I know this site is all things football. However the 2018 baseball season is about to begin.

I have been reading and listening to what a number of teams are going to do. A lot of it involves shuttling players from their AAA affiliate to the major league team and back.

As I hear this I can't help but think about the NFL rosters. Instead of the current 25 man squad why not have additional players. Somewhere between 28-30 with a set number that can be activated for each game. A little like a fantasy team.

It allows some of the better players to be with the parent club on a daily basis instead of moving back and forth 3-5 times a season. Part of the drawback would be the old argument of having a young player getting more reps in the minors instead of sitting and playing only once a week.

That isn't a problem. If they want the younger kids to develop more then stock the roster with older veterans.

It would be a little more healthy for older players like s relief pitcher who has been in games 3-4 days in a row. More than likely they can't be sent to the minors or placed on the disabled list.

A team would have a little flexibility if they were going against a left hand pitcher.

I hate to say it, maybe it's also time to get rid of the DH once and for all. IIRC, only the NL and Japanese Central League still don't use it. (I am not counting games played in AL stadiums.)

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I agree. It would be nice to have extra players you could activate.
But the players wouldn’t like having to divvy up some of their pay for more players.

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While it is true that MLB allows for teams to expand their rosters at the end of the the reg. season, they must also pay those players at least the league minimum each day that they are on a MLB roster. Expanding all MLB rosters for the full season would either bust many teams budgets or require them to raise ticket prices to meet the teams salary obligations. Also, big pay players are not likely to accept pay cuts to accommodate expanded rosters.

As an unrelated but also a player related story. Plans are just getting started for new, non-NFL football leagues. Vince McMahon is organizing one and the other escapes me at this time. Like the former NFL Europe and the USFL, these new leagues may allow some players the opportunity to elevate their skills enough to get noticed by NFL teams. Plus, IMO, you can never have enough football.

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When we had the Milwaukee mustangs and the Milwaukee Iron Arena Football, I went to some games, and it was a lot of fun. And very affordable price wise. I was sad when they left here.
And they catered to the fans. I actually caught an errant pass, and was allowed to keep the football. Then when the game was over, fans were allowed to go onto the field, where I got autographs on the ball from all the players.
I wish the NFL would be more like that.

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The cost is not significant. This past winter I heard Giancarlo Stanton say that every team has money these days. It kind of ticked me off. I was thinking of teams like Tampa, Pittsburgh or San Diego. But as spring training worn on I heard several writers or tv annalists more or less agree with that comment.

Tonight I saw this quote from Forbes: 



MLB teams have a 40 man roster. They only have 25 players on the active major league roster. Some of the 40 are veterans who are on the DL. Some of them are kids who are still in the minors. The players in the minors get paid the league minimum regardless of where they are playing. So if they 5 more of them are on the parent club it won't cost anything extra in terms of salary. It will cost them more for insurance, transportation, lodging, meal money and the like. Most important is that they will be earning service time. The time until they are eligible for arbitration and ultimately free agency. That is where it hits the teams hardest.

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Unlike the NFL, MLB rarely changes it's rules because their ratings fell some over the last season or so. Like moving the spot where teams kickoff from or changing a touchback on a kickoff from the 20 to the 25 yard line or increasing an extra point from the short kick it had been to what is now a field goal.

Baseball today is more like it was 100 years ago than Football was like 100 years ago. They don't easily submit to rule changes. Furthermore Baseball has a unique farm system that works well for the league and it's owners. Elevating AAA players to the majors on a larger scale would disrupt the play of their smaller market teams. Toledo and Norfolk and El Paso would suffer for talent as their MLB team's had players collecting splinters in NY or Baltimore or Milwaukee. They have no good reason to change something that is not broke.

As for MLB Owners, they are in business to make money and they are doing very well. But often some forget that Stadiums need to be replaced as they give up the ghost and local/state governments are all to often not willing to share the cost of a building new ones. For that reason alone, owners should be expected to want to acquire as much money for the future as they can.

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