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You are assuming there is always an adequate supply of host families volunteering. I don’t know if that is the case. Also, the program is typically at Class A and below.
From the Wall Street Journal…
“The 160 Minor League Baseball teams scattered across the country aren’t financial juggernauts. Though they’re part of the nearly $11 billion baseball industry, the average club has gross annual revenue of about $5.4 million and 21 full-time employees, who on average are compensated about $62,000 a year, including benefits.”
The average Minor League Baseball team has about 21 employees, who are compensated $62,000 a year — including benefits.
This data, never before public, proves a point: MiLB is small business. And some teams say 2020 might force them to fold entirely.https://t.co/JH7PfwSbHG
— Jared Diamond (@jareddiamond) April 9, 2020
Years ago a young prospect was expected to be happy he got drafted, and expected to be ‘man enough’ to take care of himself afterwards. Nowadays, if someone isn’t taking care of himself, often times somebody else gets blamed. In this case MLB is getting blamed. So what MLB is doing with re-structuring is bringing themselves in line with the current set of expectations that are being placed upon them. To me it looks like they’re going to succeed at getting their house in order before they have to pay out mega-millions in what amounts to reparations. Good for MLB if they can avoid a looming crisis.
Long ago I listened in as a few old baseball guys talked about the MLB Anti-trust exemption. They thought is was brilliant, whether planned or by chance, that unlike all other professional sports, baseball had it spread out into every nook and cranny of the nation so that scarcely a member of Congress had no incentive to back the club owners on the issue. Affiliated baseball has been pulling out of the nooks and crannies ever since.
In recent times, Federal courts have shown no interest in upsetting what Congress did 100 years ago, saying that Congress certainly can if it wishes.
If I were a major league owner I would move quickly to strengthen the scouting staff.
1) With the reduced draft every pick has to count. Plus a fair number of good players will be available as free agents. The Cardinals have always fared well with the low level picks.
2) The reduction of 44 minor league teams could affect 1320 players who are not ready for full season ball. They will either become free agents or bump some pretty good players off the AZL, GCL and DSL teams. That number will probably be reduced as teams like the Cardinals are likely to double up in the the rookie leagues. If a John Brebbia can emerge from the indy leagues now there should be some pretty good player who become free agents.
3) Some teams will make a fair number of mistakes, too some degree because of poor scouting, and there should be a number of free agents with a pretty good ceiling. I would sign as many as I could find and if there is no room with the existing system I would loan them to Indy League teams. I believe that in the past players were loaned to non-affiliated teams. The Cardinals need to upgrade their scouting of opponent organizations. IMHO they have made far more mistakes than hits in identifying free agents from other organizations.
Tough situation. Since no one is playing games and likely won’t until next season, how can anyone scout anyone other than video, which for the lower levels is pretty much non-existent? Chicken and egg problem…
I would add that while that many jobs will be lost as noted, there will not need to be anywhere near that many releases. The reason is they are drafting 1,200 fewer players this season than last.
Actually it would give the Cardinals a year to strengthen their scouting organization. I have yet to see many results of effective scouting of other organizations. The pitchers they signed as free agents in 2019 were a major disaster.
I know I am outside the general thinking about whether the reduction of minor league teams will increase indy ball. I just think there will still be a lot of young men out there that will play anywhere for almost any price to continue to pursue their dream.
SoonerinNC said:
I have yet to see many results of effective scouting of other organizations.
Without knowing how the other 29 organizations have done in this area, I cannot make a valid comparison. I will assert, however, that the hit rates have to be pretty low getting guys on the rebound who later become productive big leaguers. A Ryan Ludwick or Jose Martinez do not occur that often. Perhaps more frequently in relievers.
Here are some current Cardinals scouted from other organizations. Some were free agents, others were trade acquisitions and others Rule 5 pick ups.
Rangel Ravelo
John Nogowski
Giovanny Gallegos
Tyler Webb
John Brebbia
John GantP.S. I just included fringy guys here, leaving off the Genesis Cabrera and Matthew Liberatore top prospect types.
SoonerinNC said:
I know I am outside the general thinking about whether the reduction of minor league teams will increase indy ball. I just think there will still be a lot of young men out there that will play anywhere for almost any price to continue to pursue their dream.
This is precisely why many owners and front office people think they can reduce the number of minor league teams by 25% and it won’t matter.
To me, this is very dangerous, short-term, financial-driven thinking that ignores the reality of baseball’s eroding relevance to youth. The worst part is that if/when this is definitely proven, it will be too late to resuscitate the patient.
I too am afraid that MLB management will be losing touch with young fans. The reduction of minor league teams affects this far more than pace of play rules that were emphasized.
Baseball isn’t the only sport that could have a murky future. I personally know of many parents who won’t let their kids play football because of potential concussion issues. Soccer is a rapidly growing sport in this country but it also has potential concussion issues. Maybe basketball will be the beneficiary of all of this, I don’t know. The point is that several sports have reasons to point to their demise but we really don’t know what the future will bring.
What may happen in towns that lose minor league ball? Over several decades, Springfield, IL went from AAA to A to Indy ball to nothing to a summer wood bat team. An ex-city official, a media member and local fans comment on this long downward slide. (free) https://t.co/jLDMDVvCcH pic.twitter.com/rgQxNi9zvx
— Brian Walton (@B_Walton) May 15, 2020
Very good story on the Springfield, Illinois team. So Springfield, Mo is the second city with that name to host a Cardinals minor league team. Springfield, Mo has the AA Cardinals. Brian, would it be possible for Derek or whoever is covering the Springfield team to give us a similar report on years in operation and attendance figures.
I know there is another nice looking ballpark in Ozark, Missouri that hosted the Ozark Ducks for a time and I think they were an independent team but the arrival of the AA Cardinals doomed the Ducks; however, the stadium survived and several years ago it was bought and had several million dollars of improvements put into it including a huge video/scoreboard, all weather turf and a huge practice facility in part of the parking lot. I think it is now run but something called US Baseball. It seats about 5,000 (my estimate) and I just wonder if US baseball could tie in with one of our lost teams like Johnson City or
State College and have something to keep those kids going. Just a thought and not very well thought out but worth checking out.Very interesting article about the Springfield (IL) Cardinals. In fact, I have lived thru all of this. I would get off work, and head straight to Robin Roberts stadium and watch a game when they were at home. I really miss being affiliated with St Louis. Interest waned here when we went from AAA to A ball. I’m very surprised baseball didn’t get supported more here, as there is not a whole lot of other attractions. In recent years I have wondered if they built a new stadium that should lead to another affiliated team. With contraction looming, that seems very unlikely.
I am fortunate that the former Springfield, IL class A franchise has largely resided in nearby Peoria, where I have watched many games.
MM3 asked about Springfield, MO Double-A attendance.
2005 (initial season): 526,630 total/7,523 per game
2011: 337,166/5,109
2016: 316,990/4,731 (low point)
2019: 328,217/4,757Thanks Brian. They still look fairly healthy on attendance and their stadium is award winning as I understand it (the field) so hopefully we look forward to many more years of the Springfield Cardinals.
But that parking situation is taking a toll. Two of my friends no longer attend because of that $20 fee.You can stop wondering. Springfield has been described by some as a participation town with a huge high school football and basketball following. Participation is a nice way to describe being CHEAP. Landers would have free ticket giveaways to boost the attendance. It was not as it was discribed in the articles at times. It was not always packed. Maybe on the weekends or when the Cubs A team played here or a good prospect but it wasn’t always attended well.
Also I heard rumblings the Cardinals wanted out and knew the city wouldn’t back down from it’s piece of the pie for the billboards and wanted a way out to somewhere more lucrative. MWL didn’t have much of a footprint in the area’s it does now like Dayton or Ohio or the suburbs of Chicago. When South Bend joined things started changing and Springfield was behind the times.
Since then its not just the Cardinals who left. That town had WBL team that didn’t get support, the owners of the Sultans didn’t get it partially because they didn’t want to give it away.Yes the affiliate was an issue. They didn’t support the Illini when they had the 5 games when Assembly Hall was under renovation. BOS Center lost money because local people just didn’t support it. They also lost an LPGA event they had for almost 3 decades because State Farm dropped out and no local businessone wanted to foot the bill and no one nationally wanted to sponsor a tour in Springfield. They’ve even had 2 high school teams move from the football stadium next door to Lanphier Park figuring they could profit and not deal with the city and it’s dilapidated facilities. It’s all good when someone else is paying for the party but when that community is asked to put up some coin hands are for sure in pants pockets.
Politics play a part because it’s theCapital. Health Care and Schools are also the main jobs. There’s a lot of people who are comfortable with what they do and are content sitting on a bar stool drinking the cheapest things they can find at the local bar or at home, watching sports and relive old school trophies and feel important.
The city residents wouldn’t back then and sure wouldn’t 5-10 years and up until today agree to a tax to finance a new minor league ballpark. There’s too much divide between sides of town, racial lines, political, money and I’ll even boil it down Cubs-Cardinal lines. There’s a lot of secret hate going on. Little Fires Everywhere but it comes down to is the city residents would never back a tax increase to pay for it. Maybe they’d get something done 10-15 years ago if they built it on the west end but too late now. Everyone’s comfy with going down to St. Louis or up to Chicago for a game or hanging in a circle of friends and feeling safe.
This is just odd semantics from Cooper. If MLB teams want to shut down the Appy League, they can and will and no one can stop them. There are no external owners who will lose asset value as in other leagues.
Appy League is a weird in between. Teams are not MLB owned but also are not PDCs. Local group runs team for MLB club under contract. https://t.co/PMAgJnGcbf
— JJ Cooper (@jjcoop36) May 16, 2020
My first cover story for @SInow is about the terrible financial realities facing minor league baseball amid the COVID-19 pandemic. My survey of nearly half of MiLB shows the sport is facing a massive crisis. https://t.co/3HW80TSX1a
— Robert Sanchez (@MileHighRobert) May 19, 2020
The game of musical chairs is about to stop…
There's expectation MLB will soon deliver a term sheet to MiLB.
It will spell out which 120 teams will be part of full season ball in 2021.
And the race for teams on the chopping block to find an MLB partner — and potential lifeline — is on. https://t.co/ZwZp88PUxn
— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) May 20, 2020
I am sticking to my thoughts when the reduction was announced months ago. Minor league pay increases total about $13 million dollars. Cut of 40 minor league teams saves MLB around $13 million dollars. End of story. That’ll teach them to whine about pay huh?
This may be off topic but every time I see images like this of Mo I think this looks like a guy who just walked off of his yacht and is headed to the polo match. It probably doesn’t mean much except it is not an image of someone who is able to relate to the plight of minor leaguers who literally have to scrape up money for food. Mo needs a to lose the wrap around scarf or whatever that is.
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Mo went to Fairview HS in South Denver. He then started out at the U. of Arizona before transferring back to the U. of Colorado. His first job with the Rockies was as a left handed batting practice pitcher in 1993 and then he started working in the clubhouse. Worked his way up from the bottom in the baseball industry. Doesn’t seem like an uppity snob type of background to me.
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