Random Baseball Musings

[Sammy Sofa]

Thanks a lot, David.

 

lmao can you imagine the poor computer that had to parse all of kyle's posts

 

And that's how the Decepticons were born.

[seanimal]

Thanks a lot, David.

 

lmao can you imagine the poor computer that had to parse all of kyle's posts

 

100 years from now, this event will be universally recognized as the singularity, when a machine first felt the human emotion of sadness. or more precisely, pity

[wvcbxl]

:shock: :shock: at the White Sox fan base for that score.

[Tracer Bullet]

lol

 

 

Do all the sarcastic cobs and morans posts count against us?

[Ding Dong Johnson]

lol

 

 

Do all the sarcastic cobs and morans posts count against us?

Even grammarly isn't reading posts here.

[Gilby]

There were a little more than 10,000 people at Tropicana to see the first place Rays play the Blue Jays tonight.

 

It's only a matter of time before that franchise moves out of Florida, right?

[Cubswin11]

There were a little more than 10,000 people at Tropicana to see the first place Rays play the Blue Jays tonight.

 

It's only a matter of time before that franchise moves out of Florida, right?

Where would they move though? Is there another market that really makes that much more sense or would really support a team that much better?

[OleMissCub]

There were a little more than 10,000 people at Tropicana to see the first place Rays play the Blue Jays tonight.

 

It's only a matter of time before that franchise moves out of Florida, right?

Where would they move though? Is there another market that really makes that much more sense or would really support a team that much better?

 

San Antonio, Charlotte, and Portland are the biggest metro's without a team. I'm not counting Riverside since that's LA, more or less.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Metropolitan_Statistical_Areas

 

Interesting that there are 13 metro's bigger than Milwaukee, which is the smallest MLB metro.

[Gilby]

There were a little more than 10,000 people at Tropicana to see the first place Rays play the Blue Jays tonight.

 

It's only a matter of time before that franchise moves out of Florida, right?

Where would they move though? Is there another market that really makes that much more sense or would really support a team that much better?

 

I think just about anywhere could get more than 10,000 people to see a first place team in late June. Charlotte's a good idea if you want to keep them in the east. People bring up Montreal, though they struggled with attendance last time. I think Indianapolis could work. There's Portland and Las Vegas, and you could probably move the Astros to the AL East in that scenario. I think almost literally anywhere else would be better.

[OleMissCub]

There were a little more than 10,000 people at Tropicana to see the first place Rays play the Blue Jays tonight.

 

It's only a matter of time before that franchise moves out of Florida, right?

Where would they move though? Is there another market that really makes that much more sense or would really support a team that much better?

 

I think just about anywhere could get more than 10,000 people to see a first place team in late June. Charlotte's a good idea if you want to keep them in the east. People bring up Montreal, though they struggled with attendance last time. I think Indianapolis could work. There's Portland and Las Vegas, and you could probably move the Astros to the AL East in that scenario. I think almost literally anywhere else would be better.

 

http://www.baseballamerica.com/statistics/classifications/?cl_id=2

 

Judging by these attendance stats, Charlotte is dead last in attendance among all AAA cities with 3,800 a game. The only teams that average over 8,000 a game are Columbus, Lehigh Valley, Indy, Buffalo, Louisville, Round Rock, and Sacramento. Vegas is damn near dead last.

 

Now, of course I think it's somewhat unfair to make a straight comparison between AAA attendance and expected MLB attendance since MLB is a whole different beast regarding interest, etc.

 

I actually think a Memphis team would do well (the Redbirds average 7200 fwiw). That area of the country is probably the most populated area in the US that is the farthest from an MLB stadium. A Memphis team would get most of Tennessee, Little Rock (less than 2 hours away) and most of Arkansas, north Louisiana, all of Mississippi, and possibly even New Orleans (same distance to Houston and Memphis from NOLA). Southerners are all about baseball too. For example, Ole Miss averages 10,000 for SEC baseball games. I think it would need to be an indoor park; Memphis being right on the river is miserably muggy in the summer.

[seanimal]

the rays want to move to tampa, instead of the diseased tip of st pete's. as much as i want that team to move to montreal, they would easily draw 2-3x the people if they were near, say, where the bucs play

[SouthSideRyan]

Haven't the Bucs been struggling with attendance for years? Granted they're terrible, but it's the NFL. The Rays had settled in around 1.5-1.6M per year since getting good in '08, I'd assume if they stick around in the race, they'll make some gains. I imagine there was quite a bit of fan discontent losing 2 of their 3 most popular players(Price & Zobrist) for "prospects" along with your manager and GM that oversaw the turnaround, both leaving for no return.

[Guest]

http://i.imgur.com/L18g0vT.jpg

[Guest]

Haven't the Bucs been struggling with attendance for years? Granted they're terrible, but it's the NFL. The Rays had settled in around 1.5-1.6M per year since getting good in '08, I'd assume if they stick around in the race, they'll make some gains. I imagine there was quite a bit of fan discontent losing 2 of their 3 most popular players(Price & Zobrist) for "prospects" along with your manager and GM that oversaw the turnaround, both leaving for no return.

 

i think sean is right, though. from what i understand, not only is st pete awful but their stadium about as shitty as there is (at the very least in terms of ambiance) and very hard to get to. i don't know the numbers, but my rays fan friend who always goes on about this says they get good TV ratings (which i realize won't necessarily translate into untapped attendance but seems to indicate a pretty strong level of interest in the team).

 

 

also, the bucs have been terrible and still been around, from a quick glance, 90% capacity. as far as actual butts in the seats they aren't too far behind the bears (which, yeah, small stadium).

Edited June 23, 2015 by David

[Sammy Sofa]

Haven't the Bucs been struggling with attendance for years? Granted they're terrible, but it's the NFL. The Rays had settled in around 1.5-1.6M per year since getting good in '08, I'd assume if they stick around in the race, they'll make some gains. I imagine there was quite a bit of fan discontent losing 2 of their 3 most popular players(Price & Zobrist) for "prospects" along with your manager and GM that oversaw the turnaround, both leaving for no return.

 

i think sean is right, though. from what i understand, not only is st pete awful and their stadium about as [expletive] as there is (at the very least in terms of ambiance) and very hard to get to. i don't know the numbers, but my rays fan friend who always goes on about this says they get good TV ratings (which i realize won't necessarily translate into untapped attendance but seems to indicate a pretty strong level of interest in the team).

 

 

also, the bucs have been terrible and still been around, from a quick glance, 90% capacity. as far as actual butts in the seats they aren't too far behind the bears (which, yeah, small stadium).

 

I've always heard both the Rays and the Marlins get decent (or better) radio and TV numbers.

[SouthSideRyan]

Oh, I don't doubt that the attendance would go up in Tampa, but I think it'd go up pretty much anywhere for being a shiny new toy. I certainly don't see the Rays of Tampa easily drawing 3M-4.5M annually.

[SouthSideRyan]

 

I've always heard both the Rays and the Marlins get decent (or better) radio and TV numbers.

 

http://i.imgur.com/j74vKxb.jpg

 

ETA: Obvious 1 year sample size caveat.

[seanimal]

2-3x was a lazy exaggeration, but 2.5 to 3 mil would be very getable in the good years

[sneakypower]

Pete Rose bet on baseball as a player. Super shocking I know.

 

The most interesting thing about this story is that the former federal prosecutor who led MLB's investigation on Pete Rose is named John Dowd

that's Barry Bonds' MVP 2005 persona, right

[Ding Dong Johnson]

There were a little more than 10,000 people at Tropicana to see the first place Rays play the Blue Jays tonight.

 

It's only a matter of time before that franchise moves out of Florida, right?

Where would they move though? Is there another market that really makes that much more sense or would really support a team that much better?

 

San Antonio, Charlotte, and Portland are the biggest metro's without a team. I'm not counting Riverside since that's LA, more or less.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Metropolitan_Statistical_Areas

 

Interesting that there are 13 metro's bigger than Milwaukee, which is the smallest MLB metro.

Charlotte is a great city. They average close to 10,000 for AAA games (which is a gorgeous ballpark BTW).

[UMFan83]

Is offense up this year?

 

Just looking at the individual statistics, it boggles my mind that there two first baseman (Goldschmidt and Cabrera) having better seasons offensively than Rizzo, who in my mind has been an absolute monster.

 

2015 so far:

 

1.000+ OPS: 4 (Harper, Goldschmidt, Cabrera, Rizzo)

.900-1.000 OPS: 14

.800-.899 OPS: 39

Overall above .800: 57

 

2014:

 

1.000+ OPS: 0

.900-1.000 OPS: 8

.800-.899 OPS: 27

Overall above .800: 35

 

Certainly looks like it from the top, but not sure if the offensive improvement is top heavy or is everyone's offense up.

[OleMissCub]

There were a little more than 10,000 people at Tropicana to see the first place Rays play the Blue Jays tonight.

 

It's only a matter of time before that franchise moves out of Florida, right?

Where would they move though? Is there another market that really makes that much more sense or would really support a team that much better?

 

San Antonio, Charlotte, and Portland are the biggest metro's without a team. I'm not counting Riverside since that's LA, more or less.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Metropolitan_Statistical_Areas

 

Interesting that there are 13 metro's bigger than Milwaukee, which is the smallest MLB metro.

Charlotte is a great city. They average close to 10,000 for AAA games (which is a gorgeous ballpark BTW).

 

The link I posted earlier shows that Charlotte is dead last in AAA attendance with 3800.

[Cubswin11]

Is offense up this year?

 

Just looking at the individual statistics, it boggles my mind that there two first baseman (Goldschmidt and Cabrera) having better seasons offensively than Rizzo, who in my mind has been an absolute monster.

 

2015 so far:

 

1.000+ OPS: 4 (Harper, Goldschmidt, Cabrera, Rizzo)

.900-1.000 OPS: 14

.800-.899 OPS: 39

Overall above .800: 57

 

2014:

 

1.000+ OPS: 0

.900-1.000 OPS: 8

.800-.899 OPS: 27

Overall above .800: 35

 

Certainly looks like it from the top, but not sure if the offensive improvement is top heavy or is everyone's offense up.

Looks like offense was fairly similar in the first half last year, only a little better this year. Are you using only qualified for 2015 or a different cutoff? Below are qualified guys in the first half last year.

 

2014 First Half:

 

1.000+ OPS: 2

.900-1.000 OPS: 12

.800-.899 OPS: 33

Overall above .800: 47

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=1&season=2014&month=30&season1=2014&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=10,d&page=1_30

[Bobson Dugnutt]

There were a little more than 10,000 people at Tropicana to see the first place Rays play the Blue Jays tonight.

 

It's only a matter of time before that franchise moves out of Florida, right?

Where would they move though? Is there another market that really makes that much more sense or would really support a team that much better?

 

San Antonio, Charlotte, and Portland are the biggest metro's without a team. I'm not counting Riverside since that's LA, more or less.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Metropolitan_Statistical_Areas

 

Interesting that there are 13 metro's bigger than Milwaukee, which is the smallest MLB metro.

Charlotte is a great city. They average close to 10,000 for AAA games (which is a gorgeous ballpark BTW).

 

The link I posted earlier shows that Charlotte is dead last in AAA attendance with 3800.

 

I think that's for 2013. They moved into a new stadium for 2014. This link has them at 9700 last year and 3800 in 2013:

 

http://ballparkdigest.com/201409057676/attendance/news/2014-affiliated-attendance-by-average

[OleMissCub]

Charlotte could definitely be a viable candidate. Market them as a Carolina's team like they do with the Panthers.