UTK Special 1/24/25

Swapping Comets, Collapsing Powers, and Power Knuckles

A source inside baseball tossed something as an aside that really got me thinking. It starts with Oklahoma City and the Dodgers. The team went from being the Dodgers for years and became the Comets this year. The local angle of Mickey Mantle is nice, and OKC is pushing to grow with an NBA arena and perhaps the tallest building in the US next to the very nice Bricktown ballpark.

But as we spoke about the Dodgers likely needing to shuffle players, especially bullpen players, as I indicated in my piece after the Roki Sasaki signing, I started thinking about something a bit bigger. The Comets are owned by Diamond Holdings, the large entertainment group backed by Endeavor that has been rolling up minor league teams by the bushel. The flight from OKC to Los Angeles isn't onerous, but it's not simple either. Go ahead, jump on your favorite travel site and play Assistant to the Traveling Secretary. Find a quick flight from OKC to your favorite NL West city, even Los Angeles. Denver is even a major hub.

So could the Dodgers swap their team, even before the 2031 affiliation renewals? Of course. We've seen several teams move over the past few seasons, largely for new stadiums, but we also have to think about the possibility of MLB expansion in the near term. Let's say it's Nashville and Oakland, which I believe is the most likely scenario. Nashville already has a Triple-A team and that would have to move. Oakland obviously doesn't, so another Triple-A city would have to be found.

But back to the Dodgers - where could they move/swap to make it simpler or better? The obvious answer is Las Vegas. The Howard Hughes Corporation bought the team to help sell housing developments in the Vegas area. While we still don't know what happens to the Aviators when/if the A's come to town, it's not unthinkable that both could stay.

Then again, would the A's want a Texas/Frisco situation, or would they be willing to swap? Im sure Hughes wouldn't mind having a Dodgers affiliate given their national profile, even over the "hometown" A's. (Then again, Hughes is facing a buyout from Pershing Square, but that's a bigger thing than I want to cover here.)

Albuquerque would be closer, but has some of the same problems, and is in division (Colorado). Is there a community in southern California that could build a team? The Cal League is shrinking, but with the fires ongoing, I don't want to think about a city trying to spend money on a Triple-A stadium, or even upgrading an existing one. We're not going to get the Malibu Dodgers or the Calabasas Kardashians any time soon. Temecula? Maybe, but only if it’s attached to the casino there.

There’s simply not a good and simple solution. While we’ve seen the NBA’s G League putting teams closer and closer to home base, that’s unlikely for the Dodgers from what I can tell. Expansion is going to change the landscape some, but that’s unpredictable.

In the end, the Dodgers' decision will likely be shaped by their priorities—player development efficiency, brand visibility, and market potential. While the Comets' new identity and Oklahoma City's growth make the current setup appealing, the allure of proximity and synergy with the Los Angeles market could push the Dodgers to explore a change sooner than 2031.

The next few years of MLB expansion and minor league reshuffling will be critical. For now, Dodgers fans might not need to book a flight to OKC every time their favorite prospects are on the move, but it wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on Southwest Airlines’ flight schedules—just in case. Or does Guggenheim only fly private?

In asking around about where minor league expansion would go is tough since we don’t know where major league expansion would go. In the handful of people I spoke with that would even take a guess, though a few said Oakland, and most thought that it would be easier to bump up the better Double-A franchises and find places to add Single-A teams at the lower end of cost.

***

If you’re a college baseball fan - and you should be, it’s an entertaining product - then you’re going to have to watch what happens with college football. While there’s a lot of changes coming in baseball, such as roster size, scholarship limits, and full funding, most of that relies on the money coming in from big money football (and basketball, to some extent.)

Greed might stop all that. Multiple reports are out there that big college football programs simply don’t want to share the golden eggs that their goose has been laying. Their solution might be to simply leave the NCAA structure, set up their own new structure completely outside, instead of just mostly outside, and avoid sharing with anyone.

One of those holdups is Title IX, the equality rule that has vastly helped women’s sports. While the current administration doesn’t have this as a priority given their other moves away from the dreaded “DEI,” it’s a more entrenched rule that can’t just be pen-waved away by a President. But leaving the NCAA? That’s easy.

The problem is, every other sport save basketball might find themselves with a much smaller pie, or even an empty plate at smaller schools. There was already a question how a mid-major like Dallas Baptist might keep up their baseball success, but this might make everyone a mid-major.

New rules with the transfer portal and JuCo eligibility, not to mention the Pavia decision’s implications on any eligibility limits - could a player stay in college forever, the Van Wilder of sports? - have complicated the landscape. The removal of the bulk of the money in one fell swoop would create a whirlpool of uncertainty that might suck down the entire team.

This at a time where high level players are coming out more ready to play than ever before will have a knock-on effect for MLB as well. It isn’t just Paul Skenes and Dylan Crews shooting through the minor leagues. Jackson Holliday did the same out of high school and oh look who the 1-1 is going to be this year. (Forget smokescreens. The Nationals are taking him and setting up an annual family rivalry series.)

As the NCAA unravels, the hope is that smaller sports - and baseball is a smaller sport - don’t get lost in the changes. The problem is, the combination of things that were meant to be good for the players might end up being the death of the game.

***

Ok, color me intrigued by Kenny Serwa and this power knuckle:

The Tigers took the flyer and I’ll be very curious to see where Serwa lands. The Tigers are already an intriguing team and a place I thought could make a jump with the right free agent acquisition. I’ve heard Max Clark will be pushed, perhaps starting in Triple-A Toledo, which means he’ll be in the bigs by next year at the worst. (Yes, I fully expect Clark to succeed in a big way.) There’s talent coming, but if the Tigers are finding functionally free talent that could be additive to what they have, that’s good front officing.

Serwa’s never played in affiliated ball, but with that stuff, it’s hard to say he couldn’t make a Jim Morris/Caleb Thielbar kind of leap. At worst, you give him innings in the spring and see where he lands. Let the results determine where he goes. I want to see what a bat control guy like Luis Arraez does against that knuckler.