org and around the league anticipated this season being somewhat of a bridge year for 2025, as the rotation comes back from the IL and guys like Caminero, Xavier Isaac, Chandler Simpson, and Carson Williams are all dominating in A ball and will inevitably get a callup. They've made the playoffs for 5 straight years, and have the third best win% in MLB since 2008, behind the Dodgers and Yankees. I have a hard time believing the Rays are just going to fall off a cliff or are "ruined" like you claim. Multiple different sites have their farm ranking in the top 10, so not sure where you cherry picked that 14th rated spot. Oh, and Bendix joining the Marlins in the offseason really has nothing to do with their struggles this year, a GM isn't just going to come in and make sweeping organizational changes that entirely affect a team one way or another. They got into the postseason by a perfect storm miracle and by all means, should never had made it. But sure, you farmed a comment and view off me so mission accomplished, I guess.

.511 average winning percentage? Shouldn't the average be exactly .500? For every win a team gets, there has to be a losing team.

There's a reason why two of the teams heavily associated with moneyball have extremely low attendance and are in jeopardy of moving. Yes they build good teams but no franchises. How can fans get behind a team when they know their stars will be gone in a few seasons? They also don't pay money to reliable players who will help them in the postseason and instead depend on these project players which usually fall of in the playoffs or get hurt. The Rangers are the example of how you need to spend money while also building a team via prospects. Even yhe small market teams like the Pirates and Royals are realizing this. Believe me the owners have the money, they're just cheap and make the excuse of a small market.

Love long form essays on sports.... you got a sub sir

1:27 lol how can the league wide winning % be anything other than .500?

How is the league average winning percentage over .500 💀

1. It is way to early to say they will miss the playoffs. 2. Wander Franco situtaion has nothing to do with Moneyball. 3. Players underperforming their normal years like Randy also have nothing to do with moeyball. 4. You don't mention how Glasnow missed alot of time with injuries. There does need to be a hybrid system where you keep a couple which i think was their plan before the Franco fiasco came to light.

Saying it’s ruined them is jumping the gun in my opinion, considering they’ve been having a bad season. If you dig deeper, this mediocre season should’ve been expected considering all but one of their opening day starters from last year are out long term.

While I appreciate the editing, this video shows no awareness for the reality of how teams are structured when they don't have a lot of money for payroll. Yes, they trade pitching when its close to free agency because its better to get some talent back rather than a compensation pick assuming they would have submitted a qualifying offer. Does it suck? Yes. Does the fanbase wish they would stop being cheap? Of course they do. But this happens to some extent to every freaking team unless your name is the LA Dodgers. It's cyclical. Not to mention, the Rays did the exact same freaking thing a decade before and had the exact same cycle occur except is was Longoria and David Price there instead. You're just using hyperbole here to make things looks worse than they actually are.

Looking at this now I think they may have took it personally

the rays don't do "moneyball", looking for undervalued, cheaper talent is just basic talent acquisition strategy in baseball at this point. Analytics just means information and data analysis. The stuff smart teams are doing now relates more to adjustments to swing path, release points and biomechanical shit. It's more than just "this guy has good OBP and other teams don't value that". If you want to actually talk about why they're bad this year, maybe talk about how their generational shortstop prospect turned out to be a pedo and their entire rotation got TJ. Some of their players are underperforming but when you lose an MVP and like 2-3 top starters, you're going to struggle, especially in a mega talented division like the AL East.

I think you meant to out the Rays # in the description and not the Astros

It certianlly doesn't help with the division they are in. Ecspially with the Orioles. We have about a bajillion young players and superprospects that are ready to be dealt for star pitching. We got a new owner, a multibillionare who we know likes spending money, but he also knows how to do it wisley. Gunnar and Adley are having MVP callibar seasons, Burnes havinf a Cy Young calliber season, and maybe the best depth, at least offensivially in the league. The Yankees will always be good, and the jays should still have bright years ahead of them. The rays window is closed.

Hey you said the average winning percentage in the mlb is .511, that’s literally impossible, it’s always gonna be .500

It would be really funny if the rays win the World Series this year lol

Bendix hasn’t completed one season in Miami and you are already saying that his long term strategy won’t work? lol

Two months out of one season hardly means the strategy is failing

Redsox playoff run incoming don’t sleep on rob refsnyder and cooper criswell

Season isnt over and they're ruined?! One bad year means their strategy doesnt work? Spending $$$ doesnt guarantee a championship.

How many titles have teams won, using "Money Ball" ?

Bullpen by committee AKA opener is not a new concept. One ok season does not mean they are done signed a Yankee fan

Imagine posting this and thinking you knew shit about baseball

With a fraction of the money, their strategy got them all they way to the World Series vs the Dodgers So of course blame the strategy if they don't win it all. Really?

Past tense of "sweep," is swept.