Checking In…
A little bit of a lull here, with not quite enough material for a full-fledged post or even a hold-me-over “Morning Reading.” But I’m going to be away for a few days, so I think it’s best to put something up here until I have a better news peg.
My friend Shawn attended the tour at Municipal Stadium, which is a rather bold move. Not because it’ll threaten the extension of the PDC — once Lexington signed with Kansas City, Hagerstown became the last man standing in the South Atlantic, all but ensuring that Washington will renew since it’s extremely unlikely the Nationals will leave for the Midwest League — but because it boxes them into new stadium or bust. (For those interested in some of the details of what’s known as the affiliate dance, Bluebird Banter had a story about it last week).
As we discussed earlier this year, events in Wilmington, NC and Lynchburg, VA bear watching. Wilmington has approved the lease for a new stadium, but not the means to pay for it, which goes to the voters in November. The Braves have reportedly promised to help with City of Lynchburg replace the Hillcats, which of course creates an opening. Kinston did not replace the Indians with a collegiate summer league team, so it doesn’t take too much imagination to envision a scenario where one or both of those cities could be a destination for the franchise to be moved — especially if they have two full years to work on it.
Enjoy your Sunday.
For some interesting reading check out the Sports Burger blog. It has ranked every player to appear in a Senator’s uniform this year and has a little comment about each. It is quite insightful and I am looking forward to see how the last 10 rank and the comments.
That’s a terrific ‘heads up’ on the Senators roster. Lots of info you’d not otherwise know about a lot of these players.
Especially poignant piece on Devin Ivany
Last 10 are posted on the Sports Burger and makes great reading. Some real insight into the Nationals AA team.
Thanks for the ‘heads up’. Yeah, the AA level tells you so much about an organization, more than any other.
I remember back in the ‘bad old days’ when Baseball America ranked Harrisburg as THE worst team in all of minor league ball. They had by far the oldest team in all of AA and and a .300 winning clip.
The Braves will help Lynchburg find a replacement in the form of moving Danville to Lynchburg.
Certainly a possibility. One of the things that has amazed me is that more parent clubs haven’t taken advantage of the downturn to buy back franchises. If that’s the direction the Braves want to go, they certainly could do that with minimal resistance.
The Braves are one of the few clubs to actually own their minor league clubs. While it makes sense on a developmental side, many clubs see no economic value/profit to owning a minor league franchise. Currently they only pay the salaries of players and coaches and assume none of the other liabilities and costs. They leave the operation of the franchise to someone else and are obligated only for either 2 or 4 years.
Actually, minor-league teams are often quite profitable (seven figures annually is not unheard of) for their minor-league owners, though that’s chump change for most major-league organizations. Still, when teams are bought and sold for multiples of millions ($6.8M for the Suns in 2010, according to Ballpark Digest) you have to wonder… of course, “That’s the way we’ve always done things” can explain an awful lot of intransigence in a lot of places.
I should point out, however, that teams not having to pay for things like players’ insurance and medical costs is a HUGE expense to not have to pay. If folks skipped over that article from Bluebird Banter, check it out: I linked to it because it’s one of the few I’ve ever seen that spells it out.
Astros reportedly hire Bo Porter as new manager. This opens the way for Syracuse manager Tony Beasely to get back to the big leagues.