A little of this and a little of that

We talked about this over at Tri-City SportsBeat the other day.

Under a proposal put together by executives from the Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers, & Baltimore Orioles, 42 minor league teams would be contracted or eliminated in a cost-saving measure under the cover of some of these clubs not having "adequate facilities" that don't measure up to major league standards.

Understandably, New York lawmakers, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, are raising cain, and so are their counterparts in other states. The New York-Penn League, home to the Tri-City Valleycats, has been spared, one of five teams in the NY-P League to avoid the cut list. Speaking of which.....

• Appalachian League (advanced Rookie): Bluefield Blue Jays, Bristol Pirates, Burlington Royals, Danville Braves, Elizabethton Twins, Greeneville Reds, Johnson City Cardinals, Kingsport Mets, Princeton Rays
• California League (advanced A): Lancaster Jethawks
• Carolina League (advanced A): Frederick Keys
• Eastern League (Double-A): Binghamton Rumble Ponies, Erie SeaWolves
• Florida State League (advanced A): Daytona Tortugas, Florida Fire Frogs
• Midwest League (full-season A): Burlington Bees, Clinton LumberKings, Quad Cities River Bandits
• New York-Penn League (short-season A): Auburn Doubledays, Batavia Muckdogs, Connecticut Tigers, Lowell Spinners, Mahoning Valley Scrappers, State College Spikes, Staten Island Yankees, Vermont Lake Monsters, Williamsport Crosscutters
• Northwest League (short-season A): Salem-Keizer Volcanoes, Tri-City Dust Devils 
• Pioneer League (advanced Rookie): Billings Mustangs, Grand Junction Rockies, Great Falls Voyagers, Idaho Falls Chukars, Missoula PaddleHeads, Ogden Raptors, Orem Owlz, Rocky Mountain Vibes
• Southern League (Double-A): Chattanooga Lookouts, Jackson Generals
• South Atlantic League (full-season A): Hagerstown Suns, Lexington Legends, West Virginia Power 

Yes, each of the teams that are at the forefront of this proposal would lose some of their minor league teams, and, of course, it's all about the dolla-dolla bill.

There are some people that don't see this happening, and baseball as a whole would be better if it didn't.

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It's not as if producer Greg Berlanti has enough content on the CW already, but WarnerMedia, which co-owns the network, might as well offer him some stock shares, because they're adding another of his shows to the roster next year.

Stargirl, set to debut in the spring, will be repurposed on CW, airing the day after each episode drops on DC Universe, according to published reports, meaning that it will also stream on the CW website, and air On Demand on your cable system.

Based on a character created by co-executive producer Geoff Johns 20 years ago at DC, the story revolves around Courtney Whitmore (Brec Bessinger, ex-Bella & The Bulldogs), who discovers that her stepfather, Pat Dugan (Colgate pitchman Luke Wilson), is the former Stripesy, partner to the Star Spangled Kid. Originally, Whitmore adopted the SSK monicker before shortening it to Stargirl in the books.

Series also co-stars Joel McHale (Card Sharks, ex-Community, The Soup) as Starman, the grown up SSK, Lou Ferrigno, Jr. (S.W.A.T.), and Henry Thomas ("E.T.", The Haunting of Hill House).

Expect a new Stargirl comic book from DC to go along with the show when it debuts, probably in April or May.

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Everyone agrees that 2003's Birds of Prey, from the producers of Smallville, was a bust. DC still believes in the franchise, which is why it's being relaunched again in 2020, but not in the way anyone thought. 

What was planned as an ongoing series for DC's new Black Label imprint was sliced down to a 1-off, out in January, followed by a Harley Quinn-centric miniseries, five issues in length, out in February, timed to coincide with the movie, "Birds of Prey (and The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)" (whew). Yes, it's pricey, but DC's not taking too many chances, even though Harley's become rather overexposed of late, as DC is making the same marketing mistake with her as Marvel and DC have with other "hot" characters over the years.

By the way, Rachel Skarsten, one of the stars of the 2003 Birds, has resurfaced on CW's Batwoman.