Saying no to the Braves and possibly so long to the Blue Jays

MLB reporter Mark Bowman, who primarily covers the Atlanta Braves, reported recently that major league baseball has told Pinellas County it should commit its revenues to keeping the Tampa Bay Rays in the region rather than a spring home for the Braves. That’s great if the Rays stay in Pinellas County, but why would Pinellas want to spend a thin dime if a new location is in Hillsborough County? After all, how much money has Hillsborough ponied up over the years while the Rays resided in St. Pete? Another factor in relocating the Braves to St. Pete could well be a shared facility with the Toronto Blue Jays who very likely will leave Dunedin when their contract is up next year – coincidentally the same year the Braves-Disney World pact ends. It makes too much sense to locate the two teams in Pinellas as it seems a foregone conclusion the Rays will be moving to Hillsborough. With the Braves now focusing on Sarasota County, Pinellas will be left out in the cold again - a shame for a city that was at the forefront of spring training in Florida.

Around Tampa Bay:

1. Determined to outdo CSX who began the spring break season by closing down the two main arteries to and from the beach on successive weekends, the city of Clearwater chose Easter week to shut down 75 parking spots at one of the most intensely used parking lots on the beach. Who is making these ridiculous decisions and why do they still have a job?

2. With the regular season just days away, lots of baseball items including this one: something to file away as the MLB season goes on. Baseball Prospectus, which bases its predictions very heavily on sabermetrics, says the Rays will win the Eastern Division. Would like to believe that but….

3. Speaking of the Rays, we are long overdue in noting the passing of Hubert Mizell of the St. Petersburg Times – a longtime observer of sports in the bay area.

4. We understand it doesn’t affect world peace or anything, but we’re dumbfounded that our Florida Legislature couldn’t come up with a “fair to all” piece of legislation regarding Lyft and Uber. We will continue to have a couple dozen jurisdictions enforcing a couple dozen dissimilar laws regarding the ride providers.

5. Related to our lead item, you’ve lived in the bay area a long time if you remember when both the St. Louis Cards and the Yankees trained in St. Pete.

The diamond, the media and other stuff

6. He was one of the great ones. Joe Garagiola joined Bob Uecker in making the most of a middling career as a major league catcher. Baseball broadcaster, Today Show host and raconteur, Joe was always at the top of his game. His namesake Joe, Jr. was GM of the Diamondbacks and his daughter Gina Bridgeman, while not that well known in baseball circles, is a terrific inspirational writer. We join the nation and Joe’s family in grieving his passing at age 90.

7. Grandfathered, Fuller House, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 and appearing with the Beach Boys a few weeks ago at Ruth Eckerd Hall; does actor/musician John Stamos ever sleep?

8. This Thursday evening a one hour season finale of Life in Pieces airs on CBS. In our mind, it is probably the best new comedy of the season although not everyone agrees and it is on the bubble for renewal. If you’ve not seen this gem, give it a look and if you like what you see, fill in the gaps with earlier episodes from on-demand.

9. One more Rays note – viewing a lot of broadcast teams on MLB TV during the spring training season makes you have a greater appreciation of the Rays’ Dewayne Staats.

10. Not so good news if you have a Kindle that you bought in 2012 or earlier. Unless you get an upgrade; you can no longer access the Internet or download books. How to do it? You need to ask someone more tech savvy than the morons who write this piece. More planned obsolescence.

Here’s the windup and the predictions:

Our sports soothsayer Achmed Walled (pronounced wall-ED) is riding high after predicting the winner of the 2015 World Series down to the game. Here are his thoughts on 2016. In the National League he likes the Mets, the Cards and the Giants as division winners with the Pirates and Cubs as wild card entries. Biggest turnaround could come from the Diamondbacks. In the America League, Achmed is putting his money on the Yankees, Royals and the Astros (still getting used to Houston being in the AL). Achmed predicts the Red Sox and Angels will be the Wild Cards but says don’t sleep on the Rangers who could surprise everybody.

SNEAK PEEK AT NEXT WEEK: PINELLAS’ NEXT DYSFUNCTIONAL CITY