Getting closer...

The saga continues in Pulaski with two of the more interesting opening paragraphs that I have read lately.

At best, officials will announce today that minor-league baseball is returning to Pulaski.

At worst? Well, at least they'll be able to let everybody down in person. And there might be beer.

What's happening down there?

Pulaski Baseball Inc. president Tom Compton stressed Thursday afternoon that nothing is official, but he felt confident enough to schedule a news conference for 10:30 a.m. today, hoping to announce an agreement with the Seattle Mariners to field an Appalachian League team in Pulaski next summer.

"We're anticipating this, but I don't have a signed agreement," Compton said. "Haven't even seen one. That's the purpose of tomorrow's meeting -- hopefully between now and then we'll get something confirmed."

Yeah, yeah. But, as a Wisconsin native the one thing I want to know is where does the beer enter into the picture?

Compton joked that there's a good reason he scheduled today's press conference at Edens Distributing -- a local beer and wine dealer -- and not some other Pulaski location.

"If it does fall through, we're going to have some aggravated people," he said. "But we're having it at the Budweiser place, so we can make the best of it.

"I doubt they run out."

Time to head over to Jay at Mariner Minors for his take on a seventh stateside team in Seattle's minor league system.

Running seven stateside affiliates is taxing and not something many teams are wanting to do. Obviously, there are some concerns about the system being stretched thin and other affiliates eventually wanting to back out, but there are always affiliates out there to be had, so it becomes a matter of whether or not the team is willing to abide by the occasional Mavericks Stadium tenure in the name of developmental philosophy.

...

It’s conjecture on my part, but I believe many of these roster spots will be filled by players from Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, as the established DSL and VSL teams rely less and less on third or fourth year players to drive their roster. The pieces are in place with a former VSL manager now taking the helm in Everett, but any change in philosophy has yet to be implemented.

The Mariners have the resources available to them to comfortably run these affiliates without suffering too much from it. Their image as a parent club of minor league affiliates may take a hit or two, but with the ultimate goal being the production of major-league caliber players, it’s a sacrifice they should be willing to make.