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Pays to be A, Ray

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Pays to be A, Ray

Usually, when you spend a lot of money on something, you expect that something to last a long time and work more efficiently than the cheaper options you had to choose from. But sometimes the expensive item breaks right away or works improperly, making you realize you should have bought one of the cheaper options to save money and hope that that decision works well enough to get the job done.

Well, buying professional baseball players is similar. One of the only differences is some Major League Baseball teams don’t have the luxury of choosing between cheap and expensive players. They can only choose the cheaper players. The Oakland Athletics and the Tampa Bay Rays each have a team comprised of those “cheaper” players, but those players are still playing–in the playoffs-while other richer teams like the New York Yankees, are watching the playoffs on the couch at home.

According to espn.go.com, the A’s have the 27th lowest team salary ($60,372,500) this year and the Rays are right behind them with the 28th lowest team salary ($57,505,272) in 2013 out of the 30 MLB teams.

Just to compare the teams’ salary differences, the Yankees have the second-highest team salary this season at $203,445,586.

In the Yankees’ defense, they posted a very respectable 85-77 record. Some might even argue New York had an excellent season considering the injuries their top players suffered.

Furthermore, the Yankees missed the playoffs for only the second time in 19 years, a very impressive feat. So I can’t attack them too much.

To me, it seems like these low-budget teams play more together and play team baseball. They bunt to move players over to second base, hit and run and play sound defense. Richer teams who are stacked with home run sluggers and .320 hitters do just that. They drive the ball into the seats and hit the ball all over the field. They don’t need to manufacture runs as much as other teams need to.

The A’s and Rays also know how to get the most out of their players, which can be credited to their managers and coaches.

The A’s really got everything out of Oakland third baseman Josh Donaldson this season. Donaldson hit .301, blasted 24 home runs and knocked in 93 RBIs during the regular season. His 2013 salary is $492,500, not a bad deal for the A’s.

Yankees’ third baseman Alex Rodriguez, whose salary this season is $29,000,000, played in just 44 games this season and hit .244 with 19 RBIs and seven home runs.

The bottom line is nobody ever knows which team is going to break out and be a World Series contender. You can throw payrolls, all-star appearances and expectations out the window. Injuries pop out of nowhere, big named players slump and youngsters pleasantly surprise us.

Enjoy October.

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