Tyler Glasnow 2024 salary makes no sense for Tampa Bay Rays

The Tampa Bay Rays are not a team known for spending much on payroll. That may be changing.

The Rays had made one of their typical signings during the offseason, inking Wander Franco to a 12 year extension worth $223 million. However, their two year extension with Tyler Glasnow is not the same sort of deal.

Tampa Bay Rays taking major gamble on Tyler Glasnow in 2024

The first year of Glasnow’s extension makes sense. He will receive $5.35 million in 2023, a slight increase over his salary for this year. Considering that Glasnow has not pitched at all this season as he recovers from Tommy John surgery, and has not even begun a rehab assignment, that part of the extension makes sense.

Questions surround the 2024 commitment. The Rays have guaranteed Glasnow $25 million for that year, buying out a year of free agency at a significant cost. It would be more than any single season salary that the Rays have handed out for any player in franchise history. And it is going to a pitcher who has not made an appearance since June 14, 2021.

Glasnow could still be a bargain in 2024 despite his injury history. When he has been healthy, he has pitched like a top of the rotation arm, posting a 2.80 ERA and a 0.976 WHiP in his last 206 innings, striking out 290 batters with 63 walks. The problem is that those totals have come since the start of the 2019 campaign as he has not made more than 14 appearances in a season since 2018.

That leaves that 2024 season as a major gamble. Should Glasnow be injured again, as is entirely likely, that salary will be a waste. Unless the Rays are planning on significantly increasing their payroll in the coming years, Glasnow could account for a dramatic portion of their salary commitment that year.

The Tampa Bay Rays are slated to pay Tyler Glasnow $25 million for the 2024 season. That price tag is a major gamble that could blow up in their faces.