In 2009, Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Fla., appeared to be a park without a future. Over the years since the ballpark was built in 1989, the Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles and Cincinnati Reds had all moved their spring-training operations out of it — the last straw for the Reds coming when local voters rejected a bond measure to rebuild the park in 2008.

BART General Manager Grace Crunican has all but slammed the door on the idea of building a station near Oakland’s Howard Terminal — the waterfront location that Mayor Libby Schaaf has been promoting for a new A’s ballpark.

Eight months before construction crews are expected to begin renovations work on the now-shuttered Astrodome, some groups already are hatching plans to make use of the famed stadium’s nine acres.

Tampa Bay Rays owner Stuart Sternberg wants to make Ybor City the team’s next home. Speaking Friday in Tampa, Sternberg said the team would focus its new ballpark search on a 14-acre site in Tampa that sits just north of Ybor Channel.

All 30 ballparks will have extended protective netting reaching at least to the far end of both dugouts by opening day, Major League Baseball announced Thursday.