{"id":125481,"date":"2025-06-23T16:26:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T16:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/125481\/"},"modified":"2025-06-23T16:26:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T16:26:12","slug":"hedge-fund-founder-trip-miller-ready-and-waiting-to-outbid-zalupskis-group-for-tampa-bay-rays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/125481\/","title":{"rendered":"Hedge fund founder Trip Miller ready and waiting to outbid Zalupski’s group for Tampa Bay Rays"},"content":{"rendered":"

If the impending purchase of the Rays<\/a> by Jacksonville-based Patrick Zalupski\u2019s group falls apart, Memphis-based hedge fund Gullane Capital founder Trip Miller indicated that he \u201cis waiting in the wings\u201d and \u201cwilling to offer more,\u201d according to Mahoney & Liebson of the TAMPA BAY TIMES. Miller is leading a group called \u201cEpping Forrest Diamond Partners\u201d that \u201cput forward an offer earlier this month.\u201d Miller would not name the other investors on his team or disclose how much they offered but noted that they are \u201cready to compete with Zalupski.\u201d Miller said, \u201cWe are financially prepared if needed to bid more.\u201d This is not Miller\u2019s \u201cfirst attempt at courting\u201d Rays owner Stuart Sternberg. In 2023, Miller assembled a different group that offered $1.85B for the team. Miller said that Tampa-based DEX Imaging CEO Dan Doyle Jr. — who was a part of the previous group — is \u201cnot part of his current investment group.\u201d In fact, Doyle is \u201cbelieved to be part of Zalupski\u2019s group this time\u201d (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 6\/20<\/a>).<\/p>\n

STAY OR GO: Miller did not say what amount his group bid, adding he could also \u201cnot reveal who was in his group, citing an NDA.\u201d However, he said that his group\u2019s intent would be to \u201cleave Tropicana Field and build a new ballpark,\u201d with the \u201ccaveat of first ensuring a productive partnership with local government.\u201d In any hypothetical sale, Miller said that his intent \u201cwould be to keep the team local, specifically mentioning Hillsborough County (Tampa) or Pinellas County (St. Petersburg), while not fully ruling out exploring options in Orlando.\u201d Miller: \u201cThis is not a relocation play to another state. You won\u2019t see the Rays relocating out of Central Florida\u201d (THE ATHLETIC, 6\/20<\/a>).<\/p>\n

NOTHING LIKE HOME: In Tampa, Stephanie Hayes wrote fans did not \u201cknow we were in the good old days before Hurricane Milton ripped the roof off Tropicana Field: crispy cool in air conditioning, safe from summer storms.\u201d Hayes wrote the team\u2019s temporary home at George M. Steinbrenner Field, \u201cunfortunately, feels like a bowl of bisque bubbling in a microwave.\u201d Hayes: \u201cIf the Rays figure out how to stay in Tampa Bay and build a new stadium, please, give me that delicious roof.\u201d She added she is waiting \u201cin pale terror for our day game in late July.\u201d Hayes: \u201cAnd mostly — never thought I\u2019d say this — I miss the Trop\u201d (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 6\/20<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If the impending purchase of the Rays by Jacksonville-based Patrick Zalupski\u2019s group falls apart, Memphis-based hedge fund Gullane…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125482,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2377],"tags":[5,6035,4,297,2550,68,2551,2549],"class_list":{"0":"post-125481","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa-bay-rays","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-deals","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-rays","12":"tag-tampa-bay","13":"tag-tampa-bay-rays","14":"tag-tampabay","15":"tag-tampabayrays"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114733618717028248","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}