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From MLB.com
Tampa Bay Rays unveiled plans today for a new 34,000-seat, retractable-roof, open-air ballpark on the St. Petersburg waterfront at the site of historic Al Lang Field in downtown St. Petersburg with projected completion date of 2012.
"Our vision is to build a breath-taking and contemporary waterfront ballpark," said Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg. "It will be an iconic landmark for the entire Tampa Bay region and showcase all that is great about Major League Baseball in the State of Florida."
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The housecleaning continues in St. Petersburg:
The Devil Rays drop the name "Devil" from their name. Hopefully the point isn't to curry favor with God, since He hasn't stopped a certain team from New Jersey from winning the Stanley Cup. And of course, more recently he obviously didn't appreciate the Colorado Rockies efforts to position themselves as His team enough to prevent them from being smitten by the heathens from Boston. Do I even have to bring up Notre Dame football people?
The newly minted Rays also appear to be distancing themselves further from the Chuck "We like him better from Afar" LaMar philosophy of gathering high-ceiling, low character young players by completing the unload-a-prospect trifecta:
#1 overall pick Josh "We coulda had Beckett" Hamilton to the Reds for cash
First Rounder Delmon Young to the Twins for prospects
Third Rounder Eljah Dukes to the Nationals for a bag of baseballs
Plus, picking up Troy Percival could give them a strong, deep bullpen which would allow them to shorten the workload for the young starters.
That's a lot of addition by subtraction. Only in the Delmon Young deal did they get anything like comparable value in return.
And that's not to mention the angling for a new stadium deal. For St. Pete this sounds too good to be true, so they will probably find a way to shoot it down. The parking in the area they are considering would seem to be problematic, but the site itself is great for baseball and it would be outdoors, by the water, good visuals for the TV cutaway shots.
The team on paper right now looks like it could be a .500 team rather easily and is maybe a front-line starter away from contention, even given the division they are in. A wild-card slot would not be too much of a stretch.
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Rays on the bay?
By AARON SHAROCKMAN and MARC TOPKIN, Times Staff Writers
Published November 10, 2007
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/11/10/Rays/Rays_on_the_bay.shtml
ST. PETERSBURG -- The Tampa Bay Rays have developed a bold plan to
build a $450-million downtown stadium that would give fans waterfront
views and protection from rain.
The stadium, to be built on the site of Al Lang Field, would seat
about 35,000 and could open as early as 2012. Hitters there would have a
chance to send the ball into the bay.
Financing is still being worked out, but a primary source would be
proceeds of the sale of the Tropicana Field site to a developer who would
build a large retail/residential complex there. The Rays also would
make a contribution, perhaps as much as $150-million, covering one-third
of the cost.
The team also would seek legislative approval for $60-million of
state money in future sales tax revenue from food, beer and merchandise
sales in the new park.
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