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We recently wrote about some of Commissioner Rob Manfred’s comments regarding the new Rays stadium in Tampa and how he continues to view the Tampa Bay area as a viable location for a major league franchise. He also heavily implied at the time that the completion of the deal for the new stadium was one of the only things holding him back from making progress on an expansion plan for the MLB.
Manfred wants to expand and move Major League Baseball into new (or old — we see you Montreal) markets.
Twitter user Stephen Josiah (who gets total credit for this prompt idea) brought up a very interesting point about the side effects of expansion.
Let's imagine MLB expands to 32 teams. They inform the current 30 teams that they can protect just 10 players from their 25-man roster AND minor leagues. The expansion teams will draft out of the remaining players.
— Stephen JOSIAH (@StephenJosiah13) July 7, 2018
Quote this with the 10 players you would protect at all costs.
At first glance, if one were to simply consider the 25-man roster, this wouldn’t be a difficult proposition for Rays fans. You protect the obvious talents who can keep you competitive now. However, by adding the caveat that the 10 players selected must also include minor leaguers, and suddenly this becomes a much trickier thought exercise.
The Rays have arguably one of the best farm systems in baseball, with players like Brent Honeywell and Willy Adames not among the regular roster of players, and that doesn’t begin to crack the surface of all the talent the team has shored up in their farm. How do you pick only ten guys in the whole system to protect?
Well that’s the challenge we have for you this week. Make the near impossible choice of narrowing down the Rays and their minor leaguers to a 10-person list of “untouchables.” Head over to the FanPosts section and select “New FanPost” on the left, then let the selection process begin.