SEATTLE - The Tampa Bay Rays have heard the term "rising star" before.

Rising stars Carl Crawford and Rocco Baldelli are still here. Rising stars Delmon Young and Elijah Dukes are long gone.

But when manager Joe Maddon tosses around the term in 2008, he's not talking about any single player on his first-place club. He's referring to a team that transforms its culture from perennial loser to winner.

"It's not a shooting-star situation," Maddon said. "It's a rising-star situation. There's a difference."

For a team with the second lowest payroll and second most wins in the majors this season, it is unclear whether that situation can afford a higher payroll.

Starting pitcher Scott Kazmir pleaded with Rays' management in September to bring in veteran help. The league has watched Tampa Bay already set a single-season club record for wins in a season, and Kazmir said he's already been approached by players on the market interested in coming to play for the club.

"What more can you ask for?" Kazmir said. "It's a great city, with great weather, and a great young, loose team. I think we'll be good for years to come because we're young, and we're poised to get better every year."

Several young Rays are poised not only to get better, but earn larger paychecks. While Kazmir collects $3.75 million this season, starting rotation cohorts Matt Garza, Andy Sonnanstine and Edwin Jackson all make between $395,000 and $412,000 this season.

The Rays began their turnaround well before the first pitch of 2008, in part through their willingness to spend money on free agents. The team's key veteran signings included former Angels closer Troy Percival and outfielders Eric Hinske and Cliff Floyd.

After playoff appearances with the division-winning Mets in 2006 and Cubs in 2007, Floyd made the bold choice of a one-year deal to help improve the 101-loss Rays. With a winning reputation in hand, he said veterans will not hesitate to look at Tampa Bay as an option now.

"Any time you win, you always put yourself on the map to have guys who are successful in the game look at your team," Floyd said. "You want to stay competitive, you have to win, and that's the bottom line. Guys don't want to go to losers, and guys don't want to come to the park when you're losing."

But whether the Rays can offer contracts lucrative enough to draw those free agents is questionable. Maddon’s prototype for success is to draw talent to the farm system, through scouting and development.

Three months into their World Series season, the Angels' eye for young talent was sharp. They drafted starter Joe Saunders in the first round, and second baseman Howie Kendrick in the 10th round. Six years later, both are fixtures on this year's Los Angeles powerhouse.

"That's what the foundation has to be built on," Maddon said. "Eventually you can have something to sustain itself for many years — unless you have $200 million dollars in your back pocket, which might be a different approach. We don't."

The Yankees and Red Sox have shown no signs of closing their wallets. So how can the Rays consistently compete within baseball's biggest money division?

Their South Florida counterparts may have the answer.

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In 1995, the Marlins were a young, talented team that lacked veteran leadership. They had power with 26-year old outfielder Gary Sheffield, stellar defense behind the plate in 23-year old catcher Charles Johnson, and a fireballing 25-year old closer in Robb Nen.

Six Marlins players made over $1 million during their fourth-place finish that season, headed by Sheffield's $5.625 million salary. By 1997, that number burgeoned to 13, thanks to the signings of Bobby Bonilla, Darren Daulton, Alex Fernandez, Devon White, Kevin Brown, Moises Alou, and Al Leiter.

Those veterans all walked away with World Series rings. And by 1999, they had all left the roster.

Tampa Bay won 61 games in 2007, with six players earning salaries of over $1 million. The current first-place Rays now have 13 players in the $1 million-plus bracket.

Could the Rays adopt the Marlins' mold of an expensive World Series title, followed by a cap-clearing firesale? It’s possible, if the organization were willing to dip heavily into the free-agent market.

"The temptation is always there," Rays senior vice president of baseball operations Gerry Hunsicker told the Seattle Times. "That's why most of us, if we're in this business long enough, make bad decisions. We're all competitive; the juices get flowing, and you think, 'Boy, if I added that one big name out there, that would really put us over the hump.’”

Leaving that question to management, Maddon has based his decisions on how to best maintain the winning atmosphere for the franchise, with the current players on his roster.

"It's been a nice year so far, but it's not just about this year," Maddon said. "It's about the next decade. It's about continuing this level of excellence."

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