Spring Training Online

Sep23

Spring training to be extended a week to accommodate World Baseball Classic

Spring training in 2009 will run Feb. 14 through the end of March, with games beginning around Feb. 25. The long-than-usual schedule is to allow players to participate in a drawn-out World Baseball Classic, slated to run March 5-March 23. Under a normal schedule, spring training -- in terms of the players reporting -- would begin Feb. 20. It is a complicated thing, to be sure: MLB players on the WBC rosters of China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, as well as pitchers and catchers, will report on Feb. 14. All players will report by Feb. 17. No games will be added to the spring schedule, however; it does mean more open dates during March.

 
Sep24

Sarasota and Red Sox to begin formal negotiations Friday; Lee County pitches four new training sites

The Boston Red Sox and Sarasota county and city officials will begin formal negotiations over the funding and design of a new spring-training ballpark and training complex, with the first sitdown meeting slated for 9 a.m. Friday. The two sides have been trading proposals for the last month and spent a rather engaging evening in a suite at Tropicana Field recently when the Red Sox visited the Tampa Bay Rays. There's already broad agreement on the scope of the project: a 9,999-seat ballpark with berm seating, luxury boxes and parking. The Red Sox began the negotiations asking for all the revenues from the project (including concessions and parking) without putting any money up front; the city and county are expected to counter with some sort of request for upfront money. We doubt the Red Sox will put any money into the project, though some advance of rent may be possible; it's more likely the team would scale back its demands for all the suite and parking revenue to make the project financially work. Under the plan, the new ballpark would be built in Payne Park -- where the Red Sox trained in the Ted Williams era -- and the current Ed Smith Stadium site would be converted to a training facility.

Meanwhile, Lee County officials say they've identified four sites that could accommodate a new Red Sox training facility, though it's not clear there's any appetite from a developer to actually build a training complex. Judging by the lack of enthusiasm from those interviewed for this article, it's hard to say there's a lot of passion to keep the team in Lee County.

 
Sep30

ChiSox could train in Glendale, play at TEP

With spring training slated to be almost a week longer than normal in 2009, the Chicago White Sox are looking at a plan that would have them train at a new complex in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale and fulfill their lease obligations at Tucson Electric Park by busing in players for "home games" while playing the rest of their home games in Glendale. Some reports peg the number of contractually obligated games for the Sox at the TEP at 15, but that seems high to us (most leases call for 10 to 11), so we'll be checking on that. With a long spring training, 10-11 games in Tucson isn't a huge obligation, but it seems Tucson would be getting the worst of both worlds.

 
Oct05

Ft. Myers newspaper: John Henry just doesn't like town, so BoSox will move

The Fort Myers newspaper has decided why the Boston Red Sox are looking at spring-training operations to Sarasota: it's not because of the promise of a new ballpark or land for limited development -- it's the fact co-owner John Henry reportedly would prefer to spend February and March in Sarasota because he finds Fort Myers to be too low-rent. Or that's the claim by former Fort Myers Mayor Wilbur Smith, who helped bring the Red Sox to Fort Myers in the first place. For the record, we don't think Fort Myers is quite as gritty as portrayed here (though City of Palms Park is in a not-so-great part of town), and Naples is close enough for someone who likes a more upscale experience. Sarasota, we find, isn't quite as upscale as this article indicates.

 
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