New Organization Structure :
Dave Dombrowski takes over in a newly created position ... President of Baseball Operations. Current Executive VP of Business Operations David Buck likely will be promoted to a newly created position as well ... President of Business Operations. It follows along the pattern created of other MLB organizations in recognizing the distinction between the two roles.
Seemingly current team President Andy MacPhail will step aside.
Dombrowski reportedly has signed a four year contract with a total value of $ 20 million.
Minor League Roster Limitations :
Reports are that the new Minor League agreement with Major League Baseball requires that each club have no more than 180 stateside minor league players during the season with 190 slots available during the off-season. ( the 14 players on the 40 man roster who will actually play in the minor leagues count towards the in season total however do not count towards the off season tally ). The tallies don’t include players who are listed on the rosters of the Dominican Summer League teams.
By our count at present the Phillies have 195 stateside minor league players plus another 13 players on the current 40 man roster ( right now at 39 ) that will participate in the minor leagues for a total of 208.
Assuming that full season rosters will expand to 30 players at each of the AAA/AA levels and 35 for single A there will be a minimum of 50 slots availed for either GCL assignments or non roster positions ( players who would work at the Complex ).
However the new roster limitations will force the Phillies organization to release at least 30 players before the 2021 season begins.
From my perspective it doesn’t make sense for MLB to dictate the number of employees ( players ) a team may have ... I believe it makes sense to set limits on each league’s active rosters for direct competition but seems overly restrictive to limit organizational players otherwise ... some that might be farmed out to help support the new MLB partner leagues. It’s seemingly imposing penalties on organizations that are able to invest into expanded player development and limits opportunities for players themselves as well ... shortsighted and over-governance in this fan’s view. 🤦♂️🤷♂️
Spring Training :
I’m a season ticket holder for Phillies Spring Training. Yesterday I got a note that there will be no sales of season tickets for the upcoming 2021 Spring Training ( Grapefruit League ) season.
“First, we are planning for limited capacity for the 2021 Spring Training season to abide by social distancing guidelines. This will limit the number of total seats available per game and eliminate certain seats and rows. As a result, Spring Training season packages will be paused for 2021. Please know that your season seat locations will be reserved upon resumption of season package offerings in 2022.
We appreciate your patience as we navigate these uncharted times. We hope you have a wonderful holiday season.”
So I’d say to those of you who have or want to make plans for trips to Phillies Spring Training that the Grapefruit League season is very fluid at this point and that expectations, as stated, are tickets offered will be limited. Note that ST tickets won’t go on sale till some point in January and that it’s yet to be determined when ST camp might actually begin. My expectancy is that it will be delayed. Just sayin 🤷♂️.
I’m gonna try to take a break from writing till after the holidays ... wishing everyone a happy holiday season !
Happy Day, Happy Baseball ⚾️
