The body of the 2010 Rays is still warm but, naturally, the world has turned its eyes to the 2011 team.
I will try to write more about this later but here are a few quick thoughts.
(AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
-As I wrote in September, the $22MM the Rays need to drop from payroll is easy to get to without having a huge effect on the on-field product.
-The Rays bullpen will likely be totally new next year. Soriano and Benoit are both likely to command big free agent contracts and, it looks like management is willing to re-think the bridge from our starting staff to whomever closes games next year.
-There were two interesting quotes in today’s St. Pete Timesthat encapsulate just how far this franchise has come:
“Peña hopes to stay, saying the organization ‘means the world to me’ and ‘I almost feel like I have this organization running through my veins.’
…
‘I think we worked really hard to get to this point, to free agency, and it’s our wish to take advantage of the best opportunities out there,’ he said. ‘My wish is that the best opportunity and the best situation for me is here in Tampa Bay, obviously.’”
“When you sign, they say, ‘Make the decision tough on us,’ Balfour said. ‘Go out there and perform and do a good job and make the decision hard on them. They’ve got plenty of guys that want to come back, it’s just a matter if they want to keep them.’”
Not only has the front office turned this franchise from a laughingstock into AL East Champions, it made this franchise a place that players want to sign. That is remarkable.
Mark, couldn’t Carlos be saying this because he played himself out of a big money contract this year? It sounds like the spin doctor
is trying to get more money for ‘Los because he was (operative word) a driving force in the Rays rise to power.
I agree with you Mark. There are a lot of reasons to believe that this team is still going to be competitive. I can’t stand everyone saying the window is closed, the young talent is locked up long term already. The pitching, and defense are there. We need bats, but this is still a talented and very young team. I just wish that people would quit being so down on the Rays. The media only focuses on the negative i.e. ticket sales. But the TV ratings, merchandise, and radio ratings will tell a completely different story. Unfortunately, there are fans here who want nothing more than to make excuses to not go to games, I understand the problems with the Trop, but fans need to realize they need to support this team NOW! Not when they win a title, not when the Yankees or Sox are in town, but all season long. I think that the other issue here is that success for an expansion team is usually not this quick. There just aren’t many people here YET that grew up Rays fans. The children that went to those first games in this teams fledgling years are just coming of age. The ticket sales will improve, I believe, once fans realize that this team is too young and talented to be a flash in the pan. Loosing CC will hurt, but there were no mistakes that this in Longoria’s team all along, he has become the focus and will not let this franchise fail. It is just up the fans now to show him and this team that they believe in this team.
Speaking as a 70 year old lifelong baseball fan who moved to Florida to retire, the Rays are an exciting, talented, young team and it has been easy to become one of their fans. What is not easy for me, or for most retired people who don’t live in St. Petersburg, is going to night games in St. Petersburg. My wife and I go to quite a few day games, but it is not always easy for people our age to drive for more than an hour after 10:30.
Since there are so many retired people in the Tampa Bay area, why not try more weekday afternoon or even early evening games (like 5:00)? The last weekday afternoon game I went to had a crowd of 27000+ and I saw a lot of people my age there. There are a lot of retired people who go to spring training games in the afternoon too.
A few years ago the Rays had a promotional schedule for retired fans called Silver Rays. I haven’t seen it in a while but I know that they make efforts to reach out to that segment of the population.