Minor League Baseball President Announces Retirement
President of Minor League Baseball Pat O’Connor will retire at the year’s end, per The Athletic’s Evan Drellich (via Twitter). O’Connor has served as President since 2007, while spending 24 years in total with the minor league baseball offices and 34 years in professional baseball.
Minor League Baseball released a statement, provided by JJ Cooper of Baseball America. The statement reads, in part: “During his presidency, O’Connor oversaw a period of unprecedented increase in revenues and franchise values as Minor League Baseball attracted over 40 million fans in each of the last 15 seasons (2005-19), and in 2008, Minor League Baseball drew over 43 million fans for the first time since 1901.”
The future of Minor League Baseball remains very much in the air after losing this season to the pandemic. Even before the pandemic, however, tensions were rising the between Major and Minor League Baseball offices. MiLB has resisted contraction, but instead of losing a couple of teams, the whole system is in danger of falling under the control of Major League Baseball. All of which led MiLB to change their negotiation team early in August. Of course, the team that was brought in was said to be more in line with O’Connor – as opposed to Minor League Baseball team owners – so O’Connor’s retirement could foretell the end of MiLB as presently constituted.
Minor League Baseball Changes Negotiating Teams
Major League and Minor League Baseball are still at the bargaining table, but the latter will now seat different representatives. According to J.J. Cooper of Baseball America, the MiLB leadership has named a new slate of negotiators.
It’s an interesting gambit with the clock ticking on the existing deal between the sides and plenty of ground left to cover. Indeed, as Cooper notes, some within the minor-league system now see a growing possibility that talks won’t result in a deal, which could even lead MLB to build its own new farm club network.
Cooper goes into full detail on the dynamics at play here; you’ll want to read the entire article to understand the situation. In brief, as he puts it: “The group that was disbanded on Monday was viewed by many to be more focused on the interests of MiLB owners rather than those of [MiLB president & CEO Pat O’Conner] and MiLB’s offices.”
No matter which negotiators attempt to close out the deal, it sounds as if contraction to 120 teams is now a fait accompli. While MiLB had built some leverage through political pressure, the global pandemic greatly undermined the organization’s position. If a bargain is struck, MLB is sure to gain much greater authority over minor-league operations, though the new MiLB negotiating team is expected to try to carve out an ongoing role for the organization and its leadership.
Minor League Baseball’s 2020 Fate Could Be Decided Tuesday
Because of COVID-19, odds are there will not be a minor league baseball season in 2020. No official decision has come down, but that may be on the verge of changing. Minor League Baseball’s board of trustees are scheduled to meet Tuesday, when they could make an official announcement on whether a season will take place, Evan Drellich of The Athletic reports.
“I think in the next 24 hours we’re going to find out what we’ve known for a month and a half now,” a minor league owner told Drellich.
A canceled season seems likely as a result of multiple key factors, as Drellich explains. For one, in the improbable event of a season, minor league teams would have to provide their own players because Major League Baseball suspended its agreement with the minors amid a national emergency. Additionally, from a financial standpoint, the minors would not be able to sustain a season with no fans in their ballparks.
It goes without saying that not having a season would have a detrimental effect on many individuals and teams throughout minor league ball. There may be an increase in furloughs and layoffs of employees, Drellich writes, and it’s possible some teams will have to file for bankruptcy if they’re unable to play this year. Notably, even before the coronavirus reared its head, MLB was exploring a “radical restructuring” that could eliminate about a quarter of minor league clubs. A season off (or a truncated campaign with empty stands) wouldn’t do those teams any favors.