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Topper chatted with Rays owner Stu Sternberg. As usual, Stu was at times a little tone deaf.
“It’s hard to find too many of (the Rays) who would be starters on any of those teams,” he said. “It’s not like we’ve got this group of Hall-of-Famers and All-Stars.”
Okay this was funny but true:
He noted — ”tongue in cheek, but it’s the truth” — the Rays likely could do so with social-distancing restrictions in place, though they would be happy to adjust if demand increases: “Most of our games are attended by less than 10,000 people, so we could probably for the most part run a normal stadium operation.”
There’s more here, including talk on the stupid Montreal plan:
#Rays Sternberg was quite proud of "stunning" 2020 success, has lots of uncertainties about 2021 (like when fans will be back), remains focused on split-season plan with Montreal as "the only option" for team. https://t.co/FAs29Ua8jL
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) December 8, 2020
In more Rays and Rays-adjacent news:
- Andrew Kittredge is coming back.
RHP Andrew Kittredge has re-signed with #Rays on a minor-league deal. Has had no further issues with his elbow, shown in three full-go bullpen sessions, and will report to camp with no restrictions, per agent Brian Grieper.
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) December 7, 2020
- Rays alternate site resident Brian O’Grady is headed to San Diego on a big league deal.
OF/INF Brian O’Grady, who spent most of season at #Rays alternate training site and was DFA’d, gets major-league deal from #Padres pic.twitter.com/vI8oya6KoB
— Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) December 8, 2020
- In a stunning turn of events, the Rays — like, oh, 29 other teams? — are in the market for pitching.
“I think anything we can be doing to strengthen our depth with our pitching is something we’re going to be looking to do,” said #Rays GM Erik Neander. More: https://t.co/e5KLlpOKSA
— RaysRadio (@RaysRadio) December 8, 2020
- In further stunning news, the team with no big league backstops on the roster is in the market for catchers!
Rays Prioritizing Catchers https://t.co/z1I3sowpkY pic.twitter.com/vK5C4Ufi8g
— MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors) December 8, 2020
News from around the League:
- Mike Petriello with some cool stuff from Fangraphs.
Here's the current 2021 WAR projections from @fangraphs. Good way to see who has big needs or strengths, where. I rounded to the nearest WAR for readability. Not hard to find Mike Trout, is it? And hoo boy, do Story/Arenado stand out in Colorado. https://t.co/2verfMsGdZ pic.twitter.com/08owaIezIj
— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) December 8, 2020
- 2020 claimed another legend as Dick Allen passed away on Monday at the age of 78. He was many things during his career: Proud, controversial, at war with the world, and one of the most feared hitters in the game. This is an exceptional piece on him from Joe Posnanski.
- MLB ump Brian O’Nora is not having a great offseason.
MLB ump Brian O'Nora was arrested in a sting targeting johns https://t.co/wmus859x06
— Craig Calcaterra (@craigcalcaterra) December 7, 2020
- Adam Eaton is on his way back to the South Side of Chicago, and our friends at South Side Sox have some feelings.
- Just to show that MLB isn’t the only sport who struggled with their COVID protocol, Dez Bryant testing positive before kickoff yesterday...and the game went on without him like it was no big deal.
- Adam Wainwright is this year’s Roberto Clemente award winner.
Here is my Q-and-A with Adam Wainwright from May in which he explains his financial support of minor leaguers and the charity work that helped him win the Roberto Clemente Award. https://t.co/hLcZmRFzAc
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 7, 2020
- Speaking of Clemente, this is an embarrassment to his name and reputation as here’s a drive into deep left field by Castellanos and that’ll be a home run. And so that’ll make it a 4-0 ballgame. I don’t know if I’ll be putting on this headset again.
The Roberto Clemente League in Puerto Rico has hired Thom Brennaman as its play-by-play man for the 2020-21 season, which starts tonight. Brennaman, a longtime major-league broadcaster, resigned from the Reds in September after using an anti-gay slur on air.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 8, 2020
- Finally, this meme has been making the rounds. In my opinion, this is one of the best.
I'm ashamed at how long it took me to figure this out. pic.twitter.com/nncK1D2rRd
— Staceigh Gotsooleeis (@StaceGots) December 8, 2020