SB Nation User Blog: EminenceFront

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EminenceFront — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 03:18:57 -0000

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All-Star Game Rosters Expanded

EminenceFront — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:30:55 -0000

Via MLB.com

Major League Baseball announced today that All-Star Game rosters have been expanded from 32 players to 33, with the extra spot being designated for a 13th pitcher. The spot for the additional All-Star pitcher will be among the managerial choices, which are made after the fan-elected starting position players and the Player Ballot-elected reserve position players and pitchers have been determined.

The A.L. and N.L. All-Star Teams will each have eight fan-elected starting position players. Player Ballot choices will add eight reserve position players and eight pitchers (five starters and three relievers) to the All-Star rosters. Then, eight selections, including the new additional All-Star pitcher, will be made by the two All-Star Team managers - A.L. skipper Joe Maddon of the Tampa Bay Rays and N.L. manager Charlie Manuel of the Philadelphia Phillies - in conjunction with MLB. In making their selections, the managers must ensure that each Club is represented in the All-Star Game.

Immediately following the announcement of the A.L. and N.L. All-Star rosters, fans will begin voting to select the final player for each League's 33-man roster via the 2009 All-Star Game Sprint Final Vote on MLB.com, casting their votes over a four-day period from a list of five players from each League. The winners will be announced after the voting concludes on Thursday, July 9th. For the fifth year, fans will also be able to make their Final Vote selections on their mobile phone; Sprint subscribers will have the exclusive opportunity to cast votes for the winners of the Final Vote by text on Sprint capable phones. Standard text rates apply.

The 2009 American League and National League All-Star Teams will be unveiled on Sunday, July 5th on the 2009 MLB All-Star Selection Show presented by Pepsi, televised nationally on TBS from 1:00-2:00 p.m. (EDT).

Summer Concert Series Good or Bad?

EminenceFront — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 01:31:22 -0000

In 2008, the Rays went a well earned 8-0 in the Summer Concert Series. The concept was a great idea to get fans to the ballpark and it worked. Tremendously. Overall attendance was up in 2008 and with a new lineup of artists in this years edition, attendance is up again. But it isn't all good news when it comes to the Summer Concert Series helping the attendance.

Attendance is a funny thing. Take a look at an evaluation between 2008 and 2009 as of June 24th in both years:

via i44.tinypic.com

Visually, you can see the Saturdays even without labels. It's much more up-and-down and radical when compared to 2008. Does some of this have to do with opponents? Yes. But again, it's not a great sign. It also seems that the Friday before Saturday Concerts and the Sunday afterward are significantly effected as opposed to regular Non-concert Saturday games.

via i41.tinypic.com

Compared to 2008, 2009 is drawing better and we are averaging more fans per game but what concerns me is that the average amount of fans on week days are actually lower. It is rather obvious that weekends will draw better but the addition of a Saturday concert is really hurting the week-day average. The scary part is Saturday Concert games are even hurting Friday games.

Non-Concert Saturday Average	31138
Concert Saturday Average	32422
Friday Before Non-Concert Saturday	22712
Friday Before Concert Average	18838
Sunday After Non-Concert Saturday	25406
Sunday After Concert Average	25001

The difference is significant. Saturday Concert games are actually negatively effecting Fridays beforehand as well as Sundays afterward Whereas regular Saturdays are better for Fridays and Sundays and only draw 1000 less than a Concert Saturday.

via i44.tinypic.com

Weekdays are again, lower than last year. On the whole, 2009 is higher on weekend games (concert and non-concert games together).

Are Saturday Concerts fun? Yes. Are they necessarily a good thing? Well, last year they were. Weekday games were not effected. However it seems as if people are now not going during the week in order to catch a concert. Maybe it's time to ditch the series? Maybe. It depends on how these numbers progress throughout the rest of this year. Hopefully they're better than now.

Tampa Bay Rays-Pedro Martinez deal still unlikely

EminenceFront — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:50:01 -0000

per The Heater and Marc Topkin:

Pedro Martinez is talking about the Tampa Bay Rays, but the Rays aren't saying anything about the veteran pitcher.

And a deal to make Pedro a Tampa Bay Ray still appears unlikely.

Martinez told the Associated Press on Wednesday in the Dominican Republic he has had talks with the Cubs and Rays and could be in uniform soon.

"There's a good chance I'll be signing soon, but there still isn't anything firm," Martinez said. "Chicago and Tampa Bay are the two teams that have shown the most interest and we are negotiating with them, although I've told my agent not to call me until it's a done deal.''

The Rays have had conversations with Martinez's agent and have had Eddy Toledo, the director of their Dominican operations, watch Martinez throw. But it appears they are a long way from any kind of deal.

Rays executive VP Andrew Friedman declined to comment, as is his usual policy on such matters. Martinez's agent, Fernando Cuza, has not returned calls from the Times.

Martinez, 37, was 214-99 record with an ERA of 2.91 in 17 seasons with the Dodgers, Expos, Red Sox and the Mets. He has been working out in hopes of signing as a starter somewhere

Let's talk Stadium.

EminenceFront — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:37:55 -0000

With the recent news that a Trop renovation wouldn't be reasonable, it's time that we take a look at some of the details in this plan. In this segment, I'm going to try to find out what this region will and can support. Let's get started.

I'm going to limit this discussion to only about 4 of the sites floating around as possible construction areas and a 5th that may be somewhat interesting. These five include: St. Pete/Clearwater Airport (A), Toytown Dump (B), the current location (C), Derby Lanes (D), UT Adjacent (F), and the mystery location: the recently closed TECO Power Plant in Oldsmar.

BAY AREA POPULATION DENSITY:

via img198.imageshack.us

St. Pete/Clearwater International Airport (Airport Code PIE):

INFRASTRUCTURE: Although central to the Tampa/St. Pete area, PIE is almost bereft of Interstate Traffic. Yes the Bayside Bridge and Roosevelt/Ulmerton do support some local traffic but not nearly enough to support the +/- 35,000 attendance the Rays plan on building for. GRADE: C

AVAILABILITY: As recently as about 6 months ago, PIE has lost several small but important airlines such as USA 3000 are leaving quickly. Even with these departures, PIE is controlled by the County and is very unlikely to be made available in the near future. GRADE: D

POPULATION: According to the 2000 US Census, PIE is right in the middle of the area in Pinellas County where population density is the lowest. Commercial population is relatively decent but it's not nearly as great as Tampa or St. Pete. GRADE: C

REGIONABILITY: PIE is decent at best for Pinellas and Hillsborough (terrible for Pasco). It's is awful for Orlando and the Sarasota/Bradenton market. Again, the Gandy bridge is the only viable interstate option for either side. GRADE: F

POSSIBILITY GRADE: D This option is possibly the worst avaiable regionally speaking.

Toytown Dump:

INFRASTRUCTURE: This beautiful former dump is I-275 adjacent and is located in a central location in regards to Tampa and St. Pete. Parking is non-existent but that's for another post. The only drawback is that the I-275 area becomes bogged down fast. Really fast. Gamedays as they are now can strain the system. GRADE: B

AVAILABILITY: Being a former dump (ceased being used in the 70's/80's), the status of the soil underneath is in question. It will most certainly be an issue in regards to this site. Having said that, it is the biggest unused parcel left in Pinellas County and it is left to be seen if the County will hand it over for a ballpark. GRADE: C

POPULATION: Somewhat in the middle of mid-southern Pinellas County, Toytown is decent for residential but above-average for commercial. GRADE: C+

REGIONABILITY: It's somewhat available to the higher populated areas in Hillsborough and Sarasota/Bradenton. Orlando is not going to be a significant draw and the ever-growing Pasco County is a bit out of a reach. GRADE: C

POSSIBILITY GRADE: B This option may be the County's only choice if nobody else wants to accept it.

Current Location of Tropicana Field: Everyone knows this already...POSSIBILITY: F The team already said so...

Derby Lane:

INFRASTRUCTURE: Off-ramps would have to be built but the location is again, I-275 adjacent. Local traffic is limited to Roosevelt and similar roads and that isn't much.GRADE: C+

AVAILABILITY: Derby Lane is still open for business. It would either have to close or the owner would have to sell in order for this option to become available. GRADE: D

POPULATION: Serves the Tampa area better than Pinellas. Better for Sarasota/Bradenton than others. Worse for Pasco. The area does not have tons of residential. In fact, it's in the lower third. Commercial is decent (about the same as Toytown with the added benefit of a bridge right to Downtown Tampa at it's doorstep). GRADE: D

REGIONABILITY: Average for Tampa, Meh for Pinellas, Decent for Sarasota/Manatee, Bad for Pasco, and average for Orlando (however miniscule it may be). GRADE: C

POSSIBILITY GRADE: B- Out of all the options, this one may end up being the best fit...according to this part of our studies.

UT ADJACENT: It's been done before here. I'll try to find the link sometime soon. POSSIBILITY GRADE: F Pinellas/St. Pete will not let the team move to Tampa.

Former TECO Power Plant:

I'm throwing this out there because it raises an outside-the-box answer to a very hard problem. For this one, I'm leaving the 5 points of all my previous arguments up to you...

I know what I tihnk, I want to heard it from everyone else.

I look forward to continuing on to Part II if everyone is interested in a step-by-step approach covering all bases the best we can.

REGIONAL POPULATION DENSITY: (The green dot is approx. the center of all areas)

via img193.imageshack.us

Longoria to play tonight.

EminenceFront — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:10:40 -0000

Per SPTimes...

UPDATE: Longoria is playing tonight. Longoria said he felt fine in drills earlier today and is feelin close to 95 percent. "I can't wait to be back in the lineup," Longoria said. Here is the rest of the Rays lineup: Upton, cf Crawford, lf Longoria, 3b Pena, 1b Aybar, 2b Zobrist, ss Dillon, dh Kapler, rf Hernandez, c Sonnanstine, p NEWS:The best case scenario didn't happen for the Rays, which was that Evan Longoria showed up and felt so good manager Joe Maddon could put him in the lineup and post it early. Instead there is no lineup up yet, meaning they likely are again waiting to see how Longoria feels after pre-game drills. Or that he's not playing.

BJ Over-rated....sigh

EminenceFront — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 19:42:00 -0000

BJ Over-rated....sigh

Upton has a boatload of talent, but it’s starting to become clearer that he is too much of a head case.

Edwin Jackson should still be here...

EminenceFront — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:47:16 -0000

Edwin Jackson should still be here and we should have traded Sonnanstine for Joyce.

But he's not! GET OVER IT. It's done and you can't do anything about it.

GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT. GET OVER IT

Until next time,

GET OVER IT.

DRB Merchandise Submissions Needed

EminenceFront — Mon, 18 May 2009 23:49:43 -0000

Ever want to show your friends you know what FIP means without having to interact with them socially? How about showing you knew about a certain Jurassic deity before it became cool therefore making you cool? Well good news....

RJ and I have been working on some designs to be made available in the near future but instead of creating merchandise based on what we think, perhaps it would be better to ask everyone for ideas.

Keep in mind not every idea is going to get made and we still have control over the design process. This is just a way to get everyone here involved in order to create the best possible merchandise for DRB by DRB.

Having said that, the first design due for print in the near future is the signature "Boo him now" model.

via img156.imageshack.us

Ideas? Critiques? Credit card numbers?

Poll

Would you be interested in purchasing DRB related merchandise?

Yes

110 votes

No

64 votes

174 votes | Poll has closed

DRB Photoshop/Caption Contest #1

EminenceFront — Wed, 13 May 2009 19:05:32 -0000

DRB Photoshop/Caption Contest #1

Thought this may be fun. Maybe we can keep it going throughout the year (I know we had it in Spring Training)...Either Photoshop or caption this picture. The winner will be determined by the most Recs received.

(I picked an easy one to start)