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Thread: The latest on the Billings situation

  1. #1
    Member JaxRed's Avatar
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    The latest on the Billings situation

    https://406mtsports.com/baseball/pio...7bbe4942b.html

    Good article. States the most likely choice will be the Pioneer League becomes a Junior/Senior Collegiate league to counterpart with the Appy League being a Freshman/Sophomore Collegiate League.

    But it did state there was some lobbying going on to allow teams to have a 5th minor league team if they desired, and they would be in this league. If that happened, I'd sure hope the Reds would do the right thing and keep Billings.
    Bud Selig: "I'm the worst commissioner ever"
    Rob Manfred: "Hold my beer"

    https://redsintelligence.com/smforum/index.php

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    BillDoran (10-10-2020),Edd Roush (10-11-2020),RedsRocker (10-24-2020)


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    Re: The latest on the Billings situation

    Huh, so both the Pioneer League and Appalachian League are becoming collegiate summer leagues where the players aren't paid?

    You'd like to think this is the first step in offering all remaining MILB players comprehensive health care and living wages, but I think we all know better.
    Last edited by BillDoran; 10-10-2020 at 10:28 AM.

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    *BaseClogger* (10-12-2020)

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    Re: The latest on the Billings situation

    What do the teams plan to do without the rookie leagues? Will drafted college players start at low A, or in a few cases, above? Will they draft fewer HS players? Will they bring fewer Latin players to the states? IMO, the AZL team is already too crowded.

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    Sprinkles are for winners dougdirt's Avatar
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    Re: The latest on the Billings situation

    Quote Originally Posted by RED VAN HOT View Post
    What do the teams plan to do without the rookie leagues? Will drafted college players start at low A, or in a few cases, above? Will they draft fewer HS players? Will they bring fewer Latin players to the states? IMO, the AZL team is already too crowded.
    A lot of guys are going to be cut. The draft is likely to have fewer rounds than the 40 it's had over the last decade.

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    Re: The latest on the Billings situation

    Quote Originally Posted by RED VAN HOT View Post
    What do the teams plan to do without the rookie leagues? Will drafted college players start at low A, or in a few cases, above? Will they draft fewer HS players? Will they bring fewer Latin players to the states? IMO, the AZL team is already too crowded.
    Draft is being moved to July, almost all of them will go to the AZL/GCL.

    Fewer players are likely to be drafted overall.

    That isn't a big deal IMHO.

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    Re: The latest on the Billings situation

    Quote Originally Posted by Kinsm View Post
    Draft is being moved to July, almost all of them will go to the AZL/GCL.

    Fewer players are likely to be drafted overall.

    That isn't a big deal IMHO.
    It’s a big deal at the very least to the players. It means a likely huge loss of money. And that is what this all about. MLB owners trying squeeze every last nickel they can from their minor league players.
    Hoping to change my username to 75769023

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    Re: The latest on the Billings situation

    Quote Originally Posted by 757690 View Post
    It’s a big deal at the very least to the players. It means a likely huge loss of money. And that is what this all about. MLB owners trying squeeze every last nickel they can from their minor league players.
    Minor League players are all going to get a raise starting next season, mlb is tired of being dragged through the media mud due to low wages. The way they can increase wages without it really effecting the bottom line is by getting rid of a bunch of the filler in the minors (essentially transferring their pay to the remaining players in the form of a raise).

    Again, I don't see a problem with this. Yes, it sucks for ~1,200 18/19/20/21 year olds who dreamt all their lives of playing in the bigs. But in reality their odds were microscopic, and it's not as if that dream is dead - now they'll have to prove themselves in INDY leagues before possibly joining an affiliate. For minor league fans this means better teams to watch; or if you're in a town where a club is being cut - it likely means watching college kids trying to prove themselves worthy of getting a contract offer.
    Last edited by Kinsm; 10-11-2020 at 10:27 AM.

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    Re: The latest on the Billings situation

    Quote Originally Posted by 757690 View Post
    It’s a big deal at the very least to the players. It means a likely huge loss of money. And that is what this all about. MLB owners trying squeeze every last nickel they can from their minor league players.
    I’d temper the language until we see the full system. I have no doubt the owners want a more cost efficient minor leagues and some players will now go undrafted. But this kind of strident attack may be overstated once we see the full picture.

    For example, will minor league players who ARE on affiliated teams get meaningful salary increases and better benefits?

    I’m not disagreeing, but I’d hold these kinds of attacks until the full picture is clear.
    Last edited by Kc61; 10-11-2020 at 10:34 AM.

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    Sprinkles are for winners dougdirt's Avatar
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    Re: The latest on the Billings situation

    Quote Originally Posted by Kc61 View Post
    I’d temper the language until we see the full system. I have no doubt the owners want a more cost efficient minor leagues and some players will now go undrafted. But this kind of strident attack may be overstated once we see the full picture.

    For example, will minor league players who ARE on affiliated teams get salary increases and better benefits?

    I’m not disagreeing, but I’d hold these kinds of attacks until the full picture is clear.
    We know for a fact that the players that will still be around are getting a raise.

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    Re: The latest on the Billings situation

    Quote Originally Posted by dougdirt View Post
    We know for a fact that the players that will still be around are getting a raise.
    Ok, thanks. I know there was a February plan to raise salaries, before the virus interrupted the season.

    I wasn’t sure it was clear going forward.
    Last edited by Kc61; 10-11-2020 at 10:40 AM.

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    Re: The latest on the Billings situation

    Quote Originally Posted by Kinsm View Post
    Minor League players are all going to get a raise starting next season, mlb is tired of being dragged through the media mud due to low wages. The way they can increase wages without it really effecting the bottom line is by getting rid of a bunch of the filler in the minors (essentially transferring their pay to the remaining players in the form of a raise).

    Again, I don't see a problem with this. Yes, it sucks for ~1,200 18/19/20/21 year olds who dreamt all their lives of playing in the bigs. But in reality their odds were microscopic, and it's not as if that dream is dead - now they'll have to prove themselves in INDY leagues before possibly joining an affiliate. For minor league fans this means better teams to watch; or if you're in a town where a club is being cut - it likely means watching college kids trying to prove themselves worthy of getting a contract offer.
    Quote Originally Posted by Kc61 View Post
    I’d temper the language until we see the full system. I have no doubt the owners want a more cost efficient minor leagues and some players will now go undrafted. But this kind of strident attack may be overstated once we see the full picture.

    For example, will minor league players who ARE on affiliated teams get meaningful salary increases and better benefits?

    I’m not disagreeing, but I’d hold these kinds of attacks until the full picture is clear.
    The owners are definitely trying to squeeze every nickel out of minor league players.

    They were going to be forced to give them raises when the courts started to rule that they have to pay them minimum wage. So to counter that, they are cutting the number of minor league players.

    So yeah, some players will get more, but some players will get less, or nothing, meaning the owners get to raise salaries without actually have to pay more money overall.

    It’s a crappy power move, that they can afford not to do.
    Hoping to change my username to 75769023

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    Re: The latest on the Billings situation

    Can't help but wonder about the role of analytics in all of this. Has it become a little easier to predict which players have MLB potential?

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    Re: The latest on the Billings situation

    Quote Originally Posted by RED VAN HOT View Post
    Can't help but wonder about the role of analytics in all of this. Has it become a little easier to predict which players have MLB potential?
    In some ways. For example, we know that high exit velocity and high spin are good traits. By no means does it come even close to painting the entire picture though. Nonetheless it can certainly help if there are questions about a player's ceiling being high enough.

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    Re: The latest on the Billings situation

    Quote Originally Posted by Kinsm View Post
    Draft is being moved to July, almost all of them will go to the AZL/GCL.

    Fewer players are likely to be drafted overall.

    That isn't a big deal IMHO.
    It matters.

    Independent leagues and collegiate summer leagues aren't the same as MLB-affiliated leagues. The quality of play is worse. The finances are different, and the teams are much more transient. There will surely be success stories, but there will be lots of places where they've been playing baseball for 50-100 years that will lose their team over the next 5-10 years. If the Pioneer as collegiate league flops, I can assure you there will be lots of disappointed people in Billings.

    Folks can be nonchalant or high-five over the efficiencies, but the end-game is less baseball in America, and in particular less baseball in out-of-the-way places in America.

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    Re: The latest on the Billings situation

    Quote Originally Posted by BillDoran View Post
    It matters.

    Independent leagues and collegiate summer leagues aren't the same as MLB-affiliated leagues. The quality of play is worse. The finances are different, and the teams are much more transient. There will surely be success stories, but there will be lots of places where they've been playing baseball for 50-100 years that will lose their team over the next 5-10 years. If the Pioneer as collegiate league flops, I can assure you there will be lots of disappointed people in Billings.

    Folks can be nonchalant or high-five over the efficiencies, but the end-game is less baseball in America, and in particular less baseball in out-of-the-way places in America.
    Same arguments were made when the draft was cut down to 40 rounds. Baseball survived, in fact it's flourished. If there's a vacuum, it will be filled.

    This will mean better baseball in affiliated leagues (less filler), in indy leagues (best filler goes here), and in college (more of the best HS players will attend).

    Not to mention, in a few years when Manfred gets his wish and there are 32 teams (if not more) another 10 + minor league clubs will be created.

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