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OT: MiLB realignment/contraction
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Pounce FTW Offline
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OT: MiLB realignment/contraction
For any of you keeping up with the changes coming to Minor League Baseball, I have a few questions:

1. Is there a good central location to keep up with the current state of things? I know we got the NYT "list" of teams last year that are supposed to make the cut, but since then it seems like there have just been a few bits of info here and there (and I don't think the list has necessarily held up). I pretty much depend on the news feed on my phone to let me know if anything interesting happens.

2. Anything interesting taking shape in your neck of the woods? I just moved to North Jersey and found out soon after that the Somerset Patriots are moving from unaffiliated to AA for the Yankees, which will be nice if we get a season next year.

3. If you're a MiLB fan, what's your take on the changes? I'm overall undecided, as growing up in a small South Georgia town meant the minors were a huge part of my childhood, and I hate to see communities lose that. However, I actually kind of like the increase in MLB involvement over the past couple of decades, as I can see big benefits to a farm system that has a lot of continuity organizationally and geographically. So...maybe this is overall for the best.

Anyway, just some random questions.
11-11-2020 11:14 AM
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Usajags Offline
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RE: OT: MiLB realignment/contraction
With all the BS going on over the last few months I hadn’t even thought about this. I haven’t heard any new news, I do know in the Southern League, there are a lot of new, brand new stadiums, one hasn’t even opened yet. I haven’t heard of any team from the league being contracted as of yet. I know there are minor stadiums all across this country sitting empty, even in non COVID times. I’d hope that there could be some indy leagues, even 3 month leagues to fill some of the gap and fill some of those stadiums.

Unfortunately, as times change, so does the demand to go to live sporting events and baseball as seen that first hand. The question is is there enough demand across the country to even make it worth someone’s effort to organize a league???
11-11-2020 11:49 AM
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OsageJ Offline
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RE: OT: MiLB realignment/contraction
I keep up with this at ballparkdigest.com. The plan is to drop 20 affiliated teams. Its a money thing as all things are. News is trickling out. Milb.com will have news too but ballparkdigest does the best job.
11-11-2020 01:03 PM
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RE: OT: MiLB realignment/contraction
(11-11-2020 11:49 AM)Usajags Wrote:  With all the BS going on over the last few months I hadn’t even thought about this. I haven’t heard any new news, I do know in the Southern League, there are a lot of new, brand new stadiums, one hasn’t even opened yet. I haven’t heard of any team from the league being contracted as of yet. I know there are minor stadiums all across this country sitting empty, even in non COVID times. I’d hope that there could be some indy leagues, even 3 month leagues to fill some of the gap and fill some of those stadiums.

Unfortunately, as times change, so does the demand to go to live sporting events and baseball as seen that first hand. The question is is there enough demand across the country to even make it worth someone’s effort to organize a league???

I think at least two leagues are going to summer wood bat college leagues. The Applachian League has already announced this. NYPenn league may be too. Pioneer League is shutting down also. Rumor is a new Mid Atlantic League may combine some teams in that area.
11-11-2020 01:08 PM
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seaking4steel Offline
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RE: OT: MiLB realignment/contraction
(11-11-2020 11:14 AM)Pounce FTW Wrote:  For any of you keeping up with the changes coming to Minor League Baseball, I have a few questions:

1. Is there a good central location to keep up with the current state of things? I know we got the NYT "list" of teams last year that are supposed to make the cut, but since then it seems like there have just been a few bits of info here and there (and I don't think the list has necessarily held up). I pretty much depend on the news feed on my phone to let me know if anything interesting happens.

2. Anything interesting taking shape in your neck of the woods? I just moved to North Jersey and found out soon after that the Somerset Patriots are moving from unaffiliated to AA for the Yankees, which will be nice if we get a season next year.

3. If you're a MiLB fan, what's your take on the changes? I'm overall undecided, as growing up in a small South Georgia town meant the minors were a huge part of my childhood, and I hate to see communities lose that. However, I actually kind of like the increase in MLB involvement over the past couple of decades, as I can see big benefits to a farm system that has a lot of continuity organizationally and geographically. So...maybe this is overall for the best.

Anyway, just some random questions.

1. I follow Ballpark Digest and Minor League Baseball on twitter. Those are the two best sources regarding the affiliate changes. Ballpark Digest in particular has been busy covering the recent changes.

2. Not much change here in Central NC so far. Only change has been is that Burlington is moving to collegiate wood bat along with the rest of the Appy League. Very disappointing, I have been wanting to go to a game for a while. At least they aren't getting contracted entirely.

3. I understand and support the idea of Minor League Baseball getting more regional with regards to affiliation. However, MLB is going about this the wrong way. Gutting the Minors is going to increase alienation to the sport. What the MLB is doing is attempting to get a death grip on the entirety of baseball that is played in the US. This is just another factor in Rob Manfred's attempts to make the majors more corporate. IMO, this will accomplish nothing but further turn people away from the game.
11-11-2020 04:38 PM
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seaking4steel Offline
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RE: OT: MiLB realignment/contraction
(11-11-2020 01:08 PM)OsageJ Wrote:  
(11-11-2020 11:49 AM)Usajags Wrote:  With all the BS going on over the last few months I hadn’t even thought about this. I haven’t heard any new news, I do know in the Southern League, there are a lot of new, brand new stadiums, one hasn’t even opened yet. I haven’t heard of any team from the league being contracted as of yet. I know there are minor stadiums all across this country sitting empty, even in non COVID times. I’d hope that there could be some indy leagues, even 3 month leagues to fill some of the gap and fill some of those stadiums.

Unfortunately, as times change, so does the demand to go to live sporting events and baseball as seen that first hand. The question is is there enough demand across the country to even make it worth someone’s effort to organize a league???

I think at least two leagues are going to summer wood bat college leagues. The Applachian League has already announced this. NYPenn league may be too. Pioneer League is shutting down also. Rumor is a new Mid Atlantic League may combine some teams in that area.

With the announcement that the Yankees are moving their High A affiliation to Hudson Valley (former NY Penn League), and reports that the Mets are shifting Brooklyn to High A, it's looking likely that there will be a new High A league that is based in the Mid Atlantic.
11-11-2020 04:52 PM
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RE: OT: MiLB realignment/contraction
Thanks for the thoughts, y'all. I'll definitely be adding Ballpark Digest to my "reading list."
11-11-2020 10:03 PM
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AZcats Offline
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RE: OT: MiLB realignment/contraction
I use http://minorleaguesource.com/.

The [Information about the 2020 season ...] link has charts for future changes.
11-11-2020 10:34 PM
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RE: OT: MiLB realignment/contraction
(11-11-2020 10:34 PM)AZcats Wrote:  I use http://minorleaguesource.com/.

The [Information about the 2020 season ...] link has charts for future changes.

Thanks! That's another one I'll have to start checking out.
11-12-2020 01:31 PM
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RE: OT: MiLB realignment/contraction
Quick Summary. If you enjoy watching teams in the current Pacific Coast League, International League, and all of AA, you won't notice a thing outside of an occasional affiliate change like always

Below that it gets murky.

The best I can tell is that what was High A ball pretty much will no longer exist. The Florida State league, one of two High A leagues reclassified to Low A. Doing that caused a lot of changes at that level. The league itself will be fine because they are already spring training homes of the Major League clubs, but the reclassification means you'll likely organizations maintain two A Ball teams, along with their AA and AAA teams

What seems certain to struggle are short season leagues. They already struggled financially, and missing an entire season this season likely killed finances. With MLB teams pulling out of the minors, I think you'll see a bunch of those cities try to move to an Independent or Wood Bat Collegiate Summer League.

I also expect far fewer teams holding Minor League franchises far away from their Major League team anymore. Especially at the higher levels. Promoting players from AAA teams that were hundreds or even potentially thousands of miles away from their major league teams was not a great arrangement to begin with, Post Covid, I think we see a lot of teams move their AA and AAA teams into regions that are closer to their MLB teams to avoid having to find last minute flights to get players moved to new teams quickly.
(This post was last modified: 11-13-2020 12:13 AM by chiefsfan.)
11-13-2020 12:02 AM
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RE: OT: MiLB realignment/contraction
They are cutting back on the draft to just 20 rounds. There will still be low A and high A. The rookie leagues are going away. Rookie ball will be played at the complexes in Florida and Arizona. Can't say I blame them. They employ a lot of players just to have their prospects someone to play. A lot of players will never play in front of spectators. Each team will have a Triple A, Double A, high A, and low A. Plus the complex teams in the gulf coast and cactus leagues. They also have complexes the Dominican league. They do want to bring their teams closer to the big league teams if they can. They are supposed to go from 160 to 120 teams. The complex teams are not included in either of these numbers.
11-13-2020 12:59 AM
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RE: OT: MiLB realignment/contraction
(11-13-2020 12:59 AM)OsageJ Wrote:  They are cutting back on the draft to just 20 rounds. There will still be low A and high A. The rookie leagues are going away. Rookie ball will be played at the complexes in Florida and Arizona. Can't say I blame them. They employ a lot of players just to have their prospects someone to play. A lot of players will never play in front of spectators. Each team will have a Triple A, Double A, high A, and low A. Plus the complex teams in the gulf coast and cactus leagues. They also have complexes the Dominican league. They do want to bring their teams closer to the big league teams if they can. They are supposed to go from 160 to 120 teams. The complex teams are not included in either of these numbers.

There's not really a High A anymore though. You just have a larger group of Low A teams, so MLB teams will likely maintain 2 of those. One at their Spring Training Site, the other closer to their home city to aid rehab games.
11-13-2020 08:55 PM
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RE: OT: MiLB realignment/contraction
Do we know for certain if the Rookie leagues are disbanding, or are they converting to summer collegiate leagues?
11-13-2020 11:04 PM
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RE: OT: MiLB realignment/contraction
(11-13-2020 11:04 PM)TardisCaptain Wrote:  Do we know for certain if the Rookie leagues are disbanding, or are they converting to summer collegiate leagues?

No, we just know that several pro teams will not have rookie league teams. My idea of them transitioning to summer league teams or independent league teams was just a suggestion.

Theres only 20 rounds in the draft this year, so filling out a rookie ball roster would be pretty difficult.
11-14-2020 02:28 AM
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OsageJ Offline
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RE: OT: MiLB realignment/contraction
(11-13-2020 08:55 PM)chiefsfan Wrote:  
(11-13-2020 12:59 AM)OsageJ Wrote:  They are cutting back on the draft to just 20 rounds. There will still be low A and high A. The rookie leagues are going away. Rookie ball will be played at the complexes in Florida and Arizona. Can't say I blame them. They employ a lot of players just to have their prospects someone to play. A lot of players will never play in front of spectators. Each team will have a Triple A, Double A, high A, and low A. Plus the complex teams in the gulf coast and cactus leagues. They also have complexes the Dominican league. They do want to bring their teams closer to the big league teams if they can. They are supposed to go from 160 to 120 teams. The complex teams are not included in either of these numbers.

There's not really a High A anymore though. You just have a larger group of Low A teams, so MLB teams will likely maintain 2 of those. One at their Spring Training Site, the other closer to their home city to aid rehab games.

According to Baseball digest there will still be high A. Each team will have a triple A, double A, high A, and low A in licenced teams. I think the Midwest League will be a high A league and a new Mid Atlantic league. Also Northwest and Carolina. The low A leagues are Sally, Florida State and California.
(This post was last modified: 11-14-2020 11:39 AM by OsageJ.)
11-14-2020 11:22 AM
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RE: OT: MiLB realignment/contraction
(11-13-2020 11:04 PM)TardisCaptain Wrote:  Do we know for certain if the Rookie leagues are disbanding, or are they converting to summer collegiate leagues?

Appalachian League has already confirmed that they are going to collegiate wood bat. They will have teams in the same cities as they did when they were in the Minors. Looking like the Pioneer League and New York-Penn League are going as well.
11-16-2020 08:51 PM
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RE: OT: MiLB realignment/contraction
Love the minors, Majors were talking about contraction even before COVID hit. The epidemic certainly makes the situation for the minors worse, as they rely more heavily upon gate receipts (butts in seats) than the Big clubs do.

Have seen some talk about another “possibly” lost season (2021). I’m a bit concerned that as of this date, we still have no 2021 schedule for our PCL team.
11-16-2020 10:16 PM
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RE: OT: MiLB realignment/contraction
Came for the milfs, left disappointed.
11-16-2020 10:22 PM
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RE: OT: MiLB realignment/contraction
(11-16-2020 10:16 PM)Bobcat87 Wrote:  Love the minors, Majors were talking about contraction even before COVID hit. The epidemic certainly makes the situation for the minors worse, as they rely more heavily upon gate receipts (butts in seats) than the Big clubs do.

Have seen some talk about another “possibly” lost season (2021). I’m a bit concerned that as of this date, we still have no 2021 schedule for our PCL team.

Sugar Land was just announced as the Astros' new AAA affiliate. Seems like there could be more of a shakeup coming in Texas.
(This post was last modified: 11-17-2020 08:20 AM by Pounce FTW.)
11-17-2020 08:20 AM
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RE: OT: MiLB realignment/contraction
(11-16-2020 10:22 PM)troutbummike Wrote:  Came for the milfs, left disappointed.

I go to look at players girlfriends. Easy to find, and well worth looking at. Also easy to talk up and make players jealous out on the field. It’s almost like a sport in itself. 04-cheers
11-17-2020 08:58 AM
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