Answer Man: Asheville Tourists baseball in flux, as Major League wants improvements?

John Boyle | The Citizen-Times

Today’s batch of burning questions, my smart-aleck answers and the real deal:

Question: Maybe you can take a stab at this, although they may not answer. Major League Baseball is revamping the minors, potentially eliminating 40 teams. Do we know of any implications for the Asheville Tourists? They’d definitely have to do some upgrades. You can find the ESPN story about this here: https://es.pn/2O4E3in

My answer: This could be the straw that finally drives Ted E. Tourist to off his archrival, Mr. Moon, under the guise of a "mascot upgrade." This tension has been brewing for a long time, folks.

Real Answer: The ESPN article, published Oct. 18 and titled, "Reports: MLB proposes overhaul of minor leagues, elimination of 40 teams," does indeed paint an alarming picture.

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"Major League Baseball is in negotiations with its minor league teams about efforts to 'reorganize elements of the system' that could reduce the number of affiliated teams from 160 to 120, according to reports," the article states, noting that the "current agreement between Major League Baseball and the minor league teams — called the Professional Baseball Agreement — expires at the end of the 2020 season. MLB is looking to make some major changes, according to reports, that would overhaul all levels of the minors, particularly at low Class A and below."

Baseball America first reported the proposal.

Asheville plays in the South Atlantic League, a Class A Minor League level that plays a full season.

"I am unable to comment on the ongoing negotiations between Minor League and Major League Baseball, however, I am confident that the Tourists will remain in Asheville for years to come," Asheville Tourists President and Owner Brian DeWine told me via email.

He referred further questions to Jeff Lantz, senior director of communications for Minor League Baseball, which encompasses 160 minor league teams across the country. Lantz stressed that it's early in the process, and that mostly what the major and minor leagues are looking at are ways to lessen travel times for teams, better organize leagues and bring all facilities up to a standard level.

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"Basically, we’re not naming any specific teams at this point, because we don’t want to hurt anybody's chances of doing business," Lantz said. "One of the main focuses for Major League Baseball is the geography of some of our leagues. The leagues have kind of gotten kind of out of whack."

He noted that the South Atlantic League has one team in Lakewood, New Jersey, and another as far south as North Augusta, South Carolina (yes, it's South Carolina, just across the river from Augusta, Georgia).

"With the footprint, it's a good time to do some realignments," Lantz said. "That said, with where the Tourists are, there are so many teams in that region I have a hard time believing they wouldn’t be included (in the Minor Leagues). It's a historic franchise, with a great ballpark in a great market. Everybody that goes there raves about it."

He agreed with DeWine, saying, "I would expect there to be baseball in that area."

The biggest problem the Tourists franchise faces may well be its home ballpark, McCormick Field, which opened in 1924 but underwent a major rebuild in the early 1990s. The original wooden stands were torn down, replaced by a modern concrete grandstand, new locker rooms and an upgraded field, all ready for the 1992 season.

While 1992 may sound fairly modern, in baseball terms it's getting to be an older facility, and one that I suspect will need some significant upgrades to meet Major League standards. I further suspect we'll see the Tourists approaching the city of Asheville, which owns the ballpark, as well as the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority, for potential funding for upgrades.

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Stay tuned on that front.

Lantz acknowledged that "facility standards are another big sticking point" for minor league teams. In a nutshell, MLB wants minor league parks to meet its standards for everything from lighting and locker sizes to padding for fences and number of urinals in the locker rooms.

The big league is not expecting cities to building 45,000-seat stadiums. McCormick holds about a tenth of that.

Lantz said all minor league facilities are reviewed every three years, with an "evaluator" measuring the size of clubhouses, training rooms, indoor batting cages, and checking them for quality.

"In most parks, there might be one or two things a year that need to be touched up," Lantz said. "In most cases, they're simple fixes."

One complicating factor is that Minor League teams have more staffers traveling with them now than in days past, as they've added positions such as team nutritionists, strength and conditioning coaches and even video scouting coordinators.

"So now you might have nine people traveling with a team, when it used to be four," Lantz said. "So you need more lockers for those people, and that nutrition person will need access to a kitchen area. The strength and conditioning coach needs a weight room to work in, and the video scouting person will need a place to set up three or four laptops so the players can look at their at-bats and check the opposing pitcher."

In short, "You're talking about a lot of space needs for a team that's coming in and playing against you, and those are some of the upgrades MLB is looking for," Lantz continued.

The ESPN article noted that Major League Baseball sent a statement to the New York Times, which read:

"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, 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."

The Times also reported that Pat O'Conner, president of Minor League Baseball, advised teams not to make any major decisions or financial commitments beyond the 2020 season. Some teams could lose their affiliation with Major League teams, and those 40 teams not included may be reclassified as a "Dream League," run by MLB and Minor League Baseball and including undrafted players, ESPN reported.

"It's unfortunate that first proposal got leaked to Baseball America, but we'd like to emphasize this is a lengthy process," Lantz told me. "We knew this was a concern, and we knew this was coming, so we started the ball rolling a little early, knowing full well some of the things they'll want to see done. We want to give teams as much time as possible to get things done."

The Minor League plans to work hard on helping teams meet the standards.

"Our goal is to fight for the 160 teams we have and keep professional baseball growing in as many of the 160 markets as we can," Lantz said.

This is the opinion of John Boyle. To submit a question, contact him at 232-5847 or jboyle@citizen-times.com.