The Boston Red Sox Sunday, March 17, 2019 * The Boston Globe Cash-conscious Rays believe things are looking up Peter Abraham The exact numbers are to be determined, but the Tampa Bay Rays will start the season with a payroll approximately $177 million less than the Red Sox and $142 million below the Yankees. But a recent visit to Tampa Bay’s spring training clubhouse in Port Charlotte, Fla., found a team that sincerely believes it’s capable of winning the American League East. The Rays were 90-72 last season, 18 games behind the historically dominant Red Sox and 10 behind the second-place Yankees. That’s a lot of ground to make up. But the Rays don’t fear their well-funded division rivals. Tampa Bay was 17-21 against the Sox and Yankees last season with seven of those losses by one run. They Rays were 13-7 against the Astros, Athletics, and Indians. Overall, the Rays were 41-25 after the All-Star break. The Sox were 40-24 and the Yankees 38-29. “They have something good going on over there,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. Center fielder Kevin Kiermaier felt a young team grew up over the course of last season. “We showed we could beat the best teams,” he said. “It was a good example that we could handle all the superstars on the opposition. The mind-set here is great. There’s a lot of talent on this roster.” Lefthander Jalen Beeks has seen both sides. He was drafted by the Sox and made his major league debut last season before being traded to the Rays on July 25 for Nathan Eovaldi. Beeks was 5-0 with a 4.47 earned run average in 12 games for Tampa Bay. “What we did last year will hopefully give us some momentum,” Beeks said. “There’s a lot of good energy here. We’re excited. Our goal is to get to the playoffs and see what happens.” In Cy Young winner Blake Snell and free-agent signee Charlie Morton, the Rays have two strong starters. Tyler Glasnow could emerge as a third. They’ll likely use openers for the other two spots and fill in from there with young starters such as Beeks. The lineup returns second baseman Joey Wendle and third baseman Matt Duffy. The Rays also should benefit from a full year of Tommy Pham in left field and their offseason trade for power-hitting catcher Mike Zunino. Outfielder Austin Meadows, only 23, is expected to add offense. Kiermaier is looking for a bounce-back season after missing two months with a torn thumb ligament and hitting .217 over 88 games. The Rays acquired Pham from the Cardinals at the trade deadline last season. Glasnow and Meadows came over from the Pirates for Chris Archer the same day. “The team that we played in the first series of the season was a lot different from the one they had from August on, which was actually more athletic,” Cora said. Manager Kevin Cash tied it all together. The 41-year-old former catcher is 318-330 in four seasons with Tampa Bay, impressive considering all the obstacles. His contract was extended through 2024 in November. “What we did last season helps. It was gratifying,” said Cash, who played with Cora when both were with the Red Sox from 2007-08. “But we also recognize that regardless of how well we played in the second half, there was a substantial gap between us and the teams that finished ahead of us. We have work to do. “The biggest thing we gained was going into Boston and New York and having some interesting games, some fun games. When you have young players trying to establish themselves and they have success at a place like Fenway Park, there’s something to be said for that. We played our style of baseball on the road.” The Rays still make it a challenge for their players. Tampa Bay renewed Snell’s contract at $573,700, a modest raise of $15,500 and only $18,500 over the minimum. It wasn’t much recognition for a homegrown player who was 21-5 with a 1.89 ERA and beat out Justin Verlander for the Cy Young. Teams are obligated to pay only the minimum MLB salary for three seasons, so the Rays played by the rules. But most teams tack on extra salary based on service time and performance. The Red Sox, for instance, gave Mookie Betts $950,000 after his third season, $405,000 over the minimum. “The Rays have the right under the collective bargaining agreement to renew me at or near the league- minimum salary,” Snell said in a statement released by his agents. “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.” Despite last season’s success, attendance dropped 8 percent to an average of 14,258. The team decided to close the upper deck at dingy Tropicana Field as a result. So Cash isn’t getting carried away with setting high expectations. “I try to avoid that at this point,” he said. “I think we have a smart group and they recognize that we’re a talented team. But they equally recognize that there’s a gap and we have to find a way to close it. “They know that the Rays are going to go about things differently than other clubs. But it works.” NEW MLB RULES The new rules for this season and next rolled out by Major League Baseball and the Players Association on Thursday were largely common sense, not overly intrusive and should improve the game. They also were relatively easy to agree on, representatives from both sides said. Now comes the tricky part: heading off a strike or a lockout when the collective bargaining agreement expires after the 2021 season. That both sides were able to discuss and agree on the rules changes indicates open lines of communication. But agreeing on how best to divide the game’s vast revenues will be far more complicated. The goal is to extend the CBA and solve such issues as service-time manipulation, teams lowering payrolls and choosing not to compete as a rebuilding tactic, and the disappearing free agent market for older players. For now, let’s look at the rules changes. New rules for 2019: ■ Inning breaks will be reduced five seconds to 2:00 for locally televised games and from 2:35 to 2:00 for national games. This will improve the pace of play and it’s hard to imagine anybody will object. ■ Mound visits are reduced from six to five. This rule improved the flow of the game last season and a further reduction can only help. The players adapted quickly. ■ Only one trade deadline, July 31. The union believes that more teams will aggressively pursue a playoff spot now than before. Whether that happens, eliminating an arcane system such as waiver trades was smart. Players still can be claimed off outright waivers but the silliness of teams putting superstars on waivers as an attempt to camouflage some other move should end. ■ All-Star Game fan voting will be held over two rounds with an “Election Day” in late June or early July for the starters. Players will receive bonuses for finishing in the top three and the winning team will get additional prize money. I love the All-Star Game. But how the players are voted in and what they get paid is largely inconsequential to fans. They’re also going to start the 10th inning with a runner on second. When the All-Star Game goes extra innings, everybody just wants to go home. Whatever hastens that is fine. ■ Prize money for the Home Run Derby will be increased to $2.5 million, with the winner taking home $1 million. Will J.D. Martinez take the bait? It might take more than that. Coming in 2020: ■ Rosters will increase to 26 players, 27 for doubleheaders. With many teams better attuned to the benefits of days off, this is simply changing with the times and creating better flexibility. The Players Association gets 30 more jobs, too. ■ September rosters will be 28 for all teams. That this took so long to fix is an embarrassment. It never made any sense to fundamentally change the way the game was played in September by having as many as 40 active players or that so many games were contested between teams with an unequal amount of players. ■ The number of pitchers per roster will be capped at a number to be determined. That is likely to be 13. ■ Position players will not be allowed to pitch unless it’s in extra innings or six runs separate the teams. This is to prevent teams circumventing the cap on pitchers. But a player designated as a pitcher would be allowed to start at a different position or DH any time. That would allow for two-way players, specifically Shohei Ohtani. ■ Pitchers on the injured list will be out for 15 days. Pitchers optioned to the minors will have to remain there for 15 days. This will be to stop, or at least slow down, roster manipulation with phony injuries. ■ MLB will implement Rule 5.10(g) next season and the Players Association has agreed not to protest. This would require all pitchers face at least three batters [barring illness or injury] or end an inning.