PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. _ The Rays made official their decision to stick with their salary structure and give Blake Snell only a meager reward for winning the Cy Young Award, renewing his contract for a $573,700 on Sunday, a raise of just $15,500.
And Snell made clear how he felt.
"The Rays have the right under the collective bargaining agreement to renew me at or near the league-minimum salary. They also have the ability to more adequately compensate me, as other organizations have done with players who have similar achievements to mine. The Rays chose the former," he said in statement from Adam Karon and Tripper Johnson, his agents at Sosnick, Cobbe & Karon. "I will have no further comment and look forward to competing with my teammates and field staff in our quest to win the World Series in 2019."
The Rays also renewed the contracts of reliever/opener Ryne Stanek and infielder Joey Wendle.
With the major-league minimum increasing from $545,000 to $555,000, Snell is basically getting only a $5,500 raise for his historic 21-5, 1.89 performance.
The Rays have a somewhat strict policy for paying players in the years before they are eligible for arbitration, based primarily on service time with "a slight margin" to accommodate performance. And they have the right to unilaterally impose that salary, so players that don't accept the offer have no recourse but to make a stand on principle by declining and taking the renewal.
After considerable thought, they decided to not make an exception for Snell winning one of the premier awards. Snell told the Times last week he found the decision "disappointing" and wanted to be treated fairly. The team did make one accommodation for Snell in opting to drop a $5,000 penalty for players who get renewed.
Snell will have more say in the matter next offseason when he is eligible for arbitration for the first of three times.
Wendle and Stanek enjoyed breakout seasons of their own last year. Wendle ended up getting $570,400 a raise of $23,500 from his $546,900 salary; Stanek got $564,200, an increase of $17,800 from his $546,400. In their cases, and for Snell, $10,000 of the raises are built in as increase in MLB minimum from $545,000 to $555,000.
Wendle, in his first opportunity for extended playing time in the majors, had a stellar showing, hitting .300, finishing fourth in the AL Rookie of Year voting while posting a 4.3 WAR that led all AL rookies, and played five positions.
Stanek emerged as the primary opener in the Rays innovative pitching strategy, making 29 starts and 30 relief appearances, in posting a 2.98 ERA.
The Rays agreed to terms with all other pre-arbitration players in camp.
