The Brooklyn Cyclones put tickets on sale for the 2012 New York-Penn League playoffs today. (Photo credit: Paul Hadsall)
Tony Franklin is the 2012 Eastern League Manager of the Year (Photo credit: Paul Hadsall)
The minor league season is winding down, but lots of news today:
- The Brooklyn Cyclones put playoff tickets on sale today. They have a two-game lead for the New York-Penn League wild card. Should Brooklyn reach the playoffs, they’d host game one of the semi-final series on Friday, Sept. 7th. Except for the problem that the Cyclones rarely seem to win when I go watch them, I’d like to get out to MCU Park and cheer for them in playoffs.
- The Trenton Thunder extended their affiliation agreement with the New York Yankees through 2022. What can I say? I’m not very excited about Trenton remaining tied to the Yankees for the next ten years, but I’m hardly surprised. Maybe Tony Franklin will get a promotion this winter to go along with his Eastern League Manager of the Year award so we can at least see a new face in the dugout next year.
- The Binghamton Mets renewed their affiliation agreement through 2016. Binghamton has been affiliated with the Mets for more than two decades; it’s nice that there’s some stability at this rung of the development ladder. Triple-A is a different story, with the Mets likely headed to Las Vegas next year.
- The Newark Bears will wrap up the 2012 season this weekend, with a three game series against the Worcester Tornadoes on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Before Monday’s game, they will acknowledge Osibee Jelks, one of the first African-American umpires in affiliated baseball – a cool way to end the year.
I’d like to see Luis Sojo get promoted from Tampa to Trenton for 2013. The Trenton affiliation makes perfect sense for the Yankees.
Are the Tornadoes going to show up in Newark?
I would assume so – despite the lawsuits and the “Grays” uniforms, the Tornadoes haven’t missed a game yet.
I would love to see Tony Franklin promoted – this is his sixth year in Trenton. If he’s back for another season, he should have to be mayor too. lol
Paul,
Two things:
What happened with the Mets and Buffalo? I know Norfolk effectively kicked them out and New Orleans was sort of a stopgap. But I didn’t think Buffalo was a way station too. It’s too bad they didn’t let the Yankees pitch their tent in Newark this year because, then, the Mets would have had Newark as an option in the future as, reportedly, the Yankees offered the Mets pretty much anything they wanted if they could just have Newark for a season.
Second, it’s nice of Newark to honor Mr. Jelks. What would really be nice is if they updated/corrected that wall of fame on the press box. No, I haven’t been there since I worked there in ’09, but Joe McGinnity never played for the Cleveland Indians. And, some other prominent names missing are Ed Walsh, Eddie Collins, Rube Waddell, Tommy McCarthy and Jocko Conlon, HOFers all and all of whom played (or, in McCarthy’s case, managed) for Newark at one time or another.
Newark never would have been a long-term Triple-A option for the Mets or anyone else – the ballpark would need extensive renovations to meet “normal” Triple-A standards, and you’d have to find someone with an existing International League team that wanted to move there.
Toronto is rumored to be the new affiliate for Buffalo – geographically, it makes sense and the Buffalo media kept fussing about how the Mets weren’t putting enough talent in their Triple-A team. (Kind of tough when the major league players keep getting hurt and the organization is not that deep to begin with.)
Updating the Wall of Fame would be pretty low on my stadium maintenance priority list for Newark – being able to open the bathrooms on both sides of the ballpark seems like a much bigger issue. Several of the existing names on the wall are now missing letters after several years of major storms.
Like I said, I haven’t been to see the Bears in three years. Wow, has that place gone downhill! Sounds like that place needs renovation just to host Can-Am! And I know that a 6,000 seat ballpark is about 4,000-6,000 seats less than what a AAA park should have.
The following has nothing to do with the current owners, but, rather, baseball in Newark in general… The only thing that has a chance of saving that city’s rear end when it comes to baseball is an affiliated team. If familiar names, or at least guys with a future are wearing Newark uniform, then they might have a chance. And that team will also get the support of the major league team’s front office.
My guess is that the Can-Am is done as Newark will likely go two years and out, just like AC after they dropped, and Worcester can’t pay their bills. That leaves three teams with Rockland probably in the most dire straits if only because they’ve got this brand new ballpark that cost the county’s residents a ton of money and will likely sit fairly empty unless they can somehow pick up either an affiliated team or maybe an Atlantic League franchise down on their luck. And the county exec up there, St. Lawrence (forgot his first name), will probably be strung up from the scoreboard.
As far as the Mets, the same thing happened in Norfolk and it was Norfolk who said ‘Sayonara,’ as the Mets pretty much had a bunch of castoffs in their AAA waiting room. (AA is where the real prospects are playing.) It’s a bit different this year, as you mentioned, as they have more younger guys, quite a number without a bright future (unfortunately) amid the geriatric crowd (and they have a few of those too).