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Changes coming to minor leagues in 2021: How Atlanta Braves will be impacted?

By Clint Manry

LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL - FEBRUARY 21: The Atlanta Braves stretch during a spring training workout at Champion Stadium on February 21, 2011 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL - FEBRUARY 21: The Atlanta Braves stretch during a spring training workout at Champion Stadium on February 21, 2011 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images)
(Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images) /

The proposal

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The reported proposal is expected to slash 40 minor league teams from the now 160 affiliated clubs (excluding teams that are wholly MLB-owned teams). Going to 120 total teams would obviously require some rather invasive reorganization, and according to released details… MLB has several different changes in mind.

Just from reading over Baseball America’s report…

Not only are 40 teams expected to be eliminated, but MLB has plans to “rework” several of the leagues, “with some leagues getting much smaller, others getting bigger, and teams switching classification levels all around the country.”

Now, a lot of this will be positive for the minors, as MLB plans to improve many aspects of Minor League Baseball:

"“We are in discussions with the owners of the Minor League teams to reorganize elements of the system with the goal of improving the working conditions of minor league players,” the MLB statement said, “including upgrading the facilities to Major League standards, increasing player compensation, reducing travel time between affiliates for road games, improving transportation and hotel accommodations, increasing the number of off days, and providing better geographical affiliations between the MLB clubs and affiliates.”"

Although, while MLB seems to be interested in making things better in the minors, there are some specifics within this proposal that could very well be portrayed as someone wanting to simply gain more power.

Under the current structure, MLB and MiLB have been negotiating every two years on Player Development Contracts, which is something MLB doesn’t particularly like.

In fact, this new proposal will do away with the two-year pacts and replace them with “much longer-lasting MLB-MiLB franchise agreements,” according to Baseball America.

This would obviously rid the minors of any influence and could potentially create even longer-lasting problems, as the two parties would be locked in on agreements within an even longer time period; meaning, if someone doesn’t like something, then too bad… it’s going to be a while before renegotiations can take place.

MLB also wants to knock down the total amount of Player Development Contracts from 160 to 120 players, which at this time, hasn’t been agreed upon yet.

Here’s how the proposal plans to restructure the full-season leagues:

"“The proposal also completely reorganizes the full-season minor leagues. While there would still be Triple-A, Double-A, high Class A and low Class A, those four levels would be completely reworked to make the leagues much more geographically compact. In Triple-A, the Pacific Coast League would shift from 16 teams to 10. The International League would grow to 20 teams. The 14-team low Class A South Atlantic League would be turned into a six-team league with a new Mid-Atlantic league springing up.”"

There is also a value-system MLB wants to implement for the restructured league, standardizing the cost/compensation for each team(s) that will be forced to move up or down the ladder:

"“The proposal lays out valuations for the different levels. Triple-A is valued at $20 million. Double-A is valued at $15 million. High Class A is valued at $10 million. Low Class A is valued at $8 million, and short-season/Rookie-level teams are valued at $6 million. A team moving up from low Class A to Triple-A would be asked to pay $12 million to move up. A team asked to move from Triple-A to high Class A would receive $10 million in compensation for the move down to a lower level.”"

Also within this proposal, the MLB Draft will shorten to 20-25 rounds rather than the 40 we’re used to. MLB plans to create what they call a “Dream League,” essentially a league taking the place of Indy ball and will be operated by MLB and MiLB officials.

With these changes, the draft will move to immediately after the College World Series (end of June or the first of July).

Of course, nothing is set in stone, but according to BA’s report, these adjustments would be “the most dramatic restructuring of the minor leagues in more than half a century.”

Yes, lots going on here…

So how ’bout them Braves? How will this hurt/help our team?

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