Yesterday, MLBTR relayed news that Major League Baseball is pursuing a “radical restructuring” of the lower minor-leagues, with reports indicating that the league is proposing the elimination of roughly one-quarter of current affiliate teams. While deputy commissioner Dan Halem framed these potential changes as being to the benefit of MiLB ballplayers (being that a reorganization would, in theory, allow for better pay, upgraded facilities, and streamlined travel accommodations), it does not sound as if officials from Minor League Baseball are on board with this proposed sea change.
In a report for The Athletic, writer Evan Drellich says an “enormous chasm” exists between MLB and MiLB as the two seek to organize a new working arrangement (link). MLB’s move toward en masse affiliate contraction does not sit well with MiLB, with MiLB President Pat O’Conner revealing that legal action is a possibility if a return to the bargaining table does not produce a more mutually appealing proposal.
“If we are forced to defend ourselves and fight for our mere survival, we will,” O’Conner told Drellich. “We would hope to negotiate a reasonable settlement with MLB. Short of that we have multiple options. Appealing to Congress, state, county and local elected officials is certainly one of them.” It is worth noting that legal action is characterized as a “last resort” in Drellich’s report.
Drellich also gives equal time to Halem, with the deputy commish reiterating the proposal’s intended benefits toward player working conditions–including increased wages. Halem also asserts that the introduction of advanced analytics and scouting methods have reduced the viability of maintaining such a deep stack of affiliate clubs, since 95% of players drafted after the 25th round never reach the majors. The implications here are interesting, with Halem suggesting the effective value of lower-level teams has decreased as MLB clubs have improved in the location and development of premier talent. “It is a tough sell to tell Major League Clubs that they need to hire more players than they may need in order to provide free labor to the minor league clubs,” Halem states.
For a complete history of the centuries-spanning working arrangement between MLB teams and their affiliates, Baseball America’s JJ Cooper details the oft-contentious process involved in maintaining a talent development pipeline that is unique among major American sports (link). The working arrangement that binds the two entities, entitled the Professional Baseball Agreement, is set to expire after the 2020 season.
If MLB really wants to contract teams in MiLB, they should eliminate the GCL and AZL leagues.
Most GCL/AZL teams operate out of facilities owned and managed by the parent organization so that’s a ‘meh’ proposal.
Yeah the issues is, that most people don’t understand, that MLB teams don’t own their MiLB teams,just the players.
Yeah, the issue with that is that you don’t understand that some MiLB teams ARE MLB owned. Teams in the GCL/AZL leagues typically play at the primary spring training stadium, which leads to athleticnchill’s point that most if not all of those teams are MLB owned. They’re not going to contract teams they own and that use facilities they are paying for year round upkeep anyway.
I think he means that, if major league owners want to get rid of teams, let them get rid of the ones they own that play in their spring training facilities, not ones independently owned and often playing in facilities the local community paid to build. It would be a nonstarter to MLB owners since the GCL and AZL teams have much lower overhead because of where they play, but wouldn’t look good to the public and possibly politician in a position to change MLB’s antitrust exemption.
Many are owned and as AI see it it will end up like Target. If you eliminate 25% of the teams, how many jobs will that cost? I don’t understand how it will increase paychecks but if it does, it will distributed to less players. Sounds more like teams are losing money with the lower level teams they own and might have benefit from having less levels. Do they reall need Rookie, A and High A leagues? Maybe just three levels. Rookie/A, AA and AAA.
You don’t think the local communities in Arizona and Florida paid for the clubs that operate there?
They should fix Triple A with adding Double A teams to Triple A to strengthen those leagues .
Some teams are struggling attendance wise and financially adding more teams to IL and PCL could boost those leagues with new rivals and lower travel costs.
Reorganizing the leagues and having a new Triple A and Maybe make Single A the new Double A likely cheaper and better option.
If they do eliminate some teams, then College baseball will definitely get more talent and this could be a huge boost to CWS.
I doubt it will have much of an impact. The kids in the leagues they are seeking to eliminate aren’t college ball material.
Actually, many of those players *are* college ball material. In fact many of those players are 30th round picks out of State University who have played three years and sign because they are likely not to be drafted at all after exhausting their eligibility.
They are seeking to eliminate short-season leagues which are generally stocked with lower round draft picks, young internationals, and players with experience who haven’t impressed enough to make it to a full season league. I understand the reasoning behind it. MLB has gotten increasingly vilified for how poorly they compensate their minor leaguers. Many of them need to work jobs in the offseason to make ends meet, which means they can’t train properly. MLB feels that if they take the minor league compensation budget and spread it over 20-25% fewer players, they can pay them better without paying out more money. It’s a financial thing. They also in many places have poor (i.e. old) facilities. The MLB team doesn’t necessarily own the facility, and if the minor league team owner is struggling to make ends meet, they don’t have the capital to invest in that. I don’t like the idea, because my local team is in the NY-Penn league and I don’t want them to go away.
They should start a new league like the XFL…
You mean like all the independent ball teams that already exist?
Badda Bing!
well back in the day they started a new league, it was called the american league
There are too many teams in the majors which has watered down the game. To compensate over the years, there has been a push to change the height of the mound, implement a DH, build smaller stadiums and adjust the equipment. Don’t allow arm guards which would then stop players from always diving in and force them to try to avoid getting hit. I Houston player got hit in the elbow and actually wasn’t wearing Papi protection but a replay showed he didn’t try to dodge the ball. Also impose penalties for hit batsmen to the back, kneecap or head. Pitchers need to pitch inside but must learn how to do it.
There is a penalty for hitting batsmen in the back, kneecap, or head – the player gets to take a base. If you want stricter penalties, I GUARANTEE it’ll have the opposite effect of what you’re looking for.
I do agree that the excessive padding should be removed or very limited though. It’s a big part of the reason players aren’t afraid to crowd the plate anymore.
You’re very wrong. There is way more talent today than there was before expansion.
You sound like you’re 78 years old. The good old days weren’t always good.
MLB is not watered down. MiLB is watered down slightly.
That is why I said taking Double A teams and putting them into Triple A making it a league with small and larger markets may be the best way to go,
You can have a minor baseball league with 6,000 to 12,000 seat stadiums and be just fine works in hockey.
Have Single A be the new Double A as well less is better hockey has 2 minor leagues it works there why can’t it work in baseball.
Lesser talent goes to Independent baseball. be the best route.
Absolutely a great idea! Yes!
They can’t. MLB’s Anti-trust exemption makes them a legal monopoly. It came about because of an attempt to form another major league.
Let the lawsuits begin…..
Every time I see Dan Halem I think of squidbillies
I can understand why the MiLB commissioner would, on the surface, be against contraction. As would many of the independent owners of lower level teams. But there are too many lower level affiliates that, at times, merely serve as a place to horde players.
Something interesting to consider. If there is a future restructuring, what could be the mass movements of affiliates switching home ballparks/cities. For instance, where i live in Texas, the A’s affiliate, the Midland Rockhounds, are the A’s AA affiliate. Would the A’s want their AA affiliate closer to home? The ballpark is 17 years old and still in excellent condition. As are the amenities for the players.
If there is contraction and restructuring, it definitely won’t and can’t happen quickly. There will be lawsuits by both owners and even cities that have those affiliates.
I believe the previous article mentioned attempting to move affiliates closer to their base team.
yeah as a giants fan i appreciate having the a+ san jose giants and aaa (now the sac rivercats) close but i kind of wish the Richmond squirrels (aa) was in the area too so that when guys develop you can see them in aa and not have to wait for them to get to aaa
I wondered how MiLB would react to this.
Also, lots of the MiLB clubs play in tax-subsidized stadiums. Local officials and taxpayers may not take this news well.
Not only that a lot of towns and cities own the stadium outright not the team
I recommend everyone listen to the latest Baseball America podcast where J.J. Cooper spends almost an hour talking about this.
How many MiLB affiliates do MLB teams have usually? Just 3 or maybe 4 right? More?
AAA
AA
A
Rookie
Seven to nine:
baseball-reference.com/register/affiliate.cgi?year…
a lot, and it varies. some teams have 3 A ball teams and some have multiple levels of rookie ball. (excluding foreign rookie ball and teams like East and West or colored GCL and AZL teams)
Watch it there. We’ve moved on from segregation.
also a+ and a+ advanced
The Fort Wayne Tincaps consistently outdraw the majority of AA and AAA teams. Might we finally see an upgrade to a higher level?
Inland Empire 66ers have been self-contracting for years now.
Nothing wrong with trimming the fat
Good on MiLB for standing up against this idiotic contraction idea. They don’t have to play ball with MLB here. Manfred and some of his billionaire buddies disgust me with the way they’re ruining the game.
Don’t they though? I’d think MiLB needs MLB a lot more than MLB needs MiLB. Without the players provided by MLB, the MiLB teams would have to go independent themselves and the quality of the product their AAA & AA cities are used to would be downgraded. Also, living in Norfolk, I know some fans support the Tides because of the connection to the O’s. Diminished product and loss of the affiliation would hurt their attendance. Low A ball cites might not be affected as much, but it would dramatically impact upper level cites. Meanwhile, MLB could create their own system, which they could completely control. Don’t know that they want to do that, but they could.
Two problems with your theory: time, and money.
For MLB to create their own system hundreds of new stadiums would need to be built. The existing stadiums are either owned by, or leased to, the existing teams. You can’t just cut them out and take over the property.
Finding sites, securing permits, etc takes years to get to finished construction. If each ball club needed to build 4 or 5 stadiums from scratch you’re probably looking 100-150 million per club.
Then, MiLB teams will see this coming. Maybe they shut down/lockout the minor leaguers in response, what do the mlb clubs do then when the talent pipeline ceases to develop?
AtlSoxFan basically nailed what I’d say in response to you nymetsking. MLB could pull their players, but those guys need somewhere to play. Building a vast feeder structure such as that would be a tremendous undertaking. Think about how long it’s taken for all the small scale football leagues that have started these past few years to start up. Now imagine needing 150 or more cities and stadiums by the spring. For all the money MLB might have, they can’t buy a calendar stoppage.
Neither is true. I’m sure there are other valid arguments against, but there’s one simple answer to both that you present: they could simply pull back to using the ST sites. They could do that immediately, and not need to build 150 stadiums.
In ST, there’s obviously a main stadium, where the MLB team plays (and used by the AZL & GCL teams during the season), which the highest level players would play on. On site, or close to it, there’s back fields where the major and minor leaguers train. They have 4 playable fields, many that are back-to-back in a huge square, with the home plates inward. Some have a crows nest, where staff can monitor all fields. These could easily be used for lower level games. Schedules could be set up like ST: Mets vs Cardinals: AAA/AA played at Mets, A levels play at Cardinals. Reverse the next day. All players would be centrally located, with access to better training facilitates in season than what most current minor league stadiums offer and would all stay together in the dorms that many teams already have built and use in ST. There’d be less travel than many MiLB leagues, especially in AZ. Better year round weather (no games in the north early and late season). Roving instructors don’t have to rove. The teams MLB owned could be put on hold or contracted, losing short term with the sunk cost, but gain long term with everything streamlined.
And since many of the facilities are owned by municipalities, and not either MiLB or MLB franchises, MLB could lease the very same stadiums MiLB team’s are using. They may have to wait longer for some, depends on the municipalities’ current contracts and their ability to either get out of them or house multiple tenants.
They need to get rid of all the damn A teams and rookie ball. Each team get A 3 minor league teams, A, AA, & AAA
Why? If you go to a system such as that, you’re going to be asking eighteen (Mostly, some possibly even younger) year old kids, signed internationally, to compete for roster spots with guys who are much more physically mature. How many good players may lose out on opportunity that way?
Teams have 7-9 affiliates, they could cap the number at 5 and expand the rosters
Champion so you want to get rid of all A teams but want to have only A AA and AAA teams which includes A ball teams that you just said you wanted to eliminate?
Just the damn ones. The non-damn ones they keep.
I wonder how the geographic emphasis of MLB’s proposal will work early in the season. Albany, Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo (among others) have winter well into the MiLB season…
I wonder if they included the Marlins?
As part of the AAAA Florida State League they are exempt.
Commissioner Manfred continues to demonstrate how little he knows and respects the game. He has done more harm than good during his tenure.
What i like about it “in theory” is… If u eliminate 25% of teams, then ur eliminating 25% of players, which mean higher caliber players. Which means ur facing higher levels of competion and competing against higher levels for rosters spots. Which should help players develop and give teams a better read on development. But again thats just in theory, and theories dont always apply to real life situations
Not true, it would eliminate the bottom 25% of the players. They would shorten the draft and all those long shots drafted after say round 25 would no longer be drafted. They’d stay in school their senior years and/or sign with the independent teams and prove their worth.
Ricky, I misread what you were saying at first, so on 2nd thought I think we are in agreement.
No they would be free to sign with any team. You do not need to be drafted to be signed after the draft
MLB’s goal in this is to eliminate non-MLB ownership of MiLB teams. They want total control of the product and the profits.
Yes and to play the players more which would come from the fans and not the extremely wealthy owners.