Why Rays do ‘Moneyball’ better than A’s

Maybe Hollywood picked the wrong team.

The Tampa Bay Rays, with a payroll more meager than the A’s, are in the World Series for the second time in 12 years.

The A’s and Billy Beane, glorified in the movie Moneyball, haven’t gotten close. That’s 17 years and counting since Michael Lewis wrote the book about the little team that could.

“The thing the A’s do really well is find guys off the scrap heap,” FanGraphs baseball analyst Ben Clemens said. “The Rays just have done it to another level.”

And that level has led Tampa Bay to a matchup against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Fall Classic.

Oakland and Tampa Bay play under similar restraints, but the Rays have taken their version of “Moneyball” a step further.

Take pitching, for instance.

The A’s had a strong bullpen this season, but Tampa Bay has a crew of relievers that Rays manager Kevin

Cash called a “whole damn stable of guys who throw 98 miles per hour.”

The flame-throwers not only defeated Houston in seven games for the American League pennant, but they also eliminated the powerful Yankees.

“In my opinion, it’s simple,” A’s television analyst and former pitcher Dallas Braden said about Tampa Bay. “You can look at the average fastball that the Rays are featuring. That’s the starting point. In the A’s bullpen — although they throw the ball well — not many guys are throwing 98 with consistency. That’s every one of these dudes coming out of the bullpen for the Rays.”

Similar to the A’s, the Rays see the value in a deep bullpen that offers different looks.

Joakim Soria, Yusmeiro Petit, Jake Diekman and T.J. McFarland, for example, represent a broad spectrum of arm angles, pitches and velocities for Oakland.

Tampa has that type of depth, too, but with mostly high-velocity arms. The Rays have three closer-level relievers who don’t always close.

They got them with creative offseason moves that didn’t inflate the payroll, which this season was a prorated $28.2 million, 28th lowest out of Major League Baseball’s 30 teams. Oakland’s was 25th, at a prorated $36.7 million.

Tampa’s bullpen collectively is earning $4.75 million in pro-rated salary this season. They acquired hard-throwing reliever Peter Fairbanks from the Texas Rangers for rookie sensation Nick Solak. In a more complex transaction, Tampa traded outfielder Jesus Sanchez, a top-5 prospect, to Miami for closer Nick Anderson.

“Most teams would kill to have Oakland’s bullpen,” Clemens said. “And most teams would say they wouldn’t want to give up the resources Tampa gives up for their bullpen.”

While Oakland is more likely to foster and mold high-ceiling prospects into low-cost stars (see: Jesús Luzardo, Matt Chapman), the Rays focus on replenishing their farm system until they overflow with options.

“The Rays have more prospects than space to play them,” Clemens said.

And because of that, a transaction such as Tampa giving up top pitching prospect Matthew Liberatore to the St. Louis Cardinals for then-relatively nameless outfielder Randy Arozarena and hard-throwing reliever Jose Martinez didn’t sting as it probably would have in another organization.

Arozarena has seven homers this postseason and just became the first rookie position player to be named MVP of a league championship series.

“Randy Arozarena, I don’t have any words to describe what he’s done, what he’s meant to us this postseason,” Cash said Saturday after the Rays beat Houston in Game 7.

With lots of depth, Tampa concocts lineups and pitching matchups for any situation. The Rays don’t need to pay for a star hitter, nor do they need the time and resources to develop one. Their competitive advantage is setting up what they have for success.