Here’s how to make a new minors plan really matter
Major League Baseball planners appear to be in high gear trying to figure out the best way to conduct a season, or at least part of a season, without fans in the stands. The “when” and the “how” need to be worked out but the concept is clear. If live fans aren’t possible, let’s at least have television.
Television waves the biggest dollar in front of baseball owners. It might even be bigger right now with people trapped in their own homes and starved for any sort of diversion. So, turning ballparks into giant TV studios makes all kinds of sense.
That is, it makes all kinds of sense for major league teams. Minor league teams, such as the Thunder, don’t depend on television. Most of their income is derived directly or indirectly from the live gate. Playing minor league games in empty ballparks would make no sense from a financial point of view. Because of that there is at least a possibility — likely a probability — that there will be no minor league season this year. There is also a possibility — likely a probability — that if minor league baseball returns next year the landscape will be considerably different.
Remember, late last year MLB said it wanted to streamline the minor leagues. It wanted to jettison some franchises, reclassify others and re-draw the league maps. It wanted to cut down on minor league travel and make it easier for major league teams to keep their farm teams nearby.
Minor League Baseball (MiLB) objected to the plan and made it clear that it intended to resist.
Of course, that was last year. In 2020 the world is a different place and that includes the baseball world. With the economy in a freefall, MiLB looks like it’s ready to make a deal — essentially the deal that MLB wants it to make.
That means that every major league team will have only four minor league affiliates at four levels. All will be full-season leagues that begin in early April and end on Labor Day. The short-season leagues and the rookie leagues will cease to exist — at least as we know them.
The impact of all this on the Thunder will probably be minimal. They will likely remain a member of Eastern League and the Eastern League will continue to be a Double-A circuit. However, the composition of the league will probably change.
Two of the current league members, Erie and Binghamton, reportedly will be dropped. In order to streamline the league and make travel easier, it is likely that Akron and maybe Altoona will be moved into other leagues.
In their places, franchises currently at lower levels of the minor leagues will be added to the EL. Wilmington and Lakewood would seem to be prime candidates, which would mean shorter bus trips for the Thunder. It’s even possible that some of the franchises now in the New York-Penn League will be elevated to accommodate the Eastern League teams based in New England.
The NYP League is a shortseason circuit (that is, its season begins after the June draft) which will no longer exist as a minor league if MLB is able to carry out its plans.
MLB says it has another plan that could involve at least some of those teams.
MLB wants to establish a “dreamer’s league” for undrafted free agents. This would give them an another opportunity to catch the eye of a scout and possibly enter organized baseball.
Really?
Either I’m missing something or this is a terrible idea.
This would be a league composed of rejects and putting a fancy name on it won’t disguise that fact.
The public wouldn’t be fooled. I can’t imagine any NYP general manager being anxious to market that kind of baseball.
If baseball wants to shake up its minor league system, maybe it ought to do some other shaking as well. Otherwise, here’s what they’d have:
Every major league would begin each season with four fullystocked minor league affiliates. In mid-June they would draft twenty-some fresh prospects and in July and August sign a number of young players from the Caribbean. What do they propose to do with the new players?
Currently most of them are assigned to short-season leagues, but that can’t happen if there are no short-season leagues. They would have to find a way to add them to the rosters of existing teams or make them wait until the following spring to begin their professional careers.
Perhaps it would make sense to do what every other major sport does and hold the draft in the offseason. The draft might generate more attention and publicity if it were held during the winter meetings in mid-December. They would even get to televise it at a time that doesn’t compete with its own on-field product.
I know. High school and college seasons end in June and shouldn’t these players — at least the ones who are prospects — be playing baseball throughout the summer? Yes, the should. And they could.
You could even call it the Dreamers League.
How about if these prospects were sent to what is now the NYP and its counterpart, the Northwest League, for a 90-day season beginning in late June? These leagues would then have an interesting product they could actually sell to the public. Major league scouts could evasluate these prospects in a setting that is much more concentrated and standardized than what they currently face.
Maybe, just maybe, MLB could reach an agreement with the Players Association that would allow Caribbean players to be part of these leagues and to be included in the draft.
This way at least some of the short-season leagues could continue to function and do it in a productive manner.
Then the only leagues that would be exterminated would be Rookie Leagues — sometimes called the “complex leagues.” Those leagues operate out of teams’ spring training complexes in Florida and Arizona and play their schedules without making overnight trips.
Guess what? Maybe even those leagues could be salvaged in some form.
After the draft each team could gather its new class in its spring training facility and play a short instructional league along with its spring training neighbors. This would allow each team to get a jump on spring training with its newest recruits and it would also provide programming for the MLB network in what is otherwise a dead time of year.
Streamlining the minor leagues is probably a good idea. Throwing them into the garbage can is not.
Hall of Fame voter Jay Dunn has written baseball for 52 years. Contact him at jaydunn8@aol.com