MLB Reportedly Pursuing “Radical Restructuring” Of Lower Minors

[JayBruceFan]

A rule about an afternoon game before certain travel days would have zero effect on MLB but might have quite the negative effect on the owners of these minor league teams. It could effect ticket sales. First of all I think minor league baseball already has a lot of day games on getaway day but if you think they need more, fine. Who do you need to lobby? The Reds or Greg Rosenbaum, Nick Sakellariadis and Michael Savit, the owners of the Dayton Dragons? Is MLB really mandating gametimes for the Dayton Dragons?

The only Dragons day games are played on Sunday or weekday holidays

[REDREAD]

Maybe we just need to trash the entire system. Turn it all into a video game. Eliminate actual players and make the programmers the stars.

Someone from Houston would hack the program so the Astros go 162-0. Then MLB would take no action...

[RED VAN HOT]

This one of the more onerous threads that I hate to see updated because the news is seldom good. Nevertheless, I'll jump in myself.

I think there is plenty of room for negotiation. I suggest that with the advance in analytics ML teams have become more confident in their ability to identify future ML players in the first 20-25 rounds. For the sake of argument, let's say that they are 90% confident that future ML players will be drafted within the first 20 rounds. Clearly, they would consider the cost of the players that would have been drafted in rounds 21-40 a losing proposition. Some of these undrafted players, however, will become useful ML players by virtue of their intangibles or skills that develop later in their careers. ML teams would be happy to pay these players if they could identify them beforehand.

Now consider the so called Dream League. Let's say that each team would be able to make available the players on its roster for a posting fee at the end of each season. ML teams wishing to pay the fee, could bid on these players. The player gets the contract; the dream team gets the posting fee. That would not only provide money for the dream team, but also provide incentive to invest in coaching, player development, and facilities. Unsigned players in the 20 round ML draft would go into a draft pool for the dream league. The relationship between MLB and the dream league would be business only.

Some of the less capitalized minor league teams would still fold, but many would continue to exist and could even become more profitable with good management.

Just a thought.....My point is there are trade-offs in risk/reward that could be worked. It will, however, take time. Not easy to get buy-in from so many teams that will be affected differentially. This issue is likely to be with us for some time.

[North]

The Governor of OH chimes in...

"DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — Ohio's governor isn't a fan of Major League Baseball's proposal to drop 42 minor league teams from their leagues after next season.

Republican Mike DeWine, who along with his family owns a Class A team in North Carolina, said eliminating teams would take away affordable opportunities to introduce the game to children and families.

"That's what I think is so short sighted on behalf of this proposal where you'd knock off over 40 minor league baseball teams and take that entertainment and opportunity to form more fans. Major League Baseball will lose that and it may not have an impact immediately but in the long run it's going to have an impact," DeWine told The Dayton Daily News."...

..."Ohio has six minor league teams, each one of which is important to their individual communities as far as the economy of the communities as well as being important to fans," DeWine said. "The long-term concern is if baseball does this, then when the next contract is up, they may eliminate more teams. So this is a real concern for the state of Ohio with six minor league teams."

https://www.wcpo.com/news/state/stat...r-league-teams

[JaxRed]

Now Manfred has suggested that they will drop ALL minor league teams and form their own leagues.


Bud Selig: "I'm the worst commissioner ever"
Rob Manfred: "Hold my beer"

[redsof72]

Minor League Baseball offered a response to the public comments by MLB related to cutting 42 clubs. This is basically the other side of the story and worth reading:

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stor...b-in-pba-spat/

As far as MLB now threatening to shut down ALL the minor league teams, this was a predictable step in an ugly negotiation.

As I said weeks ago, this was all one giant game of poker, with a lot on the line.

One of the better lines in the article linked above is this, related to ballpark standards of quality:

“Minor League Baseball has never expressed to MLB an unwillingness to address new standards and improvements in facilities. To state otherwise is untrue and a misrepresentation of the facts regarding the position of MiLB on facilities improvements.”

If that is true, I think it tells you a lot about what this is really about. Certainly it is not about the quality of the ballparks.

[North]

The link isn't working for me.

[North]

Now Manfred has suggested that they will drop ALL minor league teams and form their own leagues.


Bud Selig: "I'm the worst commissioner ever"
Rob Manfred: "Hold my beer"

This surpasses a Bengals ownership level of greed.

[JaxRed]

The link isn't working for me.

Worked for me

[North]

Worked for me

Sweet.

[JaxRed]

Here's a Baseball America article (free if you subscribe or have read less than 5 articles this month) that lays everything out.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stor...another-level/

It comes down to this: MLB sees minors league teams as being worth millions to tens of millions. So it wants them. If it shuts down the current system, starts setting up another system where MLB owns the teams, then minor league teams are forced to choose between becoming independent and probably folding. Or joining the new league under duress and surviving. Most will join the new league.

I now think the solution is an anti-trust exemption change. Baseball is exempt from anti-trust rules. I think Congress should pass a law saying to preserve the anti-trust exemption MLB or MLB teams can own no other teams.

[mth123]

Here's a Baseball America article (free if you subscribe or have read less than 5 articles this month) that lays everything out.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stor...another-level/

It comes down to this: MLB sees minors league teams as being worth millions to tens of millions. So it wants them. If it shuts down the current system, starts setting up another system where MLB owns the teams, then minor league teams are forced to choose between becoming independent and probably folding. Or joining the new league under duress and surviving. Most will join the new league.

I now think the solution is an anti-trust exemption change. Baseball is exempt from anti-trust rules. I think Congress should pass a law saying to preserve the anti-trust exemption MLB or MLB teams can own no other teams.

Sounds to me like MLB wants to buy some of the teams they don't already own and this threat is leverage to get them at a reasonable price. They probably still want to downsize though. Why would any business pay even minimum wage for employees that won't provide value? Right now, it's a necessary evil to field all of these teams. Fielding fewer teams and cutting the non value added filler seems like good business to me. Businesses in every industry do the same thing when they close stores, plants or departments. They eliminate products that are consuming cash. I don't see this as the evil its being made out to be.

As for the marketing of baseball, I think that is overblown as well. There is so much big league baseball available to everyone now, the days of fostering love of the game at a minor league park seems outdated. Kids would rather watch Mike Trout on their computer screen than sit through a minor league game watching a bunch of no names. I know I would. If somebody really wants to watch a local game without any name recognition, they can go to high school or college games to fill that void.

[Redsfaithful]

The way this is being done by MLB makes it difficult to discuss in the non-political side of the board. It's symptomatic of so much of what's wrong with the country right now.

[North]

Trevor Bauer adds his two cents:

"Outspoken Reds pitcher Trevor Bauer is barbing Rob Manfred, tweeting that the MLB commissioner "is trying to ruin baseball at all levels."

Bauer sent a series of tweets during the weekend, starting with a jab about Major League Baseball's threat to cut ties with minor league affiliates.

Bauer followed up with: "At least Rob Manfred is trying to ruin baseball at all levels and isn't discriminating. Something to be said for consistency, I guess."

https://www.wcpo.com/sports/baseball...-ruin-baseball

[RedTeamGo!]

The way this is being done by MLB makes it difficult to discuss in the non-political side of the board. It's symptomatic of so much of what's wrong with the country right now.

Ehhh, not everything has to be political.

Minor league baseball is entirely too watered down. There’s no reason for teams to have 6-7 farm teams each. Why are there multiple rookie ball teams? Why is there high A and low A?

We absolutely must have a team in Greeneville, TN to appease 2,000 fans?