According to a report today by Baseball America’s JJ Cooper, Major League Baseball has instructed MLB teams to begin looking for sites for “taxi squads” to play. In the article, JJ talks about that multiple officials have been told to find a site within 100 miles of their MLB stadium for the squads to work out.
In MLB’s recent proposal to the Major League Baseball Player’s Association, they proposed each team keeping a group of 60 players fresh to play throughout a shortened 72-game season. The active rosters would fluctuate from 30 players to start the season to 26 players after several weeks with the rest playing on the taxi squads according to Jeff Passan.
Under MLB’s proposal, rosters would expand to 30 for the first two weeks, 28 for the two weeks thereafter and 26 for the remainder of the season. Each team would keep a group of 60 players to use throughout the season — the majority forming the so-called taxi squad.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) June 12, 2020
The idea of the taxi squad is for teams to have a crop of fresh players who are ready to contribute to the team if injuries or other situations arise when a player would need to be called up. It would also allow teams to play their top prospects, so they do not lose developmental time.
The 100-mile radius would give the Yankees two options to choose from their current minor league affiliates. The closest would be the Richmond County Bank Ballpark which is home to the Class-A Short Season Staten Island Yankees. The stadium itself is located about 15-20 miles from Yankee Stadium and is about a one-hour drive. The other would be Arm & Hammer Stadium in Trenton which is approximately 75 miles from Yankee Stadium and would be about a one and half to two-hour drive away.
While both stadiums are built to current standards for Double-A stadiums, Staten Island does offer larger clubhouses as they routinely hold roster sizes larger than 35-men versus the 25-man rosters that play in Double-A. The ballpark in Staten Island is also closer to the stadium which would allow quicker call-ups.
Either way, the likelihood of fans being allowed in either stadium if they host taxi squad workouts will be minimal. As a safety precaution, the stadiums would likely be closed to all but team personnel.
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