Author Topic: Can't the Nats get a AAA team closer to home? (YES! Rochester)  (Read 12694 times)

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Offline Nick the Pig

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I mean, come on !

Upgrade Harrisburg maybe ?  Buy Durham from the Swamp-rat Floridians ?  Make a hostile takeover (And upgrade from AA) of Richmond ?

The rest of their minor affiliates have made sense.  But as to AAA, they have came up sooooo lame.

Online Slateman

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Re: Can't the Nats get a AAA team closer to home ?
« Reply #1: December 24, 2018, 09:05:47 PM »
Yes please

Offline Elvir Ovcina

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Re: Can't the Nats get a AAA team closer to home ?
« Reply #2: December 25, 2018, 08:41:20 AM »
When you try hard at musical chairs and lose, you end up a heap on the linoleum, being laughed at by a bunch of toddlers.   It's a lot like having a AAA team in Fresno.

Online JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: Can't the Nats get a AAA team closer to home ?
« Reply #3: December 25, 2018, 10:30:50 AM »
Isn't the motto of Fresno, "we are not Bakersfield!"

Offline Nick the Pig

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Re: Can't the Nats get a AAA team closer to home ?
« Reply #4: December 26, 2018, 06:16:53 PM »
When you try hard at musical chairs and lose, you end up a heap on the linoleum, being laughed at by a bunch of toddlers.   It's a lot like having a AAA team in Fresno.

Pretty much nailed it, Elvir.

Offline zimm_da_kid

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Re: Can't the Nats get a AAA team closer to home ?
« Reply #5: December 28, 2018, 01:30:27 AM »
It's embarrassing MLB doesn't have rules regulating distance between AAA teams and their parents clubs.  If the majors can make the minors their nag they can force them to partner with localish clubs

Online JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: Can't the Nats get a AAA team closer to home ?
« Reply #6: December 28, 2018, 08:31:12 AM »
It's embarrassing MLB doesn't have rules regulating distance between AAA teams and their parents clubs.  If the majors can make the minors their nag they can force them to partner with localish clubs
problems are that there's no AA league west of Texas and MLB teams don't all have nearby AAA cities.  It's actually getting better than it used to be, but there's history to some of the old  alignments.  more or less, they aren't going to force the Dodgers, Padres, or Angels to take Fresno, someone has to take Albuquerque and Vegas, and some of the cities that, by size, might make sense for AAA are affiliated at lower levels (Tulsa, maybe Richmond, Boise).

Offline comish4lif

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Re: Can't the Nats get a AAA team closer to home ?
« Reply #7: December 30, 2018, 09:09:05 AM »
Buying a AAA franchise east of the Mississippi River would be the most sensible and feasible solution.

Finding 1 that is available is going to be the trick.

Offline Nick the Pig

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Re: Can't the Nats get a AAA team closer to home ?
« Reply #8: December 30, 2018, 05:42:06 PM »
Buying a AAA franchise east of the Mississippi River would be the most sensible and feasible solution.

Finding 1 that is available is going to be the trick.

I'm all for a hostile takeover of Richmond...

Or trading Fresno to the Giants for them, come on !

Offline Elvir Ovcina

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Re: Can't the Nats get a AAA team closer to home ?
« Reply #9: December 31, 2018, 11:42:18 AM »
I'm all for a hostile takeover of Richmond...

Or trading Fresno to the Giants for them, come on !

Taking it seriously, the Giants already have Sacramento for AAA, which is better, and Fresno can't be AA because there's no AA league within two time zones of there.

Offline Nick the Pig

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Re: Can't the Nats get a AAA team closer to home ?
« Reply #10: January 01, 2019, 06:13:36 PM »
Taking it seriously, the Giants already have Sacramento for AAA, which is better, and Fresno can't be AA because there's no AA league within two time zones of there.

That's surprising really, the lack of AA teams in the western part of the country !

Online JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: Can't the Nats get a AAA team closer to home ?
« Reply #11: January 01, 2019, 07:08:30 PM »
That's surprising really, the lack of AA teams in the western part of the country !

they need a bunch of cities close enough to form a league.  For AA, there's the Eastern League, which is basically Richmond northwards /
akron east, there's the Southern League (florida to missippi to tennessee), and there the Texas League, which includes Texas Del Norte (Oklahoma). they really can't be viable if they have to fly at that level, so I think most of the travel is by bus.

Offline Nick the Pig

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Re: Can't the Nats get a AAA team closer to home ?
« Reply #12: January 01, 2019, 07:15:04 PM »
they need a bunch of cities close enough to form a league.  For AA, there's the Eastern League, which is basically Richmond northwards /
akron east, there's the Southern League (florida to missippi to tennessee), and there the Texas League, which includes Texas Del Norte (Oklahoma). they really can't be viable if they have to fly at that level, so I think most of the travel is by bus.

I simply don't think it's unreasonable for Cali and the rest of those western states to get a AA league.

Offline HalfSmokes

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Re: Can't the Nats get a AAA team closer to home ?
« Reply #13: January 01, 2019, 08:18:43 PM »
Is there anything other than tradition preventing them from buying an Atlantic league team and putting their aaa there?

Offline Nick the Pig

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Re: Can't the Nats get a AAA team closer to home ?
« Reply #14: January 01, 2019, 08:21:47 PM »
Is there anything other than tradition preventing them from buying an Atlantic league team and putting their aaa there?

That's an independent league. MLB likes its monopoly.  Even in the minors.

Offline HalfSmokes

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Re: Can't the Nats get a AAA team closer to home ?
« Reply #15: January 01, 2019, 08:23:25 PM »
That's an independent league. MLB likes its monopoly.  Even in the minors.


Again, is there anything other than tradition preventing it? MiLB is not MLB- I don’t see why the lerners should care if fresh folds for lack of a team

Offline Nick the Pig

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Re: Can't the Nats get a AAA team closer to home ?
« Reply #16: January 01, 2019, 08:27:36 PM »
Again, is there anything other than tradition preventing it? MiLB is not MLB- I don’t see why the lerners should care if fresh folds for lack of a team

The anti-trust exemption.  MLB's the only sport that still has it, and they guard it jealously.

When they go outside their systems, there's outside scrutiny.  They don't want that.

Offline HalfSmokes

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Re: Can't the Nats get a AAA team closer to home ?
« Reply #17: January 01, 2019, 08:30:28 PM »
The anti-trust exemption.  MLB's the only sport that still has it, and they guard it jealously.

When they go outside their systems, there's outside scrutiny.  They don't want that.


That exemption is the same thing making the masn deal legal- if any team shouldn’t care, it’s the nats

Offline Nick the Pig

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Re: Can't the Nats get a AAA team closer to home ?
« Reply #18: January 01, 2019, 08:31:23 PM »
That exemption is the same thing making the masn deal legal- if any team shouldn’t care, it’s the nats

No argument here.  But it's tricky.  Politics, lawyers, etc.

Offline LincolnDD

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Re: Can't the Nats get a AAA team closer to home ?
« Reply #19: January 04, 2019, 11:28:39 AM »
they need a bunch of cities close enough to form a league.  For AA, there's the Eastern League, which is basically Richmond northwards /
akron east, there's the Southern League (florida to missippi to tennessee), and there the Texas League, which includes Texas Del Norte (Oklahoma). they really can't be viable if they have to fly at that level, so I think most of the travel is by bus.

Yeah, I think the West is too big and spread out; hard to see a logical layout for AA.

Offline Elvir Ovcina

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Re: Can't the Nats get a AAA team closer to home ?
« Reply #20: January 04, 2019, 11:41:53 AM »
Yeah, I think the West is too big and spread out; hard to see a logical layout for AA.

You'd also need ten (or at least eight) AA cities from elsewhere to lose AA.   I see that as potentially being just as big a hangup as finding places for 8 AA teams near the West Coast, although doing so would probably cannibalize the A-ball leagues to a large extent (e.g., San Jose, Portland/Hillsboro).  It'd require reshuffling among AAA/AA/A+ and potentially even the Northwest League, which would cause its own issues.

Offline LincolnDD

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Re: Can't the Nats get a AAA team closer to home ?
« Reply #21: January 04, 2019, 01:11:36 PM »
You'd also need ten (or at least eight) AA cities from elsewhere to lose AA.   I see that as potentially being just as big a hangup as finding places for 8 AA teams near the West Coast, although doing so would probably cannibalize the A-ball leagues to a large extent (e.g., San Jose, Portland/Hillsboro).  It'd require reshuffling among AAA/AA/A+ and potentially even the Northwest League, which would cause its own issues.

Yeah, for sure.  It would be a huge mess and would affect pretty much every level of the minors.  I just don't see how it would work.  And honestly, outside of AAA, I don't think teams really care about proximity of their affiliates to the major league team (the Padres tried to move their AA further EAST during the last shuffle), so I really don't see much of a point in forcing AA out west.  I think teams care more about quality of life:  facilities, travel time, etc.

I think the more realistic solution is AAA realignment, i.e. bringing back the American Association:

PCL:
Albuquerque
El Paso
Fresno
Las Vegas
Reno
Sacramento
Salt Lake City
Tacoma

AA:
Iowa
Memphis
Nashville
Oklahoma City
Omaha
Round Rock
San Antonio
Wichita (New Orleans)
(maybe pull Indianapolis and Louisville out of the International League and add them here)

You lessen the PCL footprint and I think Fresno's biggest issue (tough travel/airport) is minimized, which probably ups its appeal, especially to West Coast teams.  And a midwest league like the AA may even pull teams like the Twins and the White Sox out of the IL.

Offline GburgNatsFan

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Re: Can't the Nats get a AAA team closer to home ?
« Reply #22: January 04, 2019, 04:28:44 PM »
I think it mostly means the Senators are going to be a really good AA team. :)

Offline Nick the Pig

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Re: Can't the Nats get a AAA team closer to home ?
« Reply #23: January 04, 2019, 07:03:20 PM »
Yeah, for sure.  It would be a huge mess and would affect pretty much every level of the minors.  I just don't see how it would work.  And honestly, outside of AAA, I don't think teams really care about proximity of their affiliates to the major league team (the Padres tried to move their AA further EAST during the last shuffle), so I really don't see much of a point in forcing AA out west.  I think teams care more about quality of life:  facilities, travel time, etc.

I think the more realistic solution is AAA realignment, i.e. bringing back the American Association:

PCL:
Albuquerque
El Paso
Fresno
Las Vegas
Reno
Sacramento
Salt Lake City
Tacoma

AA:
Iowa
Memphis
Nashville
Oklahoma City
Omaha
Round Rock
San Antonio
Wichita (New Orleans)
(maybe pull Indianapolis and Louisville out of the International League and add them here)

You lessen the PCL footprint and I think Fresno's biggest issue (tough travel/airport) is minimized, which probably ups its appeal, especially to West Coast teams.  And a midwest league like the AA may even pull teams like the Twins and the White Sox out of the IL.

LincolnDD for MiLB president...


Offline welch

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How about Newark? The independent Newark Bears were created and got a stadium built about 2000. The Bears folded -- two or three times -- but the stadium holds 6500. How many are needed for a AAA team? Or could the Senators be upped to AAA and Newark become the AA franchise?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bears_%26_Eagles_Riverfront_Stadium