Friday, September 25, 2015

MLB Denies Previous Knowledge of Braves-to-Pinellas Pitch

To answer the question about how much knowledge MLB & the Rays had regarding the Braves' spring training pitch in Pinellas County (aka Are the Rays Very Lucky? or Very Smart?), it seems my assumption may have been wrong and the Rays are just lucky.

Major League Baseball put out a statement today that indicated neither they nor the Rays had any idea the Braves were considering a move to Tampa Bay:
“Earlier this week, Major League Baseball and the Tampa Bay Rays learned of the St. Petersburg Sports Park proposal for the first time.  Major League Baseball appreciates the support that it has received for the construction of Spring Training facilities throughout the State of Florida. The most pressing need, however, is the construction of a Major League-quality facility for the Rays.

“Major League Baseball is committed to working with the Rays to secure a new ballpark in cooperation with the Tampa Bay region.  This can only happen with the support of local political and business leaders.”
If you believe the league, it's still kind of a non-statement statement.  Basically, the league is open to whatever...and it still wants a new Rays stadium.  And the Rays still haven't commented...but sure, they'll take the help creating leverage on Pinellas County.

Ho hum, just another day in the Stadium Saga...

UPDATE: The Tampa Bay Times reports the Rays' Brian Auld issued a statement that read, "the Rays appreciate MLB's attention to this matter. We fully agree with and support their statement."





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10 comments:

  1. So no conspiration theory here. Just other MLB teams thinking to increase their footprint considering they have a fan base there and it will not hurt the Rays anyway.

    At some point, I think the MLB owners will need to have a very good talk about the Florida market. Because there's probably other teams looking to change/improve their training centres and it may involve relocation.

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  2. And the debate between the cities is started in TB. Just before the election. St-Pete must decide to let the Rays looks elsewhere or the cities will move on to other projects.

    http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/st-petersburg-measures-impact-of-braves-spring-training-plans-on-rays-plans/2246990

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  3. Fla is best for ST/MiL - not the majors. Time to let the Rays move to Montreal and let the more popular teams in Fla settle in... Win-win for all.

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  4. Too bad, Les âmes malchanceux à Montréal , ne sera pas obtenir une équipe!!

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    Replies
    1. And as a bonus, two exclamation points with that sentence.

      "On ne rit plus!"

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    2. Too bad you can't speak french, else you'd be able to follow your Rays to Montreal as well... but then again, Canada probably doesn't need uneducated people like yourself moving there

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    3. The question is, whether or not we can take anything to the bank?

      Not that I'd defend our banker friend, but keep in mind that folks in the States have little reason to learn French, so that doesn't necessarily make him uneducated. Call him uneducated because of his nonsensical, redundant and overall pointless posts.

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  5. I mean look at the types of things we are forced to wonder about here. This is beyond toxic. MLB and the Rays have shown time and again that they are not worthy of our trust (or any public trust, for that matter). Be done with them and move on to substantive, meaningful public policy issues.

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  6. It's funny how many LEMMINGS read & comment on this blog...

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