• Have something to say? Register Now! and be posting in minutes!

MLB floating proposal that would eliminate 42 minor league teams

CaptainStubing

Well-Known Member
10,600
3,033
293
Joined
Nov 28, 2013
Hoopla Cash
$ 1,000.00
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
Yeah, I heard something about this. Are they doing it because so many of the teams are losing so much money?
 

Mike A. S.

Well-Known Member
1,553
268
83
Joined
Dec 20, 2016
Hoopla Cash
$ 1,000.00
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
The idea is to improve the facilities and pay for the MiLB players. So I'm guessing they're thinking if there are less facilities to improve and less players to pay then they can afford it easier. I mean they can afford it anyway, but it's a way of balancing out some of the additional fees. Also, would realign a lot of the leagues to be closer geographically, which would improve travelling.
 

Guy Incognito

Crack a window, will ya?
24,089
5,003
533
Joined
Jul 26, 2016
Location
The Village!
Hoopla Cash
$ 342.86
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
This is starting to see an increased pushback.

One other aspect that hasn't really been touched on here is that part of the plan is to move the draft back, and basically take the current year's draftees out of the player pool. They'd go get the "instructional league" treatment for 2 months, which I assume would be less expensive than sending them off to A and rookie leagues.
 

Mike A. S.

Well-Known Member
1,553
268
83
Joined
Dec 20, 2016
Hoopla Cash
$ 1,000.00
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
This is starting to see an increased pushback.

One other aspect that hasn't really been touched on here is that part of the plan is to move the draft back, and basically take the current year's draftees out of the player pool. They'd go get the "instructional league" treatment for 2 months, which I assume would be less expensive than sending them off to A and rookie leagues.
Is the increased pushback leading to a possibility of it not happening? Or is it all for naught? I like the idea of potentially realigning some of the leagues better, but not at the cost of losing 42 teams. Plus, most of the leagues are aligned pretty decent anyway.
 

Guy Incognito

Crack a window, will ya?
24,089
5,003
533
Joined
Jul 26, 2016
Location
The Village!
Hoopla Cash
$ 342.86
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
Is the increased pushback leading to a possibility of it not happening? Or is it all for naught? I like the idea of potentially realigning some of the leagues better, but not at the cost of losing 42 teams. Plus, most of the leagues are aligned pretty decent anyway.
There are a lot of cities and states that are looking to push back hard against this. Potential for dozens of lawsuits and challenges to MLB's antitrust exemption are all on the table.

Some of the rationale doesn't add up, either. The logic goes that they want "modern" facilities, up to MLB's standards. Williamsport's stadium actually hosts a regular season game, and they're going to get the axe (mostly because of torpedoing the short season A ball leagues).
 

wazzu31

Never go full Husky
23,734
6,644
533
Joined
Apr 26, 2013
Location
Sumner
Hoopla Cash
$ 1,000.00
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
Why eliminate minor league teams? Minor league games are better for fans than 1/2 of MLB where teams aren’t even pretending to care about winning. In the minors they are open about not caring about the W/L record and make it up to fans by bribing them into the stadium unlike all of Manfred’s dumb ideas like putting games on Facebook, placating to non baseball fans or whatever.
 

Guy Incognito

Crack a window, will ya?
24,089
5,003
533
Joined
Jul 26, 2016
Location
The Village!
Hoopla Cash
$ 342.86
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
Why eliminate minor league teams? Minor league games are better for fans than 1/2 of MLB where teams aren’t even pretending to care about winning. In the minors they are open about not caring about the W/L record and make it up to fans by bribing them into the stadium unlike all of Manfred’s dumb ideas like putting games on Facebook, placating to non baseball fans or whatever.
I'm not fully sure, but I had read that the Astros are the driving force behind this. The big push is to eliminate rookie and short season ball and make them all in-house teams.
 

Sportsguy9695

Well-Known Member
Hoopla Pickems Staff
6,695
1,534
173
Joined
Jun 3, 2013
Hoopla Cash
$ 15,948.50
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
Minor league games are fun with all its between innings contests and so fourth. That’s what it puts it up above the majors if you ask me. But we all need to come to the reality that baseball is a dying sport. Kids these days just aren’t interested in playing a sport that takes 3-4 hours to complete a game. And fans are losing interest cause again it takes too long
 

Guy Incognito

Crack a window, will ya?
24,089
5,003
533
Joined
Jul 26, 2016
Location
The Village!
Hoopla Cash
$ 342.86
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
Minor league games are fun with all its between innings contests and so fourth. That’s what it puts it up above the majors if you ask me. But we all need to come to the reality that baseball is a dying sport. Kids these days just aren’t interested in playing a sport that takes 3-4 hours to complete a game. And fans are losing interest cause again it takes too long
Blog: No Brainer: Youth Sports Participation Rates - SyncThink

Adding softball to baseball, it's the most popular team sport in this survey. It's not dying.
 

Sportsguy9695

Well-Known Member
Hoopla Pickems Staff
6,695
1,534
173
Joined
Jun 3, 2013
Hoopla Cash
$ 15,948.50
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3

catman

Well-Known Member
5,368
2,643
293
Joined
Sep 2, 2020
Location
Central Iowa
Hoopla Cash
$ 1,000.00
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
Its actually happening.
Lots of changes coming to baseball.
 

Guy Incognito

Crack a window, will ya?
24,089
5,003
533
Joined
Jul 26, 2016
Location
The Village!
Hoopla Cash
$ 342.86
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
Its actually happening.
Lots of changes coming to baseball.
Not on this list, but there was a bit of a surprise locally. The Yankees ended their affiliation with Trenton and will move their Double-A team to Somerset, NJ. That team had previously been in the unaffiliated Atlantic League.


Also, it looks like Staten Island got shuffled out of the A-ball possibilities, and the Yankees went to Hudson Valley instead.

 

Guy Incognito

Crack a window, will ya?
24,089
5,003
533
Joined
Jul 26, 2016
Location
The Village!
Hoopla Cash
$ 342.86
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3

This takes a bit of a dive into what's likely to happen. Looks like short-season and rookie leagues are done-zo.
 

nynasty

nynasty
8,079
3,218
293
Joined
Apr 16, 2013
Location
The Ancient City
Hoopla Cash
$ 1,181.82
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
Not on this list, but there was a bit of a surprise locally. The Yankees ended their affiliation with Trenton and will move their Double-A team to Somerset, NJ. That team had previously been in the unaffiliated Atlantic League.


Also, it looks like Staten Island got shuffled out of the A-ball possibilities, and the Yankees went to Hudson Valley instead.



Not just Trenton and Staten Island, but Charleston (low A) also. And high A moves from Tampa to Fishkill.

Complete shiv to the entire MiLB organization from the big club, with apparently zero warning.

Damn.
 

Pure Steel

Well-Known Member
15,626
15,989
1,033
Joined
Aug 3, 2017
Location
NJ
Hoopla Cash
$ 402.37
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
Not just Trenton and Staten Island, but Charleston (low A) also. And high A moves from Tampa to Fishkill.

Complete shiv to the entire MiLB organization from the big club, with apparently zero warning.

Damn.

Somerset only a 35 minute ride for me.....the place will be packed.....can’t wait for $12 hot dogs, $15 beers and $45 parking like YS.....
 

catman

Well-Known Member
5,368
2,643
293
Joined
Sep 2, 2020
Location
Central Iowa
Hoopla Cash
$ 1,000.00
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
I've read that the MLB will bring back the American Association in the middle of the country as a AAA league. That would be interesting.
 

Debbie Does

Question Authority
55,069
34,056
1,033
Joined
Jul 14, 2014
Location
Delaware. By the ocean.
Hoopla Cash
$ 1,000.00
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
MLB games have gotten so expensive that they may be afraid of the low-cost alternative of minor league ball.

When this started, I wondered what would happen to minor league sports. I guess we're seeing the answer to that question.
 

nynasty

nynasty
8,079
3,218
293
Joined
Apr 16, 2013
Location
The Ancient City
Hoopla Cash
$ 1,181.82
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
Somerset only a 35 minute ride for me.....the place will be packed.....can’t wait for $12 hot dogs, $15 beers and $45 parking like YS.....

I have some buddies who live right around the corner from the ballpark in Fishkill. Oddly enough, I'm way more excited about the move than they are. LOL
 

Pure Steel

Well-Known Member
15,626
15,989
1,033
Joined
Aug 3, 2017
Location
NJ
Hoopla Cash
$ 402.37
Fav. Team #1
Fav. Team #2
Fav. Team #3
I have some buddies who live right around the corner from the ballpark in Fishkill. Oddly enough, I'm way more excited about the move than they are. LOL


I'm 70 miles from Fishkill.....some good options now.....
 
Top