nowheresville

The other interesting thing with Pujols is that he's all but admitted he's actually 2 years older than his official listed age, and last year he was probably his age 42 season. Not that it really changes the comparison with Cruz, as even by Pujols "age 38" season, he'd fallen off significantly, just another wrinkle in the challenge of trying to make age based comparisons.

In theory, I love the idea. I do like having the minor league team a little farther removed than St. Paul, almost as a level of community outreach beyond the MSP Metro. If nothing else, I'd end up getting to Junkyard far more often! But as others have already pointed out, it doesn't really work from a logistics standpoint. Fargo as a city would be the smallest city in AAA and A 4,500 seat ballpark just isn't big enough for AAA. 10,000 seats is the minimum recommended size for AAA, and other than Tacoma which was grandfathered in with 6800 seats, there's no park at AAA with less than 9,000 seats. St. Paul is getting around those rules because they have an average attendance of 8,000 people. Fargo only has an average attendance of 3,500 people, and while being an affiliated team might give them a slight bump, we're talking a few hundred fans a game not a few thousand. With those kinds of numbers, it's just not realistic to think that anyone in Fargo is going to put up the $20M needed for a AAA franchise. And has been mentioned, neither Fargo, nor Duluth, nor Rochester, nor any other city around Minnesota will ever be a Double-A city, because there are no Double-A Leagues in the upper midwest. The closest AA city is Springfield Missouri - and I don't think many MLB teams want to put their prospects on a 12 hour bus ride for their shortest roadtrip.

Sugarland had reached a deal to become the AAA team of the Astros (Sugarland Cheaters has already been suggested as their updated nickname). Houston will have part ownership, so that might be a blueprint for what could happen with the Saints, and it's more likely that Wichita is heading to AA.

Nashville is staying AAA. It could be an option if the Saints fall through, but there hasn't been really any rumors of that happening. Not that it matter much, but NW Arkansas (Springdale/Fayetteville/Bentonville) is actually about 100 miles closer than Nashville.

The one wrinkle I didn't think about is the Royals - If Wichita gets demoted to AA, I could see Kansas City trying to take the spot, and certainly Wichita would gladly welcome them. KC even was in Wichita for AA years ago, until the Franchise itself moved to Northwest Arkansas and the Royals followed where they remain still today. NW Arkansas could then be an option for the Twins, and the geography would fit, but that would be a pretty disappointing outcome that would be a significant step down from the facilities in Pensacola.

Minor League Baseball is going to see massive changes in 2021, and the Twins have already signaled that they will be among the teams seeing the biggest shakeups. There has been plenty of speculation that St. Paul will become their new AAA home, but it's my belief that whether or not that happens, the Twins will end up with a Minor League Team in Wichita, Kansas one way or another. As a quick recap, Minor League Baseball is expected to undergo a massive reorganization starting next season as it is taken over by Major League Baseball. At least 40 teams will be contracted, the short season and rookie leagues are being eliminated, and other levels are expected to see significant changes and realignment. New deals between Major Leagues and affiliates are also expected to go from 2-4 year deals, like they had been previously and saw the Twins shift from New Britain to Chattanooga to Pensacola for AA just within the past decade, to 10 year deals, to create more stability between MLB and MILB teams. For the Twins, that means the Elizabethton Twins are no longer a Twins farm team, Fort Myers and the Florida State League will shift to Low-A, while Cedar Rapids and the Midwest League will move up to High-A. The Twins have also already announced that they are cutting ties with Rochester (NY) and will be looking for a new AAA home. For many Twins fans, the AAA changes have been getting the most attention, as the St. Paul Saints are one of two 2 independent teams being invited to join AAA, the other being the Sugarland Skeeters in suburban Houston. The possibility of having Twins Prospects playing just 12 miles away from Target Field is certainly an exciting development for Twins fans, especially those who closely follow the Twins Minor League Prospects. The sticking point appears to be around money, specifically if the Saints ownership is willing to pay the $20M franchise fee to join affiliated minor league ball. But while St. Paul seems clear as plan A, there have been several reports listing Wichita as plan B, and that could be an excellent option as well. The Wichita Wind Surge is a brand new team with a brand new ballpark. They were supposed to make their debut last season as the AAA team of the Miami Marlins, until COVID cancelled the Minor League Season. In addition to having brand new facilities, Wichita would also be a very good geographic fit as well. Wichita is a little over 600 miles away from the Twin Cities, and while that can't compete with the Saints in terms of distance, it's still significantly shorter than the trip to Rochester and is actually one of the closest existing AAA cities to Minnesota. Only Des Moines and Omaha, whose longtime ties to the Cubs and Royals aren't likely to change, are significantly closer. Additionally, as part of the reorganization, the Pacific Coast League is likely to be adjusted so it is only West Coast Teams, instead of the previous setup which had teams stretching from Tacoma to Nashville. The extreme travel of the PCL is one of the main reason the Twins worked to stay in Rochester and the IL, but that seems to be unlikely an issue moving forward if the Twins end up in Wichita for AAA. Even if St. Paul does become a reality and becomes the Twins new AAA team, there's still a very good chance that the Twins end up in Wichita anyway! Mixed into other reports about this year's Minor League affiliation dance is that the Marlins will be moving their AAA team to Jacksonville - which had been the home of their AA team - and then their AA team will shift to Pensacola. Pensacola, of course, has been the Twins AA home for the past 2 years, and if those reports are accurate, the Twins will need a new AA location. There are 3 AA leagues, the Eastern, Southern, and Texas Leagues, none of which have teams that are particularly close to Minnesota, so there's no natural fit, and because of travel, there's no chance of any city in or near Minnesota becoming a AA city. Wichita, on the other hand, could be available as a AA location. If both the Saints and the Sugarland (TX) Skeeters - the other independent team under consideration for AAA affiliation - decide to join up, then there are reports that Wichita and San Antonio (Brewers current AAA) would both be moved down to the AA Texas League. In that case, Wichita would still be one of the closest available AA option for the Twins, and with brand new facilities would be a very appealing location. As a side note - if San Antonio does get moved to AA, that creates a really interesting situation for the Brewers. Presumably, Houston would take Sugarland as it's new AAA home, and the Rangers would move their AAA team from Nashville back to Round Rock. Nashville would be an excellent fit for Milwaukee, except a few years ago, Nashville effectively kicked out the Brewers right as they opened a new ballpark - and the Brewers were quite public about how unhappy they were with how that situation unfolded. Obviously, there are still a lot of moving parts in regards to Minor League Baseball's major overhaul, and we won't have any true answers until MLB makes its long awaited official reorganization announcement, likely sometime soon. But since whatever changes are decided this month are likely to be in place for at least the next 10 years, it's important that the Twins settle in a good situation. With a brand new park, that's relatively close to Minnesota, Wichita looks like it could be a very nice place for Twins prospects to settle in, no matter if it's Double or Triple A. Update 11/30/20: According to a sports reporter in Wichita, the Twins/Wichita partnership will be made official this week.

The good news for you is that even if the Saints affiliation doesn't work out, the Twins AAA team is almost certainly going to end up in the central US that will be in the same league as Des Moines. Wichita has been the other rumored landing spot.

St. Paul would clearly slot into the current PCL, right along with Des Moines and Omaha. Rochester isn't going away away as a AAA club, they'll just be getting a different franchise, my guess being the Nationals. In this case, St. Paul would basically be replacing Fresno (Washington's current team) who will be demoted to the California league. That said, from the sounds of it, AAA's structure is also likely to change, either with 3 leagues (east, west, central) or just making the 2 leagues unbalanced, with all of the eastern PCL teams joining the IL, leaving only actual western teams - say El Paso and west - in the Pacific Coast League.

An A ball team 50 miles away, in a different media market, and a AAA team 12 miles away are a bit of a different story. The better comparisons would be Seattle/Tacoma or Atlanta/Gwinette which are about 35 miles between MLB and AAA. Of course they make it work - and frankly, the Saints already have shown it can work. While someone who reads a Twins blog is going to care about watching prospects, the average MILB fan is going for the corporate outing, going for cheap beer, and the wacky antics that aren't going to go away (most minor league teams today are mimicing what the Saints have been doing for years). The advantage for the Saints would primarily be stability, that indy ball just can't provide as noted by the number of times the Saints have changed leagues over the years.

It would seem like the obvious solution is just to pro-rate any suspensions to the length of the season. If the season is cut in half and play 81 games, then the suspension is also cut in half, so instead of 39 games, Pineda could come back after 20 games. Of course something that simple would probably never be considered by mlb.

What is it about being walked off at Oakland? That happened twice last year too, including the game where there twins officially became sellers, trading away Garcia right after the game was over.

It didn't take long for the AAA dance to wrap up. The Brewers stayed with San Antonio (moved from CO Springs), Texas is now joined with Nashville, presumably Houston will head to Round Rock as expected, leaving Washington stuck out in Fresno. AA is on the clock!

I've been waiting to see some news about Chattanooga. The only thing I've been able to find is basically a quote from the Lookout's that implied they reached out to the Twins but didn't have a deal. I've got to think the Twins might be trying to move to Pensacola, that has a relatively new ballpark, and will stay in Chattanooga if they can't make a deal there. I'd be fairly shocked if the Padres and A's leave the Texas League, especially with the Padres already having their AAA team in El Paso and the A's just moving their AAA team to Vegas.

Kernels at Beloit postponed. Game one tomorrow in Beloit, Double Header on Friday in Cedar Rapids.

The Kernels are doing everything they can to avoid playing in Beloit this year. After having the entire 1st half series in Beloit cancelled and moved to CR, and waiting 6 hours - and a Timber Rattlers win in Kane County - to play Sunday, they Kernels and Snappers are again being delayed by rain! I'm guessing if it's cancelled, we'll have a Double Header in CR tomorrow, with Beloit batting last in game one. Side note - it looks like the Kernels could be the last team to ever play at Pohlman Field, but not for the reason you'd expect. The Snappers announced yesterday they finally have a tentative deal for a new stadium to open in Downtown Beloit in 2020, and next year's schedule again has the Kernels finishing the year in Beloit.