On this, the opening day of baseball season (for the Rays anyway), talk of hope, expectation, and payroll makes the rounds. Once again, many are questioning the spending habits of Rays’ ownership – particularly in light of the revenue sharing money ($35 million?) coming in, and the Rays’ payroll ($25-26 million?).

Here’s the thing (that occured to me only just now): when the good folks running the Rays talk of spending wisely for the future, I believe them. When you consider how much mediocre/old pitching goes for nowadays, how much do you suppose it’s going to cost to keep the services of a promising young south-paw in a couple of years? (Kazmir’s a left-hander, right? Some fan I am.) If the current trends hold, that could be the annual revenue sharing money right there – all by itself.