Sadly these moves were not what I had hoped for. The Cubs are once again returning to Eugene as their Northwest League affiliate. With their last relationship only lasting the two years of 1999, and 2000.
What all this does do is end the time Colorado has been affiliated with the Dust Devils. A relationship that dated all the way back to when Colorado was first announced as a new MLB franchise. Back then the team was playing in Bend, and became the Bend Rockies. From there the Rockies followed the team when they made the move to Portland, and then a few years later Pasco, Washington.
The crazy thing about the time in Pasco is there will always be one MLB player I remember most. That player is Michael McHenry. Despite there being a few other players that have come through. McHenry I remember mostly because I never saw his MLB career happening. He was a good guy that I just felt would get lucky to make it to Double A. So when he made it to the majors I thought it was pretty cool.
Now a new are begins with the team changing over to Boise. The most interesting part of the three affiliate changes are how long the past relationships were. Eugene had been with the Padres since 2001 after the Cubs had left. Boise was the Cubs affiliate since 2001 after their move from Eugene. As I have already mentioned before, the Rockies affiliation with Tri-City dated back to its Bend roots in 1992. What all this does is now create three fanbases that will need to learn about their new affiliates.
For the cat house this will be an interesting off-season. There are now three brand new affiliates to learn about, and personally I'm not happy. The Albuquerque change will be the easiest to deal with as I can see that relationship lasting for years. Nothing against Boise, or New Britain, but I think those will be short term. Unless there is something I am missing on those two teams.
Boise is a great town, that I almost lived in once. A town that I would have been proud to call home, but circumstances got in the way. Still it just isn't a place I see the Rockies staying in for more than a few years.
Who knows, maybe all these changes will give me a new attitude on minor league teams. Instead of cheering for all the Rockies affiliates. I will just stick with the teams who I like for some unknown reason. Then keep track of how the future Rockies are doing on their team.
More than anything I'd love to hear how all of you out there deal with the minor league system of your favorite MLB team.
Here on the local sports radio in Boise they expect that it will be hard to keep a team affiliation here long-term until the facilities are improved.
ReplyDeleteDon't have a TON of experience w/MiLB teams. My first game was w/the single A Lake Elsinore Storm. Saw Darin Erstad hit a homer and got his autograph after the game. Later, it became the Padres single A squad, which is awesome, since that's my team. Now that I live in Texas, I frequent Round Rock Express games (AAA). When I moved to Austin, I would go to Express games (when they were with the Astros) and I also could listen to Astros games on the radio. Then they became a Rangers farm team, around the time I moved about 45 minutes north, where I could only get the Rangers games on the radio. Now I follow the Rangers to see who gets a shot w/the big league team. Pretty cool to see Kevin Kouzmanoff play for the Express at the beginning of the year and then get called up to Texas (even though it was short lived, due to injury). About once a year I make a trip down to San Antonio to see a Missions game, but that's pretty much only because they're the Padres AA team. If/when that affiliation changes, I don't think I'll be going there unless we move much closer.
ReplyDeleteI was a little bummed to hear that the A's AAA team will no longer be the Sacramento River Cats.
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