Earlier this season, I wrote a column defending the job Tampa Bay’s general manager, Chuck LaMar, had done in his decade with the franchise. LaMar, before his firing yesterday, was frequently mentioned as possibly the worst executive in the game. The truth is that, like most executives, he had his bad points and his good ones. His team finished in last place in seven out of eight years, and ultimately he had to be held responsible for that.

LaMar has some significant strengths that would make him an asset to any team, though. He made his name in the ’90s overseeing the Atlanta Braves’ farm system, which is the model for the rest of the game, and did an incredible job developing young talent for the Devil Rays.

He leaves his successor, whoever it is, in an enviable position – Tampa Bay has the broadest and deepest stock of first-rate young offensive talent in the game, more than they have any use for, and no bad contracts. Only outfielders Carl Crawford and Aubrey Huff, who will make a reasonable $10 million between them, and closer Danys Baez, who has a $4 million team option with a $1 million buyout, are signed for next year.

This situation makes the D-Rays possibly the biggest threat the Yankees will face for the rest of the decade. The reason is simple: It’s impossible to overstate the value of star performers who can be paid below-market salaries. A league-average veteran can usually be had at most positions for $2 million to $3 million, enough to pay five to 10 young players who haven’t yet accrued enough service time to be eligible for arbitration.

When enough of those players are stars, a team can dominate on a shoestring. Oakland, Minnesota, and Cleveland are just a few of the clubs whose success can be traced to getting star performances from young players and locking up the best of them through their arbitration years at relatively cheap prices, ensuring a stable core around which to build.

It’s not inappropriate to mention the Devil Rays as potentially being in that class. Aside from Crawford and Huff, the Rays have 24-year-old DH/OF Jonny Gomes (.282 BA/.372 OBA/.534 SLG this year), 23-year-old second baseman Jorge Cantu (.285/.311/.497), and 21-year-old pitcher Scott Kazmir (10-9, 3.77 ERA, 174 strikeouts in 186 innings), none of whom will be eligible for arbitration until after next year at the earliest, and all of whom are building-block players.

The most talented of the lot may be shortstop B.J. Upton and right fielder Delmon Young, neither of whom were even on the major league roster when the regular season ended. Combined, these five players will earn about a quarter of what Kaz Matsui will make next year, and the team has plenty of other cheap, useful youngsters like outfielders Rocco Baldelli and Joey Gathright, starter Casey Fossum, and reliever Chad Orvella around – enough that they don’t have to pay more than the league minimum for any role player unless there’s a compelling reason to do so.

This year, the Devil Rays’ payroll was a hair under $30 million. The team had the third-highest batting average in the league despite poor performances from first and third base and a subpar year from Huff, the best hitter in franchise history. With even a couple of league-average starters to back up Kazmir – and considering it’s conceivable that the team could, if it traded Huff, end up paying less than $10 million to fill between 15 and 20 of its roster spots with quality players, there’s no reason it can’t afford them – this team is a threat to crack .500 as soon as next year, and an out-of-nowhere run at the wild card or even the division flag wouldn’t be out of the question.

None of that takes into account the real possibility of trading off some of the team’s surplus offensive talent for a second young ace-in-training to match with Kazmir.

All of this, combined with the fact that the Devil Rays are finally rid of Lou Piniella, probably the worst imaginable fit for a team with this profile, makes their future very bright. They don’t need brilliant management (though that wouldn’t hurt); just by avoiding mistakes, they can be dominant.

Yankees fans should be watching the Rays apprehensively. The upside of the New York/Boston model is obvious; but given how close these two teams came to disaster this year, the downside should be obvious as well-Being locked into contracts with pricey, underperforming veterans like Matt Clement or Edgar Renteria isn’t just a bad thing in its own right, it also limits a team’s opportunities for improvement. That’s one problem the Devil Rays don’t have.

This team is close, and with the management that excelled in producing talent but proved clueless about how to use it gone, there’s nothing standing in its way.

tmarchman@nysun.com