Mets Minor League Report 9-9-08: Mailbag
Toby Hyde
I’d like to start doing a weekly mailbag column at metsminorleagueblog.com. Just go ahead and email me at Toby...@stanfordalumni.org with any questions of any kind about the Mets minor leagues, minor leagues in general, or player development. Reader Mitch gets to go first.
Would you mind indulging me for a minute? Could you explain in a post the benefits and downsides of a move to Syracuse or Buffalo?
I ask because, aside from Ron Swoboda, I may be the only Met fan who is also a Zephyrs fan. My wife is from New Orleans, we go there 4-5 times a year, and I really love the city. Besides, how can you not like a team that chooses a nutria - an aquatic pesky rodent - as its mascot and names it Boudreaux?
Now, I'm a realist, and I admit that the air travel between New Orleans (and other PCL towns, when the team is on the road) is an inconvenience for the Mets when they call guys up. But aside from that, what is the benefit to playing in Syracuse? Is this an effort to woo more of upstate NY to watch the Mets? Is the International league a better training ground?
--Mitch
1. I love New Orleans too, but is no downside to the Mets moving their AAA affiliate to either Buffalo or Syracuse from New Orleans. Sure, the players will miss out on their trip to Las Vegas every other year, but aside from that, there is no drawback.
2. From the Mets perspectives, there are major logistical advantages to moving their AAA team to Western New York.
a. It’s an easier move to call up a player from Buffalo or Syracuse to New York City.
b. Moreover, the entire International League is in the Eastern Time zone. It’s easier to get a player from Louiville to New York, for example, than from Albuquerque to New York.
c. It’s easier to move a player from Binghamton to Buffalo or Syracuse than New Orleans.
d. It’s easier for the Mets top executives to see their minor leaguers when the AAA affiliate is within driving distance. Don’t underestimate this.
e. SNY is broadcast in western New York, so there is the potential for some regional synergies both for the Mets and SNY and for the fans.
f. Rehab will be easier with a closer affiliate. A number of times in the last few years a rehabbing big leaguer has stayed in Florida, or gone to Binghamton or Brooklyn to avoid the travel of flying from Florida to New Orleans, and then back up north to NYC.
3. On Boudreaux and the logo. He’s a rat. Rats aren’t cute and they don’t sell. The Zephyrs redid their logo a few years ago and missed an opportunity to tie in with a local New Orleans landmark, a rollercoaster known as the Zephyr. The rat’s ok, but he doesn’t have the character of the Gnat from Savannah or the Bee in Binghamton. This doesn’t matter to the Mets.
4. On the International League vs. the PCL as a training ground. I have no reason to believe that one league or the other is better than the other in terms of level of play. However, The PCL is a league of extremes, from the pitchers’ haven of New Orleans to the hitters’ paradises in Colorado Springs and Albuquerque. Oh, and did I mention that many of these cities are far from NYC?
5. The travel is much easier in the International League. That makes for happier players. Happier players are better players. When it comes to recruiting minor league veterans, all monetary things being equal, players would prefer the mellower travel of the International League to the PCL’s lengthy journeys. Which brings me to my next point…
5. It’s better for the players.
a. New Orleans in the summer is beyond hot. It’s so muggy, you can see the air. The last time I was there, I made sure to take a swim in the pool beyond the right field wall at Zephyrs Field in the afternoon to cool off. I felt much better. Then I got out of the pool.
b. New Orleans is 13th in the PCL in attendance, drawing 5,226 paid per game. This is not a fun environment. Buffalo draws 8,812 per game, third in the International League, Syracuse pulls in 5,765, 12th on the circuit.
6. The City of New Orleans has not yet recovered from Katrina and will never be the same.
a. New Orleans has many problems, including crime. It’s awful, but it’s also not the Mets problem. Why deal with it, if you don’t have to?
7. Would you want your players hanging out in a town with no last call?