December 17, 2018 [LINK / comment]
One of the bright spots in the Nationals' roster this season was veteran utility player Matt Adams. He was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in late August (at the same time Daniel Murphy was traded), but yesterday he signed a one-year contract worth $3 million with the Nats; the terms include a one-year extension by mutual option. Adams has been a pretty good hitter, and given his prime age (30), that seems like a bargain. See the Washington Post.
What does this mean for the possibility that the Nats might get Daniel Murphy to rejoin the team? That's not a realistic option, apparently.
The New York Mets have acquired the former Nationals' catcher Wilson Ramos, [who signed] a two-year, $19 million contract. It's kind of too bad the Nationals didn't make him such an offer, but apparently they decided his body is too fragile to risk such a high salary. See washingtonpost.com.
While watching Sunday Night Football, I had an aerial view of the future home of the L.A. Rams and Chargers, [under construction]. The field of the new stadium in Inglewood is 100 feet below ground level. (!!!???) They say that the proximity to L.A. International Airport imposed strict height limitations on new structures, so they built downward rather than upward. After construction delays caused by severe flooding last year, the target opening date is August/September 2020. But more to the point, I noticed that there is a new upper deck and associated luxury suites, etc. at L.A. Memorial Coliseum. I had thought that those improvements wouldn't take place until the Rams left the premises, but I was wrong. So, I added a new 2018 football diagram variant to that page -- subject to revision as further details become available.
Following up on the news from November 25, I added an artificial turf diagram variant for Chase Field. I may need to modify that diagram later, if other changes are made next year.
As for Marlins Park, where a new seating area will be built where the fancy art thing currently is located (left of center field), I'm going to wait until I see photos or read more precise descriptions before I update that diagram.
Finally, just for the record, I made a few more tiny tweaks to the Tiger Stadium diagrams. It was mostly in the peripheral structures such as the office building, in the southeast corner of the trapezoidal block. After reexamining some photos, I realized that the building in question was enlarged at least twice over the years.
Mike Zurawski and Bucky Nance both alerted me to the news that the current home of the Texas Rangers, Globe Life Park, will be converted into a football stadium after the Rangers move into their new home next year. The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex was awarded an XFL franchise, providing a new use for the Rangers' "old" stadium, which was built just 24 years ago. See star-telegram.com
It looks like the Tampa Bay Rays are going to remain in their bland, dim current stadium for the entire term of the lease, which terminates at the end of 2017. Earlier this year, the team owners had announced a project to build a new stadium in the Ybor City area of downtown Tampa (across the bay from St. Petersburg, where Tropicana Field is located), but Mike Zurawski informs me that that deal fell apart. The Rays' principal owner Stuart Sternberg said that there were too many uncertainties to pursue the deal further, since they are under a legal time constraint. That leaves the Rays with no real alternative new stadium site for the foreseeable future. See tampabay.com.
Finally, Terry Wallace reminded me that the big left field bleachers at Griffith Stadium were not built until 1924, whereas my current 1911 diagram [wrongly] indicates that they were there when the stadium was first built in 1911. I was indeed aware of that, and hope to finish that set of diagrams in the next couple weeks.