jpx7 (08-16-2021)
3-4 years/$40-$50 million for Dansby sure doesn't look bad when you see the Crawford deal...
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/...extension.html
Has there EVER been a statement and question a certain someone should absolutely never have made and asked publicly more than...
Kinda pathetic to see yourself as a message board knight in shining armor. How impotent does someone have to be in real life to resort to playing hero on a message board?
jpx7 (08-16-2021)
Fernando Tatis Jr playing RF.
Ivermectin Man
Dodgers putting Braves legend Cole Hamels on the 60 Day DL, and are calling up Braves legend Neftali Feliz
jpx7 (08-16-2021)
Conversation
Marc Topkin
@TBTimes_Rays
Tonight's crowd of 5,460 is smallest ever for a #Rays game at Trop without COVID-related restrictions on capacity (as earlier this season). Smallest was 5,786 on May 28, 2019; had 5,855 on Aug 2 this year
Get off my lawn!
It just seems unlikely to me that baseball will ever be that popular in FL. Granted, Miami didn't really get a fair shake with the arguably the worst owner in the history of sports. Hard to build a fan base when he consistenntly ripped very talented teams apart and had the lowest payroll in the league for years.
But Tampa has had ample time to build the fan base. They hired very good management, have been great at player development in the minors, developed some legit stars and signed some of those stars to long term deals, and overall they've made a concerted effort to field competitive teams. Yet Tampa wants nothing to do with them it seems. Yes, the stadium issues were a mess, but if people were really big baseball fans in the area, they'd come out more.
Carp (08-17-2021)
Isn't there a heavy retiree population with a fair number of them being Northern snowbirds that spend their summers in the climes from which they previously hailed? I know a number of relatively well-off Minnesotans (many of whom are retired) are "183 residents" of Florida because if they spend at least half the year in Florida, they can escape Minnesota income taxes. They spend their summers at their Northern Minnesota lake cabin (cabin being a very misleading term) and their winters in Florida.
It's really hard to build a fan base when so much disposable income isn't around during the baseball season. I remember visiting the Gulf Coast between Tampa-St. Petersburg and Fort Myers years ago and there was much more Yankee merchandise on display than Rays'. A lot of that had to do with Steinbrenner's presence in Tampa, but I did find it interesting.
Not the easiest stadium to reach. Parking is so so at best.
GovClintonTyree (08-17-2021)
Population shifts would make it seem its a smart move to stay put in Tampa.
Natural Immunity Croc
The very boot of St. Petersburg was not a good decision for that stadium. It would be analogous to putting the Mets in Montauk or the Sox in Provincetown. And the facility itself is lousy, kinda like the Kingdome without the cavernous mausoleum charm.
If you put 'em up around the airport near the Bucs, still accessible to Pinellas but on the (less transient) Tampa side, that franchise would draw fine.