Since Stuart Sternberg purchased the Rays in 2005, the franchise has “lost money from every point in time you can pick,” he told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. In spite of that, Sternberg has no interest in selling the team and is optimistic about keeping it in Tampa Bay with a new stadium to replace Tropicana Field. “If we are going to propose it, it will be because we believe it works for generations,” said Sternberg, who is encouraged that local politicians – including the mayors of both Tampa Bay and St. Petersburg – have been cooperative in the process. Sternberg & Co. are working on cutting down a half-dozen potential stadium sites to a “pin-perfect” choice. He’s also looking to land a new TV deal sometime in the near future, but he admitted it could be years before that comes to fruition.
More from around baseball:
- As a result of his December DUI arrest in South Korea, Pirates third baseman Jung Ho Kang has agreed to enter a voluntary treatment program, reports Bill Brink of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. By doing so, the 29-year-old Kang could lessen any potential punishment from Major League Baseball. A joint panel agreed upon by the league and the players association recommended treatment for Kang, who has three DUI arrests to his name. The league’s prior collective bargaining agreement stated that “participation in any Treatment Program shall be considered as a mitigating factor in any discipline imposed by either the Club or the Office of the Commissioner.” That likely remains the case in the newly minted CBA, per Brink.
- MLB and the MLBPA are amid talks centering on pace-of-play issues, commissioner Rob Manfred told Ken Davidoff of the New York Post. Introducing a pitch clock to speed up games doesn’t seem to be on the table, relays Davidoff, though cutting back on mound visits – at least from teammates – is under consideration. However, there’s “still a ways to go” before that becomes a reality, a source informed Davidoff.
- ESPN’s Keith Law (subscription required and recommended) has released his annual list of all 30 teams’ best sleeper prospects, noting that six to eight of these players typically crack his top 100 the next year. Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts, Cardinals right fielder Stephen Piscotty and Marlins catcher J.T. Realmuto are among those who have recently become quality major leaguers after Law rated them as sleepers.
Can someone who has the ESPN subscription tell me who the Brewers’ sleeper is? Is it Woodruff?
Marcos Diplan
thank you good sir
Thanks
Wasn’t Kang the one who drove like 80 MPH into a guard rail then fled the scene? If that was a normal person, he’d be doing time.. gotta love being rich and famous I guess.
And driving in Korea…
Why can’t these “brainiacs” in charge of speeding up games see the first and easiest solution is to simply allow an intentionally walked batter to take the base without the pomp and circumstance of throwing four pitches ?
I agree that that should probably happen but there is some pitchers who make a circus out of intentional walks and throw wild pitches.
Looks like there were 932 regular season intentional walks last year. For ease, we’ll say that each intentional walk adds a minute. Probably less, but a minute is fine. There are 2,430 regular season games, or 0.38 IBBs per game. 0.38 of a minute is 23 seconds. If IBBs were changed to a hand wave, and they normally take a minute, you just saved 23 seconds per game. There’s probably room for you on someone’s blue ribbon committee.
You must think you’re pretty awesome, huh bud
Why because he did some simple math that you couldn’t do in 3 years
hey it’s good to see someone actually doing the math instead of making random propositions good job!
Because Gary Sanchez
That was awesome
The easiest thing to do would be limit commercial breaks, but we know that’s not happening.
Don’t they limit those indirectly by making the inning changes 2 minutes?
The time between innings rule isn’t actually enforced though (and they are either longer for playoff games or they show commercials right up until the pitch is thrown vs having some time to come back to announcers before the pitch). And also do you really think they need that much time to switch each half inning? Or that much time during each pitching change?
Without actually looking this up, you’re probably looking at an average just shy of 17 team changes in a game and 6 pitching changes? Shave a minute or so off of each one of those and you’ve just reduced the average game time by at least 23 minutes. If you think a full minute off is too much, adjust as you see fit.
I don’t personally have a problem with pace of play, but I’m far more interested in seeing actions like this be taken to limit game time before I am interested in seeing them fundamentally alter the game with something like # of pitching changes. Or just seeing actual enforcement of rules like staying in the box, strict time limits between innings, etc.
It changes things a little bit that relievers are used so much more than they used to be, but we have to get off the idea that games are long because of something intrinsically wrong with the game of baseball. It’s mostly TV related and it’s a lot worse with the nationally broadcast games.
Partially correct on the time limits. Standard games are 2:10 between each half inning, prime time and playoff are 2:40. MLB does monitor this. There’s usually a clock on an outfield scoreboard. Look around for it sometime.
Sometimes the television broadcast is at fault. For example, some innings there’s 10-15 seconds of air time before play resumes, others the first pitch is already thrown. The majority are in between that time frame, most likely.
It would be nice to have less commercials, but then MLB tv contracts would be worth less money, teams would not get as much revenue, etc.
Seems counter productive. They want to speed up the game yet they want more offense. That seems to be a contradiction.
…because part of the cost for issuing an intentional walk should be taking 4 pitches out of the arm/adding to the pitch count?
but it’s not like they’re throwing hard pitches just tossing the ball
I thought they had agreed to exactly that at the owner’s meetings. Did I dream that? That, and a slight change to the bottom extreme of the strike zone?
If you want to speed up the game you just have to get rid of the “fans” that think the game takes too long!!! I do not believe that there is such a thing as a baseball game that takes too long! Anyone that thinks it takes too long should just stop whining and enjoy the damn game!
I mean, there doesn’t need to be a super strict pitch clock, but come on, that one reliever for the dedgers last postseason, can’t remember his dang name… That was ridiculous. There is taking you’re time, and then there is wasting time. That Nationals series was basically all 9 inning games that all took like 5 hours. It’s not like they were all 10-9 games, they were low scoring. Just saying, in the future I’d like to see the games end before 2am.
And Dodger fans would probably want games that start after 2:30 pm pt or 1:30 pt so there is no pleasing anyone.
I think you def have the wrong series, because at such point the Cubs were prime time.
I don’t think Xander Bogaerts ever really qualified as a sleeper.
He was elite forever it seemed, thats like saying “woah man, where did that Bryce Harper did come from?”
Exactly. Xander was always a top prospect with the only issue being when he’d be MLB ready. The surprise was his ability to play 3B without significant if any minor league experience at such a young age for the 2013 playoffs. No disrespect to Mr. Law but why would any fan pay for a subscription in today’s world of instant information? I’m not a fantasy participant (during my awake hours anyway) so perhaps there’s a benefit I’m missing.
Players still play the game at the same pace they always have. It’s not the players that are extending the game, it’s the commercials, which have ballooned out of all proportion lately. Rogers media now runs commercials over the first pitch on an inning, short spots between batters, and projects sponsors’ logos onto the sidelines. It’s at the point where people are desensitized to advertising, simply because we are awash with it. leave the players alone, and leave the clocks to basketball and chess.
Want to speed up the game? Here’s how to do it:
Any new pitcher must face a minimum of three batters or finish an inning, whichever comes first (unless injured, of course).
And a team can use no more than six pitchers to complete a nine-inning game. If the game goes to extras, no limits other than the three batter minimum.
Pitching changes severely slow down the game.
Commercials during pitching changes severely slow down the game. At no other level of play does it take six commercials to switch pitchers.
I feel like that takes away from the strategy of the game and changes it. how about no more than 6 commercial breaks for pitching changes and the rest of the pitching changes happen instantly
How about if a manager takes more than 1 second to challenge a play after the call is made, his team retroactively forfeits every game their franchise has ever played.
This crap where they’re reviewing the play in the video room before they decide to challenge it has to stop.
I agree. I cant stand seeing the manager on the top stop holding the game up. If youre going to challenge you should have a time limit to do it.
I thought I heard something about that changing for next year, actually.
Manfredi leave the f*&cken sport alone. It aint broke so dont fix it.
Mound visits need to be eliminated entirely. There is nothing said on the hill that couldn’t be discussed between innings or during the pre-game scouting reports. If a coach leaves the dugout and steps onto the field a change needs to be made. Same goes for teammate or catcher visits. Pitchers shouldn’t get the luxury to talk approach prior to a critical moment. They need to be prepared. Only exception is checking for the ability to continue after injury.
I for one am one that if i pay my hard earned money to go to a game then i am ok with the pace ( besides sitting by people who yak and dont watch the game). When i watch at home the pace does seem slower though.
I am glad Kang is getting help, we have seen to many player deaths related to substance use/abuse over the last 10-15 years.
You could always make the game itself shorter by going to 8 innings. Quality starts would mean more. There would be more complete games. There would be fewer pitching changes. They way the game is played had evolved, maybe it is time the game itself evolves in response.
Pace of play? Tell the pitchers to throw the ball and the batters to stay in the box – actually enforce the existing rules (and no more singing of anthems). Seems pitchers are too often blamed, meanwhile batters need to adjust their batters gloves after every pitch? No. The players and owners should be working on shortening the season by 15-20 games. Won’t happen, I know, but an eight month season is too long. This, too, from an obsessed baseball fan.
It seems like a lot of it comes down to how the game is being played now, especially in regards to pitching changes. Teams are carrying more pitchers and fewer position players than they did when I was a kid. Bob Gibson comes to mind; during his prime years, about two thirds of his starts wound up with Gibby pitching a complete game. With six innings being the hoped-for result of a start now and managers unafraid to bring in situation specialists, etc., there are far more pitching changes than ever before. How many games have all of us seen where a starter runs out of gas in, say, the sixth, is taken out for a one-batter specialist who is then relieved by another man to get out of the inning? While I know a lot of the pitching changes are made after a full inning (seventh, eight and ninth inning specialists, for example), most games seem to feature a whole lot more pitching changes than ever before. Calculate the time it takes for the manager to come out, pull the pitcher, bring the next guy in and have him throw warmup tosses and there’s a good chance you have your answer right there to the question, “Why are games longer?”
For pace of play, one thing that I have always thought, as much fun as long games can be, they ought to cap innings in games and call a tie. Extra innings don’t just take a long time but kill the pace for the following game as well because everyone is worn out. I would make the exception for post season though.
I’m not buying that the Rays lose money all the time. Sounds like an owner looking for a handout.
Pace of play and commercials is battle of money or time. Most of the commercials are from sponsors the team has to its stadiums. These sponsors make money for the team and themselves. To shorten commercials, would give these sponsors less exposure and requiring “cheaper” rates for billboard signs inside the stadium. Most advertisements cost 40k-250k (based on length of “advertisements”), which gives clubs a few extra dollars to pay for stadiums maintenance or other club related “needs”. It just comes down to money. Clubs are probably trying to workout a simpler solution to speed up the game. Me personally, I think they need to improve the challenge of reviews and the reviews times a bit quicker. I went to a ball game with the daughter last year, one review lasted almost 8 minutes. 3 minutes of the manager standing on top of the dugout before asking to get the play reviewed. Then they spent almost another 2 minutes aligning the players to the right call. That was 10+ minutes wanting for baseball to resume. That is almost 2 batters that can be in the batters box instead. By the 7th inning, I was yawning and felt like the 10th inning. There was several “stalls” of the game through managers standing on the top of the dugout as well as reviews or umpires discussing the play and/or review. That aspect of the game needs a huge adjustment. I would take commercials over 10+ minutes of “stalls”.
2015 was great for pace of play. Batters stayed in the box. Why they relaxed in 2016 makes no sense: to help the collective bargaining agreement?
I’ve been to minor games with the pitch clock. Gotta say I love it.
Pitching changes ought to be limited to one per inning, unless there’s an injury which makes a DL stint mandatory.
Mound visits as stated above ought to be removed. If a pitcher is struggling, tough, that means more offense.
I also dislike the mound visits where the pitching coach is grandstanding to give a reliever time to warm up.