Like Apprenticeship Programs or Artistic Pursuits: Minor League Baseball reporting 2017

oh, and anyone who plays in the league gets a MLB contract with the yankees stipulating that they must appear in at least five games

Two of Independent Professional Baseball’s oldest and most established Leagues are pleased to announce that they will join forces. Beginning with the 2020 season, five former members of the Can-Am League will merge into the Frontier League.

Members of the Frontier League and the new teams from the Can-Am League will make up the 14-team circuit. The New Jersey Jackals, Quebec Capitales, Rockland Boulders, Sussex County Miners and Trois-Rivieres Aigles will play in the Can-Am Division. The Washington Wild Things and Lake Erie Crushers will join the Division as well. The seven remaining teams, the Evansville Otters, Florence Freedom, Gateway Grizzlies, Joliet Slammers, Schaumburg Boomers, Southern Illinois Miners and the Windy City ThunderBolts, will compete in the Midwestern Division.

http://frontierleague.com/2019/10/16/frontier-league-can-am-league-to-join-forces

wau. this would completely change minor league baseball, which has been in a reasonably steady state for 60 years

An MLB proposal to Minor League Baseball would eliminate 42 minor league teams, reorganize the minors geographically and move the draft back to August@jjcoop36 has the full story https://t.co/2m2EbccoXS

— Kyle Glaser (@KyleAGlaser) October 18, 2019

http://www.fieldofschemes.com/2019/11/18/15466/mlbs-minor-league-hit-list-would-kill-42-teams-that-cities-spent-hundreds-of-millions-on-stadiums-for

nice little antitrust exemption you got there

In a response to MLB's MiLB proposal, 105 US Representatives sent a letter today to Commissioner Rob Manfred and all 30 MLB teams. pic.twitter.com/GSStK8NTwg

— JJ Cooper (@jjcoop36) November 19, 2019

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EJ2IBmkWwAAhE2b?format=jpg&name=small

we can all be legends

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EKQiDFIWoAEYa2X?format=jpg&name=small

apparently the most notable thing about worcester, massachusetts is that the smiley face was designed there

fact: the smiley face was invented when forrest gump washed mud off his face on a blank t-shirt while he was running across america because he didn't know how else to confront the pain of losing jenny once again

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EK4GPcDXsAACkCM?format=jpg&name=small

Get your tickets now to see Cole's inevitable rehab appearance with the @TrentonThunder in the 2020 Eastern League Playoffs 😂 https://t.co/NVLAwxWw4P

— New Hampshire Fisher Cats (@FisherCats) December 11, 2019

fuckin ouch

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-12-12/skelton-bernie-sanders-minor-league-baseball-california

...Sanders, who grew up a Dodgers fan in Brooklyn before the team moved to Los Angeles, was the mayor of Burlington, Vt., in 1984 when the town landed the Vermont Lake Monsters. Now they’re on the MLB strike list. The senator is on a crusade about it and has more than 100 members of Congress with him, including Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield), the House minority leader.

That’s a unique political alliance between a self-described democratic socialist and an unwavering supporter of President Trump.

In Burlington, Sanders told Shaikin, “What I saw with my own eyes is what minor league baseball does to a community. It is especially gratifying to see kids go out to the ballgames, families able to afford the relatively low price of tickets, and kids get autographs from players. There’s just a huge amount of excitement and community spirit….

“Major league owners have got to understand that this is not just a profit-making business. This is something that millions and millions of people, and kids, think about, pay attention to and feel strongly about.”

saw someone claiming that the dodgers leaving brooklyn was the foundational event of bernie's politics lol

meanwhile, #beef

MLB deputy commish Halem offers detailed look — photos, internal MiLB email — into MLB’s beef with minors. Says 42-team hit list is inaccurate.
The owners: ‘The problem with them, there is what they say publicly, and what they say privately is different.’https://t.co/Yrc1ofcihM

— Michael Silverman (@MikeSilvermanBB) December 11, 2019

https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2019/12/14/major-league-baseball-threatens-to-walk-away-from-minor-league-baseball-entirely/

I can’t even understand how baseball would work without a minor league system.

i think manfred's saying mlb clubs would... like... sell their current teams and buy up a few unaffiliated feeder teams? or something?

manfred's background is in labor relations, and he seems to be treating MiLB like a union he's trying to break

i imagine the atlantic league and american association would be thrilled to get affiliated players, then there are the current minor league teams that big league clubs outright own, plus they could run more games out of the spring complexes. and once MiLB is broken, they can pick off the more desirable current minor league teams (durham, columbus, etc) and offer them a shittier deal

god knows the us government loves breaking unions, but the fallout from this would affect so many districts that i think congress might actually do something about it

the money involved in all this is minuscule for a $10b/year industry, but the story of modern america is that the extremely wealthy would rather watch society burn than part with any money at all, so

look out, Worcester

http://www.fieldofschemes.com/2020/01/13/15657/worcester-adds-20m-more-in-tax-money-to-baseball-stadium-because-it-forgot-how-gravity-works/

(pick a glitzy new 2020 thread title, mook)

Last Friday, Jake Seiner and Ben Walker of the Associated Press reported that Major League Baseball has opted to raise minor league player pay to, at minimum, $4,800 dollars a year. As usual, the change was announced unilaterally: minor league players are not unionized and cannot help but accept this compensation. Specifically, MLB decided to set minimum pay levels (not including spring training, which is unpaid, and not starting until the 2021 season) at:

$400/week ($4,800 for a three-month season) for Rookie or short-season (up from $290/$3,480)
$500/week ($10,000 for a five-month season) for Class A (up from $290/$5,800)
$600/week ($12,000 for a five-month season) for Double-A (up from $350/$7,000)
$700/week ($14,000 for a five-month season) for Triple-A (up from $502/$10,040)

Assuming that players work an eight-hour workday five days a week (which is an assumption you’d make only if you both knew nothing about how long minor leaguers work and also were feeling extremely generous towards the league), the new pay scale works out to an hourly minimum wage of $10, $12.50, $15, and $17.50, respectively. Assuming even 50 hours a week puts everybody below $15 an hour; 60 hours a week puts everyone below $12. And all of the scenarios assume either that players are independently wealthy or that they’ll fit their year-round conditioning and training in around finding some other way to make money seven or nine months out of the year.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/minor-leaguers-to-be-paid-more-not-enough/

only the truly desperate or insane need apply

in no way do I mean this in approval of this terrible system... but honestly I'd be a much happier person right now if I was playing minor league baseball for $10/hr

the fact that it won't start until next season makes it look expressly like 'look what we can do if we save money by contracting a quarter of the minors'

good three part fangraphage on that from last week btw:
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/untangling-a-minor-league-mess-part-i
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/untangling-a-minor-league-mess-part-ii
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/untangling-a-minor-league-mess-part-iii

i think this could inspire a new 2020 thread title mook

I suppose this is on-brand given the low player salaries: Minor League Baseball announced a sponsorship deal making Stauffer's the "official frozen prepared meals" of MiLB.

— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) February 24, 2020

https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-season-without-baseball-could-be-crushing-blow-for-minor-leagues-11586430020?mod=djemMTIPOFF_h

welp

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/sources-milb-ready-to-agree-to-significant-reduction-in-teams

Started to feel inevitable

A's told minor leaguers they've decided to end their $400/week stipend on May 31, with five days' notice. The part that says "your UPC remains in place" means "we won't pay you, but you do not have the right to be a free agent." Interesting this was sent by GM and not ownership. https://t.co/PJ2B4k1d5B

— Lindsey Adler (@lindseyadler) May 27, 2020

Just some rough math. Say there are 200 players in a minor league system. Paying each $400/week for July, July and August is $5,200 per player. To pay every minor leaguer would have cost the Oakland A's a hair over $1 million.

Owner John Fisher is worth an estimated $2 billion.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) May 27, 2020

the sad part is that the $1M would probably be a good "investment", just in terms of boosting the morale/performance of players through the noble act of paying them

if some traveling salesman came by Fisher's office and offered to inject snake oil into the veins of all the players in his organization to boost their morale and performance for 3 months, at the insanely low price of only $1M, he would probably do it

the fuckin *marlins* are paying their dudes through august

We're not selling jeans here...

hundreds of minor leaguers are being released, although it's difficult to track because MLB's (and therefore baseball america's, etc.) transactions list is not being updated

https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2020/05/28/teams-releasing-bunches-of-minor-leaguers-today

the march agreement between MLB and the MLBPA stipulated that 2020 would count for players' service time whether there's a season or not, e.g., mookie's gonna be a free agent even if he never plays a game for the dodgers

no one seems to know if the same holds true for minor leaguers, or who even gets to make that decision. my guess is that the commissioner just dictates it.

there aren't that many 6th-year minor league free agents or rule 5 picks who actually make it -- i can only think of yangervis solarte and odubel herrera recently, and they aren't great -- but it would be pretty fucked up if minor leaguers had to spend an extra year on their entry contracts. especially if they play for the a's, who won't even pay them

just catching up on this

Charlie Finley days still here

season officially canceled in the most passive aggressive way possible

pic.twitter.com/XEDFmfHTmI

— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) June 30, 2020

Why MLB's minor leagues as you know them will end Sept. 30

Some expressed suspicion that fellow owners have been sharing information with MLB in hopes of currying favor. "They're doing to us what they do to the major and minor league players: pitting us against each other," the owner said.

Several other minor league owners declined to speak for attribution because they still hope their teams will be spared and they fear retribution from MLB. "They have all the power," one said. "And they're vindictive."

this sentence is pretty brutal

Minor League Baseball executives and owners have tried for 11 months to find some sort of leverage with MLB, whether through direct talks or public and congressional pressure, before realizing they really have none, according to more than a dozen major and minor league officials, team owners and others interviewed by ESPN.

Breaking: Minor League Baseball President Pat O’Conner to retire after 2020 season. O’Conner spent 28 years with MiLB office, 38 years working in pro ball. The 11th MiLB prez, O’Conner’s office might be eliminated during ongoing negotiations between MLB and MiLB.

— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) September 8, 2020

Pat O’Conner openly bragged about helping MLB lobby Congress to pass the Save America’s Pastime Act, one of the most contemptible pieces of legislation in recent memory, only to learn there is no honor amongst thieves when MLB still moved to eliminate Minor League teams. https://t.co/gU2OHRb7rt pic.twitter.com/4zpxOAF9gZ

— Nick Francona (@NickFrancona) September 8, 2020

it begins

MLB and USA Baseball will announce their plans for the Appalachian League. College wood bat league here we come: pic.twitter.com/lzgtx7PFkq

— Carlos Collazo (@CarlosACollazo) September 25, 2020

https://ballparkdigest.com/2020/11/02/details-of-mlb-takeover-of-milb-emerge

Did.....did we just get dumped via Twitter?! https://t.co/tV7iyVOwA3

— Columbia Fireflies (@ColaFireflies) November 10, 2020

apparently columbia, trenton and staten island all learned through social media that they were no longer affiliated (the latter two with the yankees)

classy af

the pioneer league (utah/idaho/montana/colorado) is now independent

trenton, williamsport, mahoning valley, state college and morgantown are now the 'mlb draft league'

idk who is going to fill out all these rosters tbh

The Staten Island Yankees announce they are ceasing operations and are suing the New York Yankees and Major League Baseball. pic.twitter.com/ULY7ORm49L

— JJ Cooper (@jjcoop36) December 3, 2020

struggling to feel bad for the staten island yankees tbrr

in the yankees v yankees fight, I'm hoping the yankees lose.

i don't really care about staten island's ownership, but NYC spent $30m to build that ballpark in the specific expectation that it would host a yankees affiliate. the city of wichita just spent $85m to build a triple-a stadium; they've already been relegated to double-a before even fielding a team.

there's a lot of public money tied up in these ballparks -- which was admittedly stupid! -- and i don't like seeing that go to waste