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I recently posted a random question on Facebook that came to me while watching a full day of one of my favorite sports. Although I love soccer, I have always been a big baseball fan as well and I was wondering:
Who would be considered the Tampa Bay Rays of the soccer world?
For those unfamiliar with The Rays story, they were originally known as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and came into Major League Baseball as an expansion team in 1998. They were widely considered the laughing stock of Major League Baseball, posting a losing record in their first 8 seasons. They were then taken over in 2007 by Wall Street investor Stuart Sternberg, who along with his right hand men Matt Silverman (who became President) and Andrew Friedman (who became General Manager), completely changed everything about the team from the colours to exorcising the “Devil” out of their name and becoming The Rays (which later became a marketing campaign).
The marketing/advertising aside, what makes me a fan of their model (even with them being a division rival of my Toronto Blue Jays) is how they evaluate talent while staying within their means and having to deal with the big spending major market teams. This is a team that has a modest budget and has built their team through a combination of home grown and average to below average players who they have gotten to over perform. This story is best chronicled in the book The Extra 2% by Jonah Keri. It’s one of my favorite books and I highly recommend it even if you’re not into baseball.
Referring back to the original question, I got a lot of different answers: Montpellier in Ligue 1, Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga, Athletic Bilbao from La Liga and even one closer to home in Real Salt Lake of MLS via our friend at The11.ca, Steven Sandor. All of these in one way or another fit the bill, so a follow up question for me would be:
How could The Rays model work to benefit Toronto FC?
Now finding a Wall Street investor to take over the club from MLSE is highly unlikely. However, even with things looking bleak for TFC, the way Major League Soccer works, it’s not impossible to turn things around and it is considerably easier than in Major League Baseball.
The Rays pretty much live off four basic principles:
1. Strong Farm System (baseballs version of an Academy)
2. Find Basement Bargains
3. Sign Club Friendly Contracts
4. Know when to Sell
Strong Farm System/Academy
Baseball is probably the one sport where young talent is held most in high regard and the more you acquire, the stronger you’ll be. You only need to take a quick look at The Rays roster to see the overwhelming majority of their players - including the two major building blocks in Pitcher David Price and Third Baseman Evan Longoria - are home grown players.
When looking at TFC, this is the one aspect that they’ve embraced with both arms. TFC Academy has borne fruit with the likes of Defenders Doneil Henry and Ashtone Morgan being major members of the team and with Morgan even going on the represent the Canadian Senior National Team. However, outside of those two, the rest whom have made the first team have seen little to no playing time. And unlike baseball, which has lower level affiliate clubs that provide a challenge, Canadian soccer doesn’t quite have that luxury (at least not yet). The thought of loaning these players to lower level clubs in NASL or USL is an idea. However, due to the lack of a proper relationship between MLS and these other leagues, as well as the fact that Canadians joining American teams is still bizarrely considered “foreign talent”, which comes at a higher cap hit, this unfortunately doesn’t happen.
Finding Basement Bargains
When The Rays have to fill a need in the short term and there are no prospects ready to make the jump, they are excellent at finding bargains through trades or free agency. There are countless examples of them finding mediocre to below average players and getting solid production. The best example of this is probably utility man Ben Zobrist. Tampa Bay acquired Zobrist as a throw in player along with pitcher Mitch Talbot from the Houston Astros in exchange for First Basemen/Designated Hitter Aburey Huff and cash. As of today, Huff is currently on his fourth Major League team since leaving The Rays (Houston Astros, Baltimore Orioles, Detroit Tigers and San Francisco Giants), Talbot is pitching in the Korean Baseball Organization and Zobrist is still thriving with The Rays as a switch hitter that can play everywhere but pitcher and catcher.
In a salary cap league like MLS, finding the soccer equivalent of a Ben Zobrist, who may not be a star but is inexpensive and can play multiple positions, is vital. Instead of buying a high priced Designated Player (DP) who is in his mid to late 30’s, Toronto FC could spend that same money on 5-6 players that are solid and versatile instead of one player who can do a few things very well. The added benefit of this approach is if, for example, 3 of the 5-6 players don’t work out for one reason or another, they can be traded or released without being on the hook for millions of dollars or being stuck with a player until the contract runs out (this may sound familiar).
Sign Club Friendly Contracts
This leads me to the point of club friendly contracts. No matter how good a player is, The Rays know their limits and won’t go beyond them. A prime example of this is superstar outfielder Carl Crawford, who the Rays opted not to give an extension and he instead signed a 7 years $145 million dollars deal with the Boston Red Sox. The money they saved allowed them to secure the futures of a slew of young players who are and will be major pieces to the puzzle, while Boston will likely not see Crawford, who is 30 years old, see out the entirety of his deal (not to mention he has struggled since arriving last season and has been on the mend since the start of this season).
Although most harp on TFC when it comes to the Julian De Guzman contract and weigh its value against his production, the Danny Koevermans contract is also concerning, as there are many forwards currently plying their trade in MLS that are well under the age of 33 and who could produce as much as if not more than he has done to date. The fact that TFC let a promising player walk in forward Stefan Vukovic (yes, I’m still confused about that) instead of signing him, seeing what he could do in MLS and then making a decision, it is a prime example of what wouldn’t happen in this model.
Know when to Sell
The other thing Tampa Bay does really well is judge when to move a player on, whether it’s due to injury, declining form or when their value has reached its peak. some good examples of this are Pitchers Scott Kazmir and Matt Garza. Kazmir was a promising pitcher that made his debut with the club at 20 years old but a mix of injuries and poor form saw them trade him to the Angels for Second Basemen Sean Rodriguez and two prospects. Rodriguez is one of those aforementioned marginal players like Ben Zobrist that they have gotten to over perform and who shows versatility having also played everywhere on the diamond except catcher or pitcher. Coincidentally, Kazmir is currently a free agent. He has tried to make it back to “The Show” but with no success as of yet. When it came to the Garza deal, they managed to turn a pitcher nearing his peak into five prospects, and in that one deal they added to an already loaded farm system.
Selling players at the right time is essential to thriving in a salary cap league like MLS as well. Pull the trigger too early and another team gets that players prime years. But pull it too late and you get little to nothing in return and, depending on the contract, can actually lose money.
On a side note, The Rays model was also integral in finding a manager, as they found the perfect fit in Joe Maddon. Tampa’s bench boss comes from the Mike Scioscia coaching tree. Scioscia is the long serving manager of the LA Angels and actually is the second longest serving manager in all of MLB. Under Scioscia, not only has Maddon has become a major league manager but also three others, as Bud Black, Terry Collins and Ron Roenicke are the respective bench bosses of the San Diego Padres, New York Mets and Milwaukee Brewers, with others under him becoming coaches and scouts elsewhere. It would be refreshing to see this approach taken with Toronto FC. Use the necessary time to hire the right people and give them time to build. No hiring of consultants or working off unrealistic time tables, but being pragmatic and setting goals.
The Rays went from an expansion club that had a losing record in its first 8 seasons to making it to the World Series in 2008 and have been a serious contenders ever since. Given the fact that Toronto FC is only in year six, are in a major city and media market (unlike Tampa Bay) and don’t nearly have to compete with teams of the caliber and/or budget of the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, LA Angels, Texas Rangers, etc. it’s not a stretch, if done in a sensible and calculated way, that turning around TFC is more than achievable.
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