Dec 12
As we mentioned earlier in the week, Joe Maddon is cooking and helping to distribute meals to local area shelters in an annual event called “Thanks-mas”. If you go to DevilRays.com, there is a front page press release covering Thanksmas, that is being run with the following picture [Ed. note: the image has now been removed][Ed. note: we have been informed that this particular cap was created by BayNews9 and given to Maddon for this event].
The image shows Joe Maddon cooking food in preparation for Thanksmas. What is interesting about the picture is that Joe Maddon is wearing what appears to be an authentic NewEra cap in the Tampa Bay Rays’ new lighter blue color featuring the Rays’ new “sunburst” logo.
After the new uniforms were unveiled there was considerable uproar among Rays fans that the team’s new uniforms will not feature “Tampa Bay” on the road uniforms. When asked about this, the team indicated that there would be an alternate uniform unveiled in 2009 that will feature “Tampa Bay” across the chest, without any further details.
Could the cap being worn by Joe Maddon be the cap associated with the yet-to-be-unveiled alternate uniform? This would make sense as it is the alternate color and features the new “sunburst” which the team wants to become the new identity of the franchise.
We took this new cap and tried to project what the alternate uniform would look like and came up with the following image found at the beginning of this post. If people thought the new uniforms were boring. If the alternate uniform looks like this, it will be anything but boring.
Rays’ Maddon Cooking Up Another “Thanks-Mas” Feast [TBO]
Joe Maddon’s Thanksmas returns bigger and better [Devil Rays]
Rays To Feature Alternate Jersey In 2009 With “Tampa Bay” Across The Front [Rays Index]
Dec 12
The biggest point of concern with the new stadium proposed by the Tampa Bay Rays (outside of financing) is the parking, or lack there of, along the St. Pete Waterfront. Carlos Moncada of the Herald-Tribune tries to give his readers a glimpse of the problem by comparing the parking situation for a typical Rays game with the parking situation seen in downtown St. Pete during the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
For a peek at how a waterfront Rays stadium might steer summer traffic and parking downtown, plan to attend the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in April…Tens of thousands of people converge on the same spot at the same time…For one weekend, downtown becomes an array of barricaded streets, uniformed police directing traffic and electronic message boards to accommodate more than 40,000 race-day spectators. That compares to 34,000 people if a new, open-air Rays stadium fills up.
There is only one problem with this comparison…The Tampa Bay Rays will play more than one home game over the course of a single season. In fact, the Rays will play at least 81 home games in any given season. Carlos Moncada would like you to think that the parking situation with the Rays home games would be 81 times worse than that of the Grand Prix. In actuality, the problem will be much less because the Rays will play 81 home games.
When confronted with a single-day event such as the Grand Prix, the city of St. Pete and the local businesses make the necessary adjustments to accommodate the fans for that one day. For something that will become a regular feature of the downtown area, changes will be made. Permanent changes. While we can only speculate what those changes will be, we can assume that the city will make structural as well as public transportation changes. We assume that local landowners and businessmen will see the financial benefit to building parking garages and offering other services in the downtown area to accommodate Rays fans. A financial windfall that would not have been realized if the only big downtown event was the Grand Prix occurring on one day a year.
In fact, the new stadium along the St. Pete waterfront will be home to much more than the 81 scheduled home game of the Tampa Bay Rays. The ballpark is also likely to be home to other events such as concerts and other sporting events.
There may be problems with the new stadium proposal, but a lack of parking is not one. Necessity is the mother of invention. If there is a niche that needs to be filled…In this case parking for events at the new stadium…You can be sure that there will be people that will step in to fill that niche, with their eye on the prize. And of course, by “prize” we really mean “profit”.
Parking for proposed Rays stadium an issue [Herald-Tribune]
Dec 12
Tampa Bay Rays (64 days until pitchers and catchers report)
DEVIL RAYS WEBTOPIA…
- Yesterday we mentioned that Ben Broussard and Miguel Olivo could be on the Rays radar if they are non-tendered by their respective teams. Eduardo Encina says that Broussard would fit, but that “at age 29 (Olivo) would not fit into Tampa Bay’s plans”. To agree with one of our commenters, we are not sure if 29 is too young or too old. [TampaBay.com]
- The Rays announced the coaching staffs for all six affiliates. Here is the complete list. [DevilRays]
- Rays president Matt Silverman and senior VP Michael Kalt answered a number of questions that were submitted to the St. Pete Times from their readers, covering a wide-range of topics. Most of the answers are PR-flavored and not much of the information is new to those that follow the team closely. [TampaBay.com]
- New Rays closer Troy Percival has 324 career saves. Good for 12th all-time. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays have 335 saves…Total…In 10 seasons.
- Marc Topkin takes a look at what the opening day roster and lineup could look like. [TampaBay.com]
- Rays Digest takes a closer look at various VORP values produced by Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2007. [Rays Digest]
- The Washington Nationals have moved Elijah Dukes out of the Tampa area, in an effort to separate him from his past, to Orlando, where he will spend the next two months working out with Barry Larkin. [ESPN]
