MLB Insider: Open-minded Manfred needs to fix Rays, A’s first

Rob Manfred has only been on the job for seven months, and eventually controversy is going to come across the desk of baseball’s new commissioner and so will the need to hammer out a new collective bargaining agreement.

But the honeymoon phase hasn’t ended yet. Manfred is still floating from cloud to cloud, trying to cover all his bases and making appearances, and pretty much not saying no to much of anything.

Pete Rose? Manfred will review the evidence in the all-time hits leader’s case for reinstatement, and will consider it.

A 20-second pitch clock? Manfred likes how it has played in the minors, and will consider it.

Expanding expanded replay? Manfred sees room for improvement, and will consider it.

A worldwide draft? Manfred wants it, and has already considered it.

Free nachos every Tuesday? Reopening the investigation into the assassination of President Kennedy? Probably not, but, then again, no one has asked if he’d consider either.

In fairness, it’s good tact for Manfred to consider everything thrown his way. Handpicked by Bud Selig to be the successor to Bud Selig, keeping an open mind gives Manfred the appearance of breaking away from Selig’s ideas and of moving toward the faction of owners who weren’t entirely on board with him when he was elected in November.

Manfred is even keeping an open mind to expanding with two new teams.

“Maybe one of the reasons I got this job is I’m bullish on this game,” Manfred said last week at the All-Star Game. “I think we are a growth business, broadly defined. And over an extended period of time, growth businesses look to get bigger. So yeah, I’m open to the idea that there will be a point in time where expansion may be possible.”

OK, now that’s getting out of control.

Before any new markets, or a new market and an old market, get a team, MLB must fix the problems it’s facing in Tampa Bay and Oakland. Expansion makes no sense if there will still be two sinkholes in the league.

Tampa Bay continues to draw terribly to a terrible ballpark, Tropicana Field, that has only two things going for it: the team itself and no rainouts. Everything else is bad, including poor DJ Kitty.

This isn’t a knock on downtown St. Petersburg, which is seeing new, trendy restaurants open and survive and is a good time down by Beach Drive. But the team should have never been put in St. Pete, which is isolated from Tampa by the traffic quagmire on I-275.

Manfred reports to have had a splendid meeting with the mayor of St. Pete, who is committed to keeping the franchise in the area.

Of course, the St. Petersburg City Council won’t let Rays owner Stuart Sternberg look at new stadium sites in Tampa, and Sternberg didn’t get rich by being a dummy. If he can’t get a stadium, he’s selling.

Manfred, meanwhile, said that relocation from Tampa/St. Pete is not an option for the Rays, and, though he didn’t say it, Oakland. While the Trop has two things going for it, the only thing that the A’s ballpark, O.co Coliseum, has going for it is that maybe Raiders fans will burn it down.

Officials with the city of Oakland met Thursday to review a plan for new stadiums for the A’s and Raiders on the existing site, where Manfred wants the new place built. The Coliseum is the only ballpark that hosts an MLB team and an NFL team.

With interest again strong for an NFL franchise in Los Angeles, the Raiders’ need for a new home might actually help the A’s. Someone needs to rescue them.

Manfred said that relocation is not yet an option for either the Rays or the A’s, though MLB has a list of cities it believes could support a team. The one with the strongest movement is Montreal, which was home to the Expos from 1969-2004 before the franchise failed and became the Washington Nationals.

Exhibition games the past two years in Montreal have drawn huge crowds at Olympic Stadium, which is actually younger than O.co Coliseum but isn’t good enough to be home to an MLB team.

If the A’s or Rays need to relocate or if Manfred satisfies his expansion itch, more like a rash, he would have to seriously wonder: If a city couldn’t hang onto an MLB team once, how would the second time be any different?

Also believed to be on MLB’s short list for expansion is Portland, though there might be some objection from Seattle. Portland and Seattle are closer in distance than Arlington and Houston.

Charlotte, Nashville and Indianapolis make some sense, too. San Antonio is reportedly on the list, though the Alamodome isn’t a suitable home. Austin, the largest city without a professional sports franchise, might not be a bad choice, though the Rangers and Astros would probably disagree.

Obviously, there’s much to be done before expansion ever becomes a serious issue for Manfred, who is in the honeymoon phase of his reign as commissioner and is keeping an open mind to just about anything.

His first priority before adding to MLB should be taking care of the Rays and A’s.

This story was originally published July 18, 2015 at 3:10 PM with the headline "MLB Insider: Open-minded Manfred needs to fix Rays, A’s first."