The Rays Tank: David Ortiz Wants Less Drama, Dave Eiland Wants To Be A Pitching Coach

MLB Chatter

I was a bad baseball fan last night and sat down to read my book instead of following the games, but it seems the postseason carried on without me. The Tigers stayed alive, winning 7-5 thanks to four homers, and the Brewers evened the NLCS up at two games apiece. I'm not exactly sure how long the Tigers are going to be to hang on with such a weakened lineup, but hey, I'm definitely hoping they can still manage to send the Rangers home on their butts.

So David Ortiz wants to play for a team that has less "drama" surrounding it? Might I suggest Tampa Bay? When it comes to the Rays, there are only three types of drama that you'll find: attendance, athletes tweeting about attendance, and owners complaining about attendance. So if Big Papi is looking for a place to play competitive, AL East baseball, yet without the clingy media presence and constant drama, why not St. Pete?

Rays Talk

Finally, someone gets the whole Rays stadium/attendance things right. Alex Remington over at FanGraphs put in the necessary legwork to get the full story, and it definitely shows in his article. There's not much in there that many of us don't know -- that a new stadium is needed but not likely due to Bill Foster's stubbornness and the economy -- but I'm at least happy that someone decided to tackle this topic and actually do it justice.

One last note: the Royals are looking for a new pitching coach and Dave Eiland -- who spent this past year helping out in the Rays' front office -- interviewed for the position recently. From what Topkin is reporting, his goal has always been to get another job as a pitching coach somewhere, so he may not last with the Rays for long. The Royals seem to have rather specific desires, but Eiland would fit the bill:

"I'm looking for a guy that pitched in the big leagues for a long time with mediocre stuff. Usually those guys that have to work real hard at their game and have longevity in their game are going to make dynamic pitching coaches."