It happens every two years in affiliated baseball. We hear stories of minor league teams changing affiliates and becoming associated with a different major league franchise. To most people the typical reaction is who cares? Why should the casual baseball fan care who the Blaze, Rock Cats, River Cats or Clippers are affiliated with? You won’t. But, your favorite major league franchise worries about it every even year.
A Player Development Contract (PDC) links a major league franchise to a minor league franchise. These things are not magically decided. Some of these associations occur because the major league team actually owns the minor league team (New York Mets and the Brooklyn Cyclones). Some contracts between the major league club and minor league club are signed in perpetuity (Cincinnati Reds and Sarasota Reds). Some contracts are renewed every two or four years (all PDC contracts are either two years or four years) without any cause for concern (Pawtucket Red Sox and the Boston Red Sox) ad some have just started new relationships last year (Visalia Oaks and the Arizona Diamond Backs, formerly with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays). These contracts between the major league and minor league affiliates define everything that the major league franchise will provide to their affiliates and also defines everything expected of the minor league clubs.
Again, do these contracts affect you? Of course they do not, unless you are in a city where these teams are located. However, the 2006 off-season in Triple-A was unlike any previous affiliation dance. During 2006, the affiliates looked like this:
Baltimore Orioles – Ottawa Lynx (affiliation started in 2003)
New York Mets – Norfolk Tides (affiliation started in 1969)
New York Yankees – Columbus Clippers (affiliation started in 1979)
Philadelphia Phillies – Scranton/Wilkes Barre Red Barons (affiliation started in 1987)
Washington Nationals – New Orleans Zephyrs (affiliation started in 2005)
So, why did one in six Triple-A clubs change affiliations? New stadiums, unhappy ownership and a desire to be closer to home put the carousel into motion. Usually it is the actions of one team that makes all the dominoes fall and the dominoes usually start to tumble before the end of the baseball season. Oh yeah, these announcements all have to be made by September 30th.
Allentown, Pennsylvania chanced the scenario of Triple-A baseball. The mayor of that city wanted a baseball stadium for years. There had been rumors that the city was trying to lure a Single-A or Double-A team to its city. Instead, they agreed to build a Triple-A stadium. As the saying goes, “if you build it, they will come.†Immediately, the Ottawa Lynx were the rumored team to go. Their attendance had dropped from 191,000 per game in 2002 to only 160,000 at the end of the 2005 season. It was becoming apparent that the Lynx would be moving their operations south of the border. What no one expected is that the Lynx would no longer be affiliated with Baltimore.
Once Allentown made the Triple-A stadium announcement, Ottawa started making its plans. However, before they continued with their Orioles affiliation, they decided to explore options. Would it better in Allentown as an Orioles affiliate or another affiliate? Would the Yankees or Mets be interested in changing locations? Negotiations quickly began to bring the Phillies Triple-A team to Ottawa so that they would end up in Allentown and prosper being so close to their major league affiliate. With Ottawa getting the Phillies, the Orioles and Scranton began their search. Before these organizations signed with one another, a few other teams joined the game.
During 2006, in the midst of a terrible season, neither the Mets GM Omar Minaya nor the Assistant GM Tony Bernazard made one trip to Norfolk to look in on their Triple-A franchise. The Tides management felt that the Mets took them for granted and decided that a change was sorely needed. The Tides quickly wanted Baltimore as their major league club. The Washington Nationals, hearing that Norfolk was available (and being unhappy for far away in New Orleans) also attempted to get involved in Norfolk. Baltimore and Norfolk soon agreed to a PDC and those teams left the available market. We now had Scranton, New Orleans, the Washington Nationals and the New York Mets looking to match up.
The Yankees, dealing with Columbus for 30 years had a dilemma. Should we stay where we are in Ohio, or try to move to an area that is 50% Yankee fans and that is only 120 miles from New York City was the question they asked themselves. The Yankees never publicly announced their reasons or rationale, but it was clear whey they wanted to move. Scranton was closer and people in Scranton were Yankee fans. The Mets also tried, but Scranton was Yankee town and soon the PDC was agreed upon.
New Orleans and Columbus were looking for teams and the Mets and Nationals were looking for cities. Since one of the rules of the PDC states that all of the existing cities must have a team assigned to it. So, whichever team picked a city first, the other two was left to sign an agreement.
Columbus picked the Nationals (I will get into details why later on) and that left the Mets to move their Triple-A operations to New Orleans. So in the end, it all looked like this:
Baltimore Orioles – Norfolk Tides
New York Mets – New Orleans Zephyrs
New York Yankees – Scranton/Wilkes Barre Yankees
Philadelphia Phillies – Allentown Iron Pigs
Washington Nationals – Columbus Clippers
That is now, October 2007. There are already talks that four or five more teams may change affiliations in 2008. When Columbus signed the PDC with the Nationals in 2006, they announced that this would be a two year contract. They would evaluate the relationship after two years. The real truth is that the Cleveland Indians (of Ohio) have their current contract ending with Buffalo, New York in 2008. This would start another chain of events to be seen in the next 11 months.
Triple-A PDC ending in 2008
Albuquerque Isotopes – Florida Marlins (this has been a good relationship, but may change if Florida wants to move its affiliate east)
Colorado Springs Sky Sox – Colorado Rockies (this relationship may never end)
Columbus Clippers – Washington Nationals (look for Cleveland Indians to look into moving here)
Durham Bulls – Tampa Bay Devil Rays (good relationship, not expected to change)
Fresno Grizzlies – San Francisco Giants (why move a team from your own fan base?)
Indianapolis Indians – Pittsburgh Pirates (good relationship, not expected to change)
Iowa Cubs – Chicago Cubs (They are both named Cubs, need I say more)
Las Vegas 51s – Los Angeles Dodgers (good relationship, not expected to change)
Memphis Redbirds – St. Louis Cardinals (good relationship, not expected to change)
New Orleans Zephyrs – New York Mets (look for the Mets to head north in 2008)
Omaha Royals – Kansas City Royals (more teams with the same names)
Portland Beavers – San Diego Padres (good relationship, not expected to change)
Rochester Red Wings – Minnesota Twins (may only change if Rochester tries to bring in the Mets or if the Blue Jays become available)
Round Rock Express – Houston Astros (good relationship, not expected to change)
Syracuse Chiefs – Toronto Blue Jays (Potential location for the Mets)
Tacoma Rainiers – Seattle Mariners (good relationship, not expected to change)
Tucson Sidewinders – Arizona Diamondbacks (Tucson will be moving to Reno, Nevada and will still be in the Diamondbacks market)
