The AAA Sox Stadium Thread: Where Ever They May Roam

Earthbound64

Member
SoSH Member
If Fenway is dead in the winter
Well, nothing is happening at Fenway during the winter, so I would expect it to be dead then.
Were you expecting them to do stuff between Dec. 21 and Mar. 21?


A 10% overrun is downright frugal when judged against the history of notable Massachusetts construction projects. If they get away with only that I'd call it a huge victory.
Also this.
If it stays where it is now, that would seem a huge victory.
P.S. I'd be surprised if it stays where it is now.
 

CentralMassDad

New Member
May 9, 2018
30
I remain ambivalent.

On the one hand, you're right-- construction projects like this never have their costs go down.

On the other, I don't think that one can hand-wave all secondary development away with a "would have happened anyway." The redesign of Kelly Square always required state support, and had been getting "maybe next time"'d by the Commonwealth for years; this project got that much-needed redesign to actually happen. The Wyman-Gordon property was 18 acres of vacant blight, for decades, and was tough to get developed because of ongoing environmental problems. This project gets that space cleaned up and developed as mixed use, which would be a pretty big win, regardless of whether the PawSox ever sell a ticket to a game, because it does not depend on being a "destination" for anyone that lives anywhere else. In addition, there has been substantial private investment in the surrounding neighborhood-- that's the investment that might have eventually happened anyway.

For those reasons, I remain cautiously optimistic, but anxious all the same.
 

JimD

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 29, 2001
8,681

Brohamer of the Gods

Well-Known Member
Silver Supporter
SoSH Member
Jul 14, 2005
3,947
Warwick, RI
I mean. Whats your problem here? They're leaving Pawtucket. Aint coming back. If you want Worcester to be screwed up with construction paused and screwed up. Well grow up.
My problem? A team I have loyally followed for over 40 years is leaving town. There are many reasons for this and lots of blame to go around. But I am fine if a few eggs in Worcester get broken to make a giant FU omelette for Larry and the Dentist.
 

terrynever

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Aug 25, 2005
21,717
pawtucket
PawSox are like an old girl friend you broke up with who wants to move back in until her new home is ready. As Brohamer said, we locals invested a lot of our heart into the team. They left for a better deal. But now they might need us to bail them out for a few months in 2021.
Seems like Pawtucket officials will want the PawSox to continue their charitable work in the city into 2021 in order to come back. Everything is a negotiation.
 
Last edited:

richgedman'sghost

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
May 13, 2006
1,870
ct
@terrynever @Brohamer of the Gods Gee will you guys stop complaining? It's not like your minor league team is moving to Vegas or completely disbanding. I used to have a minor league team about 10 minutes away from me called the New Haven Ravens that I loyally supported, until they went away. You make it seem like the team is being disbanded or moving to Alaska..We get it they won't be in the Bucket any longer. At least they will be in existence and fairly close to travel to. Look on the bright side and grow up.
 

terrynever

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Aug 25, 2005
21,717
pawtucket
@terrynever @Brohamer of the Gods Gee will you guys stop complaining? It's not like your minor league team is moving to Vegas or completely disbanding. I used to have a minor league team about 10 minutes away from me called the New Haven Ravens that I loyally supported, until they went away. You make it seem like the team is being disbanded or moving to Alaska..We get it they won't be in the Bucket any longer. At least they will be in existence and fairly close to travel to. Look on the bright side and grow up.
I’m 72, Geddie. This is as grown up as I’m going to get. Personally, I could care less about the PawSox leaving but it’s a tough blow for the city. That’s all. They will do just fine in Worcester and I will go watch a game there someday, unless MLB contracts them.
 

The_Powa_of_Seiji_Ozawa

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 9, 2006
7,874
SS Botany Bay
My problem? A team I have loyally followed for over 40 years is leaving town. There are many reasons for this and lots of blame to go around. But I am fine if a few eggs in Worcester get broken to make a giant FU omelette for Larry and the Dentist.
Larry and the Dentist will be just fine, along with their landlord friends, as long as they don't catch the virus. It's the slew of construction workers, tradespeople, and a handful of businesses that will get most hurt by this stoppage.
 

Brohamer of the Gods

Well-Known Member
Silver Supporter
SoSH Member
Jul 14, 2005
3,947
Warwick, RI
Larry and the Dentist will be just fine, along with their landlord friends, as long as they don't catch the virus. It's the slew of construction workers, tradespeople, and a handful of businesses that will get most hurt by this stoppage.
Yup, this is bad for those folks. Sadly it is the same for construction workers all across the state, including those working on a job at the Worcester public library that was also shut down. It also sucks for the three people I had to call yesterday to tell them their start date for working with us has been pushed back from April to May. Except my people still have the same end date, so they will probably lose month of wages as opposed to the construction workers who will make it up later.

Do you have similar sympathy for people in Pawtucket who have worked at McCoy for decades who are out of work right now and will lose their jobs at the end of the season? Or the businesses around McCoy that will lose customers?

I am fully aware how little this means to Larry and the Dentist in the long term. I just shared the news with what is at best third tier snark.
 

Mugsy's Jock

Eli apologist
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 28, 2000
15,069
UWS, NYC
@terrynever @Brohamer of the Gods Gee will you guys stop complaining? It's not like your minor league team is moving to Vegas or completely disbanding. I used to have a minor league team about 10 minutes away from me called the New Haven Ravens that I loyally supported, until they went away. You make it seem like the team is being disbanded or moving to Alaska..We get it they won't be in the Bucket any longer. At least they will be in existence and fairly close to travel to. Look on the bright side and grow up.
I think this is a little facile. Sure, the PawSox/WooSox are moving just an hour away, but...

a.) I think more fans identify with a minor league team as a part of their own community and a family outing destination rather than a place to see MLB prospects or AAA-level baseball. If you’re a PawSox fan, Worcester, while “only” an hour away, is not part of the Pawtucket or even Rhode Island communities.

b.) An hour away is a lot. Native Rhode Islanders aren’t like native Nebraskans who might be accustomed to driving an hour to get from one town to the next. And for an experience like PawSox baseball, that hour is enough to make it more likely you’d make the drive just a couple times a season. And that hour is even further if you’ve got a station wagon full of kids, as is often the case with minor league ball. Especially on a school night.
 

OBPercent1

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 25, 2004
372
On the road to nowhere
Bump for the schedule release , with the new leagues they are only going to be playing the other 5 teams in the Northeast division. Only seeing 5 visiting teams all year. I am sure Dr. Charles will try to sell it as more rivals, more COVID safe, less travel, etc. I think it sucks. The previous minor league agreement all travel cost was on the owners of the teams . Not sure where it falls in the new deal and if this is MLB trying to pinch pennies . Link below.

https://www.milb.com/worcester/schedule/2021-04
 

vadertime

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 31, 2006
1,600
Rhode Island
It's also an unbalanced schedule. Worcester is playing 70 home and 72 road. So I'd imagine the entire league has that setup. Why they couldn't make it 71/71?
 

sittingstill

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Jul 17, 2005
1,585
Bay State Road
It's also an unbalanced schedule. Worcester is playing 70 home and 72 road. So I'd imagine the entire league has that setup. Why they couldn't make it 71/71?
Since each series is a calendar week (Tuesday to Sunday with Monday off), the week with the All-Star Break gets shorted two games (starting on Thursday). Worcester happens to be home that week.
 

Heating up in the bullpen

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 24, 2007
1,082
Pittsboro NC
Bump for the schedule release , with the new leagues they are only going to be playing the other 5 teams in the Northeast division. Only seeing 5 visiting teams all year. I am sure Dr. Charles will try to sell it as more rivals, more COVID safe, less travel, etc. I think it sucks. The previous minor league agreement all travel cost was on the owners of the teams . Not sure where it falls in the new deal and if this is MLB trying to pinch pennies . Link below.

https://www.milb.com/worcester/schedule/2021-04
With that six game series (and six games per week) schedule, would it make sense to run with a six man starting rotation? No starter has to face the same opponent twice in a series. Don’t have to account for the day off every week.
It would feel like a college rotation, where you’ve got your midweek guys and your weekend guys.
 

JimD

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 29, 2001
8,681
Do we know if the division-only schedule is permanent or if it's due to Covid and hopefully just 2021 only?
 

sittingstill

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Jul 17, 2005
1,585
Bay State Road
Everything I have read about the division-only schedule (the Worcester press release, this Athletic article) specifies "this season," so I am confident this won't be the case in 2022. That said I do think travel will be a consideration to some extent going forward. This is from that Athletic piece, about the rest of AAA East, and sounds more like a general statement of MLB's priorities for MiLB:

Among the Midwest and Southeast divisions, there will be some overlap, but only where it makes sense. For example, Louisville of the Midwest division will play against the Southeast’s Nashville and Memphis, but won’t face Jacksonville. Jacksonville, which is moving up from the Double-A Southern League, won’t venture outside of its division in 2021.

This unbalanced schedule is a departure from the previous minor-league structure, where each league attempted to create a fair schedule to determine a champion, making sure every team faced every other team during the regular season. While minor-league teams play games to win and there are titles, trophies and rings at stake, rosters are designed to supplement the big-league team, not to win a minor-league title. Those flags may fly forever, but nobody throws a parade. The most important thing for the teams is developing the players, getting reps and reducing the strain on players, coaches and staff.
That sounds to me like the geographic outliers of the league will be less likely to play each other going forward, or there will be some sort of rotation. Daren Willman put this map together, which I thought was useful for visualizing the geography.

 

edoug

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
6,007
Everything I have read about the division-only schedule (the Worcester press release, this Athletic article) specifies "this season," so I am confident this won't be the case in 2022. That said I do think travel will be a consideration to some extent going forward. This is from that Athletic piece, about the rest of AAA East, and sounds more like a general statement of MLB's priorities for MiLB:



That sounds to me like the geographic outliers of the league will be less likely to play each other going forward, or there will be some sort of rotation. Daren Willman put this map together, which I thought was useful for visualizing the geography.

It brings on geometry flashbacks.
 

Sad Sam Jones

Member
SoSH Member
May 5, 2017
2,494
Those photos look like a completely nondescript minor league park built in the late 1990s. Triple-A stadiums built in the past 10-15 years have generally been really nice, like scaled down MLB parks.
 

Pablo's TB Lover

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 10, 2017
5,959
Is it just me or does the lower bowl appear to have a very shallow slope? It stands out in those seats next to the bullpen from that Twitter photo. Maybe I was spoiled by the nice steep gradient of the McCoy seating, but this feels like walkway advisory height a la Fenway box seats. Seems a little odd for a new stadium and especially one that ideally should be more crafted for children to see the action. All about that 2nd deck I suppose.
 

The_Powa_of_Seiji_Ozawa

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 9, 2006
7,874
SS Botany Bay
Is it just me or does the lower bowl appear to have a very shallow slope? It stands out in those seats next to the bullpen from that Twitter photo. Maybe I was spoiled by the nice steep gradient of the McCoy seating, but this feels like walkway advisory height a la Fenway box seats. Seems a little odd for a new stadium and especially one that ideally should be more crafted for children to see the action. All about that 2nd deck I suppose.
Looks like that to me as well. I think part of the design theory was to accomodate the expectation of selling a large number of SRO-style seatless tickets for fans to roam around.
 

Brohamer of the Gods

Well-Known Member
Silver Supporter
SoSH Member
Jul 14, 2005
3,947
Warwick, RI
I hadn't been paying enough attention to realize that with the shift of the start of the season to May they are losing 11 home games. At least according to the schedule posted now that shows 60 home games rather than 71.Having dates later in September should help a bit as it will be warmer than April, but losing 1/7 of the home games in the inaugural year could hurt their financial plan.
 

Beomoose

is insoxicated
SoSH Member
May 28, 2006
21,388
Exiled
Cheap, ugly, and behind schedule. Just an "emergency repairs before the first season is done" away from the cycle.
 

gryoung

Member
SoSH Member
I get the Worcester hate from the Pawtucket fans, but my understanding is the stadium is the most expensive minor league field in the country and is on schedule.

I saw the roster yesterday and am looking forward to seeing Durran play while sipping some excellent beer from
Greater Good.
 

Ale Xander

Hamilton
SoSH Member
Oct 31, 2013
72,432
I get the Worcester hate from the Pawtucket fans, but my understanding is the stadium is the most expensive minor league field in the country and is on schedule.
This is so sad.

Labor and real estate and bribery approval costs, perhaps.
 

RIFan

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 19, 2005
3,087
Rhode Island
Nice to know RI will get another shot at getting the PawSox back when they are stadium shopping to replace the broken down and/ or outdated stadium in 2032. (Yes, I am still salty about the whole thing)
 

The_Powa_of_Seiji_Ozawa

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 9, 2006
7,874
SS Botany Bay
Granted that the Polar Park complex is still a work in progress, but this version of Polar Park is sucky and reminds me of a scaled down version of the Toilet. The version the Sox sold everyone on made it look like Camden Yards.

Contractors are boning the city bigtime on this. Very disappointing. I wanted to see this Worcester project live up to the hype and the price tag, but instead it looks like we're getting fed escolar.