Last year the Tampa Bay Rays were a feel-good story for the ages. This year we feel their personnel pain. While a lot of factors are at play, three players shoulder an inordinate amount of the blame: Scott Kazmir, Pat Burrell and Troy Percival. A putative ace of the pitching staff, the right-handed designated hitter to ostensibly neutralize opponents’ lefties and the closer, without which you can’t win it all. All are currently on the disabled list, but they were, arguably, no more productive when they were healthy.
Worse yet, they eat up nearly 30 per cent of the payroll of a small-market team that is now financially hamstrung when it comes to helping itself with any more personnel moves. No one wants to put it this way, but Kazmir makes 14 times more than the Rays’ most effective pitcher, Matt Garza; Burrell makes 20 times more than the versatile and highly productive Ben Zobrist; and Percival makes nearly 10 times as much as J.P. Howell, one of the Rays’ few dependable relief pitchers.