Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg discussed his team’s "wonderfully improbable” playoff run with reporters tonight and Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times has the details, plus some personnel and payroll notes on the team:
- Sternberg says he expects manager Joe Maddon to return to Tampa Bay after his contract expires in 2012.
- No teams have asked permission to talk to Rays executive VP of baseball operations Andrew Friedman about job opportunities elsewhere, according to Sternberg. “Andrew is a partner here, he’s a partner of mine,” he said. “And he treats this organization even better than I possibly can. There's nothing to report on that.”
- Sternberg didn’t expect the Rays to be last in attendance, so there’s no guarantee payroll will rise above $41MM in 2012. "I don't know, but we’ve clearly fallen short on our financial projections,” he said.
- There’s nothing new in terms of the Rays’ quest for a new stadium.
that’s too bad because the revenue probably isn’t going to get much better until they get out of the awful stadium they’re in now
joe maddon is one of the few guys i’m not ambivalent about as a manager. i’d take him 1st in a management fantasy draft
Nothing wrong with those statements but i’m glad they dont have money. Can you imagine how good they’d be with money?! Scary…
“Sternberg didn’t expect the Rays to be last in attendance”
Maybe he was expecting 2nd to last.
Seriously….Joe Maddon needs to test the free agency waters. I don’t think anyone questions how good of a manager he is. If sternberg ever wants to see a winning team again for as long as the Rays are in the east, he needs to open up his checkbook to Joe Maddon. What that guy does, paired with GM friedman, with what kind of money that guy(they) are given is truly amazing.
Basically, Joe Maddon = 5 WAR.
I’m a Royals fan, but I love the Rays. Every small market team’s dream. They deserve better than the 10K they draw every night.
I do not expect the rays to have much success in their long term future. I know people are going to mention their system and Rotation. But really how many times are they going to guess right on picks, most of the guys there will probably leave when they are available for free agency anyways.
go down the (very long) list of good prospects from their system. to name a few
shields – 16th round
davis – 3rd round
hellickson – 4th round
matt moore – 8th round
desmond jennings – 10th round
jake mcgee – 5th round
reid brignac – 2nd round
some players they traded for:
zobrist
matt joyce
sean rodriguez
archer
lee
matt garza (who later netted them a good haul of talent)
they’ll probably need some more money and definitely will need a new stadium. but they aren’t just “guessing right” on players. they have a phenomenal system both in terms of selection and development. friedman is also not a guy who loses trades
you could say that the top picks they had before are part of the core now, and they’ll be doomed once they lose them. but outside of longoria there’s not much reason to think that. upton, longoria, and price are the last of that group and two of those guys already have replacements in the system
I’m just saying that drafting a player that will eventually turn into a substantial prospect is not an easy thing to do. It’s not like they will draft future major league players all the time.
but that is still a ways down the road and they can stockpile a bunch of great talent between then and now (ex. trading shields could net some high-ceiling prospects and they could still field a very competitive team).
trade delmon young –> get 8 WAR from garza + 8.4 WAR from bartlett, then trade them –> archer lee chrinos guyer fuld gomes russel ramos and figeuroa (2-3 top 10 org prospects, 2 top 15, couple useful arms)
^epitomizes tampa’s…NoMoneyball
Those high ceiling prospects still have to become something if they are going to have an impact.
More like 95-105 WAR
If I lived in Flordia I would be a huge Rays fan. They are pretty awseome of you think about it.
Wait till you get to their ballpark.
I’m a big fan, I just don’t go to the stadium. It’s in an awful location. They move a little closer to Tampa, and I’m there 5-10 times a year.
Good, dont support your team. I dont ever want the Rays to make money or this division will essentially be comprised of playoff teams and the rest of the MLB will no longer be necessary. It would spell the end of MLB as we know it!
I can’t afford nor have the desire to drive 2 hours down into the ghetto of St. Pete, where there’s effectively one way in and one way out (across the traffic nightmare that is the Howard Frankland Bridge). I don’t even mind Tropicana Field, I just refuse to schlep all the way out there.
I have never understood why the marlins and rays don’t draw in a lot of fans. The rays are a good team that just happen to be in a very tough division and have a very limited payroll. They deserve bigger crowds than the ones they draw right now. Are florida residents just not interested in baseball?
I can only assume because it’s so stinking hot in south Florida, that it’s just miserable to sit through a game there. If you look at my above post, that’s why people don’t go to Rays games. Horrendous location.
I wouldn’t expect an honest answer as Florida fans are notorious for their excuse making. Its quite remarkable the lengths they go to to try and convince the rest of the league they aren’t horrible fans.