If Baseball Ever Had Another Expansion...

[Vintage]

And you were able to create your very own team...

Where do you feel the best place for that team would be?

Who are guys you would target in the draft
(be realistic about the players you think would be left unprotected)

What would you name your team?

How would you design your logo and uniforms?

In what division would you place them?

Which League would you prefer?

Who would be your candidate for Manager?
(someone who doesn't currently have that job with another MLB team)

And finally...

What would be your mindset heading into year 1?

(in regard to regular season record, the june draft, international market, trade deadline, etc.)

[Pinstripe power]

then they'd be stupid

[es0terik]

Team Name and Location: Vancouver Riot
Owner: Bill Gates
General Manager: Me
Manager: Terry Francona

Division: American League: Western Conference

Realign the MLB to have two leagues, American and National, with two divisions each, East and West. Each division has 8 teams. Top two teams in each division make the playoffs with the next best team in each league taking the wild card.

Cap logo: Letter "R" in graffiti-style font
Team logo: Worn/torn baseball with black stitching and "Riot" in red font
Mascot: Caribou wearing sunglasses and swat uniform and carrying riot shield
Home uniforms: White uniform, letters "R", "I", "O", "T" going down vertically on right leg in red font, name of player and uniform number on back of jersey in red font
Away uniforms: Full black uniform, nothing on it except uniform number on the back in red font
Alternative uniforms: Prison-style orange uniform, nothing on it except uniform number on the back in black font

Draft Strategy: Looking at the best player available on the board with a slight partiality to high school pitchers.

Plans: Complete and absolute build (rebuild) mode. Regular season would mean absolutely nothing except seeing what you have in the players on your team. Hope you play bad enough to get the #1 overall draft pick the following year. Go balls out in the draft and international market and use every last penny available without surrendering draft picks. Hope to be a .500 team within four seasons, become a contender within seven seasons, be a bonafide playoff shoe-in within eight seasons and win the world series within ten seasons.

[Vintage]

I would definitely place my team in Portland. Oregon could really use a Professional Baseball team, especially since the Portland Beavers minor league affiliate was taken away in 2010.

In the expansion draft I would target...
Younger talent is definitely going to be highly coveted and would be protected over older veterans. Veterans are more likely to be exposed in my opinion. I would go for a plethora of young guys as they have potential but I wouldn't shy away from veterans on the decline as well as they have "name" value and can put fans in the seats. In a season where I don't expect to compete, having fans come to the ball games and maximizing on $$$ is the way I would go. I would shed those older guys as the seasons go on and draft high potential picks in the June draft to replace them.

My team would be named the Portland Pioneers and the logo would somehow incorporate / pay tribute to those who traveled along the Oregon Trail with the help of Bison/Buffalo.

The AL West could really use another team so I would ideally place this team there even though it seems like more of a fit in the AL Central to me.

The General Manger I would most target is Omar Minaya. He gets a bad rap because the teams he put on the field suffered two back to back seasons where they missed the playoffs on the last day, but when you look at it, he actually has a resume for bringing in high talented players. One of his greatest strengths was his ability to find guys off the scrap heap who could compete. Since the expansion draft is essentially a scrap heap collection, I think he would be perfect in finding diamonds in the rough, bringing in some big named guys, and then being let go of. His experience with the Expos and developing them would give him an upper hand in my eyes. As owner, I would not allow him to trade Cliff Lee and Brandon Phillips for Bartolo Colon

My manager would easily be Terry Francona. He's the perfect guy to give a glimmer of hope toward the future and keep the team focused if they go through any prolonged losing streaks. He is the best managers on the open market and would be such a welcome addition. Calming influence who has proven he knows how to lead.

[utl768]

id put a team back in montreal

sad how loria and selig destroyed baseball in that city

[Vintage]

http://baseballnewshound.com/?page_id=1868

Above is a list of players who were left unprotected and would have been eligible for selection this season. If anyone wants to add some guys they would have chosen from this list, feel free to do so. For me, an outfielder like Jordan Danks from the White Sox, Trevor Reckling from the Angels, Daniel Nava from the Red Sox, Erasmo Ramirez from Seattle, and Ethan Martin from the Dodgers are guys I would have picked for sure.

[avrpatsfan]

I'd put a team in Vegas.

[Vintage]

I'd put a team in Vegas.

With Pete Rose as manager.

[Fly]

I'd put a team in Vegas.

Bug Selig would rather have Albert Pujols snort a pound of cocaine right off of home plate in game 7 of the world series than a franchise in Vegas.

[RamOG]

I'd put a team in Vegas.

[T 980]

I got a serious question. How come people think it's a huge joke to put a team in Vegas? Is it really because all the gambling? Or is Vegas just a terrible place for any sort of real professional sports team?

[grandsalami]

I got a serious question. How come people think it's a huge joke to put a team in Vegas? Is it really because all the gambling? Or is Vegas just a terrible place for any sort of real professional sports team?

Gambling. That's why no teams play in Vegas

[T 980]

Gambling. That's why no teams play in Vegas

They could be an even more flamboyant team then the Marlins. Just think about how lit up that field with be by keeping with the Vegas lights theme.

[Fly]

They could be an even more flamboyant team then the Marlins. Just think about how lit up that field with be by keeping with the Vegas lights theme.

Bud Selig doesn't want the MLB to have anything to do with gambling. He doesn't want people to think the games might be pre-decided. In other words, he doesn't want it to be like the WWE.

[mgsports]

Orlando or Hawaii.