having some conflicting feelings about the Rays this postseason? me too! gonna dump some thoughts, because I've found it hard to hold these two notions in my head (sry 4 thread)

1. the Rays have a slew of players that are delightful to watch — they excel at very specific skills

each reliever has stuff varying from A- to A+++, and the way Cash deploys them is masterful. if you have a shred of appreciation for strategy, you're compelled to admire what the Rays do with their pen. plus, Adames is electric, Choi is effervescent, and Randy is a legend already

here's where it gets hairy for me

2. The notion the Rays are smarter than other franchises because they win while spending less is a complete fallacy that's taken at face value and repeated frequently. They win because they're smarter. They spend less because they're allowed to

The Rays identify good players as well as any other franchise, but that doesn't mean they have to pay them less. That's an active choice. They could absolutely keep more players (who they've already identified as good) around, they just know they don't have to

when it really comes down to it, they know they'll be able to repeat this cost-control bullshit for a few main reasons

a) 6 years of team control
b) other franchises are bad at scouting their own minor leaguers
c) other franchises won't spend to keep fringe players the Rays like

it's Moneyball without the Sorkin script. the Rays payroll was $72 mil (before COVID). in a normal year, ~most of that~ is covered by rev sharing. it's so frustrating how hard it is to appreciate smart teams because of the way they weaponize their intelligence: salary suppression

it doesn't need to be this way! we went in depth on this, as well as how it was spawned from Beane on today's pod. rant over! thanks for playing! https://twitter.com/tipping_pitches/status/1318344898337251328