Benjamin Grimm

d'Kong76 wrote: Benjamin Grimm wrote: This deal isn't official until the shareholders vote on November 17. They need two-thirds approval, which they're expected to get. Chiefs shareholders or some kind of Sterling shareholders that I'm not fully aware of? The Chiefs shareholders have to vote to approve the sale.

This deal isn't official until the shareholders vote on November 17. They need two-thirds approval, which they're expected to get. (I know longer believe any "expected" voting results, however.) The Mets have said they'll promise to keep the team in Syracuse at least through 2025, when the current stadium deal expires. At that point, if the Mets leave Syracuse, they'll presumably take the team with them, maybe to somewhere closer to New York City. The Mets plan to talk to the Nationals about the 2018 season after the Nationals are done playing. I doubt anything will come of that.

I don't really care. I have no love for the Cubs either.

Sigh. My only remaining rooting interest is in seeing the Yankees eliminated. Now I'm in the strange position of wanting the Houston Astros to be the American League champions.

Mike Puma, The New York Post wrote: The Mets officially announced their purchase of the Syracuse minor league franchise, which eventually will become their Triple-A team. Though team officials expect the move from Las Vegas to occur in 2019, a source said there is an “outside chance” the relocation to Syracuse will occur next season. The Nationals’ Triple-A affiliate is under contract for Syracuse in 2018. I guess for that "outside chance" to come to fruition, the Nationals would have to agree to some kind of terms. Since there are no Triple-A openings coming up in an even-numbered year, their only alternative, I assume, would be Las Vegas. Would the Mets be able to incent the Nationals to move their affiliate to Vegas for a year? It seems unlikely.

I think that people who go every year will still go. But those who make the trip based on their enthusiasm may very well decide to skip the trip to Florida next spring. So yeah, I think that 2017 will have at least some effect on spring training attendance, but I don't know if it will be substantial.

LAST CALL! Voting for all remaining games from the 2017 season will close on Friday, October 13. Special note to Ashie62: Ashie, you've voted in each of the first 161 games of the season but you have not voted for the October 1 game. You're thisclose to being a member of the exclusive 162 Club!

Yay for Granderson, boo for Utley.

Don't mention that to your wife and kids.

Cool!

How about the "Majestic Helens"?

Mets Willets Point wrote: Can we bring back the SkyChiefs name, I always thought that was cool? If we use Binghamton as an example, they'll probably change the team's name to something stupid, like "Pocket Jockeys" or "Fancy Boys". I don't really know anything about Syracuse, so I looked at its Wikipedia page: Jesuit missionaries visiting the Syracuse region in the mid 1600s reported salty brine springs around the southern end of "Salt Lake", known today as Onondaga Lake. The 1788 Treaty of Fort Stanwix, and the subsequent designation of the area by the state of New York as the Onondaga Salt Springs Reservation provided the basis for commercial salt production from the late 1700s through the early 1900s; brine from wells that tapped into halite (common salt) beds in the Salina shale near Tully, New York, 15 miles south of the city were developed in the 19th century.[4][5] It is the north flowing brine from Tully that is the source of salt for the "salty springs" found along the shoreline of Onondaga lake. The rapid development of this industry in the 18th and 19th centuries led to the nicknaming of Syracuse as "The Salt City". In 1847, the city was officially named after Syracuse, Sicily, which at the time was also famous for its salt mining industry. If "Chiefs" is determined to be politically incorrect, maybe they can give the team a salt-related name. Like the "Salty Parkers", perhaps.

So... does this mean that in 2018, the Mets will own the Nationals' affiliate? Or will they have to wait until after the season to officially close the deal?

What's especially nice is, since the Mets will own the team, they won't have to play that game of musical chairs every two years. They can settle in at Syracuse for the long term. Now, hopefully, the Nationals will end up getting shunted to the Pacific Coast League.

I figured Fman would be happiest of anyone about this.

New York Mets will buy Syracuse Chiefs, bring its Triple-A team to Syracuse The New York Mets have reached an agreement to buy the Syracuse Chiefs and make the International League baseball team its top minor league affiliate, according to two sources briefed about the deal. Under terms of the agreement, the Mets will acquire ownership of the Triple-A Chiefs from the Community Baseball Club of Central New York Inc., and continue to play its games at NBT Bank Stadium starting in 2019, the sources said. The Mets would own and operate the Syracuse Chiefs, the sources said, bringing in the resources necessary to build a franchise that struggled in recent years with its finances. The Mets have tried since 2009 to consolidate their minor leagues team in New York state and promote their brand statewide. The team's Double-A affiliate is the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. The Mets also briefly had their Triple-A affiliate in Buffalo at the start of the decade, but did not own and operate the team.

His aunt has one.

It appears that somebody doesn't like Michigan! Do you have something against all of the trees being the correct height?

Jon Heyman says that Brad Ausmus is a candidate for the Mets job. Jon Heyman wrote: Brad Ausmus, who was let go by the Detroit Tigers following their last-place finish, is on the radar of the New York Mets and is in fact said to be a candidate to replace Terry Collins. The Mets have reached out to Ausmus and they’ve had one conversation to date. Ausmus, the erudite Dartmouth graduate with a distinguished 18-year big-league career as a catcher, is in some ways an opposite of Collins, who resigned after seven years, the longest tenure of any Mets skipper in their 56-year history. Ausmus is believed to be a candidate in multiple places, so the rival Philadelphia Phillies could be in play, too. Coincidentally, like Ausmus, Mets GM Sandy Alderson and Phillies GM Matt Klentak also went to Dartmouth – not that that’s the main consideration.

Another name that's a blast from the past:

I had no idea that Red Schoendienst was still among us. And Gene Tenace managed the Blue Jays?

Tona LaRussa endorses... Chip Hale! Tony LaRussa: This Mets manager candidate is ‘total package’ Tony LaRussa wrote: “Chip is really an intelligent guy and he’s a competitive guy. You put those two things together, and he’s got some personality, so you go into New York and you have got personality, smarts, toughness, that works there. It works anywhere, but you get tested in New York.”

"Crushing loss" and "Yankees" is always a good combination.

Boy, some of these names really bring me back.

If the Mets hire Sandy Alomar we won't be able to refer to the Mets manager and GM by just their first names anymore. It will have to be "Sandy A." and "Sandy A." instead.