This is a topic I've been thinking about for a few years now, in part from following the minor leagues and seeing how much borderline major league talent is spending the entire year in AAA not getting even a cup of coffee a lot of times. Last night while perusing the list of still available free agents I thought about it again. Basically, how in the bloody hell can there still be almost an entire quality rotation of starting pitchers (Jiminez, Santana, Arroyo, Jason Hammel, Bruce Chen), a closer from a playoff team (Rodney) and a non-loogy LHRP who had a good season (O Perez), a couple useful middle relievers (K. Gregg, P. Neshak), a borderline all-star shortstop in his good years (Drew), a guy who hit 27 HRs in 2/3rds of a season (N. Cruz), and a league average DH/first-baseman (K. Morales) still unsigned on January 31st?
Moreover, it seems like with the continued steady influx of talent from the Far East, especially Japan, and the recent spike in defections from Cuba, there has almost been an entire quality major league roster arrive in the past 5 years. I don't expect that flow to ebb at all, and should pick up as Australia continues to grow its baseball programs and Cuba potentially normalizes relations with the US sometime in the next decade.
In addition, with the national TV money, the success of the framework for revenue sharing of local money in the CBA, and the potential for further growth in the already substantial revenues of mlb.com as a shared revenue stream means that the medium sized markets that would be up for expansion could be immediately competitive with all but the Yankees and Dodgers. There are no teams that really are in danger of folding or that need to move out of their markets (I'm not counting the A's to somewhere else in Northern CA as one; San Jose isn't going to get an expansion franchise)
Where to put teams? The Research Triangle in North Carolina is an obvious one; I wonder if the anti-gambling blue noses could be dying off enough to put one in Las Vegas, or you could try Montreal again or Vancouver.
Moreover, it seems like with the continued steady influx of talent from the Far East, especially Japan, and the recent spike in defections from Cuba, there has almost been an entire quality major league roster arrive in the past 5 years. I don't expect that flow to ebb at all, and should pick up as Australia continues to grow its baseball programs and Cuba potentially normalizes relations with the US sometime in the next decade.
In addition, with the national TV money, the success of the framework for revenue sharing of local money in the CBA, and the potential for further growth in the already substantial revenues of mlb.com as a shared revenue stream means that the medium sized markets that would be up for expansion could be immediately competitive with all but the Yankees and Dodgers. There are no teams that really are in danger of folding or that need to move out of their markets (I'm not counting the A's to somewhere else in Northern CA as one; San Jose isn't going to get an expansion franchise)
Where to put teams? The Research Triangle in North Carolina is an obvious one; I wonder if the anti-gambling blue noses could be dying off enough to put one in Las Vegas, or you could try Montreal again or Vancouver.