Saturday, May 11, 2013
Davidi: Bautista upset with Ortiz allegations
(www.sportsnet.ca)
Sounding more like Bats Battaglia than Joey Bats…
Read More...“I think it’s a cheap shot and uncalled for to say something like that without having some sort of evidence to back it up,” Bautista said Friday in the visitor’s clubhouse at Fenway Park. “Comments and articles like that is what sometimes makes us wonder what’s the true intention of somebody that’s in the media. It blows my mind that somebody would just go out there and do something like that, and write an article where you’re ...
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1 2 >Anyway, people in both Syracuse (Nationals) and Rochester (Twins) have been wanting a more regional affiliate. I wonder if either team now regrets re-upping early with their current affiliates.
Well, he is known for going into Overdrive. Sometimes after a few too many beers.
Buffalo will be a huge improvement over the current situation. In addition to the ridiculous distance from Toronto, the crazy offensive nature of the Las Vegas environment almost certainly has screwed up, or at least made it much harder to evaluate, the progress of any Jays prospects playing there.
Since 2002 when the Ottawa Lynx responded to uncertainty about the Expos by re-affiliating with the Orioles, this team has had AAA affiliates in Edmonton, New Orleans, Columbus and now Syracuse.
The three AAA teams in western NY state have a tough time finding affiliates because they are so far from all the AL East and NL East teams except for Toronto and New York. The various Rust Belt major-league teams are wedded to the AAA teams they had back when there were three AAA leagues. The Phillies, Red Sox and Yankees all have affiliates very close to the major-league team, and apparently the Mets keep alienating everyone.
Richmond used to have an AAA team. That seems like the obvious move for the Nats. The Norfolk Tides finally switched from the Mets to the Orioles a few years ago. Meanwhile Richmond ceased to exist and then joined the Eastern League.
I agree completely. Though I'm sure the team is well aware that they need to strongly adjust any numbers coming from a AAA call-up, it does complicate things a great deal. When they sent Lind and Snider down, I remember the club and tv commentators often repeating that the team was looking for good swings and contact in AAA, rather than good numbers.
The worst part might be that it gets very confusing to fans who don't know how to adjust for context. Adeiny Hechavarria is not, nor ever will be, a .300 hitter. Anthony Gose has also been completely overmatched in the big leagues, despite "excellent" numbers in AAA. I suppose the irrational expectations might boost interest in the team a bit. Definitely couldn't hurt.
What's Buffalo's stadium like? I've driven by it a bunch when I visit NY state but I don't know how it plays.
This would suck. The Mets have been in the International League forever.
The most recent park factors I've seen had it as a slight pitchers park for 2011 and basically even for the 3 year average. It was a slight hitters park in the 2010 averages. Meaning it's around neutral.
I went to a couple of games there in (I think) 1994. It's a really nice place to see a game, for a bigger minor league park.
EDIT: And yeah, it's so obvious that Buffalo should be the Jays' affiliate that it's stupid that it hadn't happened before this.
Weren't the Mets affiliated with the PCL New Orleans Zephyrs just a few years ago?
Yes. All players/coaches/trainers are employed by the major league team.
The Mets' relationship with Norfolk/Tidewater went back to 1969, but ended after the 2006 season, thanks to years of Wilpon neglect. They partnered with New Orleans for the 2007-08 seasons.
In fact, most of the teams are now pseudo-permanently affiliated. The parent-owned teams, like the Gwinnett Brave (formerly Richmond), and now the Scranton Yankees, are going to obviously be connected with their parents forever. Pawtucket isn't owned by the Red Sox, but it might as well be, the two teams have been together for so long. Lehigh Valley, Toledo, and Columbus are basically geographically bound to their parents. Norfolk really could only be affiliated with Baltimore or Washington, but it probably is going to be with Baltimore for awhile, especially because there are business connections between Norfolk's front office and the Angelos family.
So, basically, the only teams in the IL that AREN'T basically locked down are the Thruway Cup teams, Charlotte, Durham and Indianapolis.
The problem, of course, is that there are more MLB teams in the IL's zone, but more teams in the PCL's zone. When you think about it, part of the problem is that many of the old IL cities are now MLB cities. Baltimore got a MLB team. Montreal got a MLB team. Toronto got a MLB team. Miami got a MLB team. Atlanta got a MLB team. Havana probably would have gotten a MLB team or would be endlessly campaigning for one in some alternate universe where Cuba remained capitalist. A similar thing happened in the PCL as expansion and movement happened, but changing demographics allowed them to replace them more easily.
This actually happens all the time. I don't know the exact numbers, but it wouldn't surprise me if a dozen or so minor league affiliates shuffle around every year. Fans of minor league teams barely notice; minor league teams only ever keep their best players for a few months, and the turnover rate is so high under normal circumstances anyway that a change in affiliation doesn't move that needle much. If you go to a minor league game, there will be a couple of old salts who know who everyone is on the team, but 95% of the fans wouldn't have been able to name a single player on either team before entering the stadium.
Sigh.
I agree with everything else, but I'm not sure Columbus is bound to Cleveland. They have little history. Especially with the Indians being terrible, they'd probably bolt for the right deal.
Weird that they don't mention that Wright is a native who was a Mets fan because of the affiliation.
Yeah, that was the one I really wasn't sure about too, but I figured, what the heck.
The only reason the two seem to be bound is that the several other cities nearby are all part of "bound pairs" as well. (Louisville-Cincinnati, Toledo-Detroit). But you could just as easily have Cincinnati-Columbus and Cleveland-Buffalo and White Sox-Louisville. Or Pittsburgh-Columbus and Cincinnati-Indianapolis and St. Louis-Louisville. Or the Cubs do one of those Gwinnett scenarios with the roaring boomtown of Greater Aurora/Napierville, leaving Iowa in the lurch, and the Brewers adopt Iowa, etc. etc.
The minor league system for the White Sox aligns quite well geographically with Charlotte, so that's another one that might not change in the near future. The Sox currently have two other* affiliates in North Carolina, one just across the border in Virginia, and one in Alabama. Their only affiliate not in the region is their Pioneer League club.
* Technically Charlotte's ballpark is in South Carolina.
And Tampa Bay and Durham have a strong working relationship, which the Rays went out of their way to fix after the Delmon Young/BJ Upton/Elijah Dukes team almost cost them the affiliation. That's not changing any time soon either. Charlotte and Durham are both signed through 2014.
Rochester just re-upped with the Twins for two years, which leaves Buffalo as the only open spot in the IL. Everything that I have heard confirms the idea that the Blue Jays will be going there, which is going to push the Mets back into the PCL. There are several openings in the PCL but the vast majority of those are expected to re-up with their current affiliate; realistically the only spot that would be available to the Mets would be Vegas.
-- MWE
-- MWE
Also, I think I heard somewhere that Charlotte is going to get a new stadium that's... actually in NC. This has nothing to do with the current discussion, but is sort of a comment about the comment that Boileryard made.
They've been trying to build a stadium downtown for about 15 years now. You'd think the failure of the Bobcats to draw would have squashed that.
I'm totally going to ape McCoy's shtick now that the trade deadline has passed.
I thought that was dead for at least a year or two after government money didn't come through for the needed repairs/upgrades in Ottawa?
I don't know if it's even possible for the owners of a minor-league team to try to get their franchise-assignment switched from a lower league to a higher league. You'd think the Dayton Dragons would have tried it after 800 straight sellouts. On the other hand, is there really a reason to want to go from owning a single-A team to owning a AA team? Most of the "fans" don't care who the players are. Does it matter that the Carolina Mudcats now have players who are a couple years away from the majors instead of players who may be in the majors in a couple months?
It depends greatly on the team. I know that there are some AAA teams that are profitable or very close to it.
Round Rock moved from AA to AAA in 2005, but I can't remember any other recent ones.
Its musical chairs. The attractive minor league teams can pick and choose who they want to be affiliated with. Often times they'll want to align with a marquee franchise like the Yanks or Red Sox, or the team that is popular locally (Springfield with St. Louis for example). Some have just had longstanding affiliations forever (the Royals and Omaha have been affiliated since 1969). So once the good minor league teams have chosen their affiliations, the ones left over get stuck with who ever is left. Vegas has kinda been the unwanted orphan ever since the Dodgers went back to Albequerque. When Reno got a team, that really left too many western-based PCL teams in relation to western-based MLB teams, so someone from the east coast had to be stuck with a AAA affiliate three time zones away.
I remember in the last days of Canadian teams being part of the PCL, Edmonton and Calgary were treated the same way - no one wanted to be affiliated with them because they were so far away (among other reasons). There has been a major push in the last decade or so to keep AAA affiliates within a short flight of the MLB parent club because of so many roster moves made these days.
I was at a Chiefs game last weekend, and all 43 fans there seemed pleased with the Nationals affiliation. Seriously, the crowd was poor and there was still plenty of Blue Jays-themed gear to be seen, but the Nats would seem like a good parent club if you want to see half-decent players at the AAA level with some frequency. Then again, Mike MacDougal was on the team.
While there's always one or two Eastern-division team that has an AAA team thousands of miles away. Right now it's just the Blue Jays and Las Vegas, with New Orleans being not THAT far away from Miami. Before that, Albuquerque was with the Marlins, New Orleans was with the Mets or the Nationals, CALGARY was with the Marlins before moving to Albuquerque, Edmonton was with the Expos.
Some other east coast team is going to get stuck with the short straw of Las Vegas now. Meanwhile the Pirates, Reds, Cardinals, Cubs, Royals, Tigers, Indians always have their team right nearby. The White Sox-Charlotte relationship is very enduring, as explained above. Oklahoma isn't that close to Houston, but the only closer one would be New Orleans. The Twins and Brewers bounced around in the 90s, but now the Twins like Rochester and the Brewers, well, Nashville isn't that close but it's better than Tucson (Brewers affiliate 1997), New Orleans (1993-96), Denver (1987-95), Vancouver (1979-1986), etc.
AG#1F sort of beat me to it.
When Reno got a team, that really left too many western-based PCL teams in relation to western-based MLB teams, so someone from the east coast had to be stuck with a AAA affiliate three time zones away.
Reno replaced Portland, didn't they? This misalignment has been going on for a while.
Let's see ... the two new teams added for expansion in 1998 were Memphis and Durham. That should have made the misalignment LESS bad.
It's entirely possible the Reds are more attractive than the Indians to the people running the Clippers, but the Indians are clearly in the top two. It seems just as clear that the Indians prefer Columbus to Buffalo, since they switched affiliations to Columbus from Buffalo.
Yup. Durham (formerly the only team in the triangle) was long considered too good of a market for A-ball, but a dilapidated ballpark (see Bull Durham) held them back. New park + expansion = moving to AAA. Myrtle Beach has since shifted to a Rangers affiliation (with the Braves now in Lynchburg).
Las Vegas, incidentally, is considered one of the least desirable spots for a AAA affiliate. Certain cities act as revolving doors for the team that loses at musical chairs - High Desert in the California League being an example (seven affiliations in 22 seasons).
Not coincedentally, those are two of the most extreme park effects.
You're right. Kinda. Reno replaced Tucson. The current Tucson franchise replaced Portland. I guess the misalignment is just a continuation of the Calgary/Edmonton misalignment that caused them to be unwanted orphans for several years.
Dogs and cats, living together! Mass hysteria!
This would suck for Wheels and McHugh, but it could be good for Flores.
There were rumblings early last season that Buffalo might link up with Toronto for 2013 (I couldn't find the articles, unfortunately), so the relationship the Mets seems to have gone bad almost immediately.
Eugene has a nice, shiny new baseball stadium, but UO might be hesitant to share it and MiLB might not be thrilled with Eugene, Oregon as a AAA market.
I don't think Richmond will go back to AAA unless they build a new stadium, the lack of which is one reason the Braves left.
The current AA team says it won't stay unless they build a new stadium. (We'll see; ownership plunked a little coin into some very superficial touch-ups on The Diamond.) And, even if a new stadium is coming, it's really unclear where it'll be located or which localities will be financing it.
Absent the stadium issue, Richmond is undoubtedly a AAA market and the logical place for the Nats to go.
(As for moving back to AAA, Richmond's AA ownership also owns another club in the International League, IIRC. Is there any rule against the same ownership group owning two teams in the same minor league?)
(Eugene already has an entrant in that league.)
Yes. It's not allowed, although there's occasionally some overlap. (I believe the Bretts owned two CAL teams for a year or two, but had to divest the first after buying the second.)
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