Tampa Bay Rays fans react to pitcher Ryan Thompson dissecting his arbitration case: "Sorry you got screwed," "It’s so rigged in the teams favor"

Tampa Bay Rays v Kansas City Royals
Pitcher Ryan Thompson #81 of the Tampa Bay Rays pitches against the Kansas City Royals

Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Ryan Thompson took to Twitter Wednesday with a lengthy thread that detailed his recent salary arbitration experience. Thompson and the Rays went to arbitration last Saturday, with the pitcher requesting $1.2 million for the 2023 season and the team unwilling to pay more than $1 million.

The Rays won the case, giving teams a 13-6 advantage in cases that have gone before an arbiter this offseason.

While Thompson noted that he was still "thrilled" to make $1 million for 2023, he was "absolutely" disappointed with the result and the process in a 28-tweet thread that came in at nearly 1,100 words in its entirety.

Owners are rarely a sympathetic lot, but fans quickly sympathized with Thompson in his battle against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Arbitration, a process that first came about in 1973, is where a player with between three and six years of service time—not enough to become a free agent—and their team exchange binding salary figures and then make their case in front of a three-person arbiter panel.

The system often creates a hostile atmosphere between team and player. Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Corbin Burnes, a 2021 Cy Young Award winner, admitted last week after losing his case that the arbitration process hurt his relationship with the team.

The arbitration process often casts teams like the Tampa Bay Rays in a bad light. Teams generally gloss over any successes by their player, instead pointing out all the failures. All this over relatively small amounts, given the current salary climate of MLB baseball.

Tampa Bay Rays, Thompson defend themselves

Ryan Thompson #81 of the Tampa Bay Rays pitches in the ninth inning against the Baltimore Orioles
Ryan Thompson #81 of the Tampa Bay Rays pitches in the ninth inning against the Baltimore Orioles

The Rays and Thompson defended their stances in a Thursday interview with the Tampa Bay Times.

Tampa Bay Rays Baseball Operations President Erik Neander said:

"I appreciate him making it clear how we went about things. We were there because of a disagreement [about his salary], and his impressions are his impressions, and he’s got a right to share those."

Thompson told the Times that he has no regrets about posting the lengthy tweet thread:

"I stand by everything I said. There’s no ill will between me or the Rays. I just wanted to kind of shed some light on something that’s completely hidden for reasons that I don’t understand."

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