Aren't we all...

With Buffalo opening up along with Syracuse, it could get interesting. Buffalo's in a much better situation than are the Chiefs, and they'd probably have just as much interest in the Mets. When the dust settles, I still expect it to be Syracuse/Mets and Buffalo/Jays - but it's very much up in the air.

-- MWE

The writing was on the wall before the season started when New York State Senator Charles Schumer said the Mets were interested in joining forces with the Chiefs.

Can anyone explain why a sitting U.S. Senator is involving himself in something as trivial as minor league affiliations?

Why is Buffalo ending its deal with Cleveland? I thought that was a happy relationship.
Is CLE trying to move into Columbus?

The Chiefs had signed a two-year player development contract that summer and did not anticipate that the Mets were going to end their long-standing affiliation with Norfolk.

Um, I think they have that last part kind of backwards: it was Norfolk that ended the affiliation, and the Mets tried very hard to get them to change their minds -- to no avail.

No matter, ultimately. Everyone anticipated that the affair with New Orleans was only going to be a short, passionless one, and that when they could the Mets would get back into the IL. And the "when they could" is now.

It certainly makes me happy. Buffalo or Syracuse -- either way, the Mets' affiliate will once again be making visits to Louisville. Most excellent.

UNLESS LOUISVILLE MOVES TO THE PCL! MWAHAHAHAHAHA

UNLESS LOUISVILLE MOVES TO THE PCL! MWAHAHAHAHAHA

The way the football Cards are going, they may be moving to the Mountain West one of these years.

But the Bats? They're staying in the IL, pal.

The Chiefs-Mets marriage makes perfect sense for both sides. Syracuse fans, who have little natural allegiance to the Blue Jays and are fed up with the mediocre talent being supplied by Toronto at the Triple-A level, would love a Mets affiliation. The Yankees and Mets both have strong followings in the Syracuse area. And the Mets would save a lot on travel costs being able to establish a Syracuse-New York shuttle. Additionally, they'd almost always be able to bring a player to New York within a few hours, at least when the Chiefs are playing at home.

Seriously, non-JP Jays would have treated Syracuse a lot better and tried to capitalize on the upstate fans. During the Gillick years, Syracuse was stocked with talent and the Jays were good to them. It has been downhill since JP took over, and the relationship has been stormy at best. I became a Jay fan growing up because I watched the Chiefs so much and read their box scores in the paper every day. The rise of the Yankees fed into it the decline of Jay fandom upstate of course, but the Jays did nothing to help stop it by consistently showing that having a good relationship with the AAA team was beneath them...

I became a Jay fan growing up because I watched the Chiefs so much and read their box scores in the paper every day.

This is an underrated reason for fandom. I grew up going to Red Barons games and then obviously I was interested in seeing how Mike Lieberthal, Kevin Jordan, Tyler Green, Desi Relaford, Gene Schall, Toby Borland, Bobby Estalella, Mike Grace, and other Red Barons stars did in the majors. And the fact that the answer was usually "not very well" just helped me mature into a responsible adult.

If I were growing up in the same area now, would I become...is it possible...heaven forfend...a Yankees fan?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?

Can anyone explain why a sitting U.S. Senator is involving himself in something as trivial as minor league affiliations?

Its long been said that the most dangerous place in Washington is between Chuck Schumer and a TV camera. Schumer probably concluded he could get some free publicity with little controversy while ingratiating himself with the Met fans part of his constituency.

Is it just me, or would it make a lot of sense to promote Brooklyn to AAA and make it the Mets affiliate?

If the Mets have their AAA team in Syracuse, isn't there a risk that a guy like Fernando Martinez could simply bypass the Mets and the Major Leagues and go straight to Cooperstown?

I've wondered how much politics is involved in AAA for a long time. For instance, it would make a lot of sense in a brand-building sense for the Mariners to have their AAA affiliate in Portland, where they have fair market penetration but it could be better. The problem, of course, is that that would entail dropping their affiliation with a team in their own suburbs, possibly the dissolution of that team and attempt to find another plausible place for a AAA franchise to play -- Spokeane? Boise? Eugene? Inland Empire? It seems to me that having an affiliate in your own suburbs might be a lost branding opportunity in the day and age of the airplane and the freeway. It might make more business sense for Tacoma to be eliminated, the Beavers to become a Mariners affiliate, and for the Padres to try to target some ancillary market with a AAA franchise closer to home.

This is all complicated by the fact that a lot of teams don't have such good ancillary markets as the Mariners do in Portland, and the fact that I don't really know what I am talking about.

San Diego should get a AAA franchise in Tijuana.

As a Mets and Red Wings fan, I'd really like the Bisons to become a Mets affiliate, since I hate the Sky Chiefs. But it certainly looks like the Blue Jays will beat them to the punch. If they end up with either, the Mets will have 3 minor league teams in NY state.

Are any other AAA franchises changing affiliates? I guess the Nats have to go somewhere now.