Most of that is fueled by the great potential that we have on the field and on our roster. |
Our commitment is to keep these players here for many years to come. |
Our goal is to make the Tampa Bay Devil Rays - or whatever we'll be called in 2007 - a source of pride for this area. |
Our minds are open to many possibilities. We'll go through an exhaustive study of it and also engage our fans in the process before we make any final decisions. |
Our twin priorities are reconstituting the baseball department and getting new decision makers in there. Coming up with our own philosophy, which is going to be a blend of a lot of different philosophies on building a winning team, one that's going to be successful [not just] next year, but for years and years to come. And how we deploy our assets to make sure that happens. |
Tampa is certainly a focus as we head out with our mobilization efforts. |
That news, combined with Rocco's great work ethic and dedication to his rehabilitation, gave us the confidence to make this deal. |
The party will begin. It's part of the local culture. |
The philosophy is to create options that will suit the great variety of groups. |
There are lots of names that are being thrown out there. Some of the younger, more quantitative-focus guys, obviously. There are people that have communicated [their interest] directly and also through the press that may have more experience, and more traditional general managers. We're going to look at all of them and see which ones make sense to bring in here. |
There are some that don't have a positive reaction to the word devil. There are some who don't have a positive reaction to a devil ray. What is a devil ray? If we make a change, it will be something that will be more accessible and appeal to everyone . . . or at least not drive people away. |
There has been some dialogue. But nothing has been formal or in depth. |
Think back to the teams that considered moving to Tampa Bay. The Chicago White Sox, San Francisco Giants and Seattle Mariners all were considered troubled franchises at one point. Now they're healthy and competitive, and that's what fans care about. |
We are pleased to begin a relationship with one of our country's premier cancer centers. We are particularly excited because of the community outreach initiatives that are integrated into this partnership. We are not only focused on bringing more marketing partners into the Rays family, but also developing relationships such as this, in which the community benefits as well. |
We continue to seek the input and suggestions of our fans about how we can improve our operations. Fan feedback has certainly influenced our promotional calendar, from more frequent promotional nights to the increased quality and number of items, even to the timely release of the promotional calendar. |