Offseason Update: Oct. 13, 2020
That said, the re-organization is so extensive there’s no guarantee that Harrisburg will stay in AA or that F’burg will stay in High A.
The post-MiLB world has been the discussion in the comments, and I began to compose a rather lengthy reply to the comment above from Pilchard when I realized this would be better suited to this week’s post.
I’m expecting a radical restructuring as well. I’m not even sure if the classifications or leagues will stay in place, though it wouldn’t break my heart if they dropped the Hi-A/Low-A in favor of something else – perhaps Class A and B, which would logically turn the complex leagues (GCL, AZL) to Class C. If nothing else, it would stop the lazy lumping of “Class A” ball by MLB beat writers who couldn’t name five payers not on the BA or MLB Top 30 lists.
If it weren’t for the merchandising opportunities, they’d probably change all the names to the parent club, too, but I think MLB recognizes the chance to make a buck. In fact, we should probably expect more rebranding, especially anytime/anywhere there’s a copyright/trademark dispute. I could be wrong about that, but it would seem to me that minor-league owners would also own those copyrights – especially when some properties earn more nationally than locally (e.g. Montgomery Biscuits, Carolina Mudcats).
I don’t even think we can point to any of the 25 PDCs that were supposed to be in place through 2022, as it seems to me that the PBA ending effectively renders them moot. About the only thing I’m sure of is that MLB-owned/invested teams (26 above short-season ball) will be given preference, which we’ve already seen because none of them are among “the 42.”
Lastly, I do think the restructuring of AAA is long overdue. Sixteen teams across three time zones isn’t asinine, it’s asi-ten. Sure, they mitigated that by weighting the schedules, but creating three ten-team leagues or even just splitting the PCL in two simply makes more sense.
Fresno was a shotgun marriage, but not the first one – Las Vegas had been the red-headed stepchild for years, enough that the Mets bought out Syracuse to ensure it would never happen again. In fact, most purchases of teams in the last 10-12 years have been to avoid a forced affiliation, creating the “Carolina League effect” in which teams would buy their way in to avoid having a team in Bakersfield and High Desert.
Reportedly, negotiations are still ongoing but I do not expect any news anytime soon. This is obviously detrimental to the minor-league owners, who have already lost one season and cannot plan for next season, even if that’s reliant on the childish hope that everything will all be better by the spring. Reminder: The grownups have been telling us “winter is coming” and the scientists have been even more blunt.
Finally, while it’s not my cup of tea, the 2021 draft order has been settled, and the Nats will be picking 11th. This is good news, I guess, given that Washington probably would’ve finished much higher in a full season.
Until there’s more news or next week…
Splitting Class A back into A/B makes a lot of sense, although I can see Low-A team owners balking because it might devalue their clubs. Still, it’s dumb that we have 26 letters of the alphabet and all of the full-season levels are still some variation on the letter “A”.
If you were to bump Tacoma (tiny stadium, geographically remote) down to the Northwest League and Fresno and Sacramento down to the California League (I’ve seen this idea floated for Fresno, at least), that would open up three spots in Triple-A. Presumably one would be filled by the St. Paul Saints; another might be filled by the Kansas City T-Bones; and then there are also two Eastern League teams, Bowie and Richmond, that have stadiums that can seat 10,000+.
Lots of options, at any rate, but it’s hard to imagine MLB won’t use this opportunity to do away with the geographic imbalance at the Triple-A level and probably chop the level up into three affiliated leagues.
Here here!
I can understand little, if any, progress on the MiLB problem by Manfred. He has been trying, with some success, to get MLB through the season. After the WS is time to tackle the minors.
However all of this crap ends up working out for everyone else (and it really is crappy), the Nats would do cartwheels if they could end up with Bowie or Richmond as their AAA location. That would give them all four affiliates within a radius of DC of roughly 100 miles. Not only would that make it very easy on them to move around players — and much easier for players who are promoted to move and retrieve their stuff — it would also make it much easier for roving instructors to work regularly with multiple teams (and live somewhere in the region), plus the front office would have more opportunities to lay eyes on their prizes. Perhaps they wouldn’t have been as surprised by Kieboom’s struggles if they had seen him in person more often in Fresno.
I just received a letter today from the Harrisburg senators. It says baseball will return in 2021 but they still do not have a schedule. I was told a couple weeks ago that there will be baseball on city island, but they didn’t know what level. The front office was still basically in the dark on what is going on.
Harrisburg is pretty centrally located among Eastern League cities, so it would make sense if it stays AA . . . with the caveat that NOTHING about what is happening makes sense. Of course it could also make sense as an International League AAA location, although the stadium on City Island isn’t as large as they typically like for AAA.
Harrisburg wasn’t on the hit list, so I assume they’re right that there will still be baseball there, presumably still affiliated with the Nats. But the Nats still have question marks for replacing Fresno, where their AAA contract has expired, and (presumably) Hagerstown, which was on the hit list.
Given Hagerstown and Auburn have some of the worst attendance records in affiliated baseball outside of the Florida State League, I think it’s a fait accompli that both of them are toast.