Can’t travel for spring training?  Can’t find tickets or make it to Arizona in the spring?  Well, beginning in October, while most of us are focused on the playoffs, something really very special happens in the Phoenix area.  The Arizona Fall League pops up, consisting of six teams with minor league players affiliated with all 30 MLB teams.  Each MLB franchise is required to send 7 players of their choosing.  These might be players that they didn’t get enough at-bats this past season, or it might be stars that they just want to expose to some of the other best pitching in the game, to prepare them to join the majors the following season.

Unlike spring training though, these games are cheaper and the tickets are available.  It will be hard to form alliances, since players from different major league clubs are mixed on each of the six teams, but you will get to see some of the future players all in one place.  Consider that in 2009, Ike Davis, Jason Heyward, Chris Heisey, Mike Leake, Buster Posey, Mike Stanton, Drew Storen, Stephen Strasburg, Jose Tabata all appeared in the fall league.  That is like a rookie All-Star team.

You can get close to these players too.  They often sign autographs, and its just a very relaxed place to see games.  And because all the parks are close, its easy to get to each of the games.

If you just like the game of baseball, this is a really great, almost secret, way to get your fill.  The games begin in October, and stretch on until the week before Thanksgiving.

For more information, check out this Danny Wild piece, which links to each of the six AFL teams news and rosters.  (Isn’t Danny Wild  a great name for a baseball writer?)

And for detailed highlights of each team, of course, check out Baseball America’s Coverage.

Apparently, the Boston barber to the athletes sent Nick Cafardo a text saying he has an appointment to cut Manny’s hair when the White Sox are in town this weekend….. Ramirez is breaking Reinsdorf rules today, but just like he did when he arrived in  LA he plans on doing enough to placate the owner.

No big stories, but lots of little ones.  Jeff Francouer becomes a Ranger, and the Mets acquire an ex Yankee in Joaquin Arias.  Arias was sent to Texas with Alphonso Soriano once upon a time.  While Arias could play second base everyday next season, he probably is more of a utility infielder.

Manny made his debut in a White Sox uniform, but never made it up to bat in his role as a pinch hitter.

Manny Delcarmen of the Red Sox has been traded to the Rockies.  Why you ask?  Because the Rockies saw a chance to get him, and though he could help as they chase the Wild-Card or even the Padres, he puts them in a better position to win next year.

And we have some races going on.  Here are the Sept.1 Standings:

Interesting to note, that on Sept 1, only two teams have been mathematically eliminated; Baltimore and Pittsburgh.  The Nationals, Diamondbacks, Indians and Mariners- even the Cubs- still have a chance.

Dan Shaughnessy tries to tell Red Sox fans that their season is over, and its time to think about next year.  Well, I have said that  a few times in the past couple of weeks, but really only to my Yankee loving boyfriend who is still worried that Yanks might not make the playoffs.  What I didn’t know what I pronounced the Sox finished is the following, from Shaughnessy’s piece:

Decimated by injuries, these Red Sox are 27-25 since July 1. In the last two weeks, they rank 21st in the majors in runs scored. Terry Francona has only two relievers he can trust. John Lackey can’t hold a lead. Josh Beckett has four wins, none against a team over .500. The Sox scored only eight runs in three games at Tropicana Field. Sunday night, in the biggest game of the year, Boston started Daniel Nava in left, Darnell McDonald in center, and the second baseman was a 22-year-old kid making his second big league start (Yamaico Navarro). Oh, and let’s not forget that because of injuries, Boston’s everyday first baseman is Mike Lowell — a guy hitting .234.

Its time to spend September trying to determine who is ready to play in the big leagues from the minors so that the team can determine where to spend their money.  They certainly are going to have to spend some of that green on a plan B at a few different positions- because after a season off, who knows how Dustin Pedroia, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jed Lowrie and a few others are going to fare in the early months of 2011.

The Sox are done.  Dan Shaughnessy says so.

Just a quick link, as it probably won’t be there long- but above the blog post on the NY Times site about Roger Clemens arraignment yesterday, there was an add with tennis balls spelling out “GOOD LUCK ROGER.”  Soon after the message appears, a band raises like a net that says that Credit Suisse is a sponsor of the US Open, and suddenly your brain realizes the Roger they are wishing luck has a last name of Federer, not Clemens.   Still, its kind of bizarre.

Dan Rosenheck writes about his idea to “fix” revenue sharing in light of some of the leaked financials this week.  He suggests rather than have the money paid to revenue sharing be based on the payroll of the team, have it be based on market size, so the teams with access to more fans, higher television ratings, and more corporate sponsors pay money to a team with less access to all those things that allow them to make money.  Sounds reasonable.  Since, as Andrew Zimbalist has pointed out in a number of his works, New York would have four teams before Milwaukee ever got one, if the free market* were to enter into baseball, it seems reasonable that the Yankees should have to be handicapped for their natural competitive advantage.

But here is the thing about this idea.  Once you move out of New York and Chicago that competitive advantage goes away dramatically.  Think about Houston.  Houston is the 4th largest market in terms of population and media ratings.  Yet, the Astros are one of the worst teams in baseball.  Their payroll has hovered around the the bottom of the top third in baseball, which seems about right for the market.  But they don’t know how to spend that money.  And as a result they are pretty awful.  What if they now had to pay an extra amount of money into the revenue sharing fund?  They aren’t making extra money with their lousy team, they are actually losing more money.  So, now you are telling them that they not only have to cut payroll for next year based on revenues for this year, but they also have to find money to pay to the central fund.   So, their payroll is forced to get smaller but outside forces rather than by design- while the Yankees, Mets, and Cubs still can afford to spend roughly the same amount.  How does that help the Astros become more competitive?

Its honestly very simple what should happen.  It is what happened last week.  Teams that receive money from revenue sharing derived from the payroll tax should have to produce a public accounting of how that money will be used.   Sure, that still makes it possible for a team making money to use its profits to make the owner richer, but if a team can sustain the public debate that comes with such disclosure it can only serve to build trust with the fans.

I know MLB doesn’t want anyone sharing anything with the public.  It has an anti-trust exemption, and it wants to exercise that again and again.  But, think about public politicians that have to make an accounting of their campaign income if they want matching funds.  Its the same idea. And teams like the Marlins, the Pirates sure could benefit from being just a little bit more open and honest with such things.

*Because MLB controls where a team can reside, the free market is not in play here.)