Tampa Bay Rays

For discussion of Vanderbilt Commodores men's basketball games and recruiting.

Moderators: kerrigjl, BrentVU, jfgogold, NateSY, KarenYates, Vandyman74, roanoke, VandyWhit

dore74
Vice Admiral
Posts: 3144
Joined: Tue Nov 22, 2016 9:02 pm
Has thanked: 80 times
Been thanked: 29 times

Tampa Bay Rays

Post by dore74 »

I’m trying to take a more positive tact on all this NIL/portal stuff. Tampa Bay has faced an analogous issue and has thrived. They suffer from free agency and often need to trade players they can no longer afford. In football Coach Lea and his staff appear to be doing just that.

Coach Stack and his staff will need to do the same. I think that’s what he’s trying to do by having a large freshman class. We’ll see if he can make it work by bringing in targeted transfers as well.

Not the best of situations certainly. But I’m afraid taking some sort of money ball approach may be the only way out big time sports teams can succeed.


Gambit
Ensign
Posts: 58
Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2016 9:32 am

Re: Tampa Bay Rays

Post by Gambit »

I’m not sure how well moneyball systems work in basketball vs baseball. The difference in raw physical attributes between all-star baseball players and ones just barely hanging on to major league roster spots is still really small. I don’t think that’s true in basketball where 1 or 2 dominant players can carry a team.

Maybe if you have a team full of lights out 3 point shooters but substantially less athletic you can get a tournament team, but I don’t think that team makes the Final 4. And we have athletic yet poor shooting teams recently and those have not worked out so well.
doredane
Captain
Posts: 580
Joined: Wed Dec 07, 2016 10:42 am
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Tampa Bay Rays

Post by doredane »

Unfortunately, there aren't many similarities between MLB and our situation. TB has the opportunity to draft the players of their choosing and lock them up for a certain amount of time. Moreover, they can then trade players when they are at peak value for top prospects. As for VU, players can leave at anytime. Similar to others, my interest in college sports is quickly disappearing. While I wish VU well...I just don't really care anymore. I have followed VU religiously since 1982, but the NCAA and courts have ruined things.
User avatar
Doreknox
Admiral
Posts: 6969
Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2016 9:17 pm
Has thanked: 33 times
Been thanked: 13 times

Re: Tampa Bay Rays

Post by Doreknox »

The only comparison I can make between us and the Rays is we sign rookies and lose them to free agency.
User avatar
bernstml19
Lieutenant
Posts: 228
Joined: Tue Jun 06, 2017 10:24 am
Been thanked: 7 times

Re: Tampa Bay Rays

Post by bernstml19 »

100% the game with NIL is effectively now like a cowboy league without a salary cap or any sort of contractual arrangement between players. Mathematically if there were perfect information, the best players will cluster to the NBA, and then below that will cluster together at schools offering the best NIL.

Its actually super fascinating. Its a perfectly free market but not necessarily efficient. If the identification of talent were perfect, the same teams would win every year and we could have the NCAA tournament solved in a spreadsheet using >$ formulas.

But yet, SDSU, UConn, FAU...what's clear to me is that there is really imperfect information re: talent and how to combine it. So in my opinion the great irony is that the players are now 100% mutable and will switch arbitrarily at year end. We are roasting the coach, but IN ESSENCE THE ONLY THING LEFT TO ROOT FOR IS THE COACH!

He basically has to recreate a whole new team every year where nobody really knows who is good or not and everybody can go anywhere they want with no contractual obligations.
doredane
Captain
Posts: 580
Joined: Wed Dec 07, 2016 10:42 am
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Tampa Bay Rays

Post by doredane »

bernstml19 wrote: Thu Apr 27, 2023 12:20 pm 100% the game with NIL is effectively now like a cowboy league without a salary cap or any sort of contractual arrangement between players. Mathematically if there were perfect information, the best players will cluster to the NBA, and then below that will cluster together at schools offering the best NIL.

Its actually super fascinating. Its a perfectly free market but not necessarily efficient. If the identification of talent were perfect, the same teams would win every year and we could have the NCAA tournament solved in a spreadsheet using >$ formulas.

But yet, SDSU, UConn, FAU...what's clear to me is that there is really imperfect information re: talent and how to combine it. So in my opinion the great irony is that the players are now 100% mutable and will switch arbitrarily at year end. We are roasting the coach, but IN ESSENCE THE ONLY THING LEFT TO ROOT FOR IS THE COACH!

He basically has to recreate a whole new team every year where nobody really knows who is good or not and everybody can go anywhere they want with no contractual obligations.
Well said. This past season, NIL was still in its infancy. I suspect that over the next few years, 10-20 of the deep-pocketed institutions/boosters will emerge and find a way to buy the best returning players at the end of each season. I don't think we will see the likes of of FAU, SDSU...in the Final Four very often as this free agency system matures and the big boys find a way to concentrate the most talented players into a few teams.

On a side note, I 100% understand why players around the country are jumping ship and looking for a bigger payday. Most of us would make a move if another employer offered us a 5x or 10x raise.
Go Vandy!
Rear Admiral
Posts: 2249
Joined: Wed Aug 22, 2018 9:02 pm
Has thanked: 312 times
Been thanked: 47 times

Re: Tampa Bay Rays

Post by Go Vandy! »

Have the Rays officially announced the move to Nashville (more specifically Smyrna/LaVergne) yet?
Locked Previous topicNext topic