No More Tides?

[Farmer Ted]

From today's NYDN..

...The Norfolk Tides, the Mets' Triple-A affiliate since 1969, have notified the parent club that they intend to explore other affiliation options. The Mets hope Norfolk management ultimately opts to remain with the Mets...

Actually, they were known as the Tidewater Tides for many years. A move would certainly upset hometown boy David Wright.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Tides Deathwatch thread.

I had the impression that it was the Mets idea to sever the relationship.

Maybe not.

Still, I'm predicting Scranton as the Mets new AAA site. Though I'd love them to consider King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. It would be pretty convenient for me.

[Farmer Ted]

I was in Scranton recently (no, not a Dundler Mifflin meeting) and the papers were reporting that the team may be up for sale, just like the Tides' situation. The local government controls the stadium and has some weird oversight over the mangement group. It's a Phillies/Yankees area. It would be close to NYC but I'm not sure the fans would take. Newark perhaps?

[Guest Edgy DC]

The Tides said bye and they're moving on
We're gonna be stuck in Oregon

[seawolf17]

Farmer Ted wrote: I was in Scranton recently (no, not a Dundler Mifflin meeting) and the papers were reporting that the team may be up for sale, just like the Tides' situation. The local government controls the stadium and has some weird oversight over the mangement group. It's a Phillies/Yankees area. It would be close to NYC but I'm not sure the fans would take. Newark perhaps?

Let's buy them! We can rename them the Cranepools. Kase, start a fund.

[MFS62]

Time and the Tides must wait a few weeks.
From Baseball America:

]Of course, we're not supposed to know any of this yet. Everything is supposed to remain quiet until the last stage of the reaffiliation process, which begins Sept. 16. From now until Sept. 11, major and minor league teams are notifying Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball of their intention to seek new affiliates. From Sept. 12-15, the clubs that are looking for new partners will get a list of who's available. Then from Sept. 16-30, those teams can talk to each other and sign new deals. If any teams are still left standing at the end of the process, MLB and MiLB will pair them up, but this rarely happens. The Phillies' move from Scranton to Ottawa/Allentown could be one of several significant changes in Triple-A. Both the Mets and Yankees have their longtime International League affiliations expiring this year as well, in Norfolk and Columbus, respectively. The Nationals will also be looking for a new Triple-A affiliate, after two seasons in New Orleans, as will the Orioles after four seasons in Ottawa.

Later

[Willets Point]

What did I say? We've got to watch out for those Nationals or Orioles snagging Norfolk.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

How long have the Yankees been in Columbus? Can it be since they had to give up Kansas City when the Athletics moved there from Philadelphia?

[Guest Edgy DC]

If you ask Bill James, Kansas City was a Yankee farm club long after the A's moved there.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

I just pulled my 1971 Sporting News Baseball Guide off the shelf, and according to that, in 1970 the Pirates were in Columbus and the Yankees were in Syracuse.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

And in 1965 the Yankees were in Toledo and the Mets were in Buffalo.

[MFS62]

And in 1962, the Mets were in Syracuse.

Later

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

In 1968 the Mets were in Jacksonville.

Maybe I'll have to consider a history of minor league affiliates for the UMDB.

[MFS62]

Yancy Street Gang wrote: In 1968 the Mets were in Jacksonville.

Was that the same time their AA (Texas League) team was in Jackson (Mississippi)?

Later

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

The problem with doing that is pre-65 ? teams were only affiliated with parents and not controlled by them. The young Mets would scatter their guys all over the place, where they'd play alongside their future opponents.

[MFS62]

="Johnny Dickshot"]The problem with doing that is pre-65 ? teams were only affiliated with parents and not controlled by them. The young Mets would scatter their guys all over the place, where they'd play alongside their future opponents.

Interesting. That got me thinking. (I hate it when that happens)
Branch Rickey is credited with coming up with the idea of the "farm system" in which major league teams had direct control over the coaching/ development of their minor league players. IIRC, that was in the 40's when he was with Brooklyn. 1965 would have been about the time the "bonus baby" rule, under which any team could sign any amateur player, was phased out and the common draft was coming in.

It makes sense that now that teams were spending large amounts of money on young players, they would want to make sure those players would receive a consistent level of coaching. And the way to do that was to have direct control of the farm teams and assign their players, and coaches, there.

I do remember now that in my 1962-63 issues of the Sporting News Baseball Guide, there were sometimes more than one major league team affiliated with some minor league teams.

Later

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Yup. And in the early years the Mets didn't have enough depth in the organization to staff entire teams and so shared Syracuse, I think it was, with the Senators for at least one year.

That's different than today's expansion teams which were given a 2-3 year head start to develop their guys in the low minors.

[seawolf17]

MFS62 wrote: Branch Rickey is credited with coming up with the idea of the "farm system" in which major league teams had direct control over the coaching/ development of their minor league players. IIRC, that was in the 40's when he was with Brooklyn.

It was the 30s, when he was in St. Louis. One of those teams was the Rochester Red Wings.