Johnny Damon, the Rays, and the Red Sox

As the Rays continue to try to run down the Red Sox in the Wildcard, we should constantly reminded of the difference in salary between the two teams. The Red Sox have a payroll of 160,000,000 (the third highest), while the Rays have the second lowest payroll at 42,000,000 (a difference of 118,000,000). Johnny Damon, who got his 200th steal last night, is the highest paid Ray, at $5.2 million. If he was on the Sox, his former team, he would be (about) the 12th highest player. Since Damon left, the Red Sox have had all kinds of failed big money out-fielding projects. The most egregious has been J.D. Drew, who has done absolutely nothing this season with a WAR of -.2. He has a WASP (Wins above replacement and salary per) of 5303 since joining the Red Sox, while Damon has a much better WASP of 2080 this year. The Red Sox also gave big money to Carl Crawford (a former Ray) this year, as he is making over 14 million this year. He has been utterly terrible this year as well, with a negative WAR, giving him a him a horrific WASP of 31200 (about 16 times larger than Damon's, and smaller is worse). Once again we are shown the difference between the big teams and small teams. That the Rays are able to compete at all is just a testament to that organization.