New York Daily News scribe Bill Madden mentioned the Rays being a candidate for contraction in the last couple of weeks.
It’s hard to believe that’s going to happen. For one thing, the Rays have a long lease and St. Petersburg could sue the organization and baseball for breaching the contract. Second of all, the players union will not allow that.
That puts a kibosh to that theory. Still, there are questions to be raised to what’s going on.
It’s not a secret Rays owner Stu Sternberg hasn’t been happy about his stadium situation. He has been talking about his proposals for a new stadium, but the politicians have not bothered looking through it.
With unemployment at a ridiculous rate, politicians feel they got other things to worry about. It’s hard not to respect that, even though it’s hard to believe they can do anything about it.
This does not sit well with Sternberg. He knows the team does not draw well because fans don’t want to make that long drive from Tampa to St. Petersburg. He feels his team will benefit by playing in Tampa.
Sports owners are in this to make money and Sternberg is no different. If he is not making money, he must be asking himself what’s the point of owning a baseball team. It’s bad enough that the Rays are losing money, but when no one goes to see a good team, that’s just discouraging.
The Rays owner isn’t happy about letting his players go to big-market teams. It had to hurt him to watch Carl Crawford sign with the Red Sox. He knew it was hopeless to even sign Crawford to an extension.
He doesn’t want to have that feeling after awhile. He can only take so much of his best players leaving for greener pastures.
At some point, one can’t help but think he wants out. It could happen. With the Mets having ownership problems, he could convince Bud Selig about selling the Rays and buying the other New York baseball team.
Sternberg is a New Yorker. He lives there and he grew up as a Mets fan. It would be a perfect marriage.
He would embrace being the hero that saved the Mets. Don’t think that hasn’t escaped his mind.
Why else would he be planting the seed to a New York baseball writer? He may not even directly say it, but he has his guys telling the New York media about his intentions for the Mets.
He hasn’t exactly given an endorsement about his commitment to the Rays. He has said nothing, so that should tell folks something.
It will be interesting to see how all of this works out in the end.
If Sternberg is really interested in the Mets, he should pursuit that opportunity. There’s no point being around if he is not interested in being the Rays owner.
Either he should be committed to the Rays or just orchestrate the sale. He can’t have one mind on the Rays and another mind on the Mets. That doesn’t work.
It’s hard to fault what Sternberg wants to do. If his heart isn’t in it, that’s fine. There’s just no point in having an owner around if he is tired of doing business here.
He will give it a try to get this straightened out. The politicians will try to make something work out, but if this continues to be a problem, he’s moving on.
He is not going to keep losing money forever. He is not going to want to market a team that draws no one.
He did all he could to market the team, but it hasn’t worked out so far.
The Rays at least drew well so far in spring training. That’s a positive, but the problem is no one wants to go to Tropicana Field on a hot and muggy day. Baseball has been meant to play outdoors and it’s not going to happen soon in Tampa.
There’s no right solution to this. Sternberg is not going to care. He either wants his new palace or he will exercise his option.
The business of sports can be so cruel when blackmailing is part of this.
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