It's BASEBALL. (can spring be far behind?)

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: joshsquall
Go Orioles! Oh wait.. they're terrible. Oh well, another year of mediocrity.

All thanks to that ambulance chasing waste of human flesh known as Angelos.

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: JohnCU

Originally posted by: techs

Originally posted by: JohnCU

Originally posted by: techs

Originally posted by: JohnCU
YES GO CUBS
this is the year people

?

if the red sox can do it, so can the cubs

Their FO is way too screwed up.

 

[Mr Pickles]

Originally posted by: joshsquall
Go Orioles! Oh wait.. they're terrible. Oh well, another year of mediocrity.

Mediocrity is applied when there are teams above and below you. With the Rays being as awesome as they are this year you've got nothing. The O's are just a shitty team this year. Not even mediocre.

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: MrLee

Originally posted by: joshsquall
Go Orioles! Oh wait.. they're terrible. Oh well, another year of mediocrity.

Mediocrity is applied when there are teams above and below you. With the Rays being as awesome as they are this year you've got nothing. The O's are just a shitty team this year. Not even mediocre.

I'm starting to feel bad for the Devil Rays. Put them in the NL Central or NL West, and you've got a team that is a playoff contender. Against the Yankees, Red Sox, and Blue Jays, though, they're pretty f-ed.

 

[Mr Pickles]

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber

Originally posted by: MrLee

Originally posted by: joshsquall
Go Orioles! Oh wait.. they're terrible. Oh well, another year of mediocrity.

Mediocrity is applied when there are teams above and below you. With the Rays being as awesome as they are this year you've got nothing. The O's are just a shitty team this year. Not even mediocre.

I'm starting to feel bad for the Devil Rays. Put them in the NL Central or NL West, and you've got a team that is a playoff contender. Against the Yankees, Red Sox, and Blue Jays, though, they're pretty f-ed.

Have you seen the updates they've made to their roster this year? They won't do bad this year. They project more than a .500 average this year in wins. Stat for stat our young starting pitchers right now (Garza, Kazmir, and Shields) are being compared to the Maddux, Smoltz, Glavine trio from back in the day. I can see what you mean with the two big teams but last year they swept the Yanks and whent 2/3 one series against them. There's hope in that.

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: MrLee

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber

Originally posted by: MrLee

Originally posted by: joshsquall
Go Orioles! Oh wait.. they're terrible. Oh well, another year of mediocrity.

Mediocrity is applied when there are teams above and below you. With the Rays being as awesome as they are this year you've got nothing. The O's are just a shitty team this year. Not even mediocre.

I'm starting to feel bad for the Devil Rays. Put them in the NL Central or NL West, and you've got a team that is a playoff contender. Against the Yankees, Red Sox, and Blue Jays, though, they're pretty f-ed.

Have you seen the updates they've made to their roster this year? They won't do bad this year. They project more than a .500 average this year in wins. Stat for stat our young starting pitchers right now (Garza, Kazmir, and Shields) are being compared to the Maddux, Smoltz, Glavine trio from back in the day. I can see what you mean with the two big teams but last year they swept the Yanks and whent 2/3 one series against them. There's hope in that.

There's always hope and, in a given season, I have no doubt that the Rays can compete against the big boys. Unfortunately, they just don't have the resources (read: money) to compete in the long-term.

The Red Sox, Yankees, Blue Jays, and even Orioles, all have a lot of money to throw around. They can afford the best scouts, they can afford to make high risk / high reward signings. All of them (with maybe the Orioles as an exception) also have smart FOs that aren't just looking to throw money at problems. What that means it that a small-market team like the Rays is really going to struggle over multiple seasons to field competitive teams.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what they can do this year, but as a Rays fan (or even potential fan) the fact that you must play nearly 60 games / yr against very, very good teams is pretty discouraging.

Regarding their rotation - I'd agree the front three look excellent. Kazmir is as good as they come and Garza / Shields have really stepped it up. They seem to have a solid core of young hitters. Again, though, that's what is discouraging - put them in the AL West, the NL Central, or NL West and their starting three would power them into the playoffs. Instead, we're talking about a potential above .500 finish for them.

 

[Mr Pickles]

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber

Originally posted by: MrLee

Originally posted by: BlinderBomber

Originally posted by: MrLee

Originally posted by: joshsquall
Go Orioles! Oh wait.. they're terrible. Oh well, another year of mediocrity.

Mediocrity is applied when there are teams above and below you. With the Rays being as awesome as they are this year you've got nothing. The O's are just a shitty team this year. Not even mediocre.

I'm starting to feel bad for the Devil Rays. Put them in the NL Central or NL West, and you've got a team that is a playoff contender. Against the Yankees, Red Sox, and Blue Jays, though, they're pretty f-ed.

Have you seen the updates they've made to their roster this year? They won't do bad this year. They project more than a .500 average this year in wins. Stat for stat our young starting pitchers right now (Garza, Kazmir, and Shields) are being compared to the Maddux, Smoltz, Glavine trio from back in the day. I can see what you mean with the two big teams but last year they swept the Yanks and whent 2/3 one series against them. There's hope in that.

There's always hope and, in a given season, I have no doubt that the Rays can compete against the big boys. Unfortunately, they just don't have the resources (read: money) to compete in the long-term.

The Red Sox, Yankees, Blue Jays, and even Orioles, all have a lot of money to throw around. They can afford the best scouts, they can afford to make high risk / high reward signings. All of them (with maybe the Orioles as an exception) also have smart FOs that aren't just looking to throw money at problems. What that means it that a small-market team like the Rays is really going to struggle over multiple seasons to field competitive teams.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what they can do this year, but as a Rays fan (or even potential fan) the fact that you must play nearly 60 games / yr against very, very good teams is pretty discouraging.

Regarding their rotation - I'd agree the front three look excellent. Kazmir is as good as they come and Garza / Shields have really stepped it up. They seem to have a solid core of young hitters. Again, though, that's what is discouraging - put them in the AL West, the NL Central, or NL West and their starting three would power them into the playoffs. Instead, we're talking about a potential above .500 finish for them.

We'll see what we've got for us this year. You are right, the steps the Rays take are much smaller because of the money they have. I hate to admit it but right now, but we don't make money off of fans, we make money off of fans rooting for the teams we play. With the Yanks at Legend's (Now Steinbrenner) Field just 35 minutes away, the only games we sell out on are the Yanks and Boston. They are our revenue and don't think the Trop would survive without the presence of those two big name teams.

I think there is a special balance that needs to happen between how well we do in the AL East and our potential for success in the NL or other AL division. Perhaps proving that we can at least place 3rd in the AL East will attract enough fans and build enough revenue so they won't have to depend on the other teams, and then we can move to a different division and rape. If we left them now, we just wouldn't turn enough of a profit at games.

 

[raystorm]

Are the Rays getting a new ballpark?? I saw an artists rendering of a new park with some wild looking "sail" like roof. They need to get outta Tropicana and fast. I like their linuep and I think they'll certainly finish above the horrible Orioles. As for the Jays its all about health. Rolen already being hurt sure doesn't help but if Halladay and especially Burnett can stay healthy they surely have a chance at making some noise in the AL East.

 

[Mr Pickles]

Originally posted by: raystorm
Are the Rays getting a new ballpark?? I saw an artists rendering of a new park with some wild looking "sail" like roof. They need to get outta Tropicana and fast.

There is a proposal for a new park that is to be voted on by the City of St. Petersburg in August. The issue is the unique way that they will be paying for it. They are still in debt at the trop, but they plan to redevelop the trop's area and turn it into mixed use development. With the revenue they make from that, they will be able to pay for the new dome, which is very inexpensive to build (only 34,000 seats, outdoors, very stylish but inexpensive) and pay off the debt that they owe on the Trop.

Most of the money comes from state grants. Money wise, it is the same proposal that Miami had but they were denied because of their weak income strategy. Also, governor Crist from Florida was opposed to the idea. Welp, Christ is a resident of St. Petersburg and a huge Ray fan and has said he's in favor of it. My concern is that the city tax payers won't realize how little this will actually affect them. They won't even notice. I only wish they knew how awesome of a move this would be for the Rays.

To give you an idea of why I'm for this:

Google Map

My condo is marked. See Progress Energy Park? That will be the location for the new stadium I watch spring training games from my balcony. St Pete Grand Prix this week flys by my place too.

 

[BeauJangles]

A better revenue-sharing system would help teams like the Rays a lot (so would a salary cap, but let's not go there). The current system is so broken that the Marlins' owners are basically allowed to pocket over 20 million dollars from the rest of the league.

I think that if you agree to receive money from revenue-sharing, teams should be required to spend it on baseball-related activities (salary, scouting, infrastructure). Instead, the system has no oversight. The other change that might have some benefit is if we moved towards a system that worked intra-division. Teams like the Rays would receive more help than teams like the Marlins because they exist in a division with four teams that spend over 90 million on their payrolls.

 

[RightIsWrong]

Originally posted by: Flash1969
I've been looking for an online stream, any ideas?

Wooohooo. I can't wait to watch my beloved Pirates make history this year. This year, we get to tie the record of 16 torturous losing seasons.

As for the above quoted post.....


http://www3.myp2p.eu/competiti...ts&discipline=baseball

Just need Sopcast player installed.

 

[dbk]

Cubs!! This is the year. 100 years of mediocrity!! YEAH!!

 

[BeauJangles]

By the way - when did MLB more than double the rate for MLB.tv? $120 for 'premium' service.... are you kidding me?