2020 MINOR LEAGUE SEASON

[Rosterman]

Baseball America takes a look at what is happening in the minors, a season that would now have been a couple of weeks old.

 

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/a-2020-minor-league-baseball-season-grows-more-and-more-unlikely/

 

Besides the issues of travel and housing, we get a good idea on how minor league operations do make revenue and how much of that will basically roll over into 2021 or be refunded. Plus interesting that uniforms have been purchased, a lot of stuff printed, and multiple promotions will have to be cancelled.

 

If major league teams are confined to their training centers, than that eliminates those facilities being used for minor league teams. At best, a major league team needs to give 50-70 games, even if intrasquad, to their top 100 prospects to keep them viable in the system.

 

Doesn't leave a lot of hope for minor league free agents, as guys who ARE the future of the team, especially in a short season where all players get another year in service time as well as age, is going to create some chaos next season.

 

And the major league operations still have to figure out how to pay these players something, anything. Especially with no revenue coming in.

[rdehring]

What a dismal future MiLB faces.  On a positive note, I believe that MLB will have to consider having every MLB team having at least one minor league team playing in 2021.

 

Say they go with the plan that has the Grapefruit League playing as one league.  I can see each of the 15 teams having one minor league team headquartered at their ST location.  Could be a combination of top prospects from AAA all the way down to Hi-A, players who could contribute to the big league club if needed.  Would have an increased roster of 30-35, with say 26 suiting up for games.  The Twins team would play in Hammond Stadium on days when the Twins are on the road.  

 

Although it likely will not be the minor leagues as we know, there will need to be some provision for players to replace injuries, illness, etc.

[Doctor Gast]

I share your deep concern about MiLB & doubts about them having any resemblance of a regular schedule. Questioning how MLB could survive w/o them. Last night I thought, Twins have 2 facilities in Florida they could put AAA & AA in one & A & high A in the other there they could divide up the players & have inter-franchise games. The rest could be at Elizabethton.  we have a facility in Dominican Republic if we have problems w/ Latin players. The players will be quarantined in one place w/o any on the road  travel. I believe it could be a solution so we wont lose totally our MiLB development & substitution. 

This is of course going by the Arizona Plan & hopefully some time in the season everything return to normal

[Tomj14]

You could just tell everybody to report to their team location (MN, Rochester, Pensacola, etc...), and tell them to protect themselves like the people working at the grocery stores, target, walmart, home depots, lowes, do.

let them practice for two weeks, see how that goes, if everything is pretty good, start playing other teams for two weeks and if that is good, start the darn season, letting the fans decide if they want to attend or not. (Block off the first few rows keeping the fans away for the first couple of weeks)

 

 

 

[yarnivek1972]

There is no way they can play MLB without a feeder system of players available. And there is no way they can just be sitting around. They have to be playing. Real, actual games. Working out, batting practice, etc. that isn’t going to cut it. You can’t just put a guy in to face 90 mph sliders that hasn’t played in 8 months.

[yarnivek1972]

If there is no MiLB season at all in 2020 (I still maintain it is impossible to have a MLB season without one), how will that impact player retrntion rules? If a guy was slated to be a milb FA after this year, will he still be? If this was to be a player’s third option year, will he be out of options next year? If a guy was going to need to be added to the 40 man after this season, will that still be the case?

 

These are important questions that need to be addressed. The Twins (and most other teams) have too much invested in their prospects to simply waste an entire season of development.

[rdehring]

 

 

 

 

I read somewhere that the decision had been made to cancel the minor league season, just hadn't been announced.  It is my understanding that each team would have a 30-man active roster and something like a 20 man taxi squad...don't know if that is the term the league is using or was from whomever wrote the article.  That would include the extra 10 players from the 40-man plus another 10. 

 

Assume those last 10 would be most of their top prospects who are near being ready...guys like Rooker, Kirilloff, Larnach, Jeffers, Lewis, and some AA and AAA pitchers. 

 

Didn't talk about playing games, however, expect they would play a lot of games vs. the Red Sox who are down the street.

[DocBauer]

I will re-iterate something I've posted in other threads.

 

If the MLB plan to play in AZ and/or FL is scrapped, why can't they have a shortened Cactus and Grapefruit season for milb? That's how ST is run, with enough space and fields for everyone to work out and play games.

 

IF a ML team needs to play in their ST facility, at least to begin the season, there should still be room on the additional fields for the milb games. If safety issues lessen then the various teams can move to their normal stadiums to continue the season, shortened though it may be. Those cities would then be able to enjoy at least some of the game and limited incomes they would produce. Really, the only difficult part would be adjusting the remaining schedule for those teams. But you're telling me they couldn't find someone smart enough to set up 2 schedules? One for AZ/FL affiliates and then say a week break, and plan the last month plus of the season when/if the teams return to their host cities.

 

Players play and develop. They are available for promotion. With luck, host city affiliates get to bring in at least a little $ and the fans have something to enjoy.

[Vanimal46]

[yarnivek1972]

How are players going to rehab from injuries if there are no minor league games?

 

Practice is practice. A game is a game.

[DocBauer]

The actual milb franchises exist, run and maintain from limited TV and radio deals, but count on gate receipts, concessions and the such much more as their lifeblood. But aren't player salaries paid for by the parent club? Someone please correct me here if I'm wrong.

 

Even in this crazy, mixed up pandemic situation, don't the owners HAVE to find a way to have at least some sort of partial season or re-configured EST? Despite a small percentage of players who actually reach the ML and contribute, much less become regular performers, it is still the lifeblood of the MLB product. For the future of MLB, can they really expect some sort of expanded roster to work with only top prospects on some sort of reserve capacity to keep the integrity of the game intact?

 

Need to find some way to pay the milb players, and engage their development for this season even on a limited basis. If not, then guys quitting, limited drafts, limited signings, MLB is going to end up with a potentially inferior product in the next couple of years with guys promoted before they are ready.

[Rosterman]

There are at least 100 players that have to be kept in some sort of training situation, just for evaluation and protection for the future. Each team carries around 160-175, which includes some minor league free agents and fringe depth. Assuming teams are cut next season with AAA, AA, A+, A...then  you have training camp which would largely be intrasquad games (the Twins happily share that facility with their High-A team). The other thought bandied around was the MLB was going to put together a sort of indy league (taking the palce of indy leagues) with x-amount of teams of low-contract players to act as an additional feeder to minor league teams. But 100 seems to be a good number of players that teams MUST protect to stay competitive for the current and near future. In some ways, 2 intra-squad games a day. Or if location works, play against other teams (like the Red Sox).

 

[yarnivek1972]

The actual milb franchises exist, run and maintain from limited TV and radio deals, but count on gate receipts, concessions and the such much more as their lifeblood. But aren't player salaries paid for by the parent club? Someone please correct me here if I'm wrong.

 

Even in this crazy, mixed up pandemic situation, don't the owners HAVE to find a way to have at least some sort of partial season or re-configured EST? Despite a small percentage of players who actually reach the ML and contribute, much less become regular performers, it is still the lifeblood of the MLB product. For the future of MLB, can they really expect some sort of expanded roster to work with only top prospects on some sort of reserve capacity to keep the integrity of the game intact?

 

Need to find some way to pay the milb players, and engage their development for this season even on a limited basis. If not, then guys quitting, limited drafts, limited signings, MLB is going to end up with a potentially inferior product in the next couple of years with guys promoted before they are ready.

Players, coaches and other team staff (trainers, usually some kind of traveling secretary - he gets the players their money snd their per diem) are definitely paid for by the parent club. I would presume umpires are as well, even if indirectly. Game staff (bat boy, maybe a clubhouse attendent, etc) are paid for by the minor league team. Not sure how transportation expenses are handled. Much of the travel at the AAA level is by plane nowadays because most cities are too far away to make bus travel practical.

[Trov]

Really, this year will spark the shutting down of the minor league teams that were already on the chopping block.  This will just give the MLB more of a reason to do it.  I am not sure how the contracts between the MLB team and their non-owned affiliates work, but of course the parent club does pay the staff and players.  However, the stadium operations and team staff are paid by the owner of the club.  I see no way the minors can operate this year, unless the MLB teams willing to foot much of the bill.  The minors will not fade away, it is too ingrained in baseball.  However, this will lead to less teams for sure.

 

 

[jamisea]

Blue Wahoos host mom chiming in.

I have spoken to several of my "sons" over the past couple of weeks, both from the Reds and Twins and none of them are optimistic about a season for them. The Venezuelan players are stateside, as most had just arrived when all of this happened and VZ would not take them back. The only optimism I've heard is a couple think that if MLB expands the rosters, they have a chance of getting called up.

The other players are spread out across the US, trying to make due with whatever workout situation they have. The lucky guys are the ones in less populated states, where they can get outside and do some form of baseball workout—even if it's with their family standing in during "practice." The less fortunate guys are ones who are "holed up" in heavily populated areas like New Jersey or New York where the lockdown has been very strict.

From my perspective as a host mom—and the one who volunteers to coordinate the host family program in Pensacola, there's another issue: How many local families are willing to host players who are traveling a bunch and coming in every 5 days from a different place? I know a couple of our families who have health issues that would probably not want a player this season.

How many hotels will be open for road trips, and how many states will have "self-quarantine" laws in effect when the players cross state lines?

Just this morning, I read that the Angels are cutting their MiLB staff.
https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/05/19/los-angeles-angels-furloughs-minor-league-staff-june-1st/

I have to think that other teams will sadly, have to follow suit.

This whole thing makes me sick but I applaud the local teams who have come up with creative ways to keep some revenue coming in.

If you need something to do in Pensacola, look no further than this: Bubba Watson's Disc Golf Course at Blue Wahoos Stadium.
https://www.milb.com/pensacola/news/bubbawatsondiscgolf



 

[jamisea]

 

You could just tell everybody to report to their team location (MN, Rochester, Pensacola, etc...), and tell them to protect themselves like the people working at the grocery stores, target, walmart, home depots, lowes, do.

let them practice for two weeks, see how that goes, if everything is pretty good, start playing other teams for two weeks and if that is good, start the darn season, letting the fans decide if they want to attend or not. (Block off the first few rows keeping the fans away for the first couple of weeks)

We are on the same page, but logistically, having players in host families coming in and out from road trips is bound to make families not want to host a player. Our team travels through FL, AL, MS, TN and through GA. That's bound to cause issues—and a lot of hotels are still closed.

[Vanimal46]

 

What a shame.

 

Link to the story:

 

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29237251/minor-league-baseball-cuts-hundreds-players-amid-pandemic-sources-say

[Richie the Rally Goat]

https://twitter.com/jeffpassan/status/1266100808342437892?s=21

 

What a shame.

wow that’s terrible!

[mlhouse]

1.  The latest news is that there is going to be a mass release of minor league players involving hundreds of players across the minor league levels.  While this will happen in one blow, many or most of them would have been cut around the end of the season.

 

2.   THERE IS ABSOLUTELY ZERO REASON NOT TO HAVE MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL.  The health risk to the players is zip, nada, none.  The risk of dying from this virus for a healthy person under the age of 30 is less than being struck by lightening.  

 

3.  With a pared down minor league system it would be very cost effective for teams to run minor league development outside the minor league system.  

[Rhino and Compass]

2. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY ZERO REASON NOT TO HAVE MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL. The health risk to the players is zip, nada, none. The risk of dying from this virus for a healthy person under the age of 30 is less than being struck by lightening.

 

 

The risk to the players is not the concern in many of these discussions. Other personnel are not as young and spry as the players, and those people wouldn't necessarily be kept in the same bubble as the players. As to the other point, I can assure you that the chance of any of these players being struck by lightening is absolutely 0

[rdehring]

 

What a shame.

Link to the story:

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29237251/minor-league-baseball-cuts-hundreds-players-amid-pandemic-sources-say

Isn't that about the number of players that would be cut by dropping 42 teams (42*25=1,050).  Was going to happen this coming off-season.  Guess corona virus has moved that up several months.  Unfortunately for those cut, they don't have one more season to earn the right to continue.

[Vanimal46]

 

Kudos to the Pohlads for doing this. It’s not often I compliment them but this is deserved.

[Rosterman]

Wish there was a way for the minor league guys to at least play in-house games in Ft. Myers, a 30-50 season of intrasquad games. You could easily do 120 players, playing multiple games during the day, as long as they are being paid. Especially if coaches are present for skills. How many bodies can the Twins house in their spring training complex for room/board?