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The Rays are getting a new stadium, the Orioles deserve their flowers, the Padres might be in a real crisis, and the Braves might be putting on the greatest show we’ve seen … ever? I’m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal — welcome to the Windup!
Rays announce new stadium
“Home is wherever I’m with you”
Wasn’t it just a few days ago that Evan Drellich told us about a spate of baseball teams trying to build new stadiums? (Yes.) Well, it looks like we have some movement. This morning, the Rays announced that they plan to stay in St. Petersburg, in a new 30,000-capacity stadium expected to open in 2028 and cost approximately $1.2 billion — “half or more” of which the Rays are believed to be paying for, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
The project is subject to approval by the city council and county commission, the Times reported.
This answers one major question: The Rays won’t be relocating to Nashville or Montreal or anywhere else after their lease at the Trop expires in 2027. But speaking of those cities (and others, including Portland, Salt Lake City, Charlotte and Vancouver) …
Commissioner Rob Manfred has said in recent years that he would like MLB to expand to 32 teams, but not until the Rays and A’s solve their stadium issues.
The A’s chose to solve theirs with a divorce from Oakland, and now St. Pete and the Rays are renewing their vows.
There is one big question I’m still curious about. We’ve heard for years that the problem wasn’t only so much the park itself, but the location. Traffic on the bridge between St. Petersburg and Tampa can be a nightmare during rush hour (which just so happens to be the window of time before most baseball games start).
Maybe it was just a negotiating tactic to try to get a better deal from the city of Tampa? We’ll find out eventually. For now, it’s a big step for the Rays that might signal a major shift in the greater landscape of the sport.
Ken’s Notebook: The Orioles’ award favorites
Reliever Gregg Olson was the last Baltimore Oriole to win American League Rookie of the Year back in 1989. The team had a more recent Manager of the Year, Buck Showalter in 2014. But only two other Orioles managers have earned that honor in the award’s 40-year history — Frank Robinson in 1989 and Davey Johnson in 1997.
Get ready to update those lists. The voting members of the Baseball Writers Association of America seem almost certain to recognize the Orioles’ renaissance this season. Infielder Gunnar Henderson is the front-runner for AL Rookie of the Year, while manager Brandon Hyde appears to be the favorite for the AL manager’s award.
On May 20, Henderson was batting only .192 with four homers and a .696 OPS. Since then, he has batted .283 with 23 homers and an .875 OPS. His defense, at both shortstop and third base, has been perhaps even more impressive, to the point where the game’s top prospect, Jackson Holliday, might need to move to second base once he reaches the majors. Henderson is 6-foot-3, but the Orioles are not averse to tall shortstops. Cal Ripken Jr. was 6-4.
Hyde, after the Orioles clinched a postseason berth on Sunday, spoke of how the team was “disrespected” and “underappreciated” by various projection systems before the season started. Those were understatements. FanGraphs projected 76 wins and PECOTA, 74. Baltimore is on pace for 102 wins, the franchise’s most since 1979.
Orioles assistant pitching coach Darren Holmes played for three Hall of Fame managers — Joe Torre, Bobby Cox and Tony La Russa. Yet he said, “I’ve never seen a guy handle a bullpen better than Hyde.” Holmes said Hyde has a great feel for when relievers need days off, and he prohibits them from shagging flyballs in the outfield late in the season so they can preserve energy. Even without closer Félix Bautista, who tore his UCL Aug. 25, the Orioles’ bullpen remains a force, Monday night’s difficulties in an 8-7 victory over the Houston Astros aside.
As for the other major awards, Kyle Bradish ranks fourth in the AL in ERA, but in the coming years, Grayson Rodriguez might become an even stronger contender for the Cy Young if he develops into an ace. The Orioles do not have a leading candidate for MVP, though Henderson and catcher Adley Rutschman figure to receive down-ballot and maybe even top-five consideration.
For a team that lost 108 or more games in 2018, ’19 and ’21, a Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year should be enough. The franchise’s first division title since 2014 would be pretty good, too.
All is not well in San Diego
“What can I say? This house is falling apart”
Around 2019, it seemed like anyone without a prior rooting interest in the NL West adopted the Padres as their second team. Sure, the “Preller-palooza” of 2014-15 hadn’t quite panned out, but A.J. Preller was a few years older now, a little wiser. Fernando Tatis Jr. was a budding superstar and Manny Machado had just jumped from the mega-market Dodgers to the little-brother division rival 120 miles south.
The shift from perpetual underdog to big-time player was drastic — by 2023, the Padres boasted the third-highest payroll in the sport, having added Juan Soto, Xander Bogaerts and others.
But the Padres still haven’t wrested a single NL West title away from the Dodgers. They’ve made the playoffs twice in the Preller era (and only once in a full season). They’ve cycled through managers at an alarming rate — five (so far) in the last 10 years — and according to today’s explosive report by Dennis Lin and Ken, the relationship between Preller and current manager Bob Melvin is already not great.
This paragraph was pretty shocking:
“Several Padres people interviewed for this story described circumstances in which Preller told players one thing and Melvin told them another. One player, while careful not to absolve himself and his teammates of blame, likened the situation to a toxic relationship between parents in which the kids suffer.”
There’s a lot more. The curious hires, the level of direct involvement by the front office in on-field matters, the roster construction and clubhouse chemistry — it’s a lot.
The Padres were supposed to contend for the pennant this year. Instead, they’re 73-78 and tensions are high. That will lead to some hard questions, and Dennis and Ken ask quite a few of them.
2023 Braves, best offense in history?
“Oh, this is the greatest show”
It sounds hyperbolic to even ask, doesn’t it? But Jayson Stark makes a valid case that this year’s Braves team is the greatest offense of all time, and he brings some numbers to prove it. Consider these:
• They’re 11 home runs away from becoming the first 300 (homers) / 100 (steals) team in MLB history. It’s never been done! Of course, you might be thinking to yourself: “Well sure, but Ronald Acuña Jr. is responsible for 37/66 of that.” That’s true, but lest you think that he and Matt Olson — who has broken the franchise single-season home run record with 52 — are a two-man wrecking crew …
• Sure, Acuña has 66 of the team’s 117 steals, but that doesn’t mean there’s a lack of depth. For starters, they could subtract all of Olson’s home runs and still lead baseball in the stat, thanks to their absurdly deep lineup. They could finish the season with five 30-plus homer guys, and an absurd nine with 20 or more (they currently have seven).
• OK, OK but Acuña and Olson are kind of a two-man wrecking crew also. With Olson at over 50 home runs and Acuña over 60 steals, they’re in elite company. Only three other teams have even crossed 50-50. (The 2017 Marlins were one Giancarlo Stanton homer short of hitting 60-60.)
There’s a lot more, but suffice it to say: The ’23 Braves belong in the conversation with the all-time greats, and might even deserve to be at the top of the list.
Baseball Card of the Week
As if Jose Canseco’s life and career weren’t strange enough, he has an identical twin brother who was his teammate with the A’s in 1990. There are some (very unproven) theories that Jose took some of Ozzie’s at-bats during that season. It’s a bit far-fetched, but Ozzie did once impersonate Jose at a celebrity boxing event, so I guess anything is possible.
Handshakes and High Fives
It took Adam Wainwright 12 attempts and about three months to get win No. 199. It took just one try to get his 200th, however, pitching a masterful seven shutout innings to pick up a 1-0 win over the Brewers.
Johan Rojas of the Phillies has 14 Defensive Runs Saved this year. That’s 14th in all of baseball. And he’s only played 310 innings. He’s the Phillies’ starting CF now.
This week’s power rankings employ some hindsight on the trade deadline.
The Cubs are on a five-game losing streak. Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney try to answer questions about how to stop the bleeding.
It’s not a huge deal yet, but worth keeping an eye on: Will the Supreme Court hear a case regarding MLB’s antitrust exemption?
Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe joins Starkville to talk about the Red Sox and their front office shake-up.
(Top photo of Tropicana Field: Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images)
