David Manning-USA TODAY Sports
Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon talked about dealing with the Rays limitations:
"Grew up that way, you know? So I do embrace it. I kind of enjoy it. I had that conversation with another writer in the lobby earlier today. The intellectual process that we have to go through on an annual basis to be good, to me, is very exciting. To not just have an open locker full of money to buy exactly what you need is okay because then you have to‑‑ necessity being the mother of invention, you’ve got to try to figure out these other avenues to get the same thing done. I think there is a little bit of purity involved in that. There is more of a pure sense in regards to the game and how it should be played. So for a lot of different reasons I’ve often talked about working where I work to me is the best job in all of Major League Baseball. Managing this particular team is the best job in all of Major League Baseball regardless of money or salary. Just the people I work with upstairs and how we go about all of this every year is exciting and it’s interesting and it’s challenging, and it’s all those things that every year should be. I would never want to be in a situation where you became so complacent and that you just show up and write the same nine names in the same nine spots every day. That would be no fun whatsoever. That would stink. But I do enjoy and we enjoy the mental gymnastics we go through on a daily basis."
Maddon is always a great listen and read. You never fail to gain a little more respect for him after doing so.
He might have the toughest managing job in all of baseball as his Rays have to contend with the big money of the Yankees and Red Sox on a yearly basis. The Blue Jays took that leap this past season and Baltimore routinely spends about 15% more on their payroll each season than Tampa.
Call it “smoke and mirrors”. Call it “more with less”. Call it “getting the most out of his players”, but Maddon finds the means to work with what he’s given. And work it does. In his eight seasons as the Rays skipper, Maddon has led the Rays into the postseason on four occasions with one World Series appearance. The Rays total opening day payroll over that span? $407,174,714.
Add that over the past six seasons, the Rays have posted a winning percentage north of .500 in each.