Rays Will Do "Everything They Can" To Keep Crawford and Pena

So says owner Stuart Sternberg:

* The team will do everything they can to keep free-agent-to-be Carl Crawford as long as they can, and also Carlos Pena. On Crawford specifically he said: "He's been a face of this organization, he's been a great Ray, he was a great Devil Ray, he's an extraordinary player and teammate, for the community and a face of this team. We're going to do everything we can to make sure he stays here longer.''

That's all well and good to say in public, but realistically, everyone knows that the writing is on the wall. It's extremely doubtful that the Rays will be able to keep both guys. Assuming that both guys perform as expected (30+ HR for Pena, 50+ SB, .300 average for Crawford), then it's very possible that the 2011 salaries for Pena and Crawford combined could be between $20-$30 million dollars (probably closer to $30 million). For the Rays, this presents a problem because their total team payroll will probably be somewhere in the $60 million dollar range next season. Obviously, it's not realistic for the Rays to commit such an enormous amount of their resources to two players.

There's always the chance that Crawford and Pena accept less to stay in Tampa, but that's a scenario that I highly doubt will happen. At best, maybe the Rays will be able to keep one of the two, but given the Rays payroll limitations and arbitration raises to guys like Upton, Garza, and Bartlett; even that possibility is hard to imagine.