Rays owner Stuart Sternberg on Opening Day, new manager and stadium issue
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- New season, new outlook, many issues.
Stuart Sternberg, the Tampa Bay Rays' principal owner, held court Monday afternoon before his team opened its season against the Baltimore Orioles at Tropicana Field. Of course, the stadium issue was a topic of conversation, as well as early thoughts on the Rays' new era with first-year manager Kevin Cash.
Here are highlights from Sternberg's session with reporters.
What does Opening Day mean to you?
STERNBERG: "Optimism. We're in first place. We're in last place. Endless possibilities. The season is long, we all know it. But it's a good long."
What are your expectations?
STERNBERG: "I expect we're not going to score a ton of runs. I expect we're going to run the bases and crash the bases probably a little bit better than we did last year. I expect that we're going to have to piece the pitching together for some period of time. And I expect if we're able to hold things together for the first couple of months, I think we can make some real noise come June and July and the rest of the year."
Are you comfortable that Cash can handle it all?
STERNBERG: "He works his tush off. He's very open to things that we would like to try. And most importantly, he understands that if we're trying something, he asks what the reason behind it is as opposed to just saying, 'Fine. I'll go with.' ... His communication skills are really at the upper end of the spectrum."
What can you say to fans who are following the stadium issue?
STERNBERG: "Well, we have great TV ratings, and I'm glad that we've picked up the ratings for the St. Pete City Council meeting. I'm an extremely patient person, as those of you who have been around me for a while know. I'm demanding at times, but I'm patient. And if I can be patient with this, I would like to think our fans can be patient. The message from the beginning, the middle, and as we're going through this is that I intend to, want to, I'm doing everything I can to make certain this team stays in the Tampa Bay region for the next 50 to 100 years."
Do you get tired of the delays?
STERNBERG: "Well, I get exasperated for two reasons. One, it makes it more difficult for us to get done on the field what I'd like to get done and what I think the franchise has earned and what the employees have earned and the fans have earned, which is not to scrimp and save and trade guys off. ... We probably will have the lowest payroll, the next-to-lowest payroll in baseball. We're at $70 million, which is an area that's beyond uncomfortable. It puts us squarely in the red. It's difficult, but I felt there's a light at the end of the tunnel, and I still believe there is, we're going to do everything we can to see this thing through."
Will you deal with the stadium issue during the season?
STERNBERG: "If somebody wants to show me something, my door is always open and continues to be. (Team president) Brian (Auld) is talking about it. I've talked to him about it. But we negotiated something. We had a negotiation. It didn't happen in the afternoon over a mimosa. This went over months, and it went over language, and it went over money, and it went over terms. And we negotiated something. For whatever reason, it wasn't up to snuff. So if somebody wants to put a piece of paper in front of me, I'll take a look at it. But I'm not going to take the organization's time and manpower and everything else and go after this thing, because we did an enormous amount of work to get to this point. ... Very rarely, if ever, do you cut something off."
You can follow Andrew Astleford on Twitter @aastleford or email him at aastleford@gmail.com.
