We have been waiting to see what Minor League Baseball will look like for the 2021 season and it appears that we will have to wait a little bit longer as the official announcement now isn’t expected to come until at least December 8. That announcement will officially notify the 120 teams that will have the opportunity to continue working as traditional Minor League Baseball affiliates. The Athletic’s Evan Drellich reports that not all teams are expected to accept the offers to remain under MLB’s umbrella. At that point, the league will simply move on to other clubs that were not part of the original 120.
As expected, everyone is not pleased with the plan and the Staten Island Yankees announced Thursday that they will cease operations and will sue the Yankees and Major League Baseball. Staten Island was left out of the Yankees’ new affiliate lineup and the folding of the NY-Penn League left them with no home circuit. The league was promising to help arrange a spot in the Atlantic League for Staten Island but that was not satisfactory for the team’s ownership.
We will probably hear more stories like this one before the dust settles.
Braves News
Cory McCartney previews what will be an unusual Winter Meetings that will be held virtually next week.
MLB News
Players like Kris Bryant and Gary Sanchez were tendered by their teams after all but there were still some recognizable names that hit the market. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand takes a look at eight big names who are now free agents after they were non-tendered on Wednesday including Eddie Rosario, Adam Duvall and Kyle Schwarber.
The New York Mets are reportedly in active talks with free agent catcher James McCann.
ESPN’s Buster Olney reports that the Yankees have shown interest in free agent outfielder Michael Brantley.
The Oakland A’s announced that Mark Kotsay will take over as their third base coach in 2021 replacing Al Pedrique.