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Aug 24

Mayor’s Secret Plan For New Stadium Isn’t His, Or A Secret

Bill Foster, New Stadium Cork Gaines 17 Comments »

During a City Council meeting last week, St. Pete Mayor Bill Foster, raised some eyebrows when he suggested that he had a “detailed plan” to keep the Rays in St. Petersburg. While Foster wouldn’t elaborate on the plan, he did say that the plan may not involve a new stadium.

After some question about whether there actually is a secret plan, Foster added another twist. He now says the plan is not his or the city’s, but rather it is just a plan that he has heard about.

“He said there are individuals working on some plan,” Jeff Danner said of his 20-minute meeting with Foster on Monday afternoon. “There are discussions going on with interested parties, and they’re focused on keeping the Rays here. He didn’t name any names”…Foster was emphatic that the plan wasn’t his. “He pounded home the idea that it’s not a city plan, that it’s not initiated by him or city staff,” Danner said.

Got that? Mysterious “individuals” and “interested parties” working on “some plan” because these mystery people really, really, really want to keep the Rays in St. Pete.

But then Foster seemed to contradict his own Read the rest of this entry »

Aug 11

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss A Shortstop Shuffle, Cobb’s Surgery, And A Comeback For The Ages

Alex Cobb, Bill Foster, Hak-Ju Lee, Justin Ruggiano, Reid Brignac, Tim Beckham Cork Gaines 12 Comments »

: Rays 8, Royals 7 (click image for boxscore)

The GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe.

THE GOOD: Comeback For The Ages. Wow. Just wow. 9th innings don’t get anymore exciting than that. When the 9th inning started, the Rays had a 1.5% chance of winning the game. But like any great comeback from a big deficit, the players need to remember there are no 5-run home runs. And the Rays singled and doubled the Royals to death. When Evan Longoria doubled home the first run we sat up a little straighter. But then two infield groundballs scored the next two runs, the second by Casey Kotchman who hasn’t run that fast since he was 18, and all of a sudden we were getting exciting. Still only 1 out, we were skeptical with BJ Upton and Sam Fuld due up. Upton was either going to hit a walk-off home run or strikeout. He did the latter. That left Fuld and we’ll admit, we were just praying for a walk. With Elliot Johnson on first base, typically you would want the runner stealing second with 2 outs to get into scoring position. But with that canon behind the plate, Johnson might as well have been wearing cement shoes. So he was stuck at first. And that meant our best hope for Fuld was just to get Johnson into scoring position and prolong the inning. He went several steps further, driving a ball into the right-center gap which you knew would tie the game. What you didn’t know was that the throw to third would get by the bag, and Fuld, running slower than we have ever seen, found enough gas to scamper home and dive in ahead of the tag. That, that was fun.

THE BAD: Sam Fuld. Yes. Super Sammy. Before he won the game in the 9th, he represented the tying run on third base in the 8th and got picked off by the catcher. Sometimes these things happen, but it can’t happen then. And it can’t happen after the same catcher had already demonstrated his lethal arm several times in the game…Jake McGee. McGee faced three batters striking out 1, walking 1, and giving up a 3-run home run which seemed to seal the Rays fate. So, of course he would get the win.

THE TELLING: Justin Ruggiano was placed on the DL and Reid Brignac was recalled from Durham. Interesting. So a player who has made one start in 3 weeks and who is out of minor league options, suddenly goes on the DL with knee bursitis? Of course he does…Tim Beckham was promoted to triple-A and Hak-Ju Lee was promoted to double-A. Interestingly, Derek Dietrich was not promoted to Charlotte to replace Lee.

RANDOM THOUGHTS: If you get a chance to watch the replay of the pile at home plate, look for Robinson Chirinos. During the entire scrum he is circling the pile looking for a way in, the whole time doing it with a big ole smile on his face. It’s adorable. Like a little kid that wants to play with the big boys…If the Rays sweep the Yankees this weekend, things could start to get interesting. But anything less than a sweep will just be status quo…Look for Tim Beckham to get a nice long look in spring training next year. But we would still be surprised if we see him in the big leagues before August.

THE JUNKYARD DOGS WEBTOPIA…

If you missed it last night, there has been an arrest in the burglary of the spring home of Evan Longoria, David Price, and Reid Brignac. [RaysIndex]
Like we speculated, Alex Cobb will be shut down for the rest of the season. He is set to have surgery on his hand, but is expected to be ready for the start of the 2012 season. [TBO.com]
Mayor Bill Foster and Stuart Sternberg haven’t spoken since early May. [TampaBay.com]
The Rays failure to send a representative to the Read the rest of this entry »

Jul 20

Maddon Can’t Help Himself, Trashes The Trop While Fans Defend It

Bill Foster, Joe Maddon, New Stadium Cork Gaines 47 Comments »

The Rays have an attendance problem. The Rays may even be having a TV ratings problem. And of course the national media is unable to create an original thought, so all they do is bash the Rays, their stadium, and the fans, any chance they can get.

And who defends the Rays, and their stadium? The fans do. But why should we continue to fight the talking heads and fans of every other team in baseball, if the front office won’t defend them (or us). And especially if Joe Maddon is just going to agree with what the national media is saying?

Asked about criticism of Tropicana Field by ESPN broadcaster John Kruk and others, Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon joined the chorus…”He’s right. We do need a new ballpark. He’s absolutely right. And he’s right, this ballpark is improper for Major League Baseball. He’s right. I can’t deny that…You shouldn’t play with all these obstructions [ed. note: you mean like the ivy at Wrigley, or the ladder on the Monster, or the hill at Minute Maid, or...you get the point], and all these caveats. Of course not. It’s runs it’s course. It was here for a moment. It served it’s purpose. And now it’s time to move on. Absolutely it is. And to deny that, everybody has just got their head in the sand, period.

This is the same guy that would find a way to praise Elliot Johnson even if he literally pooped his pants in the 9th inning while trying to lay down a bunt only to hit himself in the face with the bat. And yet, when the franchise and the stadium need defending, he is right there with the resident genius John Kruk, the guy that inferred the Trop was unsafe by saying he wouldn’t want to be in that building if it was struck by lightning.

Mayor Bill Foster responded, and for the first time, we are starting to warm up to his side… Read the rest of this entry »

Jun 10

St. Pete Mayor: The Rays Aren’t Going To Tampa

Bill Foster, Ken Hagan, New Stadium Cork Gaines 25 Comments »

Hillborough County commissioner Ken Hagan did this week what many of us had been hoping somebody would do for a while. He stirred the Rays stadium pot.

At a recent budget workshop, Hagan asked if tax increment financing could be used to help defray some of the costs of a new baseball stadium in Hillsborough County.

In short, in order to build a stadium, a neighborhood would need to be renovated (streets, sewer lines, etc.) and since tax increment financing is already ear-marked for these type of needs, it could be used to pay for the infrastructure needs of a neighborhood should a baseball stadium be built.

Of course, all this really did, was get Mayor Bill Foster to start tossing around his typical negative rhetoric…

“They will talk about how much they respect St. Petersburg and how they won’t interfere, but they still talk about it,” Foster said. “The only parties that need to be talking about this are the city of St. Petersburg and the Rays.”

To which we ask: Then why aren’t the Rays and St. Pete talking?

Mayor Foster also told Richard Danielson
Read the rest of this entry »

May 02

St. Pete Worried Rays Will File For Bankruptcy

Bill Foster, New Stadium Cork Gaines 3 Comments »

We have long speculated that the one way the Rays may be able to get out of their Tropicana Field contract, would be to file bankruptcy. Apparently this worries the city of St. Pete also.

In preparation for a stadium battle that could ultimately end up in the courts, the City of St. Pete has hired a law firm, Brown Rudnick LLP. And the contract between the law firm and the city was penned by a bankruptcy lawyer.

The city is concerned that the Rays might file bankruptcy as a way to get out of its stadium contract, City Attorney John Wolfe said. The city has no evidence the team is planning to do that, though, he said…Bankruptcy has “been mentioned in various articles as one of the possibilities, and we want to have a lawyer ready to go in the event the Rays decide they no longer want to honor their contract,” Wolfe said.

Michael Sasso of the Tampa Tribune spoke with a lawyer that represented the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes in their bankruptcy case. The lawyer speculates that stadium leases could potentially be thrown out during a bankruptcy case. However, the lawyer doesn’t Read the rest of this entry »

Oct 05

The Lack Of Communication Between The Rays And St. Pete Is Deafening

Bill Foster Cork Gaines 26 Comments »

After the Rays declared their wish to explore sites for a new stadium in Hillsborough county and the City of St. Pete responded with a big “eff you,” the two sides decided to table any discussion until after the season. Well, apparently the silence extends to, well, everything, including the playoffs (via The St. Pete Times)…

“When we agreed we wouldn’t talk until after the season, I didn’t know that meant we wouldn’t exchange pleasantries as well,” [Mayor Bill] Foster said. “But I guess they meant no talking. Period”…Foster said he has awaited a call from the Rays to offer him an official role in the play-off pageantry. So far, silence.

So the Rays are playing Read the rest of this entry »

Oct 05

Afternoon Playoff Games Are An Opportinity For Tampa And St. Pete To Come Together

Bill Foster, Pam Iorio Cork Gaines 15 Comments »

When the Rays sold out the tickets for games 1 and 2 of the ALDS, few considered that the games might actually be held in the afternoon. As it is, TBS has the final say, and not surprisingly, they chose to air the Yankees and Twins opening round series in primetime.

Unfortunately for many fans, they are now stuck with tickets to games they cannot attend.

Can anything be done. Maybe, but it is unlikely.

This seems like the perfect opportunity for Read the rest of this entry »

Oct 02

St. Pete And The Rays Can’t Even Agree On How To Throw A Party

Bill Foster, New Stadium Cork Gaines 3 Comments »

The Rays can clinch the AL East and home-field advantage tonight with a win and if the Yankees get swept by the Red Sox in their double-header.

If the Rays don’t win the division, they will fly directly to Minneapolis following Sunday’s game. But if the Rays do win the AL East tonight or tomorrow, there will be party at The St. Pete-Clearwater Airport. Or will there be? (via The St. Pete Times)…

Mayor Bill Foster says there will be…

Mayor Bill Foster told the Times last week that if the Rays clinched, the city would throw an airport celebration. “We will meet them on the tarmac,” he said.

The airport disagrees… Read the rest of this entry »

Sep 14

St. Pete Mayor Says Bucs Prove Tampa Does Not Guarantee More Fans

Attendance, Bill Foster, New Stadium, Tampa Bay Buccaneers Cork Gaines 18 Comments »

How much of a role does the economy play in the lack of attendance at Rays games? St. Pete Mayor Bill Foster thinks it plays a huge role and he points to the Bucs non-sellout on Sunday as evidence…

“There’s no reason, of all 16 games, that opening day isn’t sold out. That does send a message that people don’t have that expendable dollar any longer,” said mayor Bill Foster…The current recession is seldom mentioned in public discussion but Foster said “It’s not being overlooked in my conversation, especially my conversation with the Rays organization.”

We are sure the economy has something to do with attendance at Rays games. But if it was the biggest factor, then Mayor Foster is admitting that St. Pete will only support the Rays when they are winning. Back in 2006 and 2007 when fans still had disposable income, they still weren’t going to Rays games.

Jul 23

[THE HANGOVER] The One Where We Discuss A Long Drought In Cleveland, JoeMa’s Lineups And Glaesmann’s Big Game

Bill Foster, Joe Maddon, Rocco Baldelli Cork Gaines 6 Comments »

The GBT – The Good, The Bad and The Telling sandwich, where The Bad is nice and lean and the The Telling is ripe.

click above image for boxscore