It's the End of the World as They Know It

[Benjamin Grimm]

Full article: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29795127/why-mlb-minor-leagues-know-end-sept-30Why MLB's minor leagues as you know them will end Sept. 30

ESPN Staff wrote: There will be only 120 affiliated teams, four per major league team. At least 42 teams will lose their affiliations, while some independent teams could become affiliates. Minor league owners don't know which teams are on the cut list. There will no longer be rookie and short-season Class A levels. Lower-level players will train in their major league club's spring training facilities in Arizona or Florida, but scores of paying jobs in the game will be lost

This would on the surface mean that for the Mets only Syracuse, Binghamton, St. Lucie, and Columbia would survive, and Brooklyn, Kingsport, and Gulf Coast would be eliminated, and so would a number of leagues in their entirety: The New York-Penn League, The Northwest League, The Appalachian League, The Pioneer League, The Arizona League, the Gulf Coast League, and the Dominican Summer League.



I would imagine that the Mets will want the Brooklyn team to survive, but if they do, they'll have to find a full-season A league to play in. It would be hard to find a geographic fit. If they were to replace Columbia in the South Atlantic League, the nearest team in their league would be Hagerstown, MD. It would be a lot of travel. Brooklyn could also replace Binghamton in the Eastern League and Columbia would then survive and the Rumble Ponies would be put out to pasture.



These are interesting times.

[Edgy MD]

Affiliation is bullshit, and I hope that this means the expansion of independence, just like I hope the foreshortening of the draft means the ultimate end of it.



There are a lot of things we can stand to rethink as we re-open.

[Frayed Knot]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I would imagine that the Mets will want the Brooklyn team to survive, but if they do, they'll have to find a full-season A league to play in. It would be hard to find a geographic fit. If they were to replace Columbia in the South Atlantic League, the nearest team in their league would be Hagerstown, MD. It would be a lot of travel. Brooklyn could also replace Binghamton in the Eastern League and Columbia would then survive and the Rumble Ponies would be put out to pasture.

Nothing from that article is particularly new (or news), just probably a little more concrete.

When earlier versions of this were floated, the tentative plans had Bingo losing its team with Brooklyn taking that slot as the AA Eastern Lg affiliate.

Unlike most NY-Penn Lg or other short season sites, Brooklyn is the one that would meet that population minimums for AA. Not sure if the stadium

is up to snuff or if it would need to be enlarged/upgraded.

Syracuse, Columbia, and PSL are slated to continue in their current spots and leagues. At this point, only Columbia (and Bingo) isn't Wilpon owned.

Not sure how the ownership status pf those would change with the sale.

[whippoorwill]

Williamsport and state college were on the chopping block

[whippoorwill]

And just my two cents, with all the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ out there, it's total BS