We recently covered the many changes in minor league affiliates. One of those — the Brewers parting ways with former Triple-A affiliate Nashville — appeared to feature considerable consternation on the MLB team’s part. As Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports, Nashville’s owner has now acknowledged that he wanted a new parent club because the Brewers had not done enough to put a winning ballclub on the field at the Triple-A level. Nashville’s new MLB club, the Athletics, has enjoyed a strong recent run of success at the top minor league level.
- Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. has logged significant air miles in recent days, as Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes. In addition to taking a personal look at Yasmany Tomas, Amaro flew to Japan to put eyes on starter Kenta Maeda, as MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes reports on Twitter. Both international targets offer relative youth, a rare commodity on the free agent market, though that obviously increases their appeal to other clubs as well.
- Dodgers reliever Chris Perez has already earned $1.5MM in incentives this year on top of his $2.3MM base salary, reports Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times. He picked up $500K each for his 35th, 40th, and 45th appearances, and will trigger another half-million payday with his next call from the pen. The 29-year-old has struggled to a 4.27 ERA over 46 1/3 frames, and his peripherals (7.6 K/9, 4.9 BB/9, 37.7% groundball rate, 5.07 FIP) do not paint a more favorable picture.
- Giants center fielder Angel Pagan will undergo season-ending back surgery, Alex Pavlovic of the Mercury News tweets. The 33-year-old has performed well when healthy, but has made just 718 plate appearances since signing a four-year, $40MM contract before the 2013 season.
Yes, and the A’s will make it a priority to have a winning AAA club…
Actually, Beane has some pretty strong comments quoted in the article indicating that it is a priority. Now, it could be that the way the A’s structure their development/big league support system just lends itself to winning at Triple-A, but the whole situation is all the more interesting given what he said.
It’s even more interesting when you see that the brewers fought to get them a new stadium… only to get kicked to the curb…
I did see that, interesting comment. I don’t see what a major league club is going to do to make winning at AAA a priority. Maybe holding off on September callups until the season is over. Maybe it’s in the game strategy. But I assume you if a rash of injuries hit the A’s, they’re going to decimate their AAA team.
What kind of money does the parent club receive from their affiliates? In other words, does it make fiscal sense to have a solid AAA team that makes a lot of money (ie is well attended)?
I don’t know the answer to this question, but there was an article several years ago about Warren Buffet investing in a minor league team because they tend to be extremely profitable. If I remember correctly, pretty much every major team and park expense is fronted by the parent club and the minor league affiliate is close to turning a profit before the first ticket is even sold.
So, given that the MLB team is paying such expenses, I’d be surprised if they get any cut of the minor team’s profits at all.
Wow, that’s really interesting. I suppose MLB teams get a little ‘free’ advertising in whatever town their affiliate is. Therefore, having a team far away and outside of your traditional market might make a little sense (ex: the Mets in LV, Oakland thinking about Nashville).
There is no correlation between winning an attendance at the minor league level. Owners like to believe so
None whatsoever? I’m not so sure about that. I know creative promotions have lots to do with it but I doubt that the correlation is zero between winning and attendance.
You are right maybe I should rephrase that to “little” correlation
Sure hope the A’s never seen a same-day callup for a home game. Not quite as bad as Las Vegas to Toronto (now LV to NY) with the timezones, but still, seems weird that having AAA nearby wouldn’t be a priority.
Speaking to that, I was hoping there was a way the brewers could just make the timber rattlers their AAA squad and find some other A ball team (maybe in a warmer climate?).
yeah, I find it weird logistically speaking, the AAA allegiances don’t really make a whole lot of sense. And, I’m still used to the old associations, like Norfolk with the Mets-Myrtle Beach with the Braves… (haha, shows how old I am).
The Mets messed up badly on that one but are doing the best they can to rebuild credibility; Vegas has been one of the best teams in MiLB since becoming a Mets affiliate.
The Brewers have plenty to worry about with their big league club. At least their offseason gets started a few days earlier.
Wonder if the A’s are moving to Nashville to explore the market, finally gave up on SJ.
Phillies fans can only dream RAJ’s international flights were one way affairs.
I don’t hate Ruben as much as most of the fan base; I try to give him the benefit of the doubt from time to time…but putting “RAJ” and “scouting talent” in the same article is laughable
I’m not really sure how to read this comment, but I’ll just note for the record that neither Gelb nor I used the term “scouting talent.”
I just meant the general idea of Ruben Amaro as a talent scout is laughable, not any knock against the writers.
The purpose of minor league baseball is to develop players for the major leagues. That has to be the main priority. If you win, well that’s a bonus.
That’s partly true. The purpose of MiLB for the Major League team is to develop players. For the MiLB affiliate, the purpose is to make money through entertainment.
It’s a shame the Mets didn’t get in on this. Their AAA has been very strong the past two years and Binghamton, their AA team, just won the Eastern League championship – meaning the AAA team will be very strong next year too.
Winning at any minor league level is nice because it can build a culture of winning among future major league teammate. However, it isn’t the priority.
Minor League cities serve at the pleasure of their Major League parent club. In the return, they get the benefit of briefly having Mike Trout, Felix Hernandez, Clayton Kershaw, and even Michael Jordan (1994 Birmingham Barons) for a season or two. It stinks in one sense, but it is what is.
I’ve been to a couple of Inland Empire 66ers games in San Bernardino, an Angels affiliate, which is fun because those guys could be playing at Angel Stadium in a few short years, or we may see a rehab appearance by one of the Angels at a 66ers game. Also enjoy because there’s a little more trash talking towards the visiting team that wouldn’t be tolerated at the MLB level.
The best entertainment is good baseball. The minor League teams have little control over the talent on the field
They are at the mercy of their parent teams. What the teams have control over is promotions. This is where they attract the casual fan.
The Giants need to start looking at other center field options this offseason. Pagan is incapable of playing a full season.