In the wake of yesterday’s report Rays ownership has discussed relocating the franchise to Montreal, Commissioner Bud Selig paused and then declined to answer whether Tampa Bay is a viable major league market, reports Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. Selig did say, however, the team needs a replacement for Tropicana Field. “The team has to have a ballpark that makes them competitive,” the commissioner said before Game Four of the World Series. “It doesn’t produce the kind of revenue they need.”
In other news involving the Rays and the American League:
- Change is coming to the Rays and the front office and players alike don’t see it as a negative, writes the Tampa Tribune’s Roger Mooney. “Whoever we bring in here, they’re going to set the scheme and how they want to win games and be a successful organization,” said pitcher Alex Cobb. “When that trickles down to the players, all that is is us playing up to our capabilities, and that doesn’t matter who is in the dugout or the front office.” Mooney notes all coaches are under contract for 2015; but, if the new manager is from outside the organization, there may be changes to the staff.
- In today’s mailbag, a reader proposed his Indians offseason plan to Paul Hoynes of The Plain Dealer: trade Jason Kipnis and David Murphy for prospects to free up money, then use that money on Victor Martinez. Hoynes doesn’t see the Tribe trading Kipnis so soon after giving him a $50MM+ extension, despite his bad year. The reader’s ambitious plan also calls for Cleveland to have one of their young outfielders form a platoon with Nick Swisher and, given his $15MM salary, Hoynes believes the team wants to see him in the lineup every day.
- Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe identified Mark Buehrle as a trade candidate earlier today and Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN tweets the Twins have long been admirers of the Blue Jays hurler. Still, his $19MM salary is too high.
- If the Jon Daniels-Jeff Banister partnership works in Texas, it will continue a trend in the game of a college educated GM with no professional playing experience working with a baseball lifer as manager, according to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News.
Of course the Twins like Buehrle…
The Twins don’t play to win, they play not to lose.
If I’m a Twin I’d be glad to have Buehrle on the bump tossing a 2.5 hour game while the ground is froze in April.
Twins biggest mistake was not building another dome stadium, Target field has really hurt Mauer.
Rays are in trouble, they are not drafting near the top anymore. This team needs to relocate to be successful.
Yeah let’s move because we haven’t drafted well.. that argument makes no sense. They will never sell out every game. But they get good ratings on tv. They need a new retractible roof stadium in a area more accessible. In areas that they have explored but are unable to negotiate with due to their lease and the city denying them that right.
Tampa Bay is just not a large enough city to support baseball and the huge expense of a new ball park. Montreal is a possibility but also risky. And in Montreal a new park would be needed.
Tampa is the 17th largest metro area by population in the US. Larger than Cinci, KC, Milwaukee, St Louis, and Baltimore…
But spread out over a very large area. Maybe if they built a new park at Busch Gardens and gave free beer. Not sure if they still give free beer away at Busch. Have not been there since 1980.
My main point is a new park is too expensive especially since attendance has been so poor at their current park. You could argue the location is bad.
Even in his final months as commissioner Bud Selig can’t admit that baseball in Tampa has been a debacle from day one. Considering the revenues they’ve had to work with the organization has put the best possible product on the field and still nobody comes to make the team or market viable. Yes, the ballpark is awful and the cable deal they signed a few years ago continues to cripple them. But no matter how you slice it that market has never shown signs of supporting a MLB franchise and the cord needs to be cut.
They do watch them on TV, and are set for maybe a $60M boost in their next tv contract. Is that enough to save them? No idea…I have my own opinions, but they also aren’t my local team