An interview with Tampa Bay Rays President Brian Auld - Part 2

On May 5, 2017, I had the opportunity to chat with Brian Auld, President of the Tampa Bay Rays. Our conversation in the administrative offices of Tropicana Field lasted nearly 40 minutes as the Rays prepared to play the Blue Jays. At the time, the team record was 15-15. Many thanks to Brian and Razi Amador Fink for their time.

(This is Part 2 of the interview. Part 1 is here.)

Are you seeing younger fans becoming Rays fans?

Brian Auld: Well, we put every kid in tee-ball in a Rays jersey. That is one of our community programs. We want them to say they are on the Rays and to be proud of it. And we are on television every night and we are the local team. You go to games here and you might see Dad and Mom in the other team’s gear and kids in the Rays gear. I don’t think the parents are fighting it. I think they get it. I’ve even see a good number of kids who got their parents to change. I think that will really help. And as that strong affinity grows, when you have that $200 and you are trying to figure out where to spend it, I think you are more likely to spend it on your big league team.

That’s our long term plan. It can be frustrating on a daily basis. We do wish we had more revenue so we can compete more aggressively with the other teams in our division. But again, when I think about all we have done in the last 10 years, it has been significant. We have made a ton of progress. And I think ahead 10 years and I really think we will be in a different place and this conversation will be a thing of the past.

Ten years might not be long for a team, but for an individual, ten years is a long time. Are you expecting to be here in 10 years?

It is a thought that crossed my mind. Stu came in as a very young owner and he is 12 years older than he was then. We all want to build that ballpark. We all want to win that World Series and we all want 30,000 people to come in every night. We all want the same type of feeling that rippled through Tampa Bay in 2008 to happen again. It’s hard. You can’t expect it every year. There are 29 other teams gunning just as hard as you are. That’s what’s great about sports.

So it’s crucial we take a long term perspective. But we certainly want things to happen in our lifetime.

If you could compare Tampa Bay to any other size market, which do you look at? On my website, I have used Pittsburgh, is this correct?

I think Pittsburgh is an apt comparison. We look at the Ohio markets as well – Cleveland and Cincinnati. Nowhere is exactly like anywhere else and the Florida markets have a lot of unique things about them, many of which make our job harder. We want fans to be living and dying with us. We want that passion. I think we are generating it. But I understand people want to go to the beach. But the summer is not the most beautiful time to be outdoors. That’s a disadvantage compared to the guys in Toronto, Boston, and New York. But I wouldn’t trade places with those guys at all.

The other thing I would say about Tampa Bay – more so than any other sports market – is that it is still growing, still rising, and still emerging. It is changing every day – physically changing. It is creating an identity. One of the things I love about being in this position is that we are a big part about crafting the future of Tampa Bay. When we stood for LGBT, I think it sent a message about Tampa Bay to the country in the wake of the Orlando incident. When we went to Cuba, it said something about what we are doing here. I meet with the mayors more than my counterparts in any other market. Partly because it is smaller here, and we are a big fish in a slightly smaller pond. I think that is really cool. I like that. I like that no matter where our ballpark goes, it will dramatically affect everything around it in a way that exceeds what it has done in bigger cities because we are less established and we are coming along right now. And anyone you talk to, any of the business leaders, any of the politicians, they all feel like Tampa Bay is coming into its own right now. So it is a really interesting time for us to be doing what we are trying to do.

There is a great energy here. What is going on at USF-St Pete is interesting. Hopkins coming in, the Innovation District, I think I can throw a baseball and hit nine different breweries. And that’s neat. It’s people who are doing stuff. They are starting things and it is cool things. It is redefining what we are all about. St. Petersburg is a really cool place now. I don’t think I would have said that eight years ago or even five years ago. And I think it is great.

On a personal side, can you talk about your decision to take the job with the Rays years ago? What was the career progression that lead you here?

This is a great job. Who wouldn’t want it? (Laughs.) Well, I have always loved baseball and like anyone who loves the game I would have always jumped at the opportunity to work in the game if it came up. But there are 30 teams. I have people all the time ask me ‘How do I get to where you are?’, and I politely explain that there are 25 times more Major League Baseball players than there are people with my job. People understand how hard it is to be a Major League Baseball players, so then they understand that you have to be 25 times luckier than that. Plus, I keep my job longer. So it is really 50 or 100 times more difficult. There are more US senators than people in my job.

I was aware that if I limited my options to just sports, it would be a rough, rough road. That said, we have people here working for at least $10 an hour – because that’s our minimum wage – people who could be making more money somewhere else, who chose to be in baseball and are running down that track as fast as they can. And I admire them for it.

When I graduated college, I wanted to be a teacher. No baseball team was offering me a senior level position at the time, so the option wasn’t there. I absolutely love teaching. It was a very strong passion of mine. I went to business school with the idea of opening up a charter school and coming out of there was a principal of a public school. Then Matt Silverman called me and said his new boss at Goldman Sachs was thinking about buying the Devil Rays and if his boss did that then Matt would be the team president and he asked if I would be interested in being part of that team. It was too cool to say no to.

I didn’t believe him at first. We were 27 and 28 at the time. I didn’t understand why someone with the means to buy a baseball team would hand the keys over to us and Andrew Friedman as well. But he did and the three of us came down here and had an absolute blast trying to get this business turned around. We worked as hard as we could and so far, so good.

How has the perception of the Rays front office changed among other teams since the days you began here?

I spent my first eight or nine years here very focused on the internal. It was building the mission, creating an “employee-first” culture. We created a great place to work and then told people to do more with less. I think that foundation is important to what we have done here. And it extends to the clubhouse. I think a lot of players want to be here because they feel like we do everything we can for them. Matt was the team president then, so when I got there I was relatively young compared to most of them. We had stopped being the Devil Rays and become the Rays. We were highly respected on the business and baseball side.

I’ll tell you Stu and Matt both think a lot of minds changed after 2008. They were invited to sit a lot more tables. And not everyone has been to a World Series. It is a big deal that we did it and we sustained it for a few years. We won a lot of people over in the room. And that’s a really important room. Going back to the ballpark, we have to convince 29 other teams that building a ballpark here is a good move. Not just for us, but for them. They send a lot of money down here through the revenue sharing program and as the A’s have found out in the most recent CBA (collective bargaining agreement), those payments are not necessarily guaranteed. We certainly cannot build a new ballpark if it means sacrificing revenue sharing. So we are going to need baseball’s blessing and we going to do what we have to to get that. If they think we are on a foolhardy journey and a new ballpark won’t improve revenue, they we might as well stay here in a paid-for ballpark.

Are they sold on Tampa Bay? What is the feeling of other owners and front offices?

There is a healthy skepticism. I think it is warranted. Prior to 2008, I think a lot of folks thought it was the organization. We hadn’t had a lot of winning and we hadn’t done a lot to earn corporate partnerships nor sell season tickets. But that six year run we went on from 2008 to 2013, when we won 90 games five times and made the postseason four times, that was really good. I don’t know how long you have been doing your website, but anyone writing back then thought attendance would jump dramatically and it would have far exceeded what it did. That has given rise to some skepticism.

What I tell everyone in this process is that we need skeptics. You should be challenging everything I say. Our elected officials need to make decisions they feel good about. Don’t trust us or believe in what we are saying. Go find your own numbers and do your own studies on economic development opportunities and whether or not we can be a catalyst and everything else. We are talking about a very big endeavor and a huge public-private partnership. The more people who look at it skeptically, the more people who need to be convinced, the more people with open minds, the better. I don’t want to go forward unless a lot of other smart people have looked at this with their own angles and biases and determined that this is what we should do.

Do you think there has been a shift in awareness of public-private stadium funding? We are now seeing people such as John Oliver analyzing it, as well as several websites and other media. Do you foresee more resistance because the public is more aware?

I think there is more awareness. As I said, I welcome that. I take great pride in how we have done this. It probably has been slower that it could be otherwise. I think with the right political donations, I think we might get a vote through the St Pete City Council a year or two early. That’s never what we wanted to do. If the representatives who were elected to represent St Pete didn’t think that deal was the right deal – I still to this day don’t understand why they didn’t want to let us look on both sides of the bay given the circumstances – but if we couldn’t convince five of the eight of them, we still have a place to play baseball. That’s their job and we welcome that.

Same thing with the public. One thing that I like to tell people is we have to have a conversation about the value of Major League Baseball in Tampa Bay, because it is expensive. What troubles me is the “not one public dollar to stadiums under any circumstances” or even worse the supposition that we can pay for it ourselves but we don’t because we are whatever negative terms people want to use. Then people often point to franchise valuations that exist in magazines but aren’t necessarily real and certainly can’t be monetized.

The best example I have been able to come up with for that is if you are living in your house and it goes from a $100,000 to million dollar house, you still just have your house. The only way to get $900,000 in cash is to sell your house. Then the person who buys your house, they don’t have the $900,000 either. So we can’t access theoretical franchise increases in a way to pay players. It’s not doable. We may be able to borrow a little bit more, and over the years we have done that, and we are able to increase payroll. It’s not as easy as saying Forbes just estimated us at $900 million, so we can pay our players $300 million, because that cash does not exist. And when you look to buying a new ballpark, that money doesn’t exist for that either. We have to finance whatever we put into the new ballpark.  And whatever we put into the ballpark could be used for payroll or other operations of the ballclub. In the event we were able to finance a ballpark – and the most recent ones have billions in the price tag – we would need 85,000 people paying $100 a night to be able to do that. That’s just not how it works.

That’s why our vision has always been for our ballpark to be a public asset and for the community to have a say in how we go about it. We want to meet as many public needs as possible.

What are some of the more unique ideas you have received in regards to the ballpark?

First, whatever we do has to be tied to a transportation plan that can unlock all of Tampa Bay’s potential. My favorite is that we started by saying we wanted to create a baseball experience like no other. Baseball is king. Second, we want to make our ballpark accessible for public use 365 days a year. Why not open the gates and let kids play wiffle ball here in the winter?

As we thought it through, the ideas to make it an accessible place to be 365 days a year are blending with the baseball experience. For example, we need a place where we serve 30,000 people food. What do we do with those kitchens in the other 280 days a year? Could we turn it into a community kitchen? What would that entail? What would it look like? When you start thinking about those things, a community kitchen that can serve fans would be even cooler.

Building it in an open and accessible way might make for a different experience. Bellying up the bar to order your food might not be the way we do things in the new place. My favorite idea, and I am not sure if we are going to do anything with this, is that we have been watching sports the same way since the days of the Greeks and the Romans. Long rows of seats. If you are stuck in the middle, it is a horrible seat. So can we not do something like a horseshoe with a table in the middle?

We don’t have to jam 50,000 people into the smallest footprint possible. We have a smaller market. Let’s take advantage of that and have a place where people are more comfortable and it is more conducive to watching baseball and rethink how we put the seats out there. Engineers are mulling this over. I’m sure I am not the first ever to think of this. But it is that kind of thought process that we are bringing to this endeavor.

I think when we get this done, you will see the first in a new generation of ballpark. People forget Tropicana Field was the last of a previous generation.

I think about the energy they must have had to get Tropicana Field built. We mentioned the growth in St. Pete. It is still the smallest city in Major League Baseball. Although it is growing incredibly. I can’t imagine the foresight people had years ago to imagine Major League Baseball here without a team.

Last question, are you optimistic about the rest of the season? Do you think the Rays can compete?

I think so. We’ve played a very tough schedule so far. And we are .500. Without the guy we thought was going to be our starting shortstop. We just got Colby Rasmus back. Mallex Smith, who is supposed to fill some holes for us, he has been hurt for a little while. Some of our bigger names are not having career years. And we are hanging in there. I think if we keep fighting the way we are, you will see a team that is in it for the long haul. It is a fun team to root for. They are not concerned with any of the things we have been talking about. They just want to win ballgames.

An interview with Brian Auld, President of the Tampa Bay Rays - Part 1

On May 5, 2017, I had the opportunity to chat with Brian Auld, President of the Tampa Bay Rays. Our conversation in the administrative offices of Tropicana Field lasted nearly 40 minutes as the Rays prepared to play the Blue Jays. At the time, the team was 15-15. Many thanks to Brian and Razi Amador Fink for their time.

(This is Part 1 of our discussion. Part 2 here.)

Let’s start with the big picture, what is the state of the Rays right now?

Brian Auld: As of yesterday, we were .500. Hopefully tomorrow we will be a game over. So the state of the Rays is good.

Let's get the elephant in the room out of the way. What is new with the stadium situation?

There is nothing brand new. But the good news is that our due diligence process over the last year has lead us to believe there is a greater amount of support for Rays baseball in the Tampa Bay region as a whole than we are currently generating at Tropicana Field. That’s a positive development for us. The other positive is that politicians, elected officials, and business leaders on both sides of the bay, and certainly fans are intent on keeping the Rays in Tampa Bay and we certainly want to stay in Tampa Bay. So I think that when all these minds get together and get creative, we are going to figure out a way to do that.

The difficult part is that it is very difficult. It is a very big challenge. Your blog has documented it as well as anywhere as. The attendance issue that we face is that we are not missing by a few hundred people, we are missing by 10,000 plus. The goal we’ve had is to be at league average, or certainly be league average or above when we are playing good baseball, which I think we are now, and we certainly have in the last 10 years. So those challenges are very real. And figuring out if/when/how we are able to build a ballpark that will allow us to cross that hurdle is a major endeavor. It is something we are taking very seriously, have a lot of sharp people on, and I am optimistic that we will figure something out in the next year or so at least.

Recently, you had a luncheon with the Tampa Chamber. How did that go?

It was great. Our players cracked a bunch of jokes and showed people their human side, which I think is always fun. Matt, Kevin, and I were able to talk a little about how the team is doing. We were also able to address a little of the stadium issues for those people and let them know we want to hear from them. It’s important to us and it’s important to Major League Baseball that people stand up and say ‘We want this team here. We want this team in our community and we are going to fight to keep it and we are going to help the Rays generate the kind of revenue you need to be successful’.

I’ve gone to one of those luncheons before in Tampa and the first question is always ‘Will the stadium be built in Tampa?'. I would assume your St. Pete luncheons get the same question but in reference to St. Pete or Pinellas.

That’s good and it is great that everyone thinks the best place for the ballpark is right next to where they live. And you much prefer that to the opposite – get them out of our town. So that is a common question. Another question I am often asked is ‘What is wrong with Tropicana Field?’ to which my answer is always ‘Nothing.’. We’ve put 30 million dollars into this facility and made it a great place to watch baseball.

However, it is aging. And as you are aware, other than the very old ballparks that have had significant facelifts, Tropicana Field is among the oldest in the entire game. People forget it predates the team by 10-15 years. We have some infrastructure issues that we have to deal with and that are getting more expensive every year – the pipes are starting to wear, things like that. But my main problem with Tropicana Field is that not enough people come to watch Rays baseball here. That’s really it. If we were bringing 30,000 people a night every night, we wouldn’t be talking about how we to explore the entire region to find the optimal site.

On that note, what I’ve seen is that from 2008-2010 you were doing well – selling out games against division opponents – then there was a slight drop, and then after 2013, your average attendance dropped again. Could that have been because of the front office changes? Or is any of because with Jeter, David Ortiz, and others retiring, opposing fanbases aren’t coming out as much?

Certainly 2008-2010 were the high water marks for us. But for a team coming off an incredible World Series run and regarded as one of the best teams in baseball during those years, we didn’t hit nearly where we wanted to be. And those sell-outs were after we closed off 10,000 seats. It is important that we convey that even during that time, we still didn’t reach the league average that we were shooting for. Then we continued to be successful through 2013. The drop-off after that, I think, has been because of team performance, more than I would say Jeter or Ortiz. When the Yankees and Red Sox are good, their fans do show up more. That said, we would rather be on top of them in the standings and bring in our own people regardless. That is not something we want to be dependent on.

We are trying to do everything we can. We have tried a lot of different strategies to bring people in. The concert series, for example, use to be a very good way for us to get to 30,000. I think we brought in comparable acts in latter years and didn’t get anywhere near there. So we’ve asked ourselves is it better to have premium giveaways? What else can we try? We are trying a doubleheader this year – a single gate doubleheader. We are going to continue to be creative, to come up with something that works, and then understand that even though we do something that works for a little while, it may not last.

All of that said, if you go back from 1998 to now, the trend has been overwhelmingly positive. One thing I like to tell people is that since I got involved in the organization under Stu Sternberg’s leadership, the progress we have made in the last 10-12 years has been phenomenal. If we can make this same progress over the next 10-12 years, we won’t be having this conversation. And I believe the region is moving in the right direction. St. Pete is a dramatically different city than it was 10 years ago. The Tampa Bay region has become more of a region – there is a lot more cooperation on both sides of the bay. People are getting used to driving over the bridge a little more than they used to. They are saying nicer things about it to each other. So all of that to me means we are moving in a positive direction, and that, more than anything, is why we want to be here. That’s why we never petitioned the City of St. Petersburg to look outside of Tampa Bay. This is where we want to be.

When you look at some of the other local organizations such as the Lightning, and the involvement Jeff Vinik has in hotels and property, and the Rowdies, and all Bill Edwards is doing, do you feel the Rays are falling behind or having to play catch up because of your location and the political hurdles?

I think the Rays organization and brand is very, very strong. We are really proud of that. I think any non-profit the Rays have worked with feels good about how we have supported them. I think we have found a way to touch everyone in the Tampa Bay region and we are getting better and better at doing that every year. You can’t run around Tampa Bay anymore and not see Rays gear. There was a time when we first got here that we gave free tickets to anyone with a Devil Rays hat on. We’ve come a long, long way and I think we continue to move in a very positive direction.

Jeff Vinik and Bill Edwards have a different vision for what they are trying to do than Stu Sternberg and the Rays do. We just want to run a successful baseball team. We want to compete. We want a team that does right by the community, that fulfills our mission to energize the community through the magic of Rays baseball, but we aren’t looking to subsidize our baseball team with development projects. We want to leave that to developers. Which by the way, Jeff and Bill have either become or learned about or hired the right people to bring into the mix. And that’s great. I think it is tremendous. Especially how Jeff is actively involved in shaping the future of Tampa and Tampa Bay. What he is doing with transportation right now, I am incredibly grateful for. But we try to focus on what we know, which is how to run a baseball team and I think we have done a pretty good job of that.

Do you meet with any of the other local sports owners to discuss overall direction?

Definitely. Stu knows the Glazers well. He knows Jeff well. I know Brian Ford of the Bucs and Steve Griggs of the Lightning. I just had coffee the other day with Rick Baker and talked to him about St. Pete. We all have very cordial relationships. We are competitors, but not in a traditional sense. We all recognize that we are all going to do well together, and we are all going to struggle together. We have the same struggles, so we all try to help each other out. We all get along, we root for each other’s teams. We all want each to do well, because more than any other sports region in the country, we are all tied to what happens here. So goes Tampa Bay, so will go the teams. Right now, things are moving in the right direction.

What about in the market of baseball in Tampa Bay with Spring Training, Minor League Baseball, etc.? I’ve heard you have read some of what I’ve written.

Yeah, you have pointed it out very well. Sometimes it scares me how many options there are.

My premise is that if, for example, a family has $200 in January to spend on baseball for the year, there are a lot of different games they can spend it on.

It doesn’t help us, but it is great for baseball and great for Florida. We believe in that. We love having Spring Training here. Our players love it. They get six more weeks at home. It could be a competitive edge for us. We wish all the Minor League and Spring Training teams around us well.

But, does it make it a little easier when you move down from New York and you have the Tampa Yankees right there to hold on to that allegiance and not come over to the Rays? I think it does and it makes our challenge that much more difficult.

I still think we are going to get your kids, though. I think we are seeing that. One of the things I love talking about is that we are just now seeing the first group of kids whose parents grew up as Rays fans. That’s going to start happening more and more. We think that is what is going to make this franchise take off. We don’t have the generational fanbase they have in other markets. And beyond that, we don’t have a group of people who grew up going to games so they think ‘oh, I’ll just bring my kid out to a game’. That’s coming and it’s going to grow stronger and stronger.



Part 2 of this interview coming soon.

Interviewed yet again by Bluebird Banter

For the third season in a row, I had the opportunity to answer some questions from Blue Jays blog Bluebird Banter. Tom Dakers of Bluebird Banter likes interviewing writers from other cities when the Jays play those teams. It is a really cool idea and a good way to expose his readers to new voices.

I definitely appreciate the chance to introduce myself to the Blue Jays blogosphere again. I answered questions on Rays attendance, the stadium saga, the Rays long-term prospects, and the status of the Dunedin Blue Jays.

Check it out:

View from the other side: Rays questions for Michael Lortz of Tampa Bay Baseball Market - Bluebird Banter

Best Places to Eat and Drink Near Tropicana Field

Before the season started, Eno Sarris of The Hardball Times tweeted out a question to fellow baseball writers. He wanted to know the best places to eat and drink near and in every stadium in Major League Baseball. Always open to spreading the word, I eagerly volunteered.

Between Jessica Quiroli of Heels on the Field, Erik Hahmann of DRaysBay, Zack Meisel, Tim Britton, and myself, Sarris received 16 different places to partake around the Trop and a good heads-up of the best fares inside the Trop. Sarris then plotted our suggestions on The Hardball Times Major League Food Map, an interactive map where users can not only plot but also zoom in to find the exact location of the establishment.

It is an awesome project and highly recommended.

Among my suggestions:

• Ferg's
• La Terasita
• The Columbia
• Jerk Hut

Jessica Quiroli's suggestions:

• Front Porch Grill
• Mikey's Cafe and Bakery

Erik Hahmann's suggestions:

• El Cap Restaurant
• Coney Island Sandwich Shop
• Engine No9
• Taco Bus
• Urban Brew and BBQ
• Bodega on Central
• Red Mesa Mercado

Tim Britton's suggestions:

• Applebee's
• Crowley's Downtown

Zack Meisel's suggestion:

• Carrollwood Cafe and Deli

An interview with Jeff Cogen, Rays Chief Business Officer

Like every offseason, the Tampa Bay Rays front office has been busy. While they brought in several new players to bolster the on-the-field lineup, no transaction may be bigger than who they hired to bolster their front office lineup. On December 1st, longtime sports executive Jeff Cogen left the Nashville Predators to join the Rays. This is the first interview I have done on this site and I couldn't think of a better person to chat with.

In this interview, I ask Jeff Cogen about the Cuba trip, the Rays' attendance challenges, strategies to engage and build the fanbase, social media, data and analytics, TV ratings, sales generation, and many other Rays-centric sports business topics.

Question: We’ll start with the Cuba trip, since that is the most recent news. What did you think, what were your impressions, and did you have a good time?

Cogen: I had a great time. The comradery of being with our group and representing. We all represent the Tampa Bay Rays. We always wear our logos proudly. It is our organizational DNA. We are proud and honored to work for the Tampa Bay Rays. There are only 30 of these companies in the world. We have the pleasure, honor, luxury, and privilege to come to a ballpark every day for work. So are always proud to represent the Tampa Bay Rays.

But when you get on the plane and you go to another town, you are representing the Tampa Bay Rays, St. Pete, Tampa Bay, and Major League Baseball. And that’s when you go to New York, Boston, or Kansas City. When you go to Cuba, you just start zooming out. You are representing the Tampa Bay Rays, St. Pete, Tampa Bay, Florida, Major League Baseball, and now you can add that you are representing the United States of America. It was an honor, a privilege, and a lot of fun.

The game itself was a microcosm of what was happening around us. With President Castro and President Obama and their historic engagement which we could play a small part of, that is overwhelming and humbling. We talk about baseball being a part of Americana. Nothing speaks more to that than when you are looking for a symbolic hook from which to link to the trip and you pick baseball, that’s unbelievable.

Then the fact that the Tampa Bay Rays are fortunate enough to represent. You know, we are mortal competitors with the Red Sox, the Yankees, the Orioles, and the Blue Jays. Except for those five hours, we were representing them as well. It was something we took very seriously, and I think we did a good job.

Question: What are you main roles, responsibilities, and focuses in your position?

I’ve known Stu and Matt for a while. I was with the Texas Rangers, so I got to know Matt and Stu through that engagement. I’ve gotten to know and really respect Brian Auld. I am in a pseudo-leadership position. I take it very seriously how to harness, nurture, and maximize that energy that Brian has created.

You know, we have very robust television ratings and our attendance struggles are well documented. I use the term “attendance struggles” but you show me a place where there are 12,000 people doing something on a Tuesday night in Tampa Bay. It is very rare and few and far between. I think ownership and management want to give it a best shot. Do things to get the TV broadcast watchers to come to a game and to grow the fanbase.

For the first time, we are now to the point that people who grew up Red Sox fans and Yankees fans and Dodgers fans, and would come to five Rays games a year, and they kinda shared their loyalties, they are now having children. The guy who was 16 who was coming to games with his parents, who used to be a Dodger fan, probably his favorite AL team is the Tampa Bay Rays. But he probably has another blue in his closet. His son only knows the Tampa Bay Rays.

Our organization is committed to community. One of the things we do is give out close to 20,000 Little League jerseys so kids are wearing Rays brands out there. We are growing the next generation of fans for the next generation ballpark. And as Brian (Auld) and Melanie (Lenz) focus on where, when, how, and they involve the corporate constituency asking what they want to see and we build something that is exactly right, somebody meanwhile has to keep an eye on Tuesday or Wednesday night’s game. That’s my role. To grow the base and take some of the responsibility off Brian so he and Melanie can focus on the bigger picture. As Brian and I joke, I have the next 20 games, he has the next 20 years.

Question: So what have you learned since you been here?

I’ve learned that the Tampa Bay Rays people, the organization, is a real community. It is a real fun place to work. There is an incredible camaraderie amongst this group. There is an incredible all-for-one and one-for-all. There is no “oh, that’s marketing or that’s IT”. It’s “how can we help?”. It’s “how can we take one department and another department and have them equal three?”. That is what impressed me the most, the people in this organization.

Question: How do the challenges in Tampa Bay differ from the challenges you faced in Nashville?

There are a lot of parallels. My wife and I were talking about that recently. When I got to Nashville, there was a Canadian who going to buy the team and move it to Hamilton, Ontario. The city of Nashville had a rally to keep the team and they eventually did. But the season ticket base had dropped. I think there were four sell-outs.

The hockey operations people were doing more with less than anyone in the league. We had a competitive team, but the attendance, the brand was diminishing. What we – myself and a gentleman named Sean Henry – said to the staff is that you’ve got a job. We are going with these horses. We are going to give you direction, we are going to give you the tools, and we are going to have success.

The difference here, as I answered in your previous question, it is a great group of people. I think to some degree there needed to be some structure around some sales processes that didn’t exist. And I think that oversimplified what we are trying to instill. I think Brian and Matt have built a world-class organization based on three pillars: 1) do everything we can to win baseball games. We’ve won the fifth-most games since 2008. This team is always competitive. We went to the World Series. Matt Silverman does more with less than anybody I know. That’s one pillar.

The second pillar is commitment to community. We are going to get out. We are going to build habitat houses. If you are in a director-level position in this organization, you are on a board somewhere. You are making a difference in the community.

Number three is that this going to be a really fun place to be. It is going to be all-for-one and one-for-all. There will be all the camaraderie that I talked about.

What I think needed to happen was greater focus. What are our sales processes? Where are our fans? Who are our fans? What are we saying to them? How are we enticing them to come to the game? If they are coming to the game, how are we enticing them to come twice? To add to your previous question, that’s my role.

Question: One of the things I read about in your previous role that you gave tickets away with the guarantee that some of those people will become return buyers. Are those same tactics or strategies things you would use here? Or would you use different strategies based on the differences here?

The tactics we used in Nashville, a lot of them are being applied here. You said I “gave away tickets”. Let me re-brand that. I think the fanbase here is significant. All you have to do is look at the TV ratings and the radio ratings. If we put out an offer, people react to it. Our merchandise sales are good. You walk around, you see a lot of caps and t-shirts and license plates. There is a fanbase out there. They are not coming.

You say “give away free tickets”, I say “create sampled-to-qualified leads”. If I can create sampled-to-qualified leads, they are obviously a fan and they obviously like our brand. They are watching in incredible numbers on television. So if I can know who that TV viewer is and invite him to a game. You say give away free tickets, I say create samples.

Now I don’t want to get caught up in semantics. So yes, I am giving him free tickets. But we are creating sample-to-target leads. Because if you are enjoying it on television, imagine how much are going to like it live and in person. And in regards to the 10-15%, I have some data that shows if a qualified lead gets there and you show him a quality experience, if you know who he is, and you engage in a relationship with him from a sales and service perspective, yes, you can create 10-15% return attendees out of those. Whether they are buying full season tickets, whether they are coming once or twice more, it is all in the 10-15%.

Question: You mentioned corporate support and relationships, have you been successful? What have your approaches been in regards to corporate relationships?

I have tried to get out and network and meet as many people as I can and ask account executives to take me on calls both with existing customers and new customers. We took 15 partners with us to Cuba. I spent a lot of time with them. I am a sales guy at heart. It is in my DNA to meet and greet, shake hands, give away business cards, follow up, make 10 sales calls a day, generate leads, try to close one, and do the same thing the next week. So I would say that generally that activity has definitely occurred. I would like it to be a lot more.

Part of the issue was starting December 1st, they didn’t push Opening Day back for me. And so I had to establish priorities. What are our ticket prices? What are our ticket packages? Who is selling our tickets? What does our advertising look like? Who are our existing partners? Who are our leads? At some point in all of those questions, getting out and meeting and greeting and touching and feeling is part of the process. I wish I had done more to date.

Question: Is that due in part to your move and personally getting settled?

My DNA is business first, pleasure second. I will tell you that I am not sure if that is the DNA of the Tampa Bay Rays. That goes back to my first comment that what a wonderful place this is to work. There is such camaraderie. The people here have an incredible balance between business and pleasure and that is something I need to do a better job of and learn from them. As they are learning certain things from me, I need to do a better job of learning that from them.

Question: We met at FanFest. How well did FanFest go from your perspective?

I was really pleased with the event qualitatively, event programming-wise. I was incredibly impressed with the personality and engagement of our players. Incredibly impressed with how conversant, accessible, and on time – even with the Skyway issue that day. To be honest, I wish we had 3,000 more people there. But we will have that next year.

Question: You have a bunch of players who are very active on social media and in the community. Is that something you look at from a marketing perspective?

Our players are incredibly engaging and accessible. They are fun and funny. Chris Archer and Kevin Kiermaier are poster children for what you want in that.

We have Rick Vaughn who runs our PR. He has great relationships with the players. He knows what to push and when to push. What to message, when to message. How to message. What to say, what not to say, when to say it, and who to say it to. Rick Vaughn is an invaluable tool in the sound in the woods we are looking to create.

But this may surprise you. The players are our primary and best asset. But you don’t want to go to the well and make them the drivers of the marketing campaign. The marketing campaign is Rays Up. Rays Up for community. Rays Up to sell tickets. We are going to Rays Up to be a force in the league. We are going to Rays Up to win. This has a lot of different touch points. It touches community. The player engagement touch point. It is an element. I am not willing to make the mistake of relying on Chris Archer’s tweets to drive what we do. It is a tremendous compliment and I love when he does it. But it is part of the broader picture and bigger strategy.

Question: Who are your inspirations and mentors in both sports business and business in general?

I started work with Ringling Brothers' Circus selling tickets. The last job I had was with the Nashville Predators. So really all I have done is in sports and Ringling entertainment. And those two are very closely related. As a matter of fact, most of what I do now in promotions and advertising I was doing in 1980 with Ringling Brothers Circus. It is a little more sophisticated now. There were no cell phones, there was no internet, but the concepts remain the same.

You can register to win to be an honorary ring master to blow the whistle to start the show or you can do a promotion where people register to throw out a first pitch. What’s the difference? The difference is now you have social components, digital components, and data capture components. Back then, you only had to fill out a coupon in the newspaper. The promotion is the same.

So when you ask me about my career progression, it’s really been just refinement of a skill set to serve driving the business of a sports business place. The benefit is that I’ve been doing it for a little while. I like to think I am better at it today that I was in 1980.

You didn’t ask, but I am going to volunteer this: I came in here and I said there are going to be some changes. We are going to try some things we haven’t tried. We are going to do this, and we are going to do that. I don’t want you to think this was top-down directed. A lot of it was collaborative. I relied on people saying “we did it this way, and it didn’t work.” And then we said “why didn’t it work?”. And then I said to people “if I unshackled you, and we did it this way, what would you think?”.

So it is the combination of what has been tried and worked, what has been tried and did not work here, my experience elsewhere, the lessons learned along the way on both sides, and then taking those collaborative perspectives, creating a collaborative process, and ending up with a better mouse trap.

I like process and systems. If you start at the beginning and you have the right process and system, the result should come out pretty much how you want it to.

Question: What is your vision for the Rays and what is your vision for the fanbase?

First of all, it’s Brian’s vision. And Brian’s vision is to create the best work place in Major League Baseball and Tampa-St Pete. We want to attract the most talented individuals. We start with an advantage over everybody except maybe the Lightning or the Bucs when we ask “how would you like to work for a sports team? How would you like to come to work every day at a baseball field?”. We start with that advantage.
Then Brian creates an environment that is engaging, welcoming, and collaborative. Everybody has a seat at the table in some fashion. It’s just refreshing.

My vision for the fanbase is to create value for our existing fans and season ticket holders and those that have passion for our product over the years. That’s point number one.

I think in terms of Amazon Prime. Who are our best customers and what can we do for them? We are building them a club. We have provided them a rewards program. We are rolling that out. We are calling them. Have you checked your points? Can we help you redeem your points for a BP pass for your son? Really cool stuff for the fans. That is for the season ticket holders.

For the individual customer who comes once, twice, three times a year: I want to get to know them better. And for the people who are watching and listening and wearing our stuff, I want to get you to a game.

Question: What are your thoughts when you hear TV ratings are good but attendance lags?

Well, let’s take that statement. What do we do about it? Let’s create a system and a process to know who they are, get them to a game, service them, and see if we can get them to come back. We have a very specific initiative that is going to do that. For the month of April we are going to come on in the 2nd inning and say “Hey fans, now is the time for the big giveaway. Tonight, we are giving away an autographed Evan Longoria jersey. It’s easy to win. Simply go to raysbaseball.com and register and we will announce the winner in the 8th inning”.

So if 1,000 people play, we will have one winner and 999 people who didn’t win. The next day, those 999 will get an email. It will say something like,

“Thanks for watching the game. Wasn’t that an exciting victory? We will get them tonight. Although you didn’t win the Evan Longoria jersey, everyone is a winner with the Rays. I’m Jeff Cogen, I'm in the ticket department, and I would like to invite you to a game on me. If you love it on television, you are not going to believe it live and in person. I would like to invite you to a game Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday against the Oakland A’s. If you would like to take me up on this, simply click this link.”

The fan clicks. Great. We will leave them at Will Call for them. So the tickets are left at Will Call. We know the tickets we left for the fan. We might go visit the fan at their seat, shake their hand, we might talk a half inning of baseball, and do what people do at baseball games. Then maybe follow up a few days later and ask if they had a good time. Then we ask if they would like to come back, we offer a Flex Pack where they can pick the games. That’s how we are going to engage. That’s how we are going to know our TV audience and bring them to a game.

So to your point, I like to give away a lot of tickets. Is that giving away a lot of tickets? I am giving tickets away. But I am building a relationship. I tell people, we are going to build a fanbase two at a time.

I don’t believe in full page ads that say “Get Your Season Tickets Now”. I’ve done that, but I firmly believe what I just described is a better way.

By the way, there is a whole ticket and marketing department that dreams these things up. The TV version is one. We have hundreds of them going. We will. And we are going to fill the funnel. We are going to establish a relationship. We are going to talk to our customers. And we are going to grow a fanbase two at a time.

Question: How important is data analysis in your role? What analytics and measurements are important to you?

On a scale of 1 to 10, it is about a 9.9. Measurements that are important to me are lifestyle tendencies and zip codes.

Question: Why those?

I’ll use myself as an example. We live just north of Downtown St. Pete. I’ve met my neighbors; they are just like me. We all generally drive the same type of car and we all have newspapers in our driveways every morning. So we are all probably within 25% of per capita income. And certain assumptions can be made about my lifestyle if you know my zip code.

Let’s look at my zip code on an individual ticket or season ticket purchasing hot map. What color am I? Am I red or am I kinda orange? If red is good, and I am red, then maybe we need to focus our energy on that zip code or people with that particular lifestyle. When you ask what data is important to me, I’m going to give you a very specific answer.

Question: How do you balance what is more important: the personal side of selling or the data side?

The two are complementary. I want to create samples. If I find a hot zone, how can I create samples? We use the data to establish the relationship.

Question: Do you have specific people to address a specific lifestyle or zip code?

No. We have 20 account managers. They have separate checks and balances. They don’t step on each other and I have a lot of confidence in them. We are not that scientific that I have an old rich man to call on the rich and I don’t have a young hip kid to call on Clearwater Beach, although that is not a bad idea.

Question: A recent Tampa Bay Business Journal article on you referred to you using “circus-like promotions”. Do you think you can turn Rays games into an event like the circus is an event or NFL games are an event? Whereas baseball is 162 games and games become another day at the ballpark.

I am not going to get into the semantics of it. I think baseball is the greatest reality show there is. For example, the game against Cuba. We owned that game. 4-0, bottom of the ninth. First guy is out, the next guy hits the bomb. Now it is 4-1, 1 out, still no problem. Then we walked a guy. Now we are a swing away from only being a run up. For 2 hours and 58 minutes, we owned that game. If you don’t want to call that an event, it is great reality TV. It’s all about how you consume.

You can consume pitch by pitch, inning by inning, or batter by batter. Or like my daughters, they will watch an inning with Dad, then they will want to walk around. Then I will see them around the 4th inning. How you consume defines it, whether it is an event. I hate the characterization of “just another game.” We will not let it become just another game.

Question: When you are bring promotions into the mix, does that mean winning isn’t as important as people say it is?

I love selling a winner. If we are not, it is not an excuse to not do what we need to do. Beer always tastes better when you are winning.

Question: The daily promotions you are doing are often also associated with the Minor Leagues. Are you worried fans might not see the difference between a Rays game and a Clearwater Threshers game or a Tampa Yankees game? How do you differentiate the Rays from the local Minor League games?

Are you asking whether I think if fans will confuse us with the Dunedin Blue Jays? Unequivocally, no. We play Major League Baseball in a Major League facility and we do it really well. There is no question we are the Tampa Bay Rays competing for the AL East.

Question: Things I look at on my website include instances when the Clearwater Threshers have a $1 dollar ticket event and draw 4,000 on a Tuesday night. Meanwhile, the Rays are drawing 12,000. It becomes almost competing offers. Someone in a local zip code may decide to only spend a dollar instead of making the drive to see a Rays game.

Do I wish there wasn’t an option to see baseball in Clearwater? Yes. I’ll say that. I wish we were like everyone else but Arizona who can feel the same pain, but we are not. We can’t do anything about it. I thought about asking Commissioner Manfred if he would change the Spring Training infrastructure, but I decided against it.

You know, we aren’t going to compete with them. We are going to do what we do. We are going to put a quality product on the field. We are going to engage our fans. And we are going to have success.

(Cogen pic from the Tampa Bay Business Journal.)

Quoted in the Tampa Tribune on Rays attendance

In today's Tampa Tribune, writer Chris O'Donnell again penned a piece on the Rays attendance. O'Donnell explored the effect of the Rays Honor Pass. According to O'Donnell:

In the nine games since the Honor Pass was introduced, crowds have averaged more than 22,000, up more than 7,000 per game compared to earlier in the season.

Also,

The Rays have issued about 12,000 passes to active military and veterans, with about 2,000 people per game taking advantage of the free tickets, said Brian Richeson, Rays vice president of sales and service

I was able to opine a bit and contribute some of the other factors leading to the recent rise in attendance.

Attendance also has risen since the end of the Lightning’s playoff run to the Stanley Cup, and the team typically sees bigger crowds during July and August when school is out, said Michael Lortz, a freelance market analyst and author of the Tampa Bay Baseball Market blog.

Check out the article in today's Tampa Tribune.

Attendance surges after Rays give free tickets to veterans - Tampa Tribune

Interviewed again by Bluebird Banter

Last year, I had the pleasure of answering a few questions from Blue Jays blog Bluebird Banter. Tom Dakers of their site runs a feature called "View from the other side", where he talks to bloggers from teams the Blue Jays are about to play.

With the Jays and Rays kicking off the second half of the season, Tom again sent me a few questions on the Rays attendance, the Tampa Bay market, some of the factors influencing attendance, and how the Dunedin Blue Jays are faring attendance-wise.

Please check out the interview. I like to think it turned out pretty good.

View From The Other Side: Rays questions for Michael Lortz of the Tampa Bay Baseball Market blog (Bluebird Banter)

Interviewed by the Tampa Tribune

It is always a big deal for me when someone wants my opinion. Even though I have been writing about the Tampa Bay baseball market for almost two years and know the ins and outs better than most, I still have a niche audience. So to be quoted is a very good feeling.

Last week, Chris O'Donnell of the Tampa Tribune contacted me to get my opinion on several issues surrounding the Rays mid-season attendance.

The article ran on the front page of the Sunday edition.

Here are some the highlights (otherwise known as "the parts of the article I am mentioned in"):

The success of the Lightning likely drained the wallets of many Tampa Bay area sports fans, said Michael Lortz, freelance market analyst and author of the Tampa Bay Baseball Market blog.

The Tampa Bay Lightning’s Stanley Cup run meant their season didn’t end until June 15. Since then, the Rays’ average attendance has topped 15,000.

That run included a crowd of almost 24,000 for a Saturday game against the Boston Red Sox on June 27, the Rays’ biggest attendance since the opening day sellout.

Lortz said weekday attendance remains the Rays’ biggest challenge. Last month, weekday games averaged crowds of just 11,670.

Boosting those numbers will not be easy.

Most Rays games are televised on Sun Sports, giving fans a chance to watch from the comfort of their sofas. The team also is competing with local minor league baseball teams, including the Tampa Yankees, the Clearwater Threshers, the Dunedin Blue Jays and the Bradenton Marauders.

Combined, those teams draw about 4,000 fans to their home games, Lortz said.

He would like to see the Rays offer more promotions to stir up weekday interest. He cited discounted parking and gifts like the popular bobbleheads.

“There’s no reason parking at the Trop should be $20. That’s more than a ticket,” Lortz said. “To me, that makes no sense.”

The whole article is worth the read. Also quoted is author Peter Golenbock and the owner of Ferg's Sports Bar, Mark Ferguson. Some I agree with, some I don't.

Talking about the Tampa Bay Baseball Market with Sully Baseball

Paul Francis Sullivan, or "Sully", is one of the most prolific independent baseball media creators online today. Although probably best known for his In Memoriam video that should have been played during the 2014 All-Star Game, Sully also is an epic podcaster. Beginning in 2012, he has now podcasted about baseball for over 900 consecutive days.

I first talked with Sully several years ago, long before this blog was even an idea. A lifelong Red Sox fan, Sully wanted to know about the Rays and public sentiment here in Tampa Bay. So he called me and a long e-migo friendship was formed.

During the recent Red Sox visit to Tropicana Field, I pointed out to Sully that attendance for Red Sox games in St. Pete ain't what they used to be. After a quick twitter discussion, Sully asked if I would come back on his show and talk to him about this blog and my thoughts on the Tampa Bay baseball market.

Our interview goes for 24:30 and we discuss Rays attendance, the latest on Tropicana Field and the Rays hunt for a new stadium, attendance for Red Sox games, Tampa Bay demographics, the effect of Minor League Baseball in Tampa Bay, and several other topics.

Overall, the interview is a great primer for this site and all the research I have done. If you are new here, I would recommended listening. If you have been reading since Day 1, I put a lot of concepts together here that I might not have articulated before.

Major thanks to Sully for having me on his podcast. Always a pleasure. And be sure to check out his site at SullyBaseball.com.

Interviewed by the Extra Point Sports Show

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of talking with Tom Chang of SportsTalkFlorida on his podcast, the Extra Point Sports Show. Tom and I talked about several topics in the 15 minutes he had me on, including:

• The scope of this website
• How I define the Tampa Bay Baseball market
• Comparing Tampa Bay spring training to Phoenix area spring training
• The impact of the Florida State League on Tampa Bay baseball
• Rays corporate ticket sales
• Thoughts on the Rays marketing efforts
• The Rays and Marlins disadvantage in Florida demographics
• Would the Rays have been better off in the NL East?
• The knowledge level of Rays fans
• Thoughts on Kevin Cash

Skip to the 11:30 point to hear my interview. Check it out!

Talking about Spring Training impact on CentroTampa.com

Spring Training has begun in Tampa Bay. I don't write much about Spring Training, as much of the attendance and economic impact is driven by out-of-state and out-of-area tourists and tourist data is tough to find. For now, I would rather focus on the regular season. There is more than enough work to do there.

But that doesn't mean there isn't a big interest in Spring Training, and that doesn't mean Spring Training isn't big business.

A few weeks ago, reporter Juan Carlos Chavez of Centro Tampa, Tampa Bay's biggest Spanish newspaper, asked me a few questions about the impact Spring Training has on the area, especially in regards to Hispanic-owned businesses. Last week, Juan's article was published.

My part:

Michael Lortz, analista deportivo y fundador del sitio electrónico TampaBayBaseballMarket.com, dijo que el entrenamiento de primavera impone un perfil único en el desarrollo de la economía local.

Lortz mencionó la ciudad de Tampa como un ejemplo categórico de este avance.

“Las empresas locales definitivamente ven un crecimiento en los negocios debido a la gran cantidad de visitantes de fuera del estado, o incluso dentro del estado, que vienen a ver los equipos que entrenan en la Bahía de Tampa,”, precisó Lortz. “Es muy bueno para ellos”.

In English:

Michael Lortz, sports analyst and founder of the website TampaBayBaseballMarket.com said spring training imposes a unique profile in the development of the local economy.

Lortz said the city of Tampa as a categorical example of this development.

"Local businesses will definitely see an increase in business due to the large number of visitors from out of state, or even within the state, who come to see the teams training in the Tampa Bay area," said Lortz. "It's very good for them."

Many thanks to Juan Carlos Chavez for reaching out and allowing me to contribute. It was great to be quoted among team front office personnel and University of South Florida Economics experts.

Check out the entire article here: Beisbol sopla a favor del mercado hispano (Centro Tampa)

Interviewed by Blue Jays blog Bluebird Banter

A few days ago, I had the pleasure of answering a few questions from Blue Jays blog Bluebird Banter. Tom Dakers of their site runs a feature called "View from the other side", where he talks to bloggers from teams the Blue Jays are about to play.

With the Jays about to visit Tropicana Field, Tom sent me a few questions on the Rays attendance, the Tampa Bay market, some of the factors influencing attendance, and how the Dunedin Blue Jays are faring attendance-wise.

Please check out the interview. I like to think it turned out pretty good.

View From The Other Side: Rays questions for Mike Lortz of the Tampa Bay Baseball Market blog (Bluebird Banter)

A Conversation with new Durham Bulls writer Jessica Quiroli

Covering the Minor Leagues is often a thankless profession. Writers work just as hard as their Major League brethren in smaller stadiums, in smaller press boxes, in smaller locker rooms, and for much smaller pay. But for the hardcore fan, their work does not go unappreciated.

This upcoming season, Rays fans are fortunate to have one of the best in the business cover the Durham Bulls. Jessica Quiroli has been writing about baseball for over eight years on various websites and her own blog, High Heels on the Field. espnW called her one of the top ten women in sports to follow on Twitter, where she can be found at @HeelsOnTheField.

Jordi caught up with Jessica at the Winter Meetings last week in Orlando and talked with her about her previous work, writing about the Bulls, and building a brand.

Rays Index: So who are you writing for these days?

Jessica: I freelance for MiLB.com but I will be writing some for MinorLeagueBall.com and also on my blog High Heels on the Field, and anything else that comes up, but it will mostly be Durham Bulls coverage starting in April.

Rays Index: How did you get the Durham Bulls position? You were in NJ, correct?

Jessica: Well, I don’t exactly work for the Bulls. But I let the Bulls know – they kinda know me from Twitter – I let them know I was moving there and needed credentials for the season and that was that.

Rays Index: The move predicated what team you cover?

Jessica: That’s usually how it works. When I lived in Philadelphia, I travelled a lot to cover the Trenton Thunder. And I also ended up covering the Eastern League for years. Then when I moved to New York, it was the New York-Penn League, because the Brooklyn Cyclones and Staten Island were right there. Then there is also a high school sports writing position I also got for MaxPreps.com so that worked out as well.

Rays Index: Looking forward to it then?

Jessica: Very much.

Rays Index: In regards to the Durham Bulls, are there any players in particular you are looking forward to covering?

Jessica: Well, I know the team last year was pretty great. I have never covered Triple-A on a regular basis, most of my career has been Double-A or below, so I am really looking forward to seeing the difference at that level. As far as players, Odorizzi I covered when he was with the Royals. I remember then he was really good and thinking this guy is going to be something. So I would like to see him pitch.

Rays Index: I remember when he was in the Florida State League with the Brewers. He was in the Grienke trade.

Jessica: Yeah, when he was with the Royals I said to him “How tough was it for you?” He said it was tough, those were the guys he came up with and it was really hard for him. So I am wondering how he is faring with the Rays.

Rays Index: I always wonder how players feel in regards to guys they come up with. Do they stay in touch, send Christmas cards, etc?

Jessica: You’ll hear them say they stay in touch with certain guys. They say Twitter helps. I think the relationships they create in the Minor Leagues helps them. They need that. Especially the Latin players who have a really hard time adjusting and they need each other. Different situations like that really help the friendships.

Rays Index: You mentioned Twitter. You are very prominent on Twitter. You come out the “Minor League Players to Follow on Twitter” list and your “College Ballplayers to Follow on Twitter” list. How did those start and will you be continuing those?

Jessica: Oh yeah. I will be doing those again. They have become weirdly popular in a way that I did not know was going to happen. I didn’t know players were going to be so serious about it, really interested in it, and asking why they weren’t on it or why they were so low. But then you realize that’s their competitive nature and Twitter has become a huge part of their lives and how they connect with fans.

Rays Index: Both positive and negative. There are a lot of trolls on twitter who tweet “you stink” and other not-so-nice things.

Jessica: And they have to deal with that, yeah.

Rays Index: So is there anyone on Durham that you have communicated with on Twitter and are looking forward to continuing to talk with Twitter-wise?

Jessica: I don’t think so. Most of the guys I am connected with are the (Hudson Valley) Renegades. I am really connected with them on Twitter. I few of those guys I have a really great professional relationship with and so it has been mostly them. Mostly the guys who just got drafted, Jake Hager as well. I didn’t get to see him play, obviously, but most of the guys at the lower levels.

(See Jessica’s latest article on Hager here.)

Rays Index: What brings you here to Orlando for the Winter Meetings?

Jessica: Well, I was asked to speak at the Bob Freitas Speaker Series. I was asked to talk about covering Minor League Baseball and creating a personal brand and developing that and what that kind of career has been like. So I did that today and it went well.

Rays Index: Could give a quick summary of what you talked about in regards to your career and the challenges?

Jessica: You have to love it. Things are always changing and I am always looking for something new and new work. At this point it what I am known for. I like people know and read my work and respect my opinion knowing that this is what I do. I cover Minor Leagues and I cover prospects.

This is not usually my thing. Normally, I don’t like having this much attention, but MiLB asked me and I wasn’t going to say no.

Rays Index: Do you ever see High Heels on the Field being such a site that you would have people writing for you, or is it just your personal site?

Jessica: I’ve brought in writers to take it over for a week and things like that. I have thought about that too, what would I do with the whole thing? I have considered that. I am in my fifth year, but I don’t know. I want to expand it more and I have done that in the past year. I want to give other writers the opportunity to cover something in the Minor Leagues that I am not looking at. Or someone who works for the Minor Leagues. I had someone do that. So it’s a matter of what direction I want to bring it in eventually. But I do want to bring in other writers. But of course a lot of times, I don’t have time to do something with it. It’s not my job, you know. It is not a paying thing. The paying thing has to come first.

Rays Index: So you would be open to contributions, if there are readers who are interested?

Jessica: Absolutely.

Rays Index: Being that it is High Heels on the Field, do you limit it to women only?

Jessica: No, no, no. Not at all. Guys have to be comfortable. I have had players write for the blog. They wrote about their experience, what they go through, and they never mind. It’s great. I actually just had a story up about the charity, Minor League Baseball relief for what happened in the Philippines. That was a really great story to cover. And was different from anything I had done before. That’s another way I want to expand it. To have stories that are not just about the game or one player, but are about something bigger.

Rays Index: I did notice on your website it said you have written two fiction novels. Can you tell us about those?

Jessica: (Laughs.) I did not think you were going to bring those up. I decided to write a series where the main character is a female minor league baseball writer. Her name is Lauren Day. She is not me, but she is based on a lot of people, although it is a little bit based on my own life and experiences. I wrote two short novels, long short stories. I am still deciding if I want to do a third or move forward because I think I am done with that. It didn’t get a lot of attention, but I loved taking what I had learned in the Minor Leagues and presenting it in fiction.

The first story is about a first round pick who decides he wants to quit baseball and the second one is about the difficulty of sports journalism and how everything is sort of changing. Some people like the change, others don’t. There are traditionalists and purists and people just going to school today just to do media. Both stories focus a lot on being a sports writer, being a journalist, and what that life is like.

Rays Index: Where can people find those?

Jessica: They are available on Amazon and Smashwords.

Rays Index: Are you going to try to make a Rays game this year after covering the Durham Bulls, especially after the September call-ups?

Jessica: Maybe. I don’t know. That would be neat. I know now I am looking forward to covering the guys I saw in the New York-Penn League. I want to see them get up to Triple-A and watch their growth. I definitely like where I am at but there is something about seeing them debut, you know? Just watching that progression, it is really great to see that happen.

Rays Index: Thoughts on Taylor Guerrieri? (Guerrieri will begin the 2014 season serving a 50 game suspension for substance abuse.)

Jessica: I watched him in the NY-Penn League. He was probably one of the best prospects I have ever covered. I was amazed by him. Amazed. He is a good guy. When I say that I am careful, because you don’t them personally. But when I say that I mean he has tried so hard and he has show how hard he is willing to work. He is a hard-working player. He has his wildness and he has his stuff he needs to figure out, but I think it is important for Rays fans to know that I saw a guy who needed to get better and needed to apply himself and he did that. Whatever personal stuff he has going on, he will be fine. It is so early in his career, and you don’t want people to say that he is a top prospect and a screw-up. He is really not.

Really all those guys I covered on the Renegades. They will be in the Midwest League this upcoming season. That team worked hard. Julian Ridlings, Justin Choate who is gone now, Aaron Griffin, Chris Kirsh, Darryl George. I watched a team of guys who were intense and had the drive. And with Taylor, give him a chance. He’ll be fine. He has so much talent.

Q&A: Dunedin Blue Jays Community Relations Coordinator Vincent Caffiero

(This post originally appeared on Bus Leagues Baseball.com)

A few weeks ago, I wrote about what I thought was one of the more interesting promotions in the Florida State League this year, the Dunedin Blue Jays "Turn Back the Clock Night". After writing the post, I decided to contact the Dunedin team and ask about the promotion, how it came to be, and how it went.

Big thanks to Craig Dunham for setting this up and many thanks to Vincent Caffiero for being so kind as to answer our questions.

Bus Leagues Baseball: How did the idea originate? Was it though the Dunedin Blue Jays, the Dunedin Historical Society, or a combination of both?

Vincent Caffiero: This idea came about through the Dunedin Blue Jays. Obviously throwback uniforms are something that everybody does. We just wanted to do our own twist on the promotion. The Dunedin Historical Society was asked later on in the process if they wanted to be involved. It was a no brainer, as the Historical Society already hosts vintage baseball games. Additionally, their director, Vinnie Luisi, is a big time baseball historian. He even wrote "New York Yankees: The First 25 Years" and "Baseball in Tampa Bay".

BLB: Was this the first turn back the clock night in Dunedin Blue Jays history? What was done to prepare for it?

VC: I’ve only been here since January, so I wasn’t sure if the Dunedin Blue Jays have done a throwback night before. They have been here since ’77 and have done many promotions! To prepare, I did some research through the historical society, and read up on the uniforms of the time. Some of the staff spent an entire week having fun with some of the slang of the period. You couldn’t go 15 minutes without hearing someone tell a “dame,” about being “the bee’s knees."

BLB: I am very curious as to why 1929, as there was no Dunedin team or Florida State League at the time, nor any Blue Jays.

VC: 1929 was chosen because it’s smack-daddy in the middle of some of the biggest moments in professional baseball history. We wanted to pay homage to the golden era of baseball. I wanted to pick a year where Ty Cobb and the dead-ball era were still relevant, but on their way out. I wanted a year where the greats of the golden age like Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were still relevant. Finally, I felt it important to include a year in which the Negro Leagues were really gaining ground. The whole point of this night was to get people talking about baseball history, so I wanted a year that was inclusive.

It was less important to include the professional baseball history of the city of Dunedin, because there wasn’t any. Another factor, was that the Tampa Bay Rays have done a very good job of “throwing back,” to a lot of the great minor league teams in the Tampa Bay area. That approach has been tapped out. Also, on a practical level, it is much more difficult to get the license of actual teams of the period. It is a process that we wanted to avoid, in exchange for artistic and logistical freedom.

BLB: What did the Dunedin Blue Jays staff change to fit in to the theme of the night? Was anything done differently?

VC: Luckily for us, in 1929 baseball parks were using PA Systems, so we didn’t have to cut out the Public Address announcer. We changed all of the music, and even gave the players walk up songs from the likes of Cab Calloway and the Piccadilly Players. We had 25 cent Crack Jack, which is probably a bit expensive for 1929, but we did have to take some artistic liberties! Fans also played Bingo which was actually invented in 1929. The staff also dressed in period attire. We had a lot of fun with this night, and it showed!

BLB: Who made the uniforms? What were the influences used?

VC: I designed the uniforms to look much like those of the period. This meant simple and elegant. We opted to remove the piping from the sleeves and had just royal piping down the buttons. The hat had a white crown and blue bill to fit the look of a 1929 uniform. I used the 1930’s Homestead Grays as one of our biggest uniform inspirations. I knew that the uniforms couldn’t be authentically wool or flannel because of the heat, so we went with a normal modern material. Uniform Express produced the uniforms, and they did a great job!

BLB: I saw pictures of the staff in 1920s era clothing. Was that found locally or through the same provider of the uniforms?

VC: These clothes were a hodgepodge of thrift store and modern store finds. Men’s fashion has not changed much in 100 years. The main difference is that in 1929 a man was expected to where a hat and suite almost everyone he went- including the baseball park. Southern summers were so hot, that men would often ditch the coat and wear knickerbockers instead of full pants. Nonetheless, long sleeves and high socks still covered almost all exposed skin.

BLB: Who designed the flyer? That was very impressive.

VC: Thank you! I happened to be the one behind the flyer. I took an actual 20’s baseball postcard/advertisement and fit in all of our relevant information. It was fun to make and really turned out nice. It wasn’t your typical stiff, impact lettering over a bright background-type of modern baseball flyer. I hate those.

BLB: Did you contact any other teams who have done turn back the clock nights? Did they provide any advice?

VC: I did use other throwback nights as inspiration, but did not specifically contact any of them. The Tampa Bay Rays are a great example of marketing that always keeps their “Turn Back The Clock Nights,” fresh and unique. I was lucky enough to be working with their organization last year during their “Tampa Smokers” night.

BLB: Do you see the Dunedin Blue Jays making more trips to the past in the future?

VC: Unfortunately the team lost the game that night. I can’t imagine the players and staff being on board for another 1929 night, as I imagine the uniforms were a source of blame. Baseball has got to be the most superstitious games on the planet. However, I can see the Dunedin Blue Jays having fun with alternate uniforms honoring baseball’s rich history in future seasons. Fans were able to take home some really neat autographed jerseys, while raising over $2,500 for the Dunedin Historical Society. The night was a success, so I’m sure we’d like to do this again!

(Photo from the Dunedin Blue Jays Facebook page taken by Charles Gehring.)

Q&A: Kevin Gengler of RaysProspects.com

(This post originally appeared on Bus Leagues Baseball.com)

Every so often, we like to talk to other writers who spend long hours chronicling the exploits of those in the Minor Leagues. Kevin Gengler of RaysProspects.com is one such writer. Kevin has been covering the Rays system for several years and has become one of the premier go-to subject matter experts on things minor league Rays-related.

Kevin has been an e-migo of the site for a while, having Mike as part of the RaysProspects 2011 Predictions and working with Scott on the RaysProspects Future Considerations podcast. So it was only natural that we have him here.

Bus Leagues Baseball: How long have you been blogging about the Rays minor league system and what got you interested in the Rays minor league teams and players?

Kevin Gengler:I had started and stopped a Rays prospect blog in 2006-2007, mainly because it wasn't just something I could commit to every day. And with the strong work being done by DRaysBay and RaysIndex even back in the losing seasons, there wasn't much of a niche to carve out.

BLB: Why blog about it? Did you feel there was a gap to be filled in the blogosphere?

KG: RaysProspects in its current form came to be in mid-2008, and I do think the team winning and the increased interest created a gap. Doug Milhoan created a blog to write about the team's pitching prospects, so I e-mailed him asking if he'd be interested in having me on and we could cover the whole system.

BLB: Were you a minor league baseball fan before you started blogging about the Rays minor league system?

KG:The minor leagues and prospects were always interesting to me, as far back as seeing Nomar Garciaparra with the Trenton Thunder as a kid. Some years down the road I stumbled on a link to a Baseball America Top 100 prospects list, and to read these scouting reports and projections was pretty fascinating.

BLB: Did you look at any other organization-based blogs before starting RaysProspects and if so, what influences did you take from them?

KG: I don't think we were influenced much early on by other sites. Over the years we've tried to adapt some things from other sites (like SoxProspects and Phuture Phillies) and tweak them, but overall there really hasn't been much that we've seen and said "we should do that here."

BLB: How do you follow each team? Do you watch all of their games, get your information from their websites, or get your news via twitter, etc?

KG: MILB.com is obviously the biggest source of information with the boxscores every night. Being on Twitter is nice too, in addition to the teams I follow three beat writers who do a great job (Adam Sobsey for Durham, Stacy Long for Montgomery, and Micheal Compton for Bowling Green). If the Rays are off or played an afternoon game, I'll listen to a radio broadcast online or check out the Bulls on MILB.tv.

BLB: In recent years, there has been a large growth of Rays blogs, both at the major and minor league level. Do you think this is a good thing, and has it affected your blogging at all? I noticed for example, you have incorporated several other writers on to your site.

KG:I think it's a good thing, and for us, bringing Jim Donten into the fold was great. He's provided pictures and info from Charlotte in addition to notes on the system as a whole as he's done a lot of the recapping work. He and Nick Hanson, who was also in Charlotte, are great to get the boots-on-the-ground perspective. BurGi, a fan from Germany, has done a terrific job on the stats side.

BLB: What Rays prospect do you think your audience follows or has followed the closest since you started?

KG: Tim Beckham, because he was the #1 overall pick, is always going to be a hot topic of conversation, especially when it gets into a pedigree vs. production debate. Henry Wrigley's just about the opposite of that, an unheralded guy who's been a run-producer, but he's a lot more popular with our audience than I would've expected.

BLB: Some of the Rays prospects through the years have been as close to “can’t miss” as you can get. But are there any “under the radar” prospects that have really piqued your interest? Did they end up making the big league club?

KG: My track record on sleeper prospects isn't terribly great (Jason McEachern and Ty Morrison were two of my favorites, but neither has made "the leap"), but Alex Cobb is a player I was higher on than most after his season at low-A in 2008. He has taken steps forward each year and it looks like he could settle in as a back-end starter. As a site, we were also "in" on Jeremy Hellickson pretty early.

BLB: Have you seen any/all of the Rays minor league teams live?

KG: Living in New Jersey makes this pretty tough, as the teams are mainly located in the south. I've been able to see the Hudson Valley Renegades, who play in NY, but the Durham Bulls are the only other team that plays in a league with teams relatively close.

BLB: You have a podcast with Scott Grauer, who also writes for us. Can you tell us a little about that, how that is going, and what has the reception been?

KG:For me, it was something that I had just wanted to try my hand at for a while, and to bring a different dimension of coverage to the site. It's been going well, I feel, and the experience really makes you appreciate the podcasts that do a really great job. It's nothing huge, but we've had Jim Callis (of BaseballAmerica) and Kevin Goldstein (of Baseball Prospectus) on for episodes and people definitely liked hearing two guys who write about prospects for a living talk about the system.

BLB: Do you feel a sense of pride when some of the prospects you have been writing about for years make it to the big league club? Do you ever feel as if you are handing over one of your own to the MLB-level bloggers?

KG: I'm not sure about pride, but I do like when a player is called up and he's not a complete mystery because I've followed him for the past few years. A nice of example of this is when some chatter was out there earlier this season that Matt Moore might have been tipping pitches. It made sense immediately to me because I had noticed that same thing watching him on MILB.tv last season, so I was able to jump into the video from his major-league start and, along with Scott, make a post on DRaysBay showing it.

I'm not necessarily handing them over, but I hope our coverage is able to give fans a better idea what to expect when a player does get the call.