MLB 2024-25 Hot Stove Thread

[2muchcoffeeman]

https://www.tampabay.com/news/pinel...mediation-fema-hurricane-milton-city-council/
They're still not sure if the Trop will be usable ever, much less next year. St. Pete city government doesn't know what the repairs cost will be (bad timing to reduce the insurance coverage right before the hurricane), and the Rays haven't said what they're doing next year. The Durham Bulls already said no to sharing, and Olympic Stadium is in the middle of its own renovation, so Montreal is not an option. So far, I've seen suggestions of:
1) a rotation of the three spring training / A-ball sites near Tampa
2) the semi-mothballed Wide World of Sports stadium at DisneyWorld in Orlando
3) A pop-up stadium in Chicago (no, really: https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/10/20/chicago-the-78-ballpark-tampa-bay-rays/
4) Schwab Field in Omaha
5) Oakland Coliseum

Disney.

 

[Starman]

I'm not going to waste more than a sentence arguing with 100000-percent guarantee. The Yankees don't own the facility, it's a publicly-owned facility.

That's the beauty of all the stadium public-financing deals: the franchise pays nothing, and gets everything.

I always love it when the stadium deals are greased through the local governments: "yeah hey, let's spend a billion dollars so the Cockopolis Boners don't fly off to Pocatello! Besides saving our Major League Franchise for our loyal fans (giving them the right to pay $100-200 or more for tickets), just think of all the great events and concerts we'll have at the new Bonerdome!! Think of all the money the city of Cockopolis will make on those events!"

(Virtually all lease agreements with "major league" sports franchises give the franchises complete control of all revenues from outside events, like concerts.)

 

[SixToe]

Please, no images or photos of the Cockopolis Boners

 

[Liut]

Cardinals Nation confirms it's letting Gibson and Lynn fly away. Someone else, too, but brain lock here.
Wonder if Arenado is willing to hang with a last-place team.

 

[maumann]

Cardinals Nation confirms it's letting Gibson and Lynn fly away. Someone else, too, but brain lock here.
Wonder if Arenado is willing to hang with a last-place team.

He's rumored to be on a bunch of trade lists (mostly from BLOGGERS!!!) even though he agreed to extend through 2027. If the Tigers fan on Bregman, he wouldn't be a terrible backup plan.

 

[Starman]

Well, anyway, in terms of where the Rays will play in 2025 or any time afterward, I think Orlando is the logical pick for a number of reasons.

Only if Disney was somehow convinced it would be disastrous for them would I see it really failing. There's already a ballpark there in reasonablly playable shape. Needless to say the Rays would have to carry the costs for most renovations/upgrades.

Of course Disney ain't gonna hand over 100 acres of real estate surrounding the stadium for the Rays to build restaurants and bars and casinos and parking lots. Ultimately that could scotch the whole deal in the long term. But I would think some kind of cooperative deal could be hammered out.

Looking at Google Maps of the area, there certainly appears to be enough adjacent land which could in theory be cleared to allow Disney to build another cloverleaf or two of baseball diamonds to play youth tournaments, assuming the big stadium and probably four other fields would be set apart for Rays use.

If the whole deal goes pfft in five years, Disney's kids sports facilities have been expanded, and they still have a 35,000 seat facility available for possible MLB use for events such as the World Cup, and who knows, maybe in not too many years, the first neutral site World Series if games keep going later in November.

 

[HanSenSE]

Please, no images or photos of the Cockopolis Boners

Or their cheerleaders.

 

[HanSenSE]

Buster Posey makes first front office hire.

 

[qtlaw]

Buster Posey makes first front office hire.

His brother is the Angels' GM; not a stellar record down there....

 

[HanSenSE]

His brother is the Angels' GM; not a stellar record down there....

A Farhan hire too, which is setting off alarms here.

 

[swingline]

Please, no images or photos of the Cockopolis Boners

Especially no Giant Asian Cockopolis Boners.

 

[Starman]

The Marketing Department is working on mascot and logo concepts.