Royals affiliates reeling in wake of MLB proposal to reduce minor-league teams
Places where baseball has become synonymous with the Kansas City Royals because of their connection as a minor league affiliate were shaken by a Major League Baseball proposal that would remove 42 franchises from the ranks of affiliated baseball.
After last month’s initial blow shook fans and Minor League Baseball officials in places like Lexington, Kentucky, the home of the Royals’ Low-A team, the Legends, they were completely floored by last weekend’s news that MLB had already identified the communities that would lose minor-league affiliates under the proposal.
Following a season in which the Royals celebrated four championships by their affiliates, baseball seems poised to turn it’s back on the North Carolina-based Burlington Royals of the rookie Appalachian League, the Idaho-based Idaho Falls Chukars of the advanced rookie Pioneer League and two-time defending South Atlantic League champion Lexington.
Royals general manager Dayton Moore has long been an advocate for spreading baseball to as many communities and as many people as possible. He has also spoken passionately about the importance of success in the minor leagues as part of developing major-league players.
Moore offered an optimistic and perhaps diplomatic response to the proposal being considered by MLB.
“Yes, there are some things that can be done better and more efficiently, and there’s always issues and challenges in our game, but ultimately it’s up to Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball to come together for the greater good of the game,” Moore said.
“The Royals are highly confident that will take place. Why do I say that? Because it has always been the case. We discuss things. We challenge one another on ways to do better. At the end of the day, it’s about what’s best for the game. Again, I’m highly confident those individuals involved in this process will get it right for the good of the game.”
Why change now?
The Professional Baseball Agreement between MLB and minor league franchises expires at the end of the 2020 season, and a new agreement will need to be reached.
The idea behind this controversial proposal to reduce the number of minor league teams, as Baseball America previously reported, would be to provide MLB greater control over Minor League Baseball facilities and leagues.
By reducing the 160 current affiliates (not including teams owned by MLB franchises or those run out of MLB complexes) and limiting organizations to 150-200 players, MLB could reorganize the minors more geographically, reduce travel, standardize facilities and pay higher salaries.
MLB has been the target of a class action lawsuit by minor league players for lack of fair wages and overtime pay.
The analytics-driven American League champion Houston Astros reportedly served as the catalyst for this proposal.
MLB’s concession to the cities and towns slated to lose their MLB-affiliated teams is to offer them a place in a “Dream League” that would be supported by MLB and populated with undrafted players, as do independent professional leagues.
But affiliated minor league teams do not pay contracts of managers, coaches, training staff or players. Those costs are covered by the major league organizations.
It appears “Dream League” teams would have to pay those salaries or with an unspecified MLB subsidy, which will likely make the proposition too costly for many owners.
Heartbreaking reality
The Legends have been in Lexington since 2001. They’ve been a Royals affiliate for seven years. Prior to that the franchise served as an Astros affiliate.
Legends president Andy Shea, a member of the family that owns the franchise, told the Lexington Herald Leader the team remains hopeful MLB will change its mind.
He also said ownership put more than $500,000 into upkeep on Whitaker Bank Ball Park, which is 20 years old.
“What baseball is ignoring is how they create and develop new fans through these minor league teams,” Stein told the Herald Leader.
Along with the entertainment value and creating a connection to big-league baseball, jobs will also be at stake.
People in far-flung communities, often a significant distance from a major-league ballpark, rely on full-season and short-season minor league teams for both full-time and part-time jobs ranging from marketing, ticketing sales, management, maintenance and clubhouse jobs to concession sales, ushers, box office and merchandise sales, among others.
Shea said the Legends employ 150-200 people during the season. Another 200 people, such as food vendors, rely on the ballpark through contract work.
Former Legends president and CEO Alan Stein helped bring the team to Lexington and sold his share of ownership in 2015. Stein told the paper, “This breaks my heart. It breaks my heart for Lexington. It’s not a sad day yet but it is certainly one of great anxiety.”
An outcry begins
Officials, fans and politicians in other baseball-loving communities were similarly knocked off kilter by learning they’d been put on the chopping block by MLB.
In New York, Binghamton Rumble Ponies owner John Hughes held a news conference flanked by the city’s mayor and its state senator, saying the situation was a “call to action to the people in Binghamton, all across the state of New York and America to join the fight.”
Under the proposal, Double-A Binghamton, slated to host next year’s Eastern League All-Star Game, would lose its affiliation with the New York Mets. The Mets’ current short-season affiliate in Brooklyn would become the organization’s Double-A affiliate. The Brooklyn franchise is owned and operated by a company, Sterling Equities, that also owns the Mets.
Chattanooga Lookouts president Rich Mozingo took to social media to preach patience to the club’s fans and state that they’re still very early in the process, while the team’s CEO used the opportunity to speak to the Chattanooga Times Free Press about why a new ballpark was urgently needed.
In Massachusetts, the Lowell Spinners, a Boston Red Sox short-season Single-A affiliate that once had an 11-season, 413-game sellout streak, also received the harsh news.
Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan, whose district includes Lowell, led a bi-partisan group of 104 House members who signed a letter to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and each of the 30 MLB teams.
In part, the later stated: “The abandonment of Minor League clubs by Major League Baseball would devastate our communities, their bond purchasers, and other stakeholders affected by the potential loss of these clubs. We want you to fully understand the impact this could have not only on the communities we represent, but also on the long-term support that Congress has always afforded our national pastime on a wide variety of legislative initiatives.
“For over a century, Congress has taken numerous actions specifically designed to protect, preserve, and sustain a system and structure for both Major and Minor League Baseball to flourish.”
MLB’s response
MLB’s deputy commissioner Dan Halem wrote a letter in response and to “correct misinformation that is being circulated by some owners of Minor League teams.”
He pointed to a financial imbalance between the sides in the PBA — the minor league teams and MLB — and cited the example of MLB paying nearly $500 million in signing bonuses and salaries each while minor league clubs pay their major-league teams an aggregate of $18 million per year.
He also cited an approximate $100 million in profits made collectively by the 160 affiliates in 2018.
Halem went on to write, “MLB is seeking significant improvements to the Minor League system in order to enhance the development of players and improve their experience.” He specifies facilities, reducing the burden of travel and improving compensation, amenities and accommodations, as areas of focus.
He also goes on to address what he described as a belief by the majority of MLB owners that there are “too many players in the Minor League system.”
“Less than 5% of the players selected after the 25th round of the First-Year Player Draft reach the Major Leagues,” Halem wrote. “Most of the players on the rosters of rookie, short season and Low-A teams are there to fill rosters so the Minor League teams can stage games for their fans, not because the Major League Clubs require all of those players to develop Major League talent.”
He wrapped up his letter by emphasizing there has only been one formal bargaining session with Minor League Baseball and expressing optimism that the parties would reach “a favorable agreement for the benefit of all concerned.”
This story was originally published November 20, 2019 at 1:16 PM with the headline "Royals affiliates reeling in wake of MLB proposal to reduce minor-league teams."
