Better off, Rays will stay

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By GARY SHELTON

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 28, 2001

Relax.

Take a deep breath.

The Rays aren't going anywhere. And for the first time in the history of the organization, you can take that as good news.

Oh, I know what you're thinking. The Rays -- underachieving, underappreciated, undermanned and waaaaay under .500 -- will soon be for sale, and the paranoia has left the gate. The sky is falling, and not just in Toronto's SkyDome. Already, it is possible to hear chatter that this team is bound for Orlando or Washington or Nashville or Corked Bat, New Mexico, just as fast as the movers can stuff Wilson Alvarez into a crate.

Calm down.

It isn't going to happen.

Fearing this team's move is a reflex, because down deep, most of us realize the area hasn't exactly hugged it tightly so far. Doom and gloom is the safe stance, because if you're wrong, heck, you can still go to a game. That said, someone intimately familiar with the lease said Friday that it was less than 1 percent, much less than 1 percent, that anyone could move this team.

The discomfort is understandable, of course. If nothing else, Tampa Bay knows the look of a vulnerable team. In the old days, this is exactly the kind of wounded team we would be all over. We'd print T-shirts and bumper stickers, and we'd snarl and moan when the team stayed where it was.

But let me be the reassuring voice that baseball, and those who run it, should have been on Friday. This team is staying, too. The Rays are yours, in sickness and in health. The Rays are here, at Tropicana and in fifth place. It is up to you to decide whether that is good news.

They are not moving, because they have a lease without escape tunnels. They are not moving, because they are in better financial shape than you think. They are not moving, because it would tick off the politicians. They are not moving, because three years of existence, all in last place, make it premature to judge a community. They are not moving, because even if someone could pay off the lease, the concessions, the radio and television contracts, it would cost them a fortune. They are not moving, because there are only a couple of places to go. They are not moving, because why buy here when you can get the Marlins for $8.12?

They are not moving, because of this: Because the Rays are better off today than they were yesterday.

Stack the twin news conferences side by side, the one about a new chief operating officer and the one about a team about to be put up for sale, and most of us will talk about the team for sale. It's the sexier story, the one that teases abandonment, the one that leaves you wondering if they can divide Tropicana into condominiums afterward.

The truth is, that's not the important part of what happened Friday. The biggest thing that happened was that the generally unhappy general partners of the Rays got their way. A new governor is headed to town. Vince Naimoli is now in charge in name only.

This was the agreement brokered by baseball. Naimoli gets to keep his designation with the league, but it says in writing the new chief operating officer -- John McHale is the Rays' top choice -- will be the person in charge.

Bless good old Vince. He says he only made four mistakes in his tenure (think 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001), which is home scorekeeping at its finest. But Naimoli is the guy who brought baseball here, and as the years go by, the appreciation of that will grow.

It was time, however, for a new purpose and a new direction, both of which had gotten muddled along the way. This will end the bickering. The general partners will be more willing to go to the hip. And the team has the best chance of being run efficiently it has ever had.

So why put it up for sale? Why do it so publicly? Why invite all bidders, whether they are spending Krugerrands or dollars, to join in the auction?

Consider this. It can take years to sell a team. Perhaps the owners wanted an out in case this doesn't work. Perhaps baseball wanted to see one more team for sale as it entered labor talks.

What we know is this. Naimoli says the stadium is fine. He says his team makes twice what some other teams do. He says his team doesn't have a financial problem.

What Naimoli didn't say was this team will stay here as long as all of us draw breath. And that's the shame of Friday. No one was allaying any fears at all, not the commissioner and his statement (hey, he had time to speak gloomy and doomy about the Marlins this week), not the silent partners, not even Naimoli.

"I can't tell someone who buys a team what they can do with it," he said. "That's like selling a car and telling someone where to park it."

True. But if you remember, the Bucs put a $35-million extra payment in the contract for anyone who threatened to move that franchise.

Still, it won't matter. The Rayshomestand is going to last for a lot of years. They aren't moving anywhere.

Although third place sounds nice.

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