Quote from Ben Davey on December 27, 2020, 8:26 pm

Padres have a really good relationship with Fort Wayne.  The ballpark is also arguably the best in the MWL.  The only reason anyone can see Fort Wayne leaving is if the Cubs or White Sox cam calling (as they are the closest big league teams to FtW).

I have heard conflicting reports on what happened with Double-A.  Some have said that the D*Backs offered Amarillo a sweet deal to jump ship and sign with them.  Others have said the Padres wanted to go back to SA when they found out it was going back to Double-A.  IDK who to believe.

From the Padres point of view SA makes sense mainly because the Wolf went through a really good renovation to have it approved for Triple-A.  More importantly it is a major airport, so if Gore was there and needed to be called up to SD, it is an easy, direct flight.  Amarillo, not so much.  However, SA had horrendous attendance (at least when affiliated with SD), and there was a lot of apathy from SA.  Even during July the main stories in the SA newspaper was about the Spurs and preparing for the start of high school football season.  The Missions were on Page 5.  By contrast, Amarillo led the league in attendance.

BTW: Sorry Brian, but that 6 team High A NWL is a disaster and not a place any team will willingly be outside of MAYBE Seattle.  Attendance is horrible for High A, and while the weather might not be bad, the facilities across the board are of a short season affiliate.  Look for team to try and get out of there as soon as they can, especially the one in TC

Quote from Randy Manese on January 12, 2021, 6:29 pm

Have not heard when the invited minor league teams have to agree to the 10 year Professional Development License (PDL) in order to be in the approved minor league structure for 2021.  It would seem that has to be done before spring training and because of the excellent relationship the Padres have had with the 4 invitees, I don't see a problem with all 4 agreeing to the PDL.  For player development purposes, SA is a much better place to have a team than Amarillo despite the huge fan support last year in Amarillo.

With the Padres NW league short season Tri-City team being dissolved, it would seem those 20+ players will be dispersed soon after those agreements are in place, mostly to compete for spots on the new Lake Elsinore low A team.  Padre have a glut of players in the Dominican, so I expect to see many players released as the more recent signees replace them unless they add a second team.  Still haven't seen a final number of players MLB will allow on MiLB rosters in total but the Dominican Summer League is exempt from that count.  I know the opening of AA and below seasons will be delayed but hopefully they'll get to play at least 75-80% of their usual scheduled games.

Quote from fenn68 on January 12, 2021, 6:47 pm

If the ML clubs clear the ST sites the last week of March (maybe 4 days before opener Apr 1) the remaining MiL players could (should) be in ST by Apr 1 ... 3 to 4 weeks in ST max ... playing games late April which would cost them maybe 20 games?

Have not heard any thoughts along this line ... but they could make up those lost games in Sept if they wanted to achieve a full schedule.

Quote from Randy Manese on January 15, 2021, 2:16 pm

Deadline for PDL's to be signed is 10 Feb and I fully expect all 4 Padres' invitees to commit to the PDL long before that.  It will be interesting to see how players are distributed but I would guess there is already a pretty good idea of who will be on the El Paso Chihuahuas and ready to support the major league team, including those currently on the 40 man that will be sent down.  With a lost year of development, former college signees (particularly pitchers) will probably be pushed to show that they have the tools to make at least AA in the next year.  I look for a lot of turnover in that former short season to low A group.