• Rays or Red Sox? Which one ranks No. 1?

  • By Rob Neyer | March 26, 2009 3:27:11 PM PDT
Dave Cameron is approaching the end of his excellent rankings of all the organizations, and clocking in at No. 3 are the New York Yankees. Money:
    When you outspend everyone else by close to $100 million, it's hard not to win. The Yankees have done a fantastic job of creating a revenue model that works better than any other franchise in any sport, and they're reaping the rewards of that advantage. Unless MLB intervenes and adds a third franchise into New York, it's hard to see them ever going through a sustained down period. They are the Wal-Mart of baseball, and the machine is basically unstoppable. Love them or hate them, they aren't going anywhere.
Only two teams left to rank, and they're also in the American League East. Care to guess who comes first, the Red Sox or the Rays? It depends on how Cameron weights the various categories. If he gives each of them -- ownership, front office, major league talent and minor league talent -- equal weight, the Rays actually have a shot. I'm guessing both franchises will get A grades in each of the first three categories, but the Rays have a real edge over the Red Sox in the fourth. Baseball America rates the Rays' system as fourth-best and the Red Sox's as 13th-best. John Sickels has the Rays with four prospects graded B+ or better; the Red Sox with just two (Lars Anderson and Michael Bowden). Essentially, the Rays are a straight-A student, but the Red Sox might well get an A+ or two, with extra credit for their $120 million payroll (which is not huge relative to other clubs but does dwarf the Rays' payroll). Either way, do you remember when everyone said the Rays would never be able to compete in the American League East? Everyone was wrong. All the Rays had to do was do everything perfectly.

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