Mack83 im surprised NC doesnt have a MLB team, they have 11 minor league teams.. Nashville could support one Tenn has 7-8 minor league teams not to mention nashville could fund it. they support titans and their hockey team.
MIA doesn’t even have loads of talent in the minors. I would love 2 new teams, but Florida is holding the Rays/Marlins hostage. While Charlotte seems like a natural fit, Portland is going hard after a team and I love the nostalgia of seeing another team back in Montreal.
Florida (Rays and Marlins) was a huge mistake, neither team has ever really drawn fans out and can’t or won’t spend to top ever, not even in cycles. It’s time for relocation of teams before expansion should even be a thought.
Jim Pohlad, Twins owner, said recently that we would see the DH in the NL before we see 32 teams. Until stadium situations in Tampa Bay, Oakland, and Los Angeles are resolved, the owners aren’t interested in adding more teams.
One thing: it would be awesome to pool the best asked questions in chats that weren’t answered for a week. And have a “chat” where you or another author address those questions.
Trying to shop India is a red flag? You do know the Reds are trying to get high level talent without dealing Senzel, Trammell, and Hunter Green and the next logical prospect is India, right?
Absolutely going to have to agree with you here. I highly doubt they’ve soured on him THAT much after 150 minor league at-bats… In theory it could’ve happened, but I highly, highly doubt it. The only thing it really tells me is that he’s their best asset that they consider moveable at this time. He’s a good prospect, but he’s not in the same class as guys like Senzel, Trammell, and Greene.
“A rival exec said to Rosenthal regarding India, “For him to be available all winter is telling.”
You do realize that “rival execs” manipulator weak minded journalists in attempts to paint false information on rival clubs.
Alex Bregman (who put up similar #’s in the SEC as Senzal and India did wasn’t even ranked in some Top 100 prospects lists following his draft year. Swanson however was ranked in most everyone’ top 10. Go figure.
Which lists didn’t have Bregman in the top 100? A quick look on bbref shows MLB.com had him at 22, BP had him at 39, and BA had him at 42. I couldn’t quickly find a top 100 (or similar) list on Fangraphs for pre-2016, but they had him as the Astros #2 prospect in their team breakdown, which certainly would’ve put him well within their top 100. That was the only time he was ever on a top prospect list – because he made it to the bigs the in his first “full” year.
There are plenty of examples of journalists being wrong and/or manipulated, but this one was a poor choice.
I was a huge baseball fan before the strike in ’94. I went to about 30 games a year at multiple ballparks. After the strike, I didn’t go to another game until Comerica Park opened up. I make it to one series a year. I’ve been in Florida the last 10 years so I’ve been to Atlanta, Miami and Rays games. But nothing like before the strike. Another strike would probably end it for me.
I’m floating around the same. One more work stoppage and I’d probably be done w/ it. I only make it to 1-2 games a year in Atlanta now, but I watch as many as I can on TV and follow along via social media & news sites. If they didn’t learn their lesson after ’94, I’m not sure I care to keep an interest.
I’m sorry, but when the alternatives are NFL football and NBA basketball – I’ll keep coming back to baseball as long as they’re playing it somewhere. Even if it means I’m the overenthusiastic dad at Little League or paying for premium service watching Japanese ball.
That feeling was only reinforced by seeing my Saints missing out on one of the most boring Super Bowls in recent history and NBA being held hostage by its stars.
I don’t have kids – they wouldn’t be my children I’m screaming at. Most likely, it’s your kid. You can thank me when he’s running out grounders and takes an extra base on errant throws.
but if Manny has taught us anything, you can still make 250 million dollars by NOT running out grounders, so maybe the kid should just focus on making harder, line-drive contact and start studing launch angles
I could not care less about where Machado or Harper. sign. I just wish they would stop being in the headlines without any news. I assume any team that signs either one of them will regret it within a couple years.
Wishful thinking of all 3 ending up in Atlanta but ill bet 1 of the 3 end up a Brave. Going back 2 months ago with the financial segment of the braves, we have the money and prospects to take all 3, without .jeopardizing our future to extend our core.
All three as in Harper, Machado & Keuchel? No way Atlanta has the money for those three. I would even put up a solid argument that Harper isn’t in the budget, Machado has no place to play, and Keuchel would be the best chance to sign, but only around 10%.
There is no way they have the payroll for all 3 at the projected salaries. Period. Sure, Atlanta could take them on if they each wanted $5m a year.
As much as i’d like to see expansion, it just doesn’t make sense if we have 2 teams in Florida that don’t draw fans and a team in Oakland that is still trying to get a suitable field. I could name 5 or 6 places that would support MLB better than Miami & Tampa, but that bar isn’t set very high.
The Ray’s need to find a new home, badly. I think if Miami had a good 5-10 year stretch of competitiveness they would draw better crowds, not top-ten crowds, but enough to make it work. The problem has always been they have a good season or two, and then have a massive fire sale, and suck for an extended period.
ANY team that has a “5-10 year stretch” is going to draw better crowds and SHOULD be in top 10 attendance. How about winning 1 division championship!? That could excite a fan base.
As long as the Marlins continue that trend, they’ll never build a fanbase. What fan wants their team to behave in such a way? As a fan, you want your team ALWAYS TRYING to win. Look at the best fanbases: St Louis, NYY, Red Sox et al. They try to win……….period. Miami doesn’t do that.
Those fanbases not only show up at home games, they watch on TV. The Cardinals have fans in 4 states. The Red Sox in all of New England, and Yankee fans around the country – many ex-New Yorkers that love the city and talk about it all the time….they’d just rather not live there.
Because the Cable and Pay TV revenues are so out of whack, the large market teams need only take a step back for a year or two, then can be contenders for at least 5. Unfortunately, small and mid market teams must rebuild for at least 4-5 years (more if they have bad multi-year contracts on the books) in order to be contenders for 1-3 years (IF they’re successful).
You can categorize this as – “not trying to win”, but the reality is that teams with lower revenue streams have to develop most of their players at the major league level, while large market teams can buy experienced players in free agency or via salary dump trades.
If the players succeed in dropping team control of a player at the ML level from 6 to 3-4 years, that will make the disparity even worse. Since most players need at least 1-3 years to adjust to playing at the ML level, this will assure that the 20 or so mid and small market teams will simply be AAAA develop vehicles for the large market / high revenue teams.
MLB talent is already diluted, which is why teams make roster changes 3-6 times a week. So why not go full AAAA and expand yet again?
Now the thing is that makes an even 32 teams, so 8 teams will be division winners. Add at least another 4 WC teams, and the WS may make it to the 2nd week in November…….ahh, “The Summer Game”.
So here’s the problem – 8 divisions, 3 time zones. Fans want to watch on media devices in their time zone.
Step 1 – Dissolve the American and National Leagues. This is a given. The pre-step was taken with teams playing their “rivals” (i.e. teams in their time zones) in Interleague games, and umpire teams working both leagues.
Step 2 – Figure out what to do with teams not in the same time zone. NFL does it, but they only play one game a week. If their team starts 3 hours early or late 6 times a year, no big deal, fans just move things around on Sunday. But MLB depends on revenue from 162 – or a bit less – TV games a year. Uummm.
What should be done – Contract 6 teams. Start with Oakland and at least one of the Florida teams. Few teams have even 18 bonafide major leaguers on them. This would leave 24 teams. They can then create the silly 4 team divisions that get casual fans to think that their so-so team has a chance to do something. That would leave 6 divisions – 2 in each time zone.
If I were the Cubs…. sign Machado, 1 more year than what CWS offer with same avg salary. Trade Jay Hay to SF for second tier pitching depth in the minors (long shots that could play roles in bullpen down the road). This would be insignificant return, to dump salary. Trade Russell and Caratini, with daft pick to FLM for Realmuto. Wilson can platoon in LF when not behind the dish, Realmuto can spell Rizzo on off days. Happ/Schaber/Almora/Zobrist now see regular time in OF with Bryant & Wilson able to fill in too. Maddon gets more versatility.
1. Cubs aren’t willing to add that amount of salary needed to sign Machado. 2. Hayward going to SF might open a roster spot, but it won’t save money as SF is also unable to take on salary. 3. Russell has little trade value at the moment, so that offer for JTR would not be enough.
The Cardinals President of Baseball Operations recently made an utterly ridiculous statement. “At this point, adding any other personnel would make things even more confusing than they already are as for as competition for positions”. “Therefore, we are satisfied with the upgrades we’ve made and anticipate no more transactions to be made by the Cardinals for 2019.” Look At all of the impact players, pitchers, and relievers who are still on the free agent market, waiting to be signed!! Mozeliak is saying he couldn’t use Kimbrell? Moustakes? J. D. Martinez?? Wow! They may be able to be obtained even on a one year contract this close to Spring Training. What an idiot!!!
Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense not to add two teams plenty of left over players in free agency to fill two teams
There isn’t enough pitching to go around. Your adding more bad teams. You could have more teams like Florida teams, that don’t have many fans.
Sure there is. There is loads of talent available in the minors, FA, etc. Give us 2 more cities, Charlotte NC and somewhere else.
Mack83 im surprised NC doesnt have a MLB team, they have 11 minor league teams.. Nashville could support one Tenn has 7-8 minor league teams not to mention nashville could fund it. they support titans and their hockey team.
MIA doesn’t even have loads of talent in the minors. I would love 2 new teams, but Florida is holding the Rays/Marlins hostage. While Charlotte seems like a natural fit, Portland is going hard after a team and I love the nostalgia of seeing another team back in Montreal.
Florida (Rays and Marlins) was a huge mistake, neither team has ever really drawn fans out and can’t or won’t spend to top ever, not even in cycles. It’s time for relocation of teams before expansion should even be a thought.
Same argument before last expansion. What do all last place teams have in common? Lack of quality PITCHING.
Jim Pohlad, Twins owner, said recently that we would see the DH in the NL before we see 32 teams. Until stadium situations in Tampa Bay, Oakland, and Los Angeles are resolved, the owners aren’t interested in adding more teams.
One thing: it would be awesome to pool the best asked questions in chats that weren’t answered for a week. And have a “chat” where you or another author address those questions.
Great idea maybe have all 3 chat hosts say there two cents for each of the best votes questions
Trying to shop India is a red flag? You do know the Reds are trying to get high level talent without dealing Senzel, Trammell, and Hunter Green and the next logical prospect is India, right?
My comment here is based on Ken Rosenthal’s article from Friday.
theathletic.com/795884/2019/02/01/rosenthal-why-th…
A rival exec said to Rosenthal regarding India, “For him to be available all winter is telling.”
Gotcha, wording just seems a bit shortsighted based on the Reds scenario.
Absolutely going to have to agree with you here. I highly doubt they’ve soured on him THAT much after 150 minor league at-bats… In theory it could’ve happened, but I highly, highly doubt it. The only thing it really tells me is that he’s their best asset that they consider moveable at this time. He’s a good prospect, but he’s not in the same class as guys like Senzel, Trammell, and Greene.
“A rival exec said to Rosenthal regarding India, “For him to be available all winter is telling.”
You do realize that “rival execs” manipulator weak minded journalists in attempts to paint false information on rival clubs.
Alex Bregman (who put up similar #’s in the SEC as Senzal and India did wasn’t even ranked in some Top 100 prospects lists following his draft year. Swanson however was ranked in most everyone’ top 10. Go figure.
Which lists didn’t have Bregman in the top 100? A quick look on bbref shows MLB.com had him at 22, BP had him at 39, and BA had him at 42. I couldn’t quickly find a top 100 (or similar) list on Fangraphs for pre-2016, but they had him as the Astros #2 prospect in their team breakdown, which certainly would’ve put him well within their top 100. That was the only time he was ever on a top prospect list – because he made it to the bigs the in his first “full” year.
There are plenty of examples of journalists being wrong and/or manipulated, but this one was a poor choice.
I was a huge baseball fan before the strike in ’94. I went to about 30 games a year at multiple ballparks. After the strike, I didn’t go to another game until Comerica Park opened up. I make it to one series a year. I’ve been in Florida the last 10 years so I’ve been to Atlanta, Miami and Rays games. But nothing like before the strike. Another strike would probably end it for me.
I’m floating around the same. One more work stoppage and I’d probably be done w/ it. I only make it to 1-2 games a year in Atlanta now, but I watch as many as I can on TV and follow along via social media & news sites. If they didn’t learn their lesson after ’94, I’m not sure I care to keep an interest.
I’m sorry, but when the alternatives are NFL football and NBA basketball – I’ll keep coming back to baseball as long as they’re playing it somewhere. Even if it means I’m the overenthusiastic dad at Little League or paying for premium service watching Japanese ball.
That feeling was only reinforced by seeing my Saints missing out on one of the most boring Super Bowls in recent history and NBA being held hostage by its stars.
Please don’t scream at your child at those LL games. Thanks!
I don’t have kids – they wouldn’t be my children I’m screaming at. Most likely, it’s your kid. You can thank me when he’s running out grounders and takes an extra base on errant throws.
but if Manny has taught us anything, you can still make 250 million dollars by NOT running out grounders, so maybe the kid should just focus on making harder, line-drive contact and start studing launch angles
Do yourself a favor and watch the NHL playoffs…
I could not care less about where Machado or Harper. sign. I just wish they would stop being in the headlines without any news. I assume any team that signs either one of them will regret it within a couple years.
Franchise in PR and Montreal.
ewww
Wishful thinking of all 3 ending up in Atlanta but ill bet 1 of the 3 end up a Brave. Going back 2 months ago with the financial segment of the braves, we have the money and prospects to take all 3, without .jeopardizing our future to extend our core.
All three as in Harper, Machado & Keuchel? No way Atlanta has the money for those three. I would even put up a solid argument that Harper isn’t in the budget, Machado has no place to play, and Keuchel would be the best chance to sign, but only around 10%.
There is no way they have the payroll for all 3 at the projected salaries. Period. Sure, Atlanta could take them on if they each wanted $5m a year.
Harper, realmuto and kimbrel
As much as i’d like to see expansion, it just doesn’t make sense if we have 2 teams in Florida that don’t draw fans and a team in Oakland that is still trying to get a suitable field. I could name 5 or 6 places that would support MLB better than Miami & Tampa, but that bar isn’t set very high.
Well, at least Oakland is finally getting a new field.
The Ray’s need to find a new home, badly. I think if Miami had a good 5-10 year stretch of competitiveness they would draw better crowds, not top-ten crowds, but enough to make it work. The problem has always been they have a good season or two, and then have a massive fire sale, and suck for an extended period.
ANY team that has a “5-10 year stretch” is going to draw better crowds and SHOULD be in top 10 attendance. How about winning 1 division championship!? That could excite a fan base.
As long as the Marlins continue that trend, they’ll never build a fanbase. What fan wants their team to behave in such a way? As a fan, you want your team ALWAYS TRYING to win. Look at the best fanbases: St Louis, NYY, Red Sox et al. They try to win……….period. Miami doesn’t do that.
Those fanbases not only show up at home games, they watch on TV. The Cardinals have fans in 4 states. The Red Sox in all of New England, and Yankee fans around the country – many ex-New Yorkers that love the city and talk about it all the time….they’d just rather not live there.
Because the Cable and Pay TV revenues are so out of whack, the large market teams need only take a step back for a year or two, then can be contenders for at least 5. Unfortunately, small and mid market teams must rebuild for at least 4-5 years (more if they have bad multi-year contracts on the books) in order to be contenders for 1-3 years (IF they’re successful).
You can categorize this as – “not trying to win”, but the reality is that teams with lower revenue streams have to develop most of their players at the major league level, while large market teams can buy experienced players in free agency or via salary dump trades.
If the players succeed in dropping team control of a player at the ML level from 6 to 3-4 years, that will make the disparity even worse. Since most players need at least 1-3 years to adjust to playing at the ML level, this will assure that the 20 or so mid and small market teams will simply be AAAA develop vehicles for the large market / high revenue teams.
MLB talent is already diluted, which is why teams make roster changes 3-6 times a week. So why not go full AAAA and expand yet again?
Now the thing is that makes an even 32 teams, so 8 teams will be division winners. Add at least another 4 WC teams, and the WS may make it to the 2nd week in November…….ahh, “The Summer Game”.
So here’s the problem – 8 divisions, 3 time zones. Fans want to watch on media devices in their time zone.
Step 1 – Dissolve the American and National Leagues. This is a given. The pre-step was taken with teams playing their “rivals” (i.e. teams in their time zones) in Interleague games, and umpire teams working both leagues.
Step 2 – Figure out what to do with teams not in the same time zone. NFL does it, but they only play one game a week. If their team starts 3 hours early or late 6 times a year, no big deal, fans just move things around on Sunday. But MLB depends on revenue from 162 – or a bit less – TV games a year. Uummm.
What should be done – Contract 6 teams. Start with Oakland and at least one of the Florida teams. Few teams have even 18 bonafide major leaguers on them. This would leave 24 teams. They can then create the silly 4 team divisions that get casual fans to think that their so-so team has a chance to do something. That would leave 6 divisions – 2 in each time zone.
you’d probably be forced to increase the roster size to 30 players then (MLBPA isn’t going to accept a loss of 150 players).
lol
jb10000lakes;
If the rosters are expanded by 20%, then we have the same amount of players, and MLB remains a terribly diluted product.
Sure. Are the owners going to lock out the players union to get those fewer roster spots? If so, that’s a work stoppage, and that doesn’t help either.
No way the players give up 150 roster spots.
If I were the Cubs…. sign Machado, 1 more year than what CWS offer with same avg salary. Trade Jay Hay to SF for second tier pitching depth in the minors (long shots that could play roles in bullpen down the road). This would be insignificant return, to dump salary. Trade Russell and Caratini, with daft pick to FLM for Realmuto. Wilson can platoon in LF when not behind the dish, Realmuto can spell Rizzo on off days. Happ/Schaber/Almora/Zobrist now see regular time in OF with Bryant & Wilson able to fill in too. Maddon gets more versatility.
1. Cubs aren’t willing to add that amount of salary needed to sign Machado. 2. Hayward going to SF might open a roster spot, but it won’t save money as SF is also unable to take on salary. 3. Russell has little trade value at the moment, so that offer for JTR would not be enough.
The Cardinals President of Baseball Operations recently made an utterly ridiculous statement. “At this point, adding any other personnel would make things even more confusing than they already are as for as competition for positions”. “Therefore, we are satisfied with the upgrades we’ve made and anticipate no more transactions to be made by the Cardinals for 2019.” Look At all of the impact players, pitchers, and relievers who are still on the free agent market, waiting to be signed!! Mozeliak is saying he couldn’t use Kimbrell? Moustakes? J. D. Martinez?? Wow! They may be able to be obtained even on a one year contract this close to Spring Training. What an idiot!!!