Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - Syracuse Looking To End Affiliation With Jays

Syracuse Looking To End Affiliation With Jays

After posting a Q & A feature about major and minor league affilations on their official website last week, the Syracuse Chiefs are about to end their 31-year marriage with the Toronto Blue Jays. Chiefs president Ron Gersbacher told the Syracuse Post-Standard that the club will be looking for a new major affiliate for 2009.

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. In 2006, a Mets-Chiefs marriage could very well have happened had Syracuse waited before the end of that season to size up their affilation options. The Chiefs had signed another two-year player development contract with the Jays that summer and did not anticipate that the Mets were going to end their long-standing affiliation with Norfolk. After the dust settled, the Mets signed a two-year deal with New Orleans of the Pacific Coast League.

It looked like things were going to be different for the Chiefs this year when they battled for top spot in their division and were in the running for the wild card in the first half before everything fell apart in the second half, finishing below .500 for the eighth consecutive season. Setting the tone for what was likely the final day of the Jays affiliation was the choice of jersey worn by the U.S. national anthem singer for yesterday's finale at Alliance Bank Stadium. The CBS affiliate in Syracuse has the historical highlights of the Jays probable last stand in Syracuse. Judging by fan reaction on the fan forum at Syracuse.com, the fans are thrilled this partnership is coming to an end and are very giddy about a potential affiliation with the Mets. It would only make too much sense for the Mets to affiliate with Syracuse as their AA club in Binghamton is only about 75 miles down I-81.

Where does that leave the Jays? It appears that the Jays could very well be affiliated with Buffalo in 2009 as Cleveland has long been rumoured to sign a new player development contract with Columbus as the Clippers are set to move into a new ballpark next season. Columbus' deal with Washington also expires at the end of this season. A Jays-Bisons affilation also would make too much sense as Buffalo is just a two-hour drive, if you don't factor in the brutal waiting times at the border.

It would appear that unless the Mets decide to go with Buffalo instead, the Jays-Chiefs marriage will be over. On a personal note, I always enjoyed taking trips to Syracuse before my brief pit-stop in Alberta. I was hoping to get to see the new and improved Alliance Bank Stadium this season but it wasn't in the cards. I hope to change that next season, regardless of Syracuse's affiliation because I do like that ballpark. I also enjoyed the fact that the Carousel Centre shopping mall was nearby and I could go to Borders book store to load up on my baseball reading. Even though Buffalo is closer and Dunn Tire Park is not a bad place to watch a game, the surrounding area leaves a lot to be desired. I can't blame the Chiefs for wanting to shake things up, the fans there deserve a winner. If you're happy about a Jays-Bisons affiliation, the Herd have released its 2009 schedule.

If you're interested about the status of each major and minor league affiliation, this website is a pretty good resource. We'll find out how all of this shakes out in a couple of weeks.

Posted by #2JBrumfield on Tuesday, September 02 2008 @ 11:42 AM EDT.

Syracuse Looking To End Affiliation With Jays | 15 comments | Create New Account

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John Northey - Tuesday, September 02 2008 @ 12:15 PM EDT (#191711) #

Let's hope the Jays get Buffalo. There are always mismatches or AAA cities that just don't work for anyone (Calgary and Edmonton in the past) and New Orleans looks like the odd one now.

AAA Teams who can switch this winter...
Buffalo
Syracuse
Columbus
Albuquerque
Las Vegas
Memphis
New Orleans
Tacoma

ML Teams who can shift affiliates
Cleveland
Washington
Toronto
Florida (Miami)
Los Angeles Dodgers
St. Louis
NY Mets
Seattle

FYI: the order matches in the two lists.

So, what is the logical mix and match? What will happen? Who gets stuck with New Orleans?

Excalabur - Tuesday, September 02 2008 @ 01:00 PM EDT (#191713) #

Your ordering is out for syracuse/columbus, but that's minor.

Note that NOLA is worse because they play in the PCL: it's a hell of a lot of travel for the team. The AA folding made AAA's travel much worse.

Sea-Tac I can't see changing. Taking the rest of the non north-east teams, LV seems like the most sensible match for LA. Then Florida, St. Louis, and Washington get to argue about Albuquerque, NO, and Memphis: not good for at least one of them.

This assumes that Washington and St. Louis don't get one of Columbus, Buffalo or Syracuse...

Glevin - Tuesday, September 02 2008 @ 03:18 PM EDT (#191718) #

Buffalo makes the most sense. It's a fun athmosphere at games there and it might entice a few Jays fans to go down and see them.

Brian W - Tuesday, September 02 2008 @ 04:03 PM EDT (#191719) #

Purely on a geographical basis (i.e. I don't really know the history behind some of the affiliations) the following seem to make sense:

NYM - Syracuse
SEA - Tacoma
FLA - New Orleans
STL - Memphis
TOR - Buffalo
CLE - Columbus
LA - Las Vegas

Which leaves Washington the odd team out with the Isotopes affiliation.

Pistol - Tuesday, September 02 2008 @ 04:05 PM EDT (#191720) #

The Indians are out of Buffalo now. The linked article makes it sound like only the Mets or Jays are possibilities for Buffalo. Which I suspect means the Jays are back in Syracuse if the Mets are in Buffalo, although I would guess it would be the other way around.

John Northey - Tuesday, September 02 2008 @ 04:18 PM EDT (#191721) #

Thanks for the link Pistol. It mentions that deals cannot be made pre-September 18th. Thus expect a lot of announcements on the 18th. Lets hope Toronto/Buffalo happens as it makes so much sense and would make it easy for promotions/demotions.

jgadfly - Tuesday, September 02 2008 @ 04:19 PM EDT (#191722) #

MLB roster expansion news finally noting that the Toronto Blue Jays have ... Activated OF Brad Wilkerson from the 15-day disabled list. Recalled RHPs Shaun Marcum, Brian Wolfe and Scott Rochmond, OF Kevin Mench and C Curtis Thigpen from Triple-A Syracuse.

westcoast dude - Tuesday, September 02 2008 @ 05:45 PM EDT (#191728) #

Senator Charles "Don't blame me for Indymac failure" Schumer? When the Chiefs and the Mets saw him coming, they should have run the other way.

patagonia - Tuesday, September 02 2008 @ 07:24 PM EDT (#191737) #

If the Jays move to Buffalo what will happen to the Auburn franchise?

Twilight - Tuesday, September 02 2008 @ 10:51 PM EDT (#191740) #

I'm not really sure how this thing works, but should the Jays find another affiliate for 2009, they still control all the players in their system, correct? So anyone starting the year in triple-A next year would play for Buffalo? (Should a deal be struck with Buffalo, of course.)

Original Ryan - Wednesday, September 03 2008 @ 05:22 AM EDT (#191742) #

If the Jays move to Buffalo what will happen to the Auburn franchise?

Nothing. The Blue Jays have an agreement with Auburn through the 2010 season.

I'm not really sure how this thing works, but should the Jays find another affiliate for 2009, they still control all the players in their system, correct?

Correct. The players are controlled by the major league club.

rpriske - Wednesday, September 03 2008 @ 08:41 AM EDT (#191743) #

Why, oh why, could this not have happened while the Ottawa Lynx still existed...

I said for years that the one thing that could save the Lynx was an affiliation with the Blue Jays.

Matthew E - Wednesday, September 03 2008 @ 08:47 AM EDT (#191745) #

Why do I get the idea that the Jays are going to get stuck with New Orleans or Montevideo or Coruscant or someplace impossibly distant like that?

Gerry - Wednesday, September 03 2008 @ 09:19 AM EDT (#191747) #

I don't think this move has any implications for Auburn. The Auburn franchise has been successful and draws well, the opposite of Syracuse.

Syracuse attendance has been bad for many years now, the team blames the Jays for not giving them winning teams, others blame the affiliate management for not promoting the team and poor marketing. A change in affiliation might answer that question.

The Mets have an interesting decision for their AAA team. Syracuse is closer to New York and only one hour from Binghamton, their AA team, so for practical reasons Syracuse is a good fit. On the other hand Buffalo is a better operation, the park is nicer, the attendance is better and the organization appears to be better in Buffalo. I assume practical considerations will make the Mets pick Syracuse but Buffalo might tempt them for a moment.

John Northey - Wednesday, September 03 2008 @ 10:27 AM EDT (#191751) #

Good question on what matters most to a franchise.

To me a team should mainly care about 2 things. What state does the AAA team keep its field in (don't want injuries at the minor league level) and how close is the AAA team to your major league team. Other considerations, such as proximity to the AA team and crowd size (to get a feel for ML crowds) get mixed in but those other two should be the biggest concerns.

To the major leagues how profitable the minors is just doesn't matter. Well, outside of ML owned teams of which there are few above rookie level. Now, if I was Buffalo I'd be quite sad about losing the Cleveland connection due to the winning season streak they just had and the losing streak Syracuse has been on. Last thing a team owner wants to do is sell a loser rather than a winner.

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