The Connecticut Devil Rays

There are smart people in the Major League Baseball offices wondering if there's hope of even discussing a potential move of the Rays to New Jersey or Southern Connecticut over certain protests from the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox and Phillies. [Peter Gammons article on the Rays]

I caught wind of this thanks to a post by Matt at Fack Youk, who went over the potential landing spots city by city rebuffing all CT cities, but I'd like to put my 2 cents in as well. Frankly this is possibly one of the least likely things ever uttered by Peter Gammons.

As Matt at points out in much longer analysis, Connecticut has just 3.5 million people, no viable Major League city, has essentially failed everytime a pro team was in the state and barely supports it's minor league teams. To think that Southern Connecticut could even really support a team if we had no other options would likely be questionable. But we do have options and this is the biggest issue.

I now live in Southern New Haven County. In order for me to go to a Yankee game I don't have to do anything different in my daily routine. I can live work at 5 or 5:30 drive an hour+ and be at Yankee stadium. I can leave the game when it's over and get home at around 11:30. I could do the same thing for a Mets game if my heart was content. And this is in northern Fairfield County/New Haven County, never mind Southern Fairfield County. For people in Stamford, the most viable city in CT for a sports team (thanks to a shit load of financial business) getting to NYC is even easier. Right now you can take a train from Stamford and get to Yankee stadium in maybe 45 minutes. If you are a fan of the Yankees or Mets which essentially everyone is in Southern CT, how often would you go see the "home team" when you can just drive 45 minutes and watch the team you actually like?

The Red Sox fans in Northern CT have a bit longer of a trip to Boston but still on the weekend would these people go to Fenway or go to the "Connecticut team" when the drive would likely be just an hour shorter. I'm pretty sure they're going to go with Fenway.

Connecticut is not a major league state. Neither is Rhode Island or Vermont or New Hampshire or Maine but frankly we're fine with it.

Numbers On Steroids: Mickey Mantle

Numbers on Steroids is a look at baseball players during the 90s to see if anything screams out at you. This week it's throwing a curve ball and looking at All Time Great Yankees. Players that we know did not take steroids to see if this gives a defense to any of the players 'convicted' by Numbers on Steroids. Time to look at my dad's favorite athlete of all time, Mickey Mantle. Averages Say: What's with the mysterious dip at 27 and then the uptick? At Bats Per Home Run Says: That's a mighty jump from 22 to 24 Explaining As If It Was the 90s If you take a look at the numbers there are two time frames which in the 1990s would be questioned. First would be the incredible leap he took from his first year in the big leagues to his first MVP season in 1956. His batting average jumped 50 points. His slugging percentage jumped 90 points and he hit 15 more homers than his previous high. This wouldn't merrit a conviction nowadays though because the young age he...

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Guest Post: Thoughts on Sabathia Signing

I asked Grutt what his thoughts were on the Sabathia signing and I thought his response pretty much nailed it. So here it is. I don’t know. Every year I get a little more disenchanted with baseball. Yea, it’s great we signed the top pitching free agent. But we were supposed to. No team was even in the ballpark of the Yankees offer yet they still needed to jump from the already ridiculous price of $140 million to $160 million to close the deal. Now I hear we are going to sign more pitchers who will also get large contracts and the position player gaps are still glaring. Each new, large contract just adds to the feeling that the Yanks are supposed to win it all. “I think we have a good chance this year.” That is a lost feeling. If they don’t win I’ll wonder why, like there has to be some other reason besides that it’s a sport you can never predict how things will work out and some years just aren’t yours to be won. If they win I will be pleasantly smug. It gets a little more...

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