From the 'Net
Here are links to a pair of stories I found today. One is is on former Wild Things infielder T.J. Graves, who was named head coach at a high school in Indiana. The other is a short story quoting Frontier League commissioner Bill Lee, who indicates he wants the league to grow to 16 teams and mentions some possible locations for future teams. This is not anything new. Lee has been saying for years that his goal is 16 teams for the FL.
I'm not a big proponent of expansion in the Frontier League. Judging by this season and last year, there is an obvious lack of quality pitching for independent leagues and expanding to 16 teams will simply thin out the pitching staffs. It seems that major-league teams aren't releasing as many pitchers from their minor-league camps at the end of spring training as they used to.
Twelve is a workable number for the FL, though the the quality of pitching was better in 2006 when it was a 10-team league.
TJ Graves story.
FL expansion story.
I'm not a big proponent of expansion in the Frontier League. Judging by this season and last year, there is an obvious lack of quality pitching for independent leagues and expanding to 16 teams will simply thin out the pitching staffs. It seems that major-league teams aren't releasing as many pitchers from their minor-league camps at the end of spring training as they used to.
Twelve is a workable number for the FL, though the the quality of pitching was better in 2006 when it was a 10-team league.
TJ Graves story.
FL expansion story.
posted by Chris Dugan at
8:57 AM
4 Comments:
So Bill Lee thinks things are really great in the FL.
Has he EVER witnessed a FL game?
What a bozo! Just trying to sucker some fresh investors. Bring on the elephants the FL circus is in town!
T. J. Graves was not only a good player, but also a good person. He was also a hard nosed player who gave his all including running as fast as possible on every ball put into play. You didn't hear him swearing and he also did not drink alcohol. On the other hand, he would have been out of place with the characters on this year and last years team. He was welcome in my home any time. (no, I was not his host family).
So how does Bill Lee propose to stock these expansion teams with players? There is barely enough to support the present 11 teams. I say 11 because nobody in their right mind could call the Midwest Travelers a baseball team. They are just ‘cannon fodder’ for the other teams in the League.
I suppose he will ‘draft’ some unprotected players from already existing teams. After that he will be able to find no ‘real’ talent so he will have to pick from baseball’s reject pile and field a lot of even worse teams than there is now in the FL. I can see only two possible results from that; 1. A top heavy league with 2 to 4 teams dominating or, 2. A League that is weakened at all levels due to the lack of enough good talent.
Bill Lee seems to have visions of grandeur far beyond his capabilities to achieve. I’m almost certain that he WILL be able to find enough greed driven people to invest in this pipe dream.
So if they add Avon next year but what until 2010 to add the other team, how will the league function with 13 teams next year? Or was the story just not right on the timing?
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