MLB to Small Town America: Drop Dead

IIRC, under the Eisenharts then A's had a fantasy play-by-play booth.

 

Oh, the Haas Family A's were great - seemed like every game had a tie-in to some community group or cause and they'd sell a couple thousand seats. Shoot, when the Coliseum finally got Nachos I was thrilled. That was a quality organization. Off the field and on.

 

If a few talented players miss out on the major leagues because of the reduction in opportunities created by the elimination of minor league teams will anyone miss them? How can you miss what you do not know they exist?

Almost all teams are being required to cut teams (curse the baseball antitrust exemption) so the competitive balance of the sport will not be materially altered. but the owners will save a million of two in development costs. The reduction of the number of rounds in the NFL have not materially affected the on-field product.

I don't agree with the decision but I understand the bottom line reasoning,.

 

The independent minor leagues are growing and there is some sort of side-door relationship with MLB. This could in the future fill the void of the missing low-minor affiliates.

 

That's all part of the plan. MLB knows it will need other talent sources besides their own farm systems; they just want other people to pay for it.

But, one of the main things that means is players playing for dog-food wages again, living with host families, etc etc.

 

Hmmm.

https://frontofficesports.com/mlbs-continued-push-to-make-young-stars-and-the-draft-matter/

 

The Braves are moving their Double-A team from Mississippi to Columbus, Georgia, but the current regime has been posting tribute videos and such from their 20-year run here as they close things down. Thought this one was fun, just for the "early days" shots of the guys who passed through Pearl on their way to being big parts of the Braves' big league club. They've sent a lot of homegrown talent to the majors.
I'm not sure how it stacks up with other organizations, but since 2005 they've had 178 players who spent some time with the Double-A club that made it to the majors.

 

Like a Prayer

Once again today’s pop music scandal becomes tomorrow’s nostalgic feel-good tune.

The culture war goes on forever and the party never ends.

 

That song popped up in my Spotify smart shuffle recommendation recently. It holds ups so well sonically. Could’ve been written last week.

 

Damn. That sucks. I’ve spent a many an afternoon in that stadium.

 

They're getting a Frontier League expansion team for next year, so hopefully that'll keep the place going and viable.

 

The Braves were long owned by Liberty Media, which was controlled by John Malone. The team seems they have been have been recently spun off.

John Malone is a brilliant man who absolutely believes that he has a God-given right to maximize his wealth, without regards to sentiment or even contracts. It is very much in the organizational culture of a John Malone company to move if they can make even a dollar more somewhere else. In fact I believe the Braves own all their minor league teams and when Liberty took over moved them all for better stadiums. deals, fan sentiment be damned. That culture seems to persist in the current Braves management, where a team is moved fan loyalty be damned.

But at least the organization did take the time and effort to make a nice departure tape,