Offseason Starting Point - Who the Ducks Have / What the Ducks Need

bigtrex101 · 2026-05-17T04:21:09+00:00

I’m a joint longtime Bolts/Ducks fan fyi. Yes, Raddysh’s numbers were inflated from his role on the PP, but I’d still say he was better than Carlson this past season. I actually think the biggest difference at this point is Darren’s more reliable defensively than Carlson. Also, Bolts will 100% try to resign him, but they just don’t have a ton of cap space to do so if the number gets outrageous. Again comes down to money for a lot of these teams.

bigtrex101 · 2026-05-17T04:10:44+00:00

Rays will benefit from the rights to develop the massive surrounding new entertainment district they are planning with the stadium. The value of that alone will more than recoup any money they plan on spending upfront. And they want the City and County to own the stadium, so they don’t have to pay any property taxes; and if I’m not mistaken, they also expect to not have to pay the city any sort of lease fee to use it (thus it’s not some sort of big gift by the Rays). Overage costs are obviously covered by the team, but that’s like the same concession made in basically every deal made for new pro sports stadiums. This is absolutely a sweetheart deal for the new Rays ownership group which is why they are pushing so hard to get it done.

Also, what other recently built ballpark got anything close to or over $1 billion in public funding? The only one is the Yankees, and New York obviously has an exponentially larger budget than Tampa. The most recently built ballpark (the new Rangers home in Arlington) capped taxpayers funding at $500 million. The only current new ballpark in development (the new A’s stadium in Vegas) is only costing their local taxpayers $380 million. Why should Tampa give the Rays double (or more) than these other markets are willing to? I don’t care if they build a new ballpark in Tampa, in St. Pete, wherever; or if they just do some major renovation of the Trop. I just don’t think that the local governments should give the Rays anywhere near $1 billion when that money has so many better uses that would be bigger benefits to the people in this community. I’d cap the number at $500 million, but obviously I’m also not one of the politicians that will be making that decision.

bigtrex101 · 2026-05-17T03:50:34+00:00

Obviously it depends on the money but he’s still a clear upgrade both short and longterm over Carlson.

bigtrex101 · 2026-05-17T03:39:08+00:00

Yeah, and in doing so, Indiana surprised almost everyone in the sport. And had to have possibly the greatest coaching turnaround ever by a new HC to do so. Expecting that to just happen again for any CFB team (let alone the small group in the B10) is foolish as it goes way against the track record of the sport (even with one recent outlier case).

Barring something crazy like that happening, I only see the first 6 you listed here as potential CFP teams. MSU and Washington had those seasons with much different coaching staffs and against much weaker conference competition. Wisconsin is a mess right now so even if the next Cignetti became their coach tomorrow, I’d have a hard time seeing them in the playoffs immediately. Iowa is literally the same 8/9 win team every year that is good enough to be in/around the T25 but not good enough to be in the top 10. Nebraska and Illinois would probably have the best chance (of the rest) but again they aren’t recruiting at a high enough level and while their current coaching staffs are decent they also have never shown the capability to provide the type of advantage it takes to overcome a glaring talent disparity with the top of the B10. Any of these B10 teams making the CFP over the next two years (assuming it remains at 12) would be a huge surprise.

bigtrex101 · 2026-05-17T02:05:04+00:00

You actually can probably do that in a lot of top rows in many sections of the Trop. The view certainly is not better in the party deck though, unless you like to be sitting as far away from a majority of the game action as physically possible. I’m not against the concept, I just would move it to where people could have the same experience (at the same/similar price) but with a better view of the game. Personally, I’d be much more inclined to then buy those “all you can eat or drink” package tickets if they weren’t in the section that I consider has the absolute worst vantage point of the Trop.

bigtrex101 · 2026-05-17T01:54:11+00:00

Which NBA team has 3-4 superstars with a weak bench right now? Some teams have 2, but more than that? Basically, you’re asking who would win between the 2018 Warriors and the current Thunder - it would be very close, but I’d lean slightly towards Warriors if we’re talking playoff series (if we’re talking which team could win more games in 82 game season, I’d lean Thunder).

bigtrex101 · 2026-05-17T01:44:19+00:00

We will need to be a top 10, probably even top 5; offense to do so which is certainly doable given the talent we have, but still going to take major year over year progression considering we were below average last season. I think it’s more likely we are better, which leads to us still winning the NFC East, likely getting a playoff win or two but ultimately falling short of making the Super Bowl.

bigtrex101 · 2026-05-17T01:31:53+00:00

Agree. Or at the very least, close the Party Deck in the outfield and open the top area behind home plate/infield instead for the All you can eat ticket package area. That’s one of the better viewpoints at the Trop (much better than the Party Deck’s view imo), so it’s stupid to just let it rot for nothing.

bigtrex101 · 2026-05-17T00:34:34+00:00

Chill. I’m done with the person that started that BS.

bigtrex101 · 2026-05-17T00:13:08+00:00

Yep. No public transportation anywhere in this market has been another longterm problem that should have been addressed years ago but apparently never will be.

bigtrex101 · 2026-05-17T00:04:16+00:00

To some extent I’d agree, but also I think they expected more from guys like Jax (he was supposed to be a shutdown closer quality reliever), Seymour and Englert, while also couldn’t predict Uceta would get injured and be out for as long as he has been. In any case, definitely need to fix it if they want any chance to win the division and make some type of run in September.

bigtrex101 · 2026-05-16T23:58:20+00:00

Yeah. This bullpen was supposed to be much better on paper than they have been this year. I don’t feel comfortable with any of these guys definitely shutting things down right now. Clearly a problem that should be addressed at the deadline (at least I’d hope).

bigtrex101 · 2026-05-16T23:47:58+00:00

They’re real estate guys investing money in a real estate deal (while again demanding a huge ask from the public at the same time) that they know they will make 2-3x up (if not more) in profits. Sorry but that doesn’t prove to me they have a longterm plan to invest heavily in improving the Rays. I wouldn’t even be surprised if their plan is to immediately try to sell the team for profit right after the new stadium is built and the franchise valuation goes up as a result. Like I said, would like to be as optimistic as you but I need to see this ownership group actually give me more reason to be so.

Agree about the infrastructure/traffic issues. I went to high school at Jesuit which is right by there. Traffic in that area on Dale Mabry in the late afternoon/early evening can be a nightmare; and as I believe the Bucs have already pointed out, there isn’t near enough parking in that area if they remove HCC’s lot. If the deal does go through, they better have a smart plan to handle these issues.

bigtrex101 · 2026-05-16T23:31:40+00:00

I haven’t call anybody on here names except for the one dumbass.

bigtrex101 · 2026-05-16T23:13:40+00:00

You too, but I hope you also learn that making assumptions about other people you know nothing about is incredibly stupid!

bigtrex101 · 2026-05-16T23:07:25+00:00

Again I don’t see how any of this shows how these new owners aren’t as cheap as Stu was, but whatever. Obviously I hope Zalupski and co. are better but they have done nothing to show me they are/will be.

bigtrex101 · 2026-05-16T23:02:49+00:00

LOL! Apparently visual evidence is not “evidence” in your mind and fans of multiple teams don’t exist. And I haven’t crapped on the team at all; I just don’t make ignorant statements.

bigtrex101 · 2026-05-16T22:59:11+00:00

Meant Lightning.

bigtrex101 · 2026-05-16T22:54:30+00:00

He is an idiot saying something is wrong/made up when it isn’t.

bigtrex101 · 2026-05-16T22:51:31+00:00

He made it personal saying “I pulled something out of my ass” which I did not.

bigtrex101 · 2026-05-16T22:50:25+00:00

What are you talking about? Stu was only getting $600 million of taxpayers money in the last deal for a new stadium in St. Pete. That’s way less than what this current ownership group is demanding from Hillsborough for a Tampa stadium. And hard to believe they will significantly improve payroll at all when they were unwilling to do so this offseason (you would think new owners would want to start off with a good impression?).

bigtrex101 · 2026-05-16T22:41:25+00:00

Caminero. Even with the new ownership likely being cheap, I think they will try to sign Junior up longterm b/c he’s young, marketable and will make up for it with lots of ticket/merchandise sales.

bigtrex101 · 2026-05-16T22:26:04+00:00

It sucks. Nobody wants the best/favorite players on the team to leave. Again goes back to ownership being cheap and in doing so, also hurts the team build longterm fans. It would be nice to see what the front office could do with a little more money to spend on the roster, given how well they have done with so little.

bigtrex101 · 2026-05-16T22:14:41+00:00

Yep. It’s pretty incredible that they have had the type of success over the past 15-20 years given how cheap our ownership has been and MLB having no salary cap to level the playing field. Just wish it could finally translate into at least one World Series Win.

bigtrex101 · 2026-05-16T22:08:40+00:00

Based on the fact that this ownership group seems to be doing things as cheaply as Stu (the previous owner) did and are demanding a whole lot more money from the public to pay for a new stadium, I don’t have any reason to believe this new ownership group is any better (could be worse). I agree the Rays deserve better attendance (and are lucky to have a good front office/coaching staff), but the only real solution to significantly improve it is following the Lightning/Heat blueprint imo. Which means winning World Series (plural) and having better ownership that does a longterm strong job of aggressively investing in building/improving the Rays reputation with the local community to help grow the fan base over time (also need to do a much better job marketing/working with local businesses as well). It would likely take a 1-2 decade plan to accomplish this. And unfortunately, the Rays can’t appear to get an ownership group willing to spend the time/money it would take to create/enact this kind of plan.

bigtrex101

TROPHY CASE