Jays to add another farm team

[Grapefruit]

The Nationals have extended their PDC with the Syracuse Chiefs for two years.

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100822&content_id=13778152&vkey=pr_t552&fext=.jsp&sid=t552

[Blacksheep]

The Nationals have extended their PDC with the Syracuse Chiefs for two years.

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100822&content_id=13778152&vkey=pr_t552&fext=.jsp&sid=t552

Yep, if I recall the Skychiefs indicated they were upset with the Blue Jays for not fielding competitive teams/not having any interesting prospects and it was hurting their team and their fans and honestly, under JP, I can't blame them. With the Nationals they had Strasburg pass through and now Bryce Harper will be coming up, that has a ton of bang for their buck. Granted, our system is getting miles and miles better now, I think we broke our trust with the Chiefs and it will take some time to rebuild. Meanwhile, would be nice if Buffalo or anyone in the Northeast opened up and we could hop in.

[JoeCarter29]

Yep, if I recall the Skychiefs indicated they were upset with the Blue Jays for not fielding competitive teams/not having any interesting prospects and it was hurting their team and their fans and honestly, under JP, I can't blame them. With the Nationals they had Strasburg pass through and now Bryce Harper will be coming up, that has a ton of bang for their buck. Granted, our system is getting miles and miles better now, I think we broke our trust with the Chiefs and it will take some time to rebuild. Meanwhile, would be nice if Buffalo or anyone in the Northeast opened up and we could hop in.

Unfortunately for the Jays moving back to the International League is virtually impossible for at least a couple more seasons. I believe you have to sign at least a 2 year PDC agreement and with the IL basically with no openings the Jays are stuck in the PCL for 2011 and 2012 from what I can tell.
Best move at this point would be to pull out of Las Vegas and move to Nashville, thats pretty well as good as its going to get for the Jays geographically in the next while.

[Krylian]

Unfortunately for the Jays moving back to the International League is virtually impossible for at least a couple more seasons. I believe you have to sign at least a 2 year PDC agreement and with the IL basically with no openings the Jays are stuck in the PCL for 2011 and 2012 from what I can tell.
Best move at this point would be to pull out of Las Vegas and move to Nashville, thats pretty well as good as its going to get for the Jays geographically in the next while.

Why not?  The AA team used to be in Knoxville.

Las Vegas is not a good fit at all.

[Turf Toe]

I don't see why Las Vegas is a bad fit.  Players are called up from AAA say 10-20 times a year.  Who cares if they have to fly for an extra hour or two on the days the Jays are at home? 

I bet it's even faster to get from Vegas to Toronto than from Nashville.  Las Vegas probably has more flights to Toronto or other Major League cities than any other minor league town.

Worrying about the Jays having a AAA affiliate in Las Vegas is silly.  It's fine.

[Blacksheep]

I don't see why Las Vegas is a bad fit.  Players are called up from AAA say 10-20 times a year.  Who cares if they have to fly for an extra hour or two on the days the Jays are at home? 

I bet it's even faster to get from Vegas to Toronto than from Nashville.  Las Vegas probably has more flights to Toronto or other Major League cities than any other minor league town.

Worrying about the Jays having a AAA affiliate in Las Vegas is silly.  It's fine.

It has nothing to do with locations or flight times. It's the fact that the league is so "hitter friendly" that it skews the statistics of position players and probably isn't all to great for the confidence of up and coming pitchers. So we have to put our best pitching prospects in AA, then up to the pros with no step between because they will get rocked in AAA. Then, like I said, the hitters league effect is confusing, Wallace was crushing it down there, now he is up and on the Astros and sucks.

[Turf Toe]

It has nothing to do with locations or flight times. It's the fact that the league is so "hitter friendly" that it skews the statistics of position players and probably isn't all to great for the confidence of up and coming pitchers. So we have to put our best pitching prospects in AA, then up to the pros with no step between because they will get rocked in AAA. Then, like I said, the hitters league effect is confusing, Wallace was crushing it down there, now he is up and on the Astros and sucks.

I don't think a single player's development will be stunted by playing in Las Vegas.  I don't attribute the fact that Wallace has sucked in his time in the MLB to him playing in Vegas.

[Hankdillon]

I don't think a single player's development will be stunted by playing in Las Vegas.  I don't attribute the fact that Wallace has sucked in his time in the MLB to him playing in Vegas.

He's not saying that being in Vegas has made him suck, he's saying that playing in Vegas makes it difficult to properly evaluate players.

[Turf Toe]

He's not saying that being in Vegas has made him suck, he's saying that playing in Vegas makes it difficult to properly evaluate players.

I don't buy that either.

[Blacksheep]

He's not saying that being in Vegas has made him suck, he's saying that playing in Vegas makes it difficult to properly evaluate players.

Yes, that's what I'm saying, not that it stunted him, but that it does make it difficult to evaluate players. Look at Wallace this year in AAA Las Vegas, 18HRs, 61 RBIs, .868 OPS (I think he was injured for a bit down there also), that looks pretty nice I think, like someone who is ready to come up and put up at least average numbers if not better.

But what does he do in the pros over 20+ games? 0HRs, 5RBIS, .518 OPS. That is one hell of a drop off, like not even remotely close to his AAA figures. So when I look at AAA, I realize there will be some drop off in the pros usually, but when I look at Las Vegas, the stats are so inflated there that I now can't even assess what the actual drop off will be.

[bogeygolfer]

The rumors is that the Las Vegas franchise will move to Edmonton, allow geographically they are still far. Not having to go thru customs should be a huge time bonus.

[Darryl]

The rumors is that the Las Vegas franchise will move to Edmonton, allow geographically they are still far. Not having to go thru customs should be a huge time bonus.

Wouldn't be bad for helping the Jays get more Western Canada exposure as well.

[London Knights]

Wouldn't be bad for helping the Jays get more Western Canada exposure as well.

Still need to get a minor league baseball team back in London.

[Turf Toe]

Yes, that's what I'm saying, not that it stunted him, but that it does make it difficult to evaluate players. Look at Wallace this year in AAA Las Vegas, 18HRs, 61 RBIs, .868 OPS (I think he was injured for a bit down there also), that looks pretty nice I think, like someone who is ready to come up and put up at least average numbers if not better.

But what does he do in the pros over 20+ games? 0HRs, 5RBIS, .518 OPS. That is one hell of a drop off, like not even remotely close to his AAA figures. So when I look at AAA, I realize there will be some drop off in the pros usually, but when I look at Las Vegas, the stats are so inflated there that I now can't even assess what the actual drop off will be.

I'm sure the people who evaluate players must be used to it.  Half the players who play in AAA play in the PCL.  And players have been coming through Las Vegas for a while.  It's not some chaotic, unknown quantity.

I'd bet this board has had more discussion and hand wringing over this than the Jays.

[Blacksheep]

If you look up the Las Vegas 51s on Wikipedia, there is a note at the bottom that says the following, but it is not cited so it could be pure rumor.

Following the Dodgers departure, the 51s signed a two-year PDC with the Toronto Blue Jays, marking the first time that the 51s have been affiliated with an American League club. The affiliation is not expected to extend past 2010, due to the travel distance between Las Vegas and Toronto. One possible location for movement has been to Jacksonville, FL, where the AA Affiliate of the Florida Marlins, Jacksonville Suns has been wanting to move back up to AAA for a few years now.

- Wikipedia

I think I like that Edmonton idea better, but we already have Dunedin in Florida, they'd be close to each other.

[Turf Toe]

The rumors is that the Las Vegas franchise will move to Edmonton, allow geographically they are still far. Not having to go thru customs should be a huge time bonus.

The Edmonton Trappers were a pretty successful team according to Wikipedia.  Scott Downs pitched a no hitter for them.  Neat.

[JoeCarter29]

The rumors is that the Las Vegas franchise will move to Edmonton, allow geographically they are still far. Not having to go thru customs should be a huge time bonus.

The 51's just signed a 4 year extension on their lease agreement at Cashman Field earlier this month to stay in Vegas so this rumour is pretty bogus.

[JoeCarter29]

Couple more articles on the Jays probably leaving Auburn:

Link

Link

[Krylian]

Back to St. Catharines?

[bogeygolfer]

The 51's just signed a 4 year extension on their lease agreement at Cashman Field earlier this month to stay in Vegas so this rumour is pretty bogus.

it was previous to that extention, the edmonton oilers are interested in a team. with las vegas being a team eligible to move and the blue jays being unhappy with the 51s. Still very possible