03-04-2011, 02:59 PM
I think right now if we were ever going to do expansion is about the best time that we should start to consider it. Here are my reasons why it should in my point of view gain consideration.
I think before we jump in, we need to outline the who, what and hows of how this will be conducted and done. I feel this is something we could approach this offseason but would possibly be best done in the offseason after the 2018 season.
In regards to some of the who what and hows, here are some of my thoughts on how this can be done, I would encourage you to please, think outside the box and provide your feedback. If you were against the concept before, please consider the year we are in and how this could better the league. Also read my thoughts below before you issue a judgement.
Who
I am going to throw my hat in the ring of the "who". This is a hard thing to do because my love is the Chicago Cubs. However, they now have the championship, I have broken the curse and the team is in tremendous shape for the short and long term future. Would not be a hard team to find a replacement owner.
With that said, I think everyone knows if I take an expansion team, we are not getting a short term prospective manager, I will be in it for the long haul. However, if 2 other owners feel strongly of taking on an expansion team, I will not feel bad about staying on as the Chicago GM.
what
What we need to figure out is location of the teams, placement of the teams in divisions. I am pretty sure DJ ran some numbers on this and the best possible locations were Calgary and Vegas.
I think with expansion we would need to take 1 of the expansion teams in the AL and another in the NL. The reasoning is to spread out the allocation of wins from teams facing the expansion teams. It is pretty similar to what happened in 1998 with expansion when Tampa and Arizona were added. With this move, we would need to have an owner flip from the AL to the NL. It would make most logical sense if that was Milwaukee as they did it once before and have a prior history of being in the AL.
How
This is something we would need to iron out and set down an outline of some of my questions. Keep in mind, this is within our creative control, we can make this work. I have put some questions below and in italic, I have put my thought on how it can be handled.
The draft?
I think we can conduct it in a similar fashion as the 1997 draft. going to tweak a few things though...
3 rounds - 1st round each team selects 14 players, 2nd round each team selects 14 players, 3rd round each team selects 7 players. Teams can only lose 1 player per round.
Teams for the 1st round can protect 10 players, after each round they can protect 3 more players.
Not needed to be added to the list of protected players would be players under 20 years of age or players selected in the prior 2 drafts.
Free agents going into the offseason could not be labeled as protected
there would be a coin toss between the two teams, winner could chose 1st pick or the 2nd and 3rd picks. After this the draft would be conducted in a normal fashion. The team picking 2nd and 3rd would also get the 1st pick in the ammy draft
stadiums - what are acceptable specs for their stadiums?
The most pressing issue would be seats, which drives the potential revenue for the team. I don't think someone is going to buy 155M franchise and skimp out on the stadium. I think what would be best is to take the top 5 stadiums and give them the average of the 5.
fan loyalty - where do we start them out at?
I know they are going to be new franchises but there will be the initial buzz with the new charter. I think we should start them well above the league average, reason being is these teams will lose.
cash - Do we start them out with 0 or provide them with a little house money?
I don't think anything tremendous, maybe 10-20M to start them off
- 1 high interest time
This time of year (start of baseball season) is when we should obtain the most interest from baseball fans for a mogul league. We should be able to support any loss of attition numbers and with the long baseball season, it should help us sustatin an interest.
- 2 diversification of talent
We are getting to a point where this would help deversify some of our talent pool and hopefully bring forth more competition.
- 3 solid stability
In my opinion the stability over this season has been tremendous.
I think before we jump in, we need to outline the who, what and hows of how this will be conducted and done. I feel this is something we could approach this offseason but would possibly be best done in the offseason after the 2018 season.
In regards to some of the who what and hows, here are some of my thoughts on how this can be done, I would encourage you to please, think outside the box and provide your feedback. If you were against the concept before, please consider the year we are in and how this could better the league. Also read my thoughts below before you issue a judgement.
Who
I am going to throw my hat in the ring of the "who". This is a hard thing to do because my love is the Chicago Cubs. However, they now have the championship, I have broken the curse and the team is in tremendous shape for the short and long term future. Would not be a hard team to find a replacement owner.
With that said, I think everyone knows if I take an expansion team, we are not getting a short term prospective manager, I will be in it for the long haul. However, if 2 other owners feel strongly of taking on an expansion team, I will not feel bad about staying on as the Chicago GM.
what
What we need to figure out is location of the teams, placement of the teams in divisions. I am pretty sure DJ ran some numbers on this and the best possible locations were Calgary and Vegas.
I think with expansion we would need to take 1 of the expansion teams in the AL and another in the NL. The reasoning is to spread out the allocation of wins from teams facing the expansion teams. It is pretty similar to what happened in 1998 with expansion when Tampa and Arizona were added. With this move, we would need to have an owner flip from the AL to the NL. It would make most logical sense if that was Milwaukee as they did it once before and have a prior history of being in the AL.
How
This is something we would need to iron out and set down an outline of some of my questions. Keep in mind, this is within our creative control, we can make this work. I have put some questions below and in italic, I have put my thought on how it can be handled.
The draft?
I think we can conduct it in a similar fashion as the 1997 draft. going to tweak a few things though...
3 rounds - 1st round each team selects 14 players, 2nd round each team selects 14 players, 3rd round each team selects 7 players. Teams can only lose 1 player per round.
Teams for the 1st round can protect 10 players, after each round they can protect 3 more players.
Not needed to be added to the list of protected players would be players under 20 years of age or players selected in the prior 2 drafts.
Free agents going into the offseason could not be labeled as protected
there would be a coin toss between the two teams, winner could chose 1st pick or the 2nd and 3rd picks. After this the draft would be conducted in a normal fashion. The team picking 2nd and 3rd would also get the 1st pick in the ammy draft
stadiums - what are acceptable specs for their stadiums?
The most pressing issue would be seats, which drives the potential revenue for the team. I don't think someone is going to buy 155M franchise and skimp out on the stadium. I think what would be best is to take the top 5 stadiums and give them the average of the 5.
fan loyalty - where do we start them out at?
I know they are going to be new franchises but there will be the initial buzz with the new charter. I think we should start them well above the league average, reason being is these teams will lose.
cash - Do we start them out with 0 or provide them with a little house money?
I don't think anything tremendous, maybe 10-20M to start them off
Cubs GM 2010-2021
2017 & 2019 World Champions
LAA GM 2022-2035
2028, 2029, 2032 and 2034 World Champions
2017 & 2019 World Champions
LAA GM 2022-2035
2028, 2029, 2032 and 2034 World Champions