Jump to content

Minor League Contraction


The Crimson King

Recommended Posts

Anyone talk about his yet? The agreement between MLB and MiLB  is due to expire after the 2020 season and MLB is proposing to eliminate 42 minor league teams or at least cancel their affiliation. For local NYers it looks like the entire NY-P league is on the list meaning no more Tri-City Valley Cats. The HV Renegades are not on the list so hopefully the plan is to move them up in level. It is our local team so I would hate it if they went away. Makes for a nice (and cheap) summer evening.

Even more interesting, the Brooklyn Cyclones are not on the cut list but the Binghamton Rumble Ponies are so maybe the Mets AA club moves to Coney? That would be excellent, but they would need to expand the ballpark to meet AA standards.

   

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Scott Dierking said:

Just a horrible idea. Some of these towns, this is all they have. Not to even mention the number of players that will have their dreams dashed. How can that not affect the product on the mlb field, eventually.

My son participated on a college summer team this past summer. A small, small town in very western Virginia. A paper mill town that does not have anything else. But they had that baseball team. And they loved it. The town is so poor that the owner of the baseball team allows free admission. During playoffs, the league mandates that they charge admission, so that the proceeds can be shared. The owner stands outside the gates and gives everyone $5 so that they may enter.

THIS is how much baseball means to small towns. 

That’s a pretty awesome story. 
 

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/14/2019 at 11:16 AM, The Crimson King said:

The HV Renegades are not on the list so hopefully the plan is to move them up in level. It is our local team so I would hate it if they went away. Makes for a nice (and cheap) summer evening.

Did you get a chance to see Greg Jones play this season?  He played ball at my alma mater (UNCW) where I am also the PA Announcer for the Baseball team, so I got a chance to see him play in nearly every game at the collegiate level.

Excited about the chance of seeing him play for the Durham Bulls in the near future.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Scott Dierking said:

Just a horrible idea. Some of these towns, this is all they have. Not to even mention the number of players that will have their dreams dashed. How can that not affect the product on the mlb field, eventually.

My son participated on a college summer team this past summer. A small, small town in very western Virginia. A paper mill town that does not have anything else. But they had that baseball team. And they loved it. The town is so poor that the owner of the baseball team allows free admission. During playoffs, the league mandates that they charge admission, so that the proceeds can be shared. The owner stands outside the gates and gives everyone $5 so that they may enter.

THIS is how much baseball means to small towns. 

 

Carolina-Virginia league team?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Scott Dierking said:

Just a horrible idea. Some of these towns, this is all they have. Not to even mention the number of players that will have their dreams dashed. How can that not affect the product on the mlb field, eventually.

My son participated on a college summer team this past summer. A small, small town in very western Virginia. A paper mill town that does not have anything else. But they had that baseball team. And they loved it. The town is so poor that the owner of the baseball team allows free admission. During playoffs, the league mandates that they charge admission, so that the proceeds can be shared. The owner stands outside the gates and gives everyone $5 so that they may enter.

THIS is how much baseball means to small towns. 

Very similar story. Friends that I have grown up with bought the Watertown Indians years ago. Watertown had Camp Drum and the Indians. When they moved the team back down here to become the Staten Island Yankees, it was a killer for that town. There are some AA and AAA teams that easily outdraw the Miami Marlins every year. Minor league baseball is one of the best entertainment values for a family. It's cheap, tons of cool things all game long for kids, and you see some damn good baseball. Over the years, when my boys and I would go to see our friend's team, we saw Josh Hamilton, Brett Gardner, Robbie Cano and Chin Ming Wang play, just to name a few. Also saw Robbie Ray pitch a AA game up in Erie about 5 years ago. He was playing for a Nats farm team, and pitched a complete game and struck out 14 guys against a Tigers team. Later that year, the Nats and Tigers made a trade, with Mike Fiers being the big name going to the Nats, and one of the players going back to Detroit was a young kid named Robbie Ray. ? He's been an All Star for the Dbacks since, and is one of the better lefties in the game. I'll never forget seeing him pitch that minor league game in Erie.

  • Upvote 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Jetsfan80 said:

Did you get a chance to see Greg Jones play this season?  He played ball at my alma mater (UNCW) where I am also the PA Announcer for the Baseball team, so I got a chance to see him play in nearly every game at the collegiate level.

Excited about the chance of seeing him play for the Durham Bulls in the near future.  

Good ballplayer ! Hit well over .300 IIRC. 1st round pick right?

If you look back at any one season for a NY-P league club, chances are that only 1 or 2 make the majors, if at all. Now I will root for this guy to make it !

  • Sympathy 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good ballplayer ! Hit well over .300 IIRC. 1st round pick right?

If you look back at any one season for a NY-P league club, chances are that only 1 or 2 make the majors, if at all. Now I will root for this guy to make it !

 

Yeah man. He’s got so many tools. Coming out of HS he said he’d only go pro immediately for a $1.6M signing bonus. He got drafted by the O’s, who offered $1.2M. He turned it down and played at UNCW for 2 years before getting taken in the 1st. Biggest prospect the program has ever had, though he wasn’t our only 1st rounder: RHP Brad Holt - Mets, 2008. Holt never made the bigs.

 

The Rays are a great org for him to end up with. I like his chances of making the bigs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, Jetsfan80 said:

 

Yeah man. He’s got so many tools. Coming out of HS he said he’d only go pro immediately for a $1.6M signing bonus. He got drafted by the O’s, who offered $1.2M. He turned it down and played at UNCW for 2 years before getting taken in the 1st. Biggest prospect the program has ever had, though he wasn’t our only 1st rounder: RHP Brad Holt - Mets, 2008. Holt never made the bigs.

 

The Rays are a great org for him to end up with. I like his chances of making the bigs.

Now you made me look up UNCW grads in pro ball. You guys didn't do bad at all:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/schools/index.cgi?key_school=0faae879

47 guys in the pros last year. Impressive.  

 

BTW: I remember Holt. Pitched well for the Cyclones and was a hot prospect. Did he hurt his arm ? Disappeared early on. Shows you how hard it is to make it. 

  • Sympathy 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now you made me look up UNCW grads in pro ball. You guys didn't do bad at all:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/schools/index.cgi?key_school=0faae879
47 guys in the pros last year. Impressive.  
 
BTW: I remember Holt. Pitched well for the Cyclones and was a hot prospect. Did he hurt his arm ? Disappeared early on. Shows you how hard it is to make it. 



Yep. Not bad for a program with a tiny budget that isn’t even fully funded. Chris Hatcher was the first MLB player since the 1930s to debut as a Catcher then later come back as a pitcher.

Injuries played a role for Holt but he also never could quite develop a secondary pitch. A 95-96 MPH fastball can take you pretty far but you need a power slider or something else to go with it.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...