2011 Tampa Bay Rays

[cyberdude558]

I don't have any problems with the Rangers, we just need to figure out how to win postseason games

Hitting the ball with some consistancy would be a good start.

When the Rays bats go cold, they go sub-zero and it's not just 1 batter when it happens....it's the WHOLE TEAM!

[BucBalla85]

I dont see why the Rays dont up their payroll a little bit this offseason and go grab a bat or two. They got the pitching and a little extra hitting would do this team wonders. It would make the payroll go up but youd get a much greater shot at a WS title.

[RaysBucsnBolts]

http://www.tampabay.com/sports/article1195248.ece

According to Stu, its the fans fault....again.

[RaysBucsnBolts]

If we won the World Series this year, I wouldn't think my attendance would get higher. It didn't go up in '09 when we got to the World Series (in '08)."...Sternberg

Even with a $42 million payroll, Sternberg said the team didn't turn a profit this year. (Give or take a little, it broke even.) That means the bats won't be any more imposing next year. That means the roster will be flawed, and the possibilities will be limited.

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Things look bleak for the team - either he sells or moves the team.

I call BS on not making a profit this year.

[Biggs3535]

Well good season, but it's over

Whether they do anything with this rally or not, maybe now you'll realize how stupid this statement is.

Since I had made that statement we had never took a lead and we lost both games and are out of the playoffs. I guess that statement was pretty dumb since I ended up being wrong huh? 

Yeah, I'd say you were pretty damn wrong.  The season wasn't close to being over.  The Rays had an opportunity to tie/win both games in the 9th inning after you made that ignorant statement.

[Biggs3535]

A catcher really? Shop was money this year! We need more bats than anything else and Shop provided plenty of that this season

Bwahahahahaha

[RaysBucsnBolts]

Honestly I think the Rays should have swept that series.  Dang offense

[cyberdude558]

You guys set some really low bars. Some person on the radio said the Rays season was a success because we kept Boston out of the playoffs. Really? That's it? That's all the Rays can hope for every year is to spoil the season of the Red Sox? No wonder you cant sell tickets.

We actually did the Sox a favor. They would have been destroyed and embarrassed in that series.

[Biggs3535]

Time to lock this thread and move on.

Locking threads is for sissies.

You're free to stay out of it, though.  Don't forget that privilege next season, either.

[Biggs3535]

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7061072/tampa-bay-rays-owner-says-current-business-model-untenable


The Rangers sent the Rays home Tuesday afternoon -- not that many Tampa Bay area fans were in attendance to see it.

After selling out Game 3 to the tune of 32,828 fans, only 28,299 showed up for what turned out to be Texas' ALDS-clinching 4-3 victory.

"We replicated last year and our numbers were down," Tampa Bay owner Stuart Sternberg said. "The (television) ratings were down. The rubber has got to hit the road at some point. We're four years into winning. We're getting to the point where we don't control our own destiny. This is untenable as a model."

Tampa Bay has reached the playoffs three times in the past four years, including two AL East titles and a World Series appearance in 2008. But despite the success, declining attendance has become an ongoing trend at the domed Tropicana Field, where the Rays play their home games.

"When I came in here in '05 and '06, I saw the stars, and I was confident that we could put a winning product on the field -- and I was told by you guys and others that all we needed was a winning team," said Sternberg, who assumed principle control of the franchise in 2005. "Well, we won. We won. We won. And we won. And it didn't do it."

Last September, Rays star third baseman Evan Longoria pleaded with fans to raise attendance and support the team.

"We've been playing great baseball all year. Since I've been here in (2006), the fans have wanted a good baseball team. They've wanted to watch a contender," Longoria told reporters at the time. "And for us to play good baseball for three years now, and for us to be in a spot to clinch again and go to the playoffs, we're all confused as to why it's only 15,000 to 20,000 in the building."

Sternberg's criticism comes after the Rays reached the postseason despite an epic offseason purge that chopped the team's 2010 payroll of $71.9 million to $ 41.9 on Opening Day this season, the second-lowest in baseball.

Local civic leaders are currently exploring options for a new stadium, but the effort is in the preliminary phases.

"You can look at us and potentially Oakland as the only teams in that respect," Sternberg said, referring to the only team who drew fewer fans than Tampa this season, the Oakland A's. "And Oakland by hook and crook will have a situation clearer well before we will, and we will be the last man standing. Or in this case, lying down."

[Bucpride5]

Main factors for the Rays attendance woes

1-Stadium Location-The stadium is not in a centralized location where the largest portion of the population can reach it in a convient manner. Look at other cities like Philly, Detroit and a few others their sports stadiums/arenas are rather close to each other The Rays, Bucs and Lightning are all in different locales.

2-Tradition-In baseball the history of the game is king, and the Rays until 2008 had very little to be proud of. It's also hard to build a fanbase and a tradition in a community filled with transplants and retirees.

3-Mass Transit-There is no mass transit in the Tampa/St Pete area. Plans for Light Rail were not followed through with, something the Rays had donated money to help fund.

4-Oversaturated sports market-The Tampa/St Pete area just is not large enough to support 3 major league franchises and a major college football program.

5-The economy the Tampa/St Pete area was ranked 98th recently in economic recovery, and from what I've seen and heard things are not getting better fast enough.

Bottom line is unless the Rays are moved to Tampa they will more than likely leave the area all together. Which sucks, but when or if that time does come the people of the Tampa/St Pete area don't have anyone to blame but themselves for not supporting the team.

[-ts]

Buster Olney tabs Rays best team in MLB to start 2012.

http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/blog/_/name/olney_buster/id/7410087/behind-great-defense-dominant-pitching-rays-best-team-baseball-mlb

[dbucfan]

Just as big a Rays fan as you are with the Lightning...