A few odds and ends to start off the last week of 2015…
- John Jaso has signed a 2-year deal with the Pirates to be their first baseman. Brandon Gomes has signed a minor league deal with the Cubs.
- Only 40% of Bay Area residents surveyed say they care “a lot” about keeping the Rays in the Tampa Bay area. The residents are also pretty evenly split on where a new stadium should be built. [WTSP]
- Jerry Crasnick says the Rays are one of five teams that have shown interest in free agent starting pitcher Mat Latos, who made 21 starts in 2015 with the Dodgers, Angels, and Marlins. [Twitter]
- It is not clear if Nick Cafardo is just repeating what others have said or if he has insider info, but he writes that the Dodgers “have their eyes on the Rays’ Alex Cobb and/or Jake Odorizzi.” The “and/or” part is interesting. Would the Dodgers really be willing to pay the price for both? Seems like a stretch. [BostonGlobe]
- Here is another top Rays prospects list. The top three (Blake Snell, Willy Adames, Brent Honeywell) are the same as Baseball America’s list. [BaseballPro]
- The Rays are probably not trading Chris Archer, but if they were, here is one proposal for how it could happen with the Dodgers. [Fangraphs]
- Some early projections for the AL East have the Rays scoring 100 runs fewer than the Red Sox and the Blue Jays. [JaysJournal]
A holiday Q&A with Kevin Cash.
Likes
(1)Dislikes
(0)
(1)Dislikes(0)
7 Comments
About caring.
I'll start caring about the Rays staying in the Bay area when they open their books and show that the organization is indeed in dire straits. In the meantime it's all talk and talk is cheap.
It is nonsensical for business-minded people to plead economic stagnation without doing much about it. Unless there's an ulterior motive. Like, for example, having an assortment of suckers pay for them a new home.
So if the choices are either to move the team or keep hearing the constant whining, have fun in Montreal! I'm sure most Montrealers will soon get tired of the company line.
"No, they can't open their books because it will affect negotiations!"
Of course it will.
Professional baseball attendance appears to be a Florida problem, not something limited to Tampa Bay. Just look at he Marlins' history. There has got to be a reason for this, and it would seem to me to be in the interests of MLB to pay for a study to determine why.
In Tampa Bay we have blamed poor play during the early years, Tropicana Field, the location, but maybe the last two are not the problem at all. Although I think ticket prices are too high, that goes for all of baseball, not just Tampa Bay.
I think the attendance question is something that remains unanswered. Seems we enter every season with questions about the offense. Will the Rays score enough runs to support their superior pitching? There have been periods when the Dodgers, Orioles, Royals had those situations but still strong attendance.
Perhaps I am one of the few who enjoys a game at the Trop, especially because it's not hot. I don't like the location but that's only because I live in Lakeland and traffic is a problem late afternoon. I would think if a new stadium is built elsewhere, traffic will still be a problem for some geographical areas A stadium can't be close to everyone.
Unfortunately, I still think the attendance problem is a Florida problem and not a Tampa Bay one. But you're right, there's no evidence Montreal would be a remedy.
Attendance has always been a problem in this area for all the sports teams, at least that is what we are led to believe. If the bucs don't get 50,000 than the fans suck , if the lightning don't get 19,000 than the fans suck and of course we know all about the rays. I have been here since 1986 and I swear I have never been in an area where people complain more about the attendance than they do about the ownership or management, and when I say people I mean the local media, especially the newspapers which seem so afraid to print anything negative. Heck as much as I love this site , the attendance gets slammed here too. I am a rays fan , no doubt and I will be a follower until they leave, call me a sucker I guess. But I am seriously beginning to believe that the ownership here just doesn't care. I looked up the payroll stats and last year was the most they had spent on payroll since he has own the team, heck in the w.s year he only spent 40 million on payroll. Now I am not going to say he doesn't have a right to make money, I truly believe that he should get whatever he can, but at what expense. I am not the only one that I starting to have apathy towards the team, I was in publix yesterday with my rays hat on and the older gentleman who was bagging my groceries just went off on the rays, complaining about getting rid of zobrist, price etc. He was even complaining about longo and how he expects the Yankees to grab him somehow. I tried to explain longo's contract but what can you say, we get good players and than they trade them because they can't "afford" them. Even the cashier was trying to explain that longo has a good contract, so I see that people here do care about the rays I just feel that they are getting tired of hearing our ownership cry poor mouth and until the media in this area, paper and radio start to get on them like the fans do , than nothing will change. Monte brought up the dodgers , orioles and royals and their attendance, the one thing I think we also have to remember is that the rays on field have only been around since 1998 , those other teams have been around for awhile, I think the royals have been around since 1976 , as for the orioles and dodgers, well the dodgers are completely different. So the rays and even the marlins really haven't been around long enough for that "generational " thing to kick in, not sure what year the marlins started. Anyway I just wanted to through in my two cents and wish everybody a happy new year and GO RAYS
I see some folks have taken issue with my use of the term "suckers".
Here's a tidbit of the nice, plush, comfy bed that the Rays are preparing so that folks can lay their weary head on...
http://shadowofthestadium.blogspot.com/2015/12/why-rays-stadium-campaigning-and.html
Wow, a 3rd hand account of an article in the Daily Beast that has nothing to do with the Rays TV contract with Fox. You've really made your case.
The good news is that the problem might be entirely physiological, Mr. Peterson. You should consult your doctor as soon as possible.
Hopefully, your personal physician makes house visits. In the meantime, you should avoid driving or other activities during which a sudden loss of consciousness could be dangerous (e.g., operating heavy machinery, swimming, eating with a fork and knife, handling a Red Ryder BB gun with a compass in the stock and, most importantly, looking at a thing which tells time).