MLB expansion: Why Mexico City could be a top prospect -- or a bust

[PufPuf23]

For decades, baseball has reaped the benefits of a profitable talent pipeline from Latin America.

Some of the biggest names in the game, such as Hall of Famers Luis Aparicio, Rod Carew and Juan Marichal and current stars Miguel Cabrera, Robinson Cano and David Ortiz, come from Latin America.

This season, Latin Americans made up 21.8 percent of MLB rosters on Opening Day -- and another 6.7 percent are Puerto Rican or Americans of Hispanic descent. But despite that region's influence on the game, it doesn't have a franchise to call its own.

MLB is working to expand its footprint in Mexico, and commissioner Rob Manfred has specifically mentioned Mexico City as a front-runner for an expansion franchise.

"The reason I have been interested in talking about Mexico is that maybe, of all the possible expansion sites, it has the greatest opportunities for synergies in the rest of our business," Manfred told ESPN's Jayson Stark.

more at: http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/15476579/a-major-league-baseball-team-mexico-city-here-pros-cons

I would like to see something like adding MLB franchises simultaneously in Mexico City, Havana, San Juan, and Caracas. Maybe on a decade timeline?

Lots of good could come from this.

[NightWatcher]

1. San Juan and Venezuela would be too far away

They cram 162 games together with rare off days. It would not be easy on the guys to fly back and forth that far. It's a pain when east coast teams fly to California for games without a day off already. Imagine if the Mets had a 1pm game then had to haul butt down to Puerto Rico for the next afternoon.

[FSogol]

2. Latin America players make up the 22% you mentioned, but Mexico is far

behind that total. There are only 24 Mexican born players in the majors here in the US. The majority of Latin players come from the Dominican Republic or Venezuela.

PS. Mexico City has a baseball stadium that can hold 100,000 fans. That must make MLB turn green with envy.

[pampango]

3. Mexico City would be great to see happen. There is an MLB team in Toronto.

Havana, San Juan, and Caracas would be cool to see but they would be in the more distant future.

Oh and the prospect of baseball going to Mexico (with teams flying over his yuuuge wall) would be very entertaining.

[Travis_0004]

4. Venezuela is nowhere on the radar. With all the problems they are having now.

Plus there is too much crime.

Cuba has an average salary of 30 dollars a month. Tickets would have to be priced accordingly. Could a team generate enough revenue to compete? I'm sure it could be subsidized by the government, but I'm not sure how well that would all work. Puerto Rico has a population of 3.5 million people. Is that enough to support a team? The smallest baseball team is the tampa bay MSA. They have about 4.3 million people, but since they are not on an island, people can travel to tampa bay a lot easier.

[PufPuf23]

6. Note I suggested a decade in the future.

Many aspects would need to worked out from finances to player relations.

I would like to see a less balanced schedule in baseball anyway with a greater proportion of games within a regional division, the division titles would mean more and greater rivalries.

Part of the travel problem would be diminished by the less balanced regional schedule.

One could have an Asian division with teams from Japan, South Korea, Philippines, and maybe even Vietnam, China, or Hawaii (lol).

[Travis_0004]

7. I doubt it will happen

Plus, baseball could possibly use 2 expansion teams right now there pretty much has to be one interleague game every day since the AL and NL have 15 teams.

Moving baseball beyond 32 teams would just dillute the talent. The big teams that can afford any payroll would still get great players, but the it would be tougher to field a competitive team. No way baseball would launch a new division. I just think that would be a bad idea.

[PufPuf23]

9. Agree about expanding to 32 teams now.

I am biased against the DH but the leagues should play by same rules.

More countries more people more talent.

Speculating about the far future and ways to get along.

[AngryAmish]

5. Baseball is not really popular in Mexico.

National game is soccer, then boxing. Cock fighting too. There is a negligible amount of Mexican major leaguers.

The rank and file Mexican doesn't like the US too much. They think we dominate their country. Yankee go home has some cultural resonance.

Plus between the altitude and pollution, ball games in Mexico City could be dicey.

[LeftyMom]

8. Mexico City is higher than Denver, and Coors Field is a joke.

Why would any player want to go somewhere where every away game would be a long trip over international borders, the crime is terrible, the air quality is terrible and your stats (and thus future contracts) would be godawful?

There aren't enough good starters to go around with the current number of franchises. Look at the number of 4A tweener guys on rosters right now: that's only going to get worse because of a lot of factors (testing, college not offering good baseball scholarships, other sports having more social cachet) and adding more franchises would make it even worse.

If anything I'd say a small contraction is in order.