Plan to reduce minor league teams

[old nurse]

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/18/sports/baseball/minor-league-changes.html

 

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/mlb-floats-proposal-that-would-eliminate-42-minor-league-teams/

 

It would appear that MLB must be thinking they are going to lose the lawsuit by the minor league players. I would also think it may force a more rapid advancement of players thus cutting down on the costs of career minor league players. 

Cutting the draft to 20-25 rounds to save a little more money. Not all late round players are signed. Not all get all that much money. They are correct that it is very rare for a player drafted that late to make it to the big leagues. College coaches would get a player for another year.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

Thanks for sharing. Interesting times ahead. It seems like the MLB and MiLB is heading towards some centralized management.

 

Reducing 43 MiLB affiliates and reducing the draft by 5 rounds makes some sense if there’s more investment into the remaining players and teams.

 

We had a good debate around this article over the summer.

 

https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2019/6/3/18644512/mvp-machine-how-houston-astros-became-great-scouting

 

Is some of this an attempt at building some parity among the major league teams? If there’s standardized structure for minor league development, then the biggest gaps between teams becomes on the talent and coaching side. We don’t talk about hierarchy.... it has a significant impact. Resources are scarce and it seems like the short seasons pull difficult to find trainers and evaluators in too many directions.

 

At the end, I hope this means better pay for minor leaguers and more opportunities for unaffiliated leagues, players and teams to prosper too.

[Mike Sixel]

MLB asked the minor leagues to help with the awful legislation that was recently passed, saying if they didn't, the number of teams would need to be reduced.

 

Shockingly, they ate their cake and now want to eat it again.... Ok, not shocking at all.

[obtusebanter]

From the Baseball America article:

 

"The proposal even suggests a pair of independent league clubs—in St. Paul, Minn., and Sugar Land, Texas—would be brought into affiliated ball."

 

For whom might the Saints become an affiliate? There is an obvious candidate.  

[Blake]

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/18/sports/baseball/minor-league-changes.html

 

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/mlb-floats-proposal-that-would-eliminate-42-minor-league-teams/

 

It would appear that MLB must be thinking they are going to lose the lawsuit by the minor league players. I would also think it may force a more rapid advancement of players thus cutting down on the costs of career minor league players. 

Cutting the draft to 20-25 rounds to save a little more money. Not all late round players are signed. Not all get all that much money. They are correct that it is very rare for a player drafted that late to make it to the big leagues. College coaches would get a player for another year.

Or, teams will off-shore some of the minor league teams.

 

Think the DR wouldn't mind have a few minor league teams?

How about S. Korea?

 

Mexico?

[Guest]

 

From the Baseball America article:

 

"The proposal even suggests a pair of independent league clubs—in St. Paul, Minn., and Sugar Land, Texas—would be brought into affiliated ball."

 

For whom might the Saints become an affiliate? There is an obvious candidate.  

 

There are still territorial rights that belong to the Twins. St. Paul wouldn't get an affiliated team without the Twins' OK. Can't imagine them giving that OK unless they became a Twins affiliate in perpetuity. The only question would be the level. I'd presume AAA, since there are really no AA or high-A leagues anywhere near (though I suppose a complete restructuring of MiLB could result in a change there). Could also be a low-A Midwest League spot, but that would be unlikely, I think.

[Mike Sixel]

KLAW has an insider article on this today. I gave up insider (or whatever it is now called) when I got laid off. On Facebook, I commented to KLAW that I had my doubts that owners would help the remaining minor league players, given their previous actions.....

 

Mike Sixel I'm no longer a subscriber, apologies, but when I got laid off it was one of my cuts.... So if you covered this...Why would anyone think the owners would do right by remaining players? There is zero evidence of that in past actions.

 

Keith Law
Keith Law I spoke to multiple sources for this story and that came up multiple times as one of MLB's goals.

 

KLAW also offered me good luck in the job search.....

[Ben Noble]

 

Could also be a low-A Midwest League spot, but that would be unlikely, I think.

 

Why do you think that would be unlikely? 

[Guest]

 

Why do you think that would be unlikely? 

One of the stated concerns MLB has with the existing MiLB structure is the wear and tear on players related to extended travel in some leagues. St. Paul is well outside the current MWL footprint and some of the closest existing MWL cities (those in Iowa and Beloit WI) are most likely to be among those 42 franchises at risk of contraction.

 

It's possible, I suppose, that the MWL could be broken up into 2 new Class A leagues, eliminating the worst of the travel to the eastern-most cities in the Ohio River Valley, but even Peoria and Kane County (Chicago suburbs) are a pretty good jaunt from St. Paul.

 

Triple-A teams are in a greater position to accommodate air travel.

 

The greater question, perhaps, is whether the current owners of the Saints would welcome the affiliation. They're apparently doing very well as an independent, choosing (and, of course, paying for) their own staff and players. Affiliate owners/front offices are not really involved with the baseball side of the business at all. They're event venue managers. Will the Saints ownership/FO welcome that? Would seem more likely that they'd agree to own a Triple-A affiliate than a low-A organization.

 

I'm a little surprised nobody in the media has asked them, yet. Maybe I missed it, though.

 

 

[Guest]

 

KLAW has an insider article on this today. I gave up insider (or whatever it is now called) when I got laid off. On Facebook, I commented to KLAW that I had my doubts that owners would help the remaining minor league players, given their previous actions.....

 

Mike Sixel I'm no longer a subscriber, apologies, but when I got laid off it was one of my cuts.... So if you covered this...Why would anyone think the owners would do right by remaining players? There is zero evidence of that in past actions.

 

Keith Law
Keith Law I spoke to multiple sources for this story and that came up multiple times as one of MLB's goals.

 

KLAW also offered me good luck in the job search.....

 

MLB is nothing if not conniving.

 

They're going to come out of this process patting themselves on the back for raising MiLB players' compensation, travel amenities and working conditions... all while not paying one nickel of the additional expenses themselves. They will all be paid by the additional charges levied against minor league affiliates (those that survive, anyway).

 

So, if they "do right" by the players, it will only be because they've put the royal screws to minor league communities to cover the entire cost.

[Mike Sixel]

 

MLB is nothing if not conniving.

 

They're going to come out of this process patting themselves on the back for raising MiLB players' compensation, travel amenities and working conditions... all while not paying one nickel of the additional expenses themselves. They will all be paid by the additional charges levied against minor league affiliates (those that survive, anyway).

 

So, if they "do right" by the players, it will only be because they've put the royal screws to minor league communities to cover the entire cost.

 

agreed.

[biggentleben]

I have a piece coming out on this soon, but I did the numbers on the Yankees. If they're dropped to 150 contract players from the 285 they currently have (been 275-300 most years, so that's a typical range for them) and the draft was clipped at 25 rounds, that would actually put them ahead if they paid as much as 260% current salary rate they're paying and come out ahead due to the proposal putting the costs for improvements on communities and shared with MiLB along with the shared costs of not having 10-15 signing bonuses to pay each year in the draft.

 

Another thing to consider..the Appy League is one of the big losers in this proposal, yet the teams own their clubs in the Appy League, at least the majority. The improvement to facilities comes down to the teams themselves doing it, and they haven't, and now they want to blame minor league baseball for that...yeah.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

 

One of the stated concerns MLB has with the existing MiLB structure is the wear and tear on players related to extended travel in some leagues. St. Paul is well outside the current MWL footprint and some of the closest existing MWL cities (those in Iowa and Beloit WI) are most likely to be among those 42 franchises at risk of contraction.

 

It's possible, I suppose, that the MWL could be broken up into 2 new Class A leagues, eliminating the worst of the travel to the eastern-most cities in the Ohio River Valley, but even Peoria and Kane County (Chicago suburbs) are a pretty good jaunt from St. Paul.

 

Triple-A teams are in a greater position to accommodate air travel.

 

The greater question, perhaps, is whether the current owners of the Saints would welcome the affiliation. They're apparently doing very well as an independent, choosing (and, of course, paying for) their own staff and players. Affiliate owners/front offices are not really involved with the baseball side of the business at all. They're event venue managers. Will the Saints ownership/FO welcome that? Would seem more likely that they'd agree to own a Triple-A affiliate than a low-A organization.

 

I'm a little surprised nobody in the media has asked them, yet. Maybe I missed it, though.

 

The owner of the Saints, include Bill Murray, but the chairman and majority stakeholder is Marvin Goldklang. He also has ownership stake in the New York Yankees and the Fort Myers Miracle. 

 

I would be surprised if Mr Goldklang wasn't at least a little interested in making the Saints affiliated. 

 

http://saintsbaseball.com/about/ownership

 

 

[rdehring]

Interesting, very interesting.

 

Agree with the above comment that the Appy League is probably screwed.  I also expect if they are trying to reduce travel, the Independant League would get reworked as it covers a good part of the Eastern U.S.  Expect the Twins are in good shape with most of their affiliates as most have very good facilities, now that they are no longer in Beloit.  

 

Forgetting the dollars, don't know what cutting almost 50% of the minor league players the Yankees have would do to their seemingly endless supply of talent.  Certainly wouldn't help.

 

Will be interesting watching this shake out.

[Twodogs]

 

Thanks for sharing. Interesting times ahead. It seems like the MLB and MiLB is heading towards some centralized management.

Reducing 43 MiLB affiliates and reducing the draft by 5 rounds makes some sense if there’s more investment into the remaining players and teams.

We had a good debate around this article over the summer.

https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2019/6/3/18644512/mvp-machine-how-houston-astros-became-great-scouting

Is some of this an attempt at building some parity among the major league teams? If there’s standardized structure for minor league development, then the biggest gaps between teams becomes on the talent and coaching side. We don’t talk about hierarchy.... it has a significant impact. Resources are scarce and it seems like the short seasons pull difficult to find trainers and evaluators in too many directions.

At the end, I hope this means better pay for minor leaguers and more opportunities for unaffiliated leagues, players and teams to prosper too.

I feel the lack of parity comes more from the oversea's players.  Where it basically becomes a bidding war between the have's and the have not's.  If those guys were to have to fall into a draft then there would be parity for sure.

[obtusebanter]

 

There are still territorial rights that belong to the Twins. St. Paul wouldn't get an affiliated team without the Twins' OK. Can't imagine them giving that OK unless they became a Twins affiliate in perpetuity. The only question would be the level. I'd presume AAA, since there are really no AA or high-A leagues anywhere near (though I suppose a complete restructuring of MiLB could result in a change there). Could also be a low-A Midwest League spot, but that would be unlikely, I think.

 

So lets say the Saints became the AAA affiliate (given, perhaps, a financial incentive). Would that not make shuttling pitchers from the 40-man roster back and forth a bit more convenient? The article below comes to mind.

 

http://www.startribune.com/twins-class-aaa-rochester-pitchers-know-the-6-44-a-m-delta-flight-to-msp-well/533395872/

[Guest]

 

So lets say the Saints became the AAA affiliate (given, perhaps, a financial incentive). Would that not make shuttling pitchers from the 40-man roster back and forth a bit more convenient? The article below comes to mind.

 

http://www.startribune.com/twins-class-aaa-rochester-pitchers-know-the-6-44-a-m-delta-flight-to-msp-well/533395872/

 

Not being from the Twin Cities, I'm not sure. I hear traffic can be a little challenging at times. 

 

Still, yes, would seem to me that getting pitchers to Target Field from St. Paul would be easier than getting them there from Rochester NY, even if they have to take the Green Line in a worst case scenario. 

[Thegrin]

I'd like to see the Twins back a Summer League, where most of the players come from the inner cities. Use the league to teach athletes the fine points of the game. Remember the Royals Academy ?  Of course there would be players from the suburbs and a few from out of the state, but at the end of a season I bet there would be a few that could be prospects. 

[Mike Sixel]

I have a piece coming out on this soon, but I did the numbers on the Yankees. If they're dropped to 150 contract players from the 285 they currently have (been 275-300 most years, so that's a typical range for them) and the draft was clipped at 25 rounds, that would actually put them ahead if they paid as much as 260% current salary rate they're paying and come out ahead due to the proposal putting the costs for improvements on communities and shared with MiLB along with the shared costs of not having 10-15 signing bonuses to pay each year in the draft.

 

Another thing to consider..the Appy League is one of the big losers in this proposal, yet the teams own their clubs in the Appy League, at least the majority. The improvement to facilities comes down to the teams themselves doing it, and they haven't, and now they want to blame minor league baseball for that...yeah.

Or they could just increase pay, and still make tens of millions in profit every year.. ....

[Richie the Rally Goat]

I feel the lack of parity comes more from the oversea's players. Where it basically becomes a bidding war between the have's and the have not's. If those guys were to have to fall into a draft then there would be parity for sure.

there are many causes for the lack of parity, one of which is recruiting from other leagues. A draft would definitely help there, but equally scouting and analytics plays a significant role. In the US there are highschool and collegiate programs that put many players and scouts together. Less so O.U.S. There arent as many programs, and much less baseball infrastructure. The Twins built a Dominican academy to gain an edge. https://www.twincities.com/2019/01/30/twins-dominican-academy-has-first-graduating-class/

 

Throwing money at bad players from Latin America will sink a Have just as much as a Have Not.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

Not being from the Twin Cities, I'm not sure. I hear traffic can be a little challenging at times.

 

Still, yes, would seem to me that getting pitchers to Target Field from St. Paul would be easier than getting them there from Rochester NY, even if they have to take the Green Line in a worst case scenario.

but you play half your games on the road. An advantage to Rochester playing throughout New England and Pensacola being FL/Gulf Coast is there are a lot of airports.

 

St Paul to Minneapolis is a short drive. What about when both teams are on the road? That’s gotta be 25% of the season. Drive from Sioux Falls to Minneapolis to fly to wherever the Twins are.... yowsa

[Guest]

 

but you play half your games on the road. An advantage to Rochester playing throughout New England and Pensacola being FL/Gulf Coast is there are a lot of airports.

St Paul to Minneapolis is a short drive. What about when both teams are on the road? That’s gotta be 25% of the season. Drive from Sioux Falls to Minneapolis to fly to wherever the Twins are.... yowsa

If they'd be the Twins' AAA affiliate, which I really think would be the case, it would be no different than the case now as far as road games are concerned, depending on which AAA league they'd be in. Most AAA locations have decent sized commercial airports. It's the lack of travel time when the team is at home that would be hugely advantageous.

[operation mindcrime]

KLAW has an insider article on this today. I gave up insider (or whatever it is now called) when I got laid off. On Facebook, I commented to KLAW that I had my doubts that owners would help the remaining minor league players, given their previous actions.....

 

Mike Sixel I'm no longer a subscriber, apologies, but when I got laid off it was one of my cuts.... So if you covered this...Why would anyone think the owners would do right by remaining players? There is zero evidence of that in past actions.

 

Keith Law

Keith Law I spoke to multiple sources for this story and that came up multiple times as one of MLB's goals.

 

KLAW also offered me good luck in the job search.....

I heard we're looking for a new TC Bear!