Rays Notes: Ryan Brett, Uniforms, Attendance

Ryan Brett and two other Rays minor leaguers were suspended by Major League Baseball for meth use on Thursday. Brett has now responded, per his agent.

"According to his agent, Nik Lubisich, of Northwest Sports Management Group, Brett has asserted these test results could only be the result of a single incident in which the evening before this random drug test he took an energy pill that was described to him as caffeine-like, but which apparently turned out to be a common form of Attention-Deficit Disorder (ADD) medication, Adderall.  This was an unintentional and unfortunate one-time event that has significantly impacted Brett, who is widely seen as one of Tampa Bay’s top young prospects.Adderall is a prescription stimulant which contains an amphetamine and is also known to show a positive for methamphetamines on drug tests.  Brett wanted to set the record straight after MLB’s statement was picked up by media outlets as insinuating that his test results must have been from recreational “meth” use, which he vehemently denies having ever done or even seen."

I really hope that’s the truth, but it doesn’t make much of a difference now as Brett’s suspension is unlikely to be overturned. I do like the “significantly impacted” line, although that is just some crafty writing by his agent. Hopefully nothing like this ever happens again and Brett gets right back on track next season as he continues advancing through the minor leagues as one of the Rays’ best second base prospects.

ESPN’s Uni Watch guru Paul Lukas has released his rankings for all 30 MLB teams’ uniforms, and the Rays came in at just number 21. Here’s waht Lukas had to say.

"When the history of uni-verse is written, the Rays’ 2005-07 set will go down as one of the great underrated designs (especially if I’m the one writing the history). Their current set is a snoozer by comparison, but it’s straightforwardly free of gimmicks, and they get bonus points for occasionally breaking out the striped socks."

What? Did anyone actually like those 2005-2007 D-Rays uniforms? And more importantly, are the Rays’ uniforms really so bad. I personally really like the Rays’ powder blue uniforms and the contrast with their darker blue uniforms and all four of their uniforms (also white and gray) are pretty sleek. I ranked the Rays’ powder blue uniform the 5th-best in baseball a while back. What do you think?

And finally, Jonah Keri wrote an article about the Rays’ success this season and had an interesting paragraph about their attendance issues.

"I’ve documented the sources of those attendance struggles at length already: The Rays play in one of baseball’s oldest stadiums, but one that obviously lacks the charm of a Wrigley or a Fenway; the Tampa Bay region’s trying to tunnel out from one of the most aggressive local recessions in the nation; the area’s rife with transplants from all over the country, and doesn’t yet have enough history for parents to foster new generations of Rays fans; and fewer people live within a 30-minute drive of poorly located Tropicana Field than any other major league ballpark. These issues aren’t going away anytime soon, and trying to shame fans into showing up isn’t going to help. A new, better-located stadium would likely boost attendance. But finding the right location, and especially the money to build that new park, will require jumping over a huge number of political and financial hurdles."

Keri is really just talking briefly about what he said in his book The Extra 2%, but the bolded line is something important to remember. Hopefully the Rays can continue playing well the rest of the season and get some better attendance figures down the stretch and especially in the playoffs and the process of getting a new stadium will continue to progress.