Expansion

[Hammerin Hank]

Is expansion bad for the game of baseball?

[monty]

Is expansion bad for the game of baseball?

I think its GREAT for baseball. It makes things more balanced gives players more of a choice of where to play, more money is made its also one of the best ways to expand the baseball fanbase

[runningshoes]

I think its GREAT for baseball. It makes things more balanced gives players more of a choice of where to play, more money is made its also one of the best ways to expand the baseball fanbase

Hey monty, welcome to BBF. It's good to have another Sox fan around here.

May I suggest you change your avatar?

We're not really about that here as it it really offends some of the more sensitive members.

You'll be asked to change as soon as Matt sees it anyways. You may as well save yourself the trouble.

[Brian McKenna]

i don't understand the question - expansion when?

1961
1962
1969
1977
1993
1998
future

i think it has worked so far - not so sure about future expansion at this point - baseball is at a loss how to govern itself - you can't have franchises spending over $200M on talent and others less than $50M - wholly and completely without reason (sound judgment) - the xfer of the expos may be the first in a domino effect - the game needs to figure things out - they were just talking about contraction - shows they are a little clueless and spinning their wheels

[Yankeebiscuitfan]

Hey monty, welcome to BBF. It's good to have another Sox fan around here.

May I suggest you change your avatar?

We're not really about that here as it it really offends some of the more sensitive members.

You'll be asked to change as soon as Matt sees it anyways. You may as well save yourself the trouble.

The av's original picture is the kid in a Feyenoord Rotterdam shirt. Yes Dutch soccer "fan".

I think expansion would not be good for baseball at the moment.

We have had a recent expansion with the Diamond Backs and Devil Rays.
IMO the level of play will go down with every expansion and both leagues have to settle down for a while.

Furthermore I think that a lot of teams have trouble in surving financially, so I doubt it would be wise to drag two more teams into financial trouble.

[Astro]

Is expansion bad for the game of baseball?

Ummm... be more specific... do you mean expansion from the original teams or do you mean adding more expansion teams in the future?

[monty]

Hey monty, welcome to BBF. It's good to have another Sox fan around here.

May I suggest you change your avatar?

We're not really about that here as it it really offends some of the more sensitive members.

You'll be asked to change as soon as Matt sees it anyways. You may as well save yourself the trouble.

Alright, i changed it. My apologies..

[Hammerin Hank]

Ummm... be more specific... do you mean expansion from the original teams or do you mean adding more expansion teams in the future?

I mean adding more teams in the future.

[Knick9]

I think its GREAT for baseball. It makes things more balanced gives players more of a choice of where to play...

I agree. I don't see how expansion by 2 more teams would be bad for MLB.

[Mattingly]

I mean adding more teams in the future.

Expansion for the sake of expansion? No, and I'm wondering how you can expand w/o any specifics.

You'd need to do this in pairs, since you'd have to allow every team to play on a given day. Are you talking about like when the D-Rays expanded to Florida, which had only one MLB team, and several minor league teams?

I'd have to see where you're talking about. If Las Nevas or Reno, I'd be against, per the gambling there. Where exactly would these teams be placed? Do the local municipalities finance a new $400m+ stadium, or do the private investors, aided by corporate subsidation (such as naming rights) pay for this?

I also forgot, when teams expand, where do they get all of the players from? The other teams' farm system? Free agency? They've got nothing to trade for.

[KCGHOST]

I think we have plenty of teams now. We don't need anymore teams that no one cares about.

[The Dude]

When the teams expand, there's an expansion draft held with a pool of players that each of the other 30 teams don't protect. Each team is allowed to lockup a certain number of players; these players aren't eligable for the expansion draft.

They also get high draft picks in the rookie draft I believe.

[Mattingly]

Thanks, dc00. I must've closed my eyes when Tampa Bay and Arizona got their players.

So I figure that the expansion draft is exclusively of minor leaguers, correct? What about the MLB players, such as vets? Are new expansion teams allowed to trade their minor league picks for veterans who can play that season? I presume that they are allowed to do this. Or are they limited exclusively to the FA market?

[Biggtone23]

They can take any player not on the protected list. Vets, Rookies, minor leaguers, bench players it's their choice and they can also sign any free agents they want. They also start drafting in the amateur/first year player draft 2 or 3 years before the actual expansion draft so that they do have minor leaguers. There are often trades done right after the draft by the expansion teams and others.

Veterans taken in the last 2 expansion drafts include: Chuck McElroy & Brian Boehringer in 1998. Charlie Hayes, Jody Reed, Bryan Harvey, Greg Hibbard, Jack Armstrong, Tom Edens, Alex Cole, Danny Jackson & Kevin Reimer in 1993.

Back to the orginal topic I think expansion could be viable in the next 10 years or so. We have to wait and see if Washington is a long term soultion for the Nationals and see what happens with the Marlins. If there are still 2 cities that want and can afford a team I'm sure something will be done to give them a team. Possible cities include Charlotte, Portland, Buffalo, and if a strong ownership group emerges maybe even a possible return to Montreal. Baseball has a strong history of giving second chances (Kansas City, Milwaukee, Seattle & Washington)

[Sean Casey]

Historically, expansion has always been done relative to population; I don't think that baseball should forever remain at 30 teams; as the population grows and both the talent pool and the fan base grows, there will be a demand for more teams. Perhaps even international teams other than Canada (Japan? Mexico? Dominican Republic?) where there is a large, relatively untapped MLB fan base.