BREAKING: MLB announces changes to minor league structure featuring 120-team regional alignment

[treymancini]

Originally Posted by jpeters1734

Don’t forget that full season ball did not change. All they got rid of was short season teams. Most guys that played in short season never made full season ball anyway

Also, they would have had a job for only half of the season. In terms of actual games that were axed, it was probably like 10-15%.

[BaseballGOAT]

Originally Posted by OutS|der

Just like the 400K that keep their jobs at 35K a year, less travel, better facilities, more money... Not so much for the 600K that lost their jobs.

So yeah it's super great... for some and even greater for those at the top. Not so great for those with even less now
Always nice when you can get the poor to frame job loss in a positive way.

Another way too look at this... those that have gotten cut or will get cut... they're getting pay raises too by getting out of the game... so again its hard to compare baseball to the real world

[jpeters1734]

Originally Posted by BaseballGOAT

Another way too look at this... those that have gotten cut or will get cut... they're getting pay raises too by getting out of the game... so again its hard to compare baseball to the real world

Hahaha, that’s a good point. You absolutely can argue that many of those players are actually better off out of baseball. No sense in delaying the inevitable, right

[BaseballGOAT]

Originally Posted by jpeters1734

Hahaha, that’s a good point. You absolutely can argue that many of those players are actually better off out of baseball. No sense in delaying the inevitable, right

Its harsh but its true... even for a second say the players has one skill and sticks around A and AA for a couple seasons... he's gonna actually make more money as a fast food manager...

[BaseballGOAT]

Plus a lot a guys... especially the roster filler guys lose their passion for the game fast. There was a Giants ex farmhand on YouTube I was watching the other day and boy did he no longer enjoy the game at all. He despised his time in the low minors

[lotr13]

You guys are forgetting that other people worked for these teams besides the players.

[Matt Arnold]

Yeah, I don't think it's fair to claim it's all good for everyone. Nothing is forcing guys to stick around in the low minors if they were better served by changing careers to a different job, and the fact that there are less teams will cause some guys who just barely stuck on before but rocketed up late in their minor career to be cut earlier and possible never make it. Now they won't get that chance.

I think in the end it will be good, especially if it leads to a better living wage for the minor leaguers. I do think it's a good opportunity for the various independent leagues to grow a little more as well, since there will be a larger pool that they can recruit from, but it's going to take a little time to restructure them, and some teams will leave towns and never come back. But if this does leads to a better focus on the teams and players that are left, that might be good overall. It always amazed me before how little players at these levels were paid, how little it would cost to increase that pay and conditions, compared to how many millions teams were willing to pay some 16 year old kids from the DR, so if this can help that out, that can only be a good thing overall.

[BaseballGOAT]

Originally Posted by Matt Arnold

Yeah, I don't think it's fair to claim it's all good for everyone. Nothing is forcing guys to stick around in the low minors if they were better served by changing careers to a different job, and the fact that there are less teams will cause some guys who just barely stuck on before but rocketed up late in their minor career to be cut earlier and possible never make it. Now they won't get that chance.

I think in the end it will be good, especially if it leads to a better living wage for the minor leaguers. I do think it's a good opportunity for the various independent leagues to grow a little more as well, since there will be a larger pool that they can recruit from, but it's going to take a little time to restructure them, and some teams will leave towns and never come back. But if this does leads to a better focus on the teams and players that are left, that might be good overall. It always amazed me before how little players at these levels were paid, how little it would cost to increase that pay and conditions, compared to how many millions teams were willing to pay some 16 year old kids from the DR, so if this can help that out, that can only be a good thing overall.

Matt, the ones that somehow slipped by in the draft, or develop more later will also have quite a bit more opportunities in the Indy leagues going forward. Both the American Association and the Atlantic league are looking at possible expansion. The Pioneer league is now a brand new Indy league, with expansion already looming as they already have one team getting a new stadium and joining in 22. Salem-Kaiser is doing a one ballpark 4 team Indy setup like the USPL and the Pecos league is trying to expand again, I know.. that rarely works the way they want it too LOL but still its indisputable that there are a lot more Indy opportunities for guys under this new setup.

Its gonna be interesting for the fact that there will be more talent at the NCAA level with less minors and a shorter draft... which will push more talent to the Junior college level. So you now have 3 levels of baseball getting much stronger. and in the Minors, prospects will be playing mainly against other prospects now which should make MiLB stronger as well.

[treymancini]

I for one am looking forward to the Indy leagues being a bit stronger, here's hoping the Atlantic League expands north

[mayday10]

I think it is a terrible thing.

One thing that made baseball what it is today is the fact that competitive baseball was played in every corner of the country. This was through the minor leagues.

It has been eroding for about 30 years. Now, they need to draw people to a developmental game that just happens to be a backdrop of "Star Wars Night' or a series of hokey events. AAA baseball has become so unwatchable. There is no glimmer of guys wanting to win. Nobody seems to want to be there. Everything is on a pitch count. Rosters are gutted for the "playoffs" when September callups happen.

This will make it worse. These leagues have completely capitulated to the MLB overlords. These will be nothing more than developmental training camp scrimmages.

And no idea why they feel the need to further gut the soul out of the game. The International League goes back 140 years. Now we have AAA East? In case we need to know the league level and general region of the country when we say the name of the league?

[BaseballGOAT]

Originally Posted by mayday10

I think it is a terrible thing.

One thing that made baseball what it is today is the fact that competitive baseball was played in every corner of the country. This was through the minor leagues.

It has been eroding for about 30 years. Now, they need to draw people to a developmental game that just happens to be a backdrop of "Star Wars Night' or a series of hokey events. AAA baseball has become so unwatchable. There is no glimmer of guys wanting to win. Nobody seems to want to be there. Everything is on a pitch count. Rosters are gutted for the "playoffs" when September callups happen.

This will make it worse. These leagues have completely capitulated to the MLB overlords. These will be nothing more than developmental training camp scrimmages.

And no idea why they feel the need to further gut the soul out of the game. The International League goes back 140 years. Now we have AAA East? In case we need to know the league level and general region of the country when we say the name of the league?

To your first point, less than 10 cities lost baseball. They've done surveys and the majority of people that go to minor league baseball games are going for cheap entertainment. There just isn't that many fans that go to low minor league games that are tied to a MLB franchise. They just want to take the family to a game. They will be able to do that still.

As far as AAA, what games are you watching? I routinely have seen both the Memphis Redbirds and the Nashville Sounds and think AAA was actually better in 2018 and 2019 than in the early 2000's.

The minor league naming is currently just a placeholder. The Minor leagues individually owned the rights to their names. Some of those rights have already been transferred to MLB, the rest are a work in progress. Baseball America has a wonderful article on this and many other tidbits from all this... We don't know what the league names are as of yet. This was just to release the information because the schedules need to be released ASAP so minor league teams can begin to sell tickets and such.

[Goalie39]

I do agree getting rid of the league names is horrible.

[BaseballGOAT]

Originally Posted by BaseballGOAT

The minor league naming is currently just a placeholder. The Minor leagues individually owned the rights to their names. Some of those rights have already been transferred to MLB, the rest are a work in progress. Baseball America has a wonderful article on this and many other tidbits from all this... We don't know what the league names are as of yet. This was just to release the information because the schedules need to be released ASAP so minor league teams can begin to sell tickets and such.

Just gonna leave this here again for you as well Goalie. Please dont believe anything you hear on the likes of ESPN. If you truly wanna know whats going on with anything MiLB... Baseball America is the only trusted source

[mayday10]

I would go to Batavia games which has been a staple of the town for almost 100 years. The NY Penn League used to be great when it had small towns all through NY. It really looked like the players wanted to win, fans would travel, etc. More recently, they found it more lucrative to put teams in places like Brooklyn, Staten Island, etc.... zzzzzzz.... Batavia and a couple others hung on. Maybe these independent leagues will be great? I doubt it. I think a degree of MLB involvement, identity, and $ is imperative. Collegiate summer leagues feel like vanity leagues for most players.

I grew up going to Buffalo Bisons games in the 80s and early 90s. There used to be competition. I remember bench clearing brawls, pennant races, veteran minor leaguers who you knew by name, ex-MLB players who would pop up finishing their run. It was fun, and people cared about the result of the game. I saw Rochester win the Governor's Cup in 1988 and it felt like a World Series there. Players celebrating, then coming back out, spraying the raucous crowd with champaigne (I think Steve Finley and Curt Schilling were on that team). Horns and flags leaving the ballpark.

From 2000ish on, it all seems to be gone. Games just feel like exhibitions.

I get it. But overall, the sterilization and ruination of the sport in small-town/mid city america is going to erode the overall popularity of the sport in 20-30-40-50 years. Also add in that small and mid MLB teams cannot even hold onto their most popular players for a majority of their careers... its terrible overall.

Then smashing things that make baseball unique with 80-150 year legacy is tough.


I dont know. Im hoping for major apocalyptic labor war coming up. I feel like drastic changes are needed (and not this minor league shakeup). My fantasy is a full promotion/relegation system with numerous tiers (unrealistic I know, but imagine how cool that would be for people coast to coast?).

[BaseballGOAT]

Originally Posted by mayday10

I would go to Batavia games which has been a staple of the town for almost 100 years. The NY Penn League used to be great when it had small towns all through NY. It really looked like the players wanted to win, fans would travel, etc. More recently, they found it more lucrative to put teams in places like Brooklyn, Staten Island, etc.... zzzzzzz.... Batavia and a couple others hung on. Maybe these independent leagues will be great? I doubt it. I think a degree of MLB involvement, identity, and $ is imperative. Collegiate summer leagues feel like vanity leagues for most players.

I grew up going to Buffalo Bisons games in the 80s and early 90s. There used to be competition. I remember bench clearing brawls, pennant races, veteran minor leaguers who you knew by name, ex-MLB players who would pop up finishing their run. It was fun, and people cared about the result of the game. I saw Rochester win the Governor's Cup in 1988 and it felt like a World Series there. Players celebrating, then coming back out, spraying the raucous crowd with champaigne (I think Steve Finley and Curt Schilling were on that team). Horns and flags leaving the ballpark.

From 2000ish on, it all seems to be gone. Games just feel like exhibitions.

I get it. But overall, the sterilization and ruination of the sport in small-town/mid city america is going to erode the overall popularity of the sport in 20-30-40-50 years. Also add in that small and mid MLB teams cannot even hold onto their most popular players for a majority of their careers... its terrible overall.

Then smashing things that make baseball unique with 80-150 year legacy is tough.


I dont know. Im hoping for major apocalyptic labor war coming up. I feel like drastic changes are needed (and not this minor league shakeup). My fantasy is a full promotion/relegation system with numerous tiers (unrealistic I know, but imagine how cool that would be for people coast to coast?).

wow .. some baseball fan. Never heard a real fan wanting a strike

[tward13]

Originally Posted by BaseballGOAT

I like that idea too, I'm a Cardinals fan who's transplanted to Charlotte. Now Memphis is in the same division as Charlotte which will be fun

You'll love the Charlotte ballpark.

[mayday10]

Originally Posted by BaseballGOAT

wow .. some baseball fan. Never heard a real fan wanting a strike

Im a big NHL fan too. The lost season in 04-05 created a really good and fair structure that all teams can operate and compete in. It was well worth it to knock the NHLPA down a few pegs... instead of watching a few large market teams just spend everyone into oblivion.

[BaseballGOAT]

Originally Posted by tward13

You'll love the Charlotte ballpark.

I was excited to see games there last season, but we all know how that turned out

[HRBaker]

Baseball is like everything else - it all has to do with profits.


Another thing to remember is nothing, NOTHING ever stays the same. Decades move on and changes occur making the older generation wish for the "good old days" whether they were good or not, but they were familiar.


The other important point is it's impossible to tell if a new direction or change will be successful or not. Only TIME determines if the original goal can be reached, or if one has to change directions (yet again).


The old minor league system was kind of a mess, but it was familiar and a lot of us liked it because it had history on its side.



So, will the new configuration be better or worse?Ask that question in 10 years but you'll likely already know the answer before you ask it.

[Orioles1966]

What will the schedules look like for the upcoming season?

Hopefully Toledo doesn't play Columbus Clippers 50 times in the Triple A- East.