The minor league morass

[mikelink45]

Well MLB must be getting ready to broadcast AAA games since the MLB season might not happen.  They just expanded the season to 150 games.  What next in the minors as MLB uses its domination to restructure the leagues.  Already over 40 teams lost their affiliation and many are going independent or folding.  A lot of fans and stadiums are hurt by this and a few might find they have a better product - it will be a while before we decide about the Saints - right now the Twins are miserable and the Saints have some excitement.  What will happen when the Saints stink - it will happen, it is part of the cycle.

But I need Seth Stohs to lead us in examining what the minor leagues really look at and what we should expect.  It is getting harder and harder to read stories that tie to the Twins during this lockout and the staff at TD is going to have a bigger challenge if something doesn't happen soon.  Where will the minor leagues practice?  Will they take over the Twins major league facilities?

Who are the minor leaguers that will really be impacted by a prolonged strike/lockout?  If I understand right those on the 40 man are not eligible to join the workouts..  This means Royce Lewis is losing more development, Balazovic, Enlow, Jax, Moran, Sands, Stashak, Strotman, Thorpe, Vallimont, and Winder can't pitch with major league coaching or facilities.   They are all on hold.  Miranda and Celestino want to be on the major league roster, but it would be best if they could get some reps.  

It is the same for all the teams.  Trying to find the Saints Roster I  found the following which is not very exciting. 

Current Roster

• Angulo, Argenis
• Banuelos, David
• Beckham, Tim
• Cano, Yennier
• Cave, Jake
• Contreras, Mark
• Coulombe, Daniel
• Faria, Jake
• Fisher, Derek
• Hamilton, Caleb
• Hamilton, Ian
• Kerrigan, Jimmy
• Mason, Ryan
• Megill, Trevor
• Rodriguez, Dereck
• Sammons, Bryan
• Shepherd, Chandler
• Stankiewicz, Drew
• Terry, Curtis

 On the Saints site I checked the Roster  and they list Curtis Terry as their only infielder!  Wow there is a shift - one infielder and five outfielders. At least Jake Cave and Kyle Garlick can play since they were dropped from the 40 man.   The Rotation is Devin Smeltzer, Sammons, Angulo, Rodriguez and Shepard!  

I know it will change, but this lockout impacts St Paul as much as Minneapolis!  

Seth help us make some sense out of this. 

Here is a late addition - Keith Law graded the farm systems and it is interesting to see that KC 7, Cleveland 8, and Detroit 12 are all in the top half and the White Sox are rated at the very bottom of the list (having called up their best prospects).  The Twins are #18, but Law writes, "they have so many players who should be on the upswing and be more valuable in a year than they are now. They have a ton of players who need to get healthy and get on the field — highlighted by Royce Lewis — and a number of players who should see progress from working with the Twins’ player development department. "

[Rosterman]

Minor league rosters aren't set until the end of spring training. The bigger concern is will teams lose players in some sort of Rule 5 draft and when will that happen.

 

All minor league players (except those on the 40-man) will report to Florida.

 

Yes, the ones who lose are those who could play out of the gate instead of sitting and playting catch in a college fcility like Royce Lewis. But the 10 guys the Twins need to delegate to the minors will happenm, msot likely sending players backwards (remember, there are always around 40 in Florida doping the instructional leafue play before short-season ball begins).

 

It does screw up somet hings like media guides and yearbooks (the Twins had thousands of leftover yearbooks from 2020 because they refuse to sell them in local newsstands at drugstores and grocery stores, unlike the Vikings), and their Yearbook didn't appear until mid-season last year. Yearbooks are important because they include ads, which are revenue. Not to mention lost revenue from  broadcast and stadium advertising.

 

Again, the Saints are covered. Martin will move up. Bechtold and maybe Wallner will advance. Miranda, Leach, Celestino, Lewis, Rortvedt would all go back to Saints land. Might be a bit crowded in the outfield, but you have a need for a DH.

 

Saints games are already broadcast.

 

Minor league teams are minor league teams. They serve the major elague teams and their standings relfect that by players moving about. But ALL teams face the same dilemma. Few these days buy ringers anymore, which is the problem you sometimes had with indy ball, although msot did carry a salary cap.

 

All that I know is the players will make more money, ownership will raises prices as soon as they can once the season begins (although they will offer lots of "packages." And, prices again raised in 2023 so they can make their ungodly profits.

[Rosterman]

The other big pain would be the minor league complexes, like the Twins in Ft. Myers, who will be in play early April with the Mighty Museels and the rest of the complex acting as training for their instructional league players. Where are major league players housed for training and play. 

 

[terrydactyls]

10 hours ago, Rosterman said:

Again, the Saints are covered. Martin will move up. Bechtold and maybe Wallner will advance. Miranda, Leach, Celestino, Lewis, Rortvedt would all go back to Saints land. Might be a bit crowded in the outfield, but you have a need for a DH.

Miranda, Celestino, Lewis and Rortvedt are all on the 40-man roster so I think they are not eligible to be sent to St. Paul.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

So the plan may not be to use scabs in MLB ballparks, but to expand the AAA season to fill part of the MLB gap?

I would imagine it’s quite a bit cheaper to operate CHS field than Target Field, and no one is paying MLB ticket prices to watch scabs. I would imagine Balleys/Sinclair wouldn’t like paying full ride for scabs either.

Fascinating….