Baseball trade deadline - Should the Rays sell Price/Zobrist?

[Captain Sasquatch]

If the stadium was even close to as cool as the new Marlins stadium, I'd drive 30-45 minutes across the bay for it on a regular basis. I just refuse to drive over there for a sh*tty ballpark experience, way overpriced, nasty food options and way overpriced beer choices. It's ridiculous.

You don't like microwaved Papa John's and $11 12-ounce beers???

 

[Swamp Queen]

You don't like microwaved Papa John's and $11 12-ounce beers???

Ummmm....no.

 

[TheDouglas78]

I am a former Rays season ticket holder and live in the area. The stadium needs to be refurbished or they need to move. Channelsides congestion is a bad spot. I go to serveral Lighting games a year, and used to take training classes after work at the port authority building. That area is not set up for the type of traffic that comes from a Yankee or Red Sox game. The Feathersound area would make sense because you have the large area where currently used for model plane flying that is just basically being wasted with 275 access (Though I would hate this idea personally, because that means dealing with more traffic when I get off work). It would have space for parking and a few restraunts and possible more corporate sponsers being close (less than a mile) to at least four major corporate headquarters and being just over the bridge from Tampa.

As far as the Lutz argument, it's Lutz. That is your first issue. No one gives a $hit about Lutz.

 

[gator68]

East side of Tampa somewhere to get fans from North, South, East and West. Feather Sound is no different than the Trop

 

[TheDouglas78]

East side of Tampa somewhere to get fans from North, South, East and West. Feather Sound is no different than the Trop

The you get into the same issue with the current situation of the Trop. Going away from the Population. Most of your population density in the Tampa Bay area is the west side of Tampa and the NE side of Pinellas County. So you exchange one poorly placed stadium with another poorly placed stadium.

 

[78]

It prompted a lot of head shaking when St. Petersburg self-servingly plowed ahead with stadium plans for the original Florida Suncoast Dome (how's that for a zinger of a name?) in the late '80s. The old Gas Plant area was a toxic dump, downtown St. Pete was thought of as too sleepy and the location, geographically speaking, was too far removed from the rest of Tampa Bay to make much sense. And yet the City Council went ahead intent on luring an existing franchise, and ended up striking out on the White Sox and Giants and who knows who else. The Tampa argument was always that it had a younger population and a fan base (many successful major leaguers have come out of Tampa high schools) better suited for the game, but efforts at putting together a bid never got much traction. St. Pete won out and the Rays were plopped down into the automotive equivalent to a four-door Chevy, a large and unimaginative domed stadium better suited for tractor pulls than Major League Baseball.

The Rays unveiled plans for an open air stadium in 2012 on the site of the old Al Lang Field in downtown St. Pete, but that never went anywhere. A Taj Majal of a stadium with a retractable roof was envisioned at Carillon Park off Ulmerton Road (the Feather Sound area) in 2013. Again, nothing, though that area remains the most sensible one from the standpoint of land, available hotels nearby and proximity to the rest of Tampa Bay. Rays owner Stuart Steinberg, meanwhile, continues to lobby MLB for something, ANYTHING to help keep his team afloat. They're in a lease at the Trop until 2027. The Rays are the second-largest TV draw in the area and yet no one goes to their games. Something needs to be done.

 

[TheDouglas78]

It's a sad state of affairs in that regard. The Al Lang Field was never going to work, beautiful location though. Poor traffic design for a stadium. The Mahaffey Theatre manages, but with 81 games down there, it wouldn't have worked (in my opinion). The Carillon area either off Ulmerton or Roosevelt would work. Good road ways, multiple ways to get to and from, and open spaces needed for the stadium.

 

[TheDouglas78]

Price is a Detriot Tiger.

 

[GatorJ]

Something happens in baseball. Color me unimpressed.

 

[Captain Sasquatch]

Tigers might be unstoppable with that rotation in October.

 

[Gatorbreath]

I agree the Tigers will be very tough with the addition of Price. That rotation is crazy-good and pitching carries the day in October.

I hope the Rays got more than the initial reports indicate. Their return looks disappointing - though I agree with the idea of trading him now.

 

[ufgator812]

They also got Willy Adames, SS (Tigers W. Mich A team). He's only 18, I think.