Jim Goulart

This article states: The plans call for the stadium to be ready for the start of the 2014 Southern League season in April, but no team was announced. It is highly expected the only team that would make a direct move would be Huntsville, Ala., but there are other scenarios in acquiring a team.

Even more interesting -- In 2012, Gov. Bryant began working with a baseball ownership group, led by team owner Ken Young, to identify a suitable site and potential financing for a stadium development. Young, a former minor league executive of the year and owner of four minor league baseball franchises, is in the process of purchasing an existing minor league team and relocating the team to Biloxi. *** And Miles Prentice can't be reached? Yikes, Huntsville...

RENDERING COURTESY OF DALE PARTNERS ARCHITECTS Gov. Phil Bryant today released the preliminary designs for a minor league baseball stadium in Biloxi, north of the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino. The hotel, restaurant and entertainment center will be built in Phase II. http://media.sunherald.com/smedia/2013/05/30/15/24/W1sgY.AuSt.77.jpeg Interesting -- Mississippi plans to use $15 million of BP oil spill recovery money to help build a minor league baseball stadium in downtown Biloxi. The rest of the $35 million stadium will be paid for by up to $21 million that the city of Biloxi has agreed to borrow.

It's too bad that the Sounds just extended their Greer Stadium lease for three years through 2016, and not two through 2015. In a dream scenario, Nashville ownership would move the team to Jacksonville or Birmingham and retain the Brewers as their AAA partner. That would free up Biloxi as the new AA franchise. Huntsville ownership moves the Stars there and again maintains the Brewers relationship. Opening Day 2016 would be sweet! Maybe Miles Prentice has been pinching his pennies to save up to buy his way out of the last two years of Huntsville's lease (or, as the update below indicates, is looking to sell the Stars to the Biloxi ownership group).

Latest from Mark McCarter recaps earlier news However, just wanted to highlight the timing points. Stadium ready for 2014 season? Wow, really, haven't broken ground yet (subsequent updates in this thread now point to 2015 opening). Stars lease runs through 2015 But the Jackson Generals lease runs for another eight years *** Professional baseball will be coming to Biloxi, Miss., and that could be one step closer to professional baseball leaving Huntsville. Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant and Biloxi Mayor A.J. Holloway are scheduled to announce this afternoon that a new stadium will be built in downtown Biloxi and architectural designs will be unveiled, according to the Mississippi Business Journal. The stadium will be built in time for the 2014 season. Biloxi will try to land a Class AA team and join the Southern League. Earlier, Councilman Bill Stallworth told The Biloxi Sun-Herald there was a "fairly good assurance that that would take place." Because of dwindling attendance and the state of Joe W. Davis Stadium, the oldest park in the Southern League, the Huntsville Stars is the team being most widely speculated about in the Mississippi reports. Miles Prentice, the New York-based attorney who is the Stars' majority owner, did not respond Wednesday to interview requests from AL.com and The Huntsville Times. Tim Bennett, executive director of Overtime Sports, which has brokered the effort to bring baseball to Biloxi, told the Mississippi Business Journal "I really can't say right now" in regard to the franchise he would bring to Biloxi. The Stars' lease with the city of Huntsville expires at the end of the 2015, which would be contrary to Bennett's timetable. "The league won't allow a team to break a lease and walk away from the stadium," Bennett told the Mississippi Business Journal. "That's part of the trick, because the difficulty is having a city ready to build at the right time, and a team in another city ready to get out of its lease." Jackson, Tenn., which joins Huntsville at the bottom of the Southern League attendance figures, could also be vulnerable, but the team's lease with the city doesn't expire for eight years. Another part of the scenario might find a Southern League city changing classification, much like what happened when Pensacola sought a team and landed the Reds' farm club in Zebulon, N.C., which in turn joined the Class A Carolina League. Both Jacksonville and Birmingham have stadiums built to Class AAA standards. Prentice has asked for a "fairly significant" financial investment from the city of Huntsville in upgrading Joe Davis Stadium and has acknowledged his preference would be a new ballpark in downtown. City officials have also floated the idea of a new stadium. New city manager of urban and long-range planning Dennis Madsen recently told The Times, "A new ballpark would really do wonders for the franchise. I think it would be just a great thing to have. Let's say you had it on Clinton (Avenue). You'd come down off the Parkway, and there's the Von Braun Center here and the ballpark here, and it's this great gateway into downtown. It's that kind of iconic moment that when people are visiting, they remember. When you drive into Chattanooga and see the bridge and the aquarium spiking over the river, that's the thing that sticks in your head. It has value beyond just the dollars you put into it. It's something that resonates deeper inside us - it moves us and gets us excited." However, Prentice has made few visits to Huntsville since announcing the lease renewal two years ago, and he has had few conversations, including a visit by Mayor Tommy Battle to Prentice's office, with city officials about how to proceed. *** With the Brewers' luck, when a potential new stadium association finally arrives, affiliate owners will seek to align with another organization. -- MH

Know the stadium talk is always fuzzy (and tedious) -- heck, there is a wonderful facility in Brevard County and even that gets its share of updates. Another article on the Nationals' potential spring training plans after 2014, does include one additional note: The county also would seek to enter into a long-term lease agreement with the Brevard County Manatees to continue to make Space Coast Stadium its home.

All about trust: Manatees pitching coach encourages players to have faith John A. Torres, Florida Today Mark Dewey admits having regrets when he stopped playing the game he loved a little prematurely, when he still had plenty still in the tank. Maybe that’s what fuels the 48-year-old pitching coach now as he works to send his Brevard County Manatees pitchers up the chain toward their ultimate destination: Miller Park and the Milwaukee Brewers. It’s a job that affords him the opportunity to sit back sometimes and just smile. That is, of course, when he’s not questioning the home plate umpire’s strike zone. “My job is to help them prepare and let them perform,” Dewey said before a recent game against Clearwater at Space Coast Stadium. Dewey’s staff, led by starters Brooks Hall and David Goforth and reliever Tommy Toledo, is ranked in the top half of the Florida State League in just about all the major pitching categories. The young staff has a more-than-respectable 3.61 ERA and a WHIP of only 1.29. “Fundamentally, I think it’s about getting them prepared and teaching them to prepare themselves when they go out there,” he said. Dewey, in his second year as the Manatees’ pitching coach, has a quote hanging up on the bulletin board to help him and his pitchers understand and try to overcome the toughest obstacle to being a successful pitcher. The quote is attributed to Tom Seaver. It says: “You gotta trust what you have.” “That’s easy for a guy that had his stuff, but he wouldn’t be in the hall of fame if he didn’t trust his stuff,” said Dewey. “I just try to encourage them to trust what they have and attack it. That is the number one problem.” Dewey trusted his own stuff enough to break into the big leagues in 1992 as a reliever with the San Francisco Giants. He also pitched for the New York Mets and Pittsburgh Pirates before returning to the Giants in 1995. One season later, Dewey enjoyed his best season, appearing in 78 games with six victories and a 4.21 ERA. That’s when he walked away from the game, wanting to spend more time with his wife and children. Second thoughts lingered and Dewey went to spring training a year later with the Brewers, only to be cut on the last day of camp. A few years later, he flirted with another comeback with the Pirates but was derailed by a back injury. “I made the decision with the right motives, but humanly speaking it was the wrong decision,” he said. “I was healthy, I was throwing the ball well and my career would have taken off from a financial standpoint.” He coached with the Mets in 2000 and then found himself coaching in Australia, where his duties included a little more than counting pitches. “I was a coach, chapel leader, did Bible studies and even pitched some,” he laughed. Dewey credits his faith with his coaching success on the field. “My faith is the very core of who I am,” he said. “Hopefully it comes out in how I try to treat all the guys with respect. I try to work as diligently with the guy who might be considered the lowest prospect on the rung as much as I do with the guy who’s the highest prospect.” The players appreciate it. Toledo, who has five saves and a 2.25 ERA, played for the Manatees late last season and has known Dewey now for nearly a year. One of Dewey’s most effective coaching strategies comes several hours after each game, in the form of an email. He sends pitchers a synopsis of their performance, statistics, pitch breakdowns and then a critique to help them improve. “He’s a coach, so he’s going to tell you what you’re doing wrong. But at the same time, he’s not going to chew you out about it,” Toledo said. Dewey’s faith might not allow him to chew out his own players, but conducting himself in a manner that demonstrates his beliefs is not always easy. “I think I fail sometimes in my dealing with the umpires,” he smiled. I think we all do. That’s why there must be a special place reserved in paradise for those men in blue. http://cmsimg.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=A9&Date=20130530&Category=COLUMNISTS0317&ArtNo=305300025&Ref=AR&MaxW=600&Border=0

Donovan Hand hometown feature

Stars Hold Off Generals Rally, Snap Skid By Alex Cohen / Huntsville Stars While having a five-run lead cut to one, the Huntsville Stars held on to beat the Jackson Generals by a score of 6-5 on Wednesday night at The Ballpark at Jackson. The Stars began to build their early initial build in the second inning where outfielder Brock Kjeldgaard and designated hitter Robinzon Diaz hit back-to-back doubles off of Generals LHP Anthony Fernandez (L, 2-1) to make the score 1-0. Two batters later, an RBI single from catcher Shawn Zarraga scored Diaz to put the Stars up by two. Fortunately for Huntsville, that was all the run support starting pitcher Ariel Pena needed. The 23-year-old righty earned his fourth win in the month of May and improved to 5-3 overall by giving up just one run in six innings and struck out seven batters. The 20th ranked prospect in the Brewers system (per MLB.com) lowered his team-leading ERA to 2.63 in the process. The only blemish on the ballgame for Pena when he gave up his only run on an RBI single by Generals catcher Michael Dowd. Up by 3-1 to start off fifth inning, the Stars made a commanding charge to take over the ballgame. With one out, left fielder Shea Vucinich walked and second baseman Nick Shaw singled to put runners at the corners. After an RBI single from right fielder Kentrail Davis scored Vucinich and moved Shaw to third, a pickoff attempt to first by Generals reliever Moises Hernandez allowed Shaw to steal home and moved Davis to second for the second run of the frame. During the next at-bat, an RBI single from first baseman Jason Rogers made the score 5-1. One inning later, a solo homer from third baseman Mike Walker put the Stars up by five. For Walker, the homer was his second in as many games. However, the Generals did not go down without a fight. With Pena out of the game starting the seventh, Jackson outfielder Denny Almonte welcomed Stars reliever Santo Manzanillo into the ballgame with a solo homer to cut the Stars lead to four. The next inning, a two-run single from outfielder James Jones off of Stars reliever Casey Medlen made the score 6-4. Then, in the ninth inning, a leadoff homer from designated hitter Vinnie Catricala against Stars lefty Thomas Keeling made it a one-run ballgame. However, Keeling settled down. Following a strikeout and a self-induced throwing error on a comebacker by Dowd, the 25-year-old southpaw retired the final two batters he faced to record his first save of the season. The win for the Stars snapped a three-game losing skid overall. On Thursday, the Stars and Generals will play game three of a five-game series at The Ballpark At Jackson. Huntsville will send RHP Taylor Jungmann (4-5, 4.82 ERA) to the bump as Jackson will counter with LHP Roenis Elias (2-4, 2.88 ERA). First pitch is at 7:05 CT.

Via Jeff Hem's blog -- Audio from Nashville — Manager Mike Guerrero Tonight’s interview is with Sounds manager Mike Guerrero, who returned to the team today after missing nine games with the recent passing of his father and longtime baseball scout, Epy Guerrero. Mike discusses the odd feeling of being away from his team during the season, his return to the club, the first-ever major league call-up for Donovan Hand (which happened while Mike was gone) and more about the life and baseball impact of Epy Guerrero.

VIDEO from Tuesday's game -- Huntsville's Mike Walker hits solo homer as Stars fall to Jackson, 5-4

VIDEO from Tuesday's game -- Hunter Morris plates a run with a ninth-inning hit in Nashville's 5-2 loss to Iowa

Weather.com: Nashville, TN Jackson, TN Clearwater, FL Beloit, WI

Look for Nashville and Wisconsin media notes at the links just prior to their game times. New this season: Brevard County has media notes; as of now, it's a unique link each day, but look for it just prior to game time each day within the "Stats and Scores" banner here.

To see tweets as to when the Link Report has been technically "completed" with available links, as well as to know when the new day's Report has been posted, please follow @Mass_Haas on Twitter.

STANDINGS: AAA - Pacific Coast League American Northern Division AA - Southern League North Division High-A - Florida State League North Division A - Midwest League Western Division

Follow Thursday's action as it happens with box score / game log links: Nashville Huntsville Brevard County Wisconsin New MiLB.com feature -- organizational scoreboard, Brewers

Programming notes: Jackson has MiLB.TV coverage, so if you're a subscriber, you can watch this Stars' series (live and/or archived). *** No Brevard County audio from the Manatees' crew for this series in Clearwater, but you can listen to the Threshers' call here.

Thursday's Daily Menu: All times are Central Nashville: LHP Chris Narveson in a rehab start at home vs. Iowa (Cubs), 6:45 PM pre-game, 7:05 gametime; expect to see RHP R.J. Seidel follow-up Free Live Audio Link Jeff Hem is the play-by-play voice of the Sounds; follow him on Twitter @jeffhempbp; we'll link to his blog updates at On the Air…and Off MiLB.TV -- for subscribers; all Nashville games, home and away, will be available to watch via MiLB.TV's $39.99 season-long package ($9.99 to pay for a single month). The audio feed is from the home team. All MiLB.TV details available at the link. ********** Huntsville: RHP Taylor Jungmann at Jackson (Mariners), 6:50 PM pre-game, 7:05 gametime Free Live Audio Link -- Select the Huntsville feed from the MiLB main audio page Alex Cohen is the play-by-play voice of the Stars; follow him on Twitter @alexmcohen. All games, home and away, are scheduled to be broadcast. It appears four Southern League teams air their home games on MiLB.TV, and we'll let you know when those dates pop up on the schedule ********** Brevard County: RHP David Goforth at (Phillies), 6:00 PM gametime ********** Wisconsin: RHP Tyler Wagner at Beloit (Athletics), 10:40 AM pre-game, 11:00 gametime Free Live Audio Link - 1280 AM WNAM Chris Mehring is back to do his customary fantastic work as the Voice of the Rattlers. Follow him on Twitter @CMehring; we'll link to Chris' infamous blog often -- Rattler Radio. So for the $39.95 season-long package, fans in Brewer Nation can watch all Sounds games, Stars' road games from four Southern League locales, and all Timber Rattlers home games and some road games. NOTE: 32 of the Rattlers' 70 home games will be broadcast on TV this season. Time Warner Cable SportsChannel has seventeen games scheduled and WACY-TV My NEW32 plans to show fifteen games. We'll let you know when, but won't be providing day-before DVR reminders, so regularly check for proper channel and time planning (scroll to the bottom of this link).

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Getting to know: Sounds catcher Blake Lalli

Khris Davis sees action in right field tonight for the 9th time for Nashville (16 thus far in LF). In the still too-small sample, Davis has one assist and two errors while in RF (19 chances).

Odds and ends: The Tennessean has a notes column featuring the smooth transition the players had to interim Manager Charlie Greene. *** Florida Today has a new column about the future of Space Coast Stadium, from making a bid for the Brewers to move their operations there (an admittedly “Hail Mary” possibility, the article notes), to the last-resort option of tearing down the stadium, and developing something else there or selling the property. But every other possibility would need to be considered first. Of course, there are options in between those. *** The Manatees are currently the only above .500 affiliate at 27-23, but their "expected" Pythagorean W-L record is only 21-29. With Brevard County and Wisconsin notes already posted, that's just one of the many tidbits you should peruse.

Weather.com: Nashville, TN Jackson, TN Clearwater, FL Beloit, WI

Look for Nashville and Wisconsin media notes at the links just prior to their game times. New this season: Brevard County has media notes; as of now, it's a unique link each day, but look for it just prior to game time each day within the "Stats and Scores" banner here.