I think this will be worse than when their AAA team was in New Orleans.
FLUSHING, N.Y., September 17, 2012 – The New York Mets today announced they have signed a two-year player development contract with the Las Vegas 51s, which will be the club’s new Triple-A affiliate. The 51s play in the Pacific Coast League and have Cashman Field as their home stadium.
“We are excited about our new partnership with the Las Vegas 51s and the city of Las Vegas, one which values equally player development, winning and community involvement,” said Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson.
“We are familiar with many of the front office personnel with the Mets,” said 51s Executive Director Don Logan. “I’ve known Sandy Alderson for 20 years to go along with J.P. Ricciardi, Paul DePodesta, Dick Scott and Terry Collins. These individuals are all very familiar with Las Vegas from the time they spent here with other organizations. We are excited to welcome the Mets as our new Triple-A affiliate.”
The Las Vegas franchise, most recently associated with the Toronto Blue Jays, has topped 300,000 in attendance for all its 30 seasons (1983-2012). The team has been affiliated with the Blue Jays (2009-2012), Dodgers (2001-2008) and Padres (1983-2000).
14 comments
srt
9/17/2012-10:14pm at 10:14 pm (UTC -4)
Bah….going to be hard to evaluate young pitching and hitting playing in the thin air at Las Vegas.
And man…..must be brutally hot in the summer.
Stick
9/17/2012-10:19pm at 10:19 pm (UTC -4)
maybe it will be good for conditioning?
and at this point, most of the development/evaluation is done in AA. AAA is a place to stash oldf emergency call up guys, or a last pit stop for real prospects.
Stick
9/17/2012-10:17pm at 10:17 pm (UTC -4)
guess the taxi squad guys will be stashed at Bingo now. Though at least flying into Vegas is easy, with lots of flights. heck, probably easier to get there than to Buffalo!
Hazmet
9/17/2012-10:24pm at 10:24 pm (UTC -4)
Not in love with the idea of their pitching prospects last stop having to go through a launching pad with the altitude and heat combo. Way to shoot a kids confidence on the way to the bigs.
Stick
9/17/2012-10:39pm at 10:39 pm (UTC -4)
not an issue. Most of the top guys won’t be in AAA until 2014 at best, and can just be held at AA if need be.
Trs86
9/17/2012-10:40pm at 10:40 pm (UTC -4)
Wheeler?
Stick
9/17/2012-10:43pm at 10:43 pm (UTC -4)
queens. after a short stint in the PCL probably, and called up before the summer gets too brutal.
Bryan
9/17/2012-10:40pm at 10:40 pm (UTC -4)
Not only is this move disappointing, but it’s disappointing in general that the Mets have had so much difficulty staying with a AAA franchise long term. They never should have left Norfolk. The move to New Orleans was as silly as it was brief. Letting the Nats take Syracuse over them was another disappointment and then not being able to make it work with Buffalo is another organizational failure piled on top of everything else.
Stick
9/17/2012-10:41pm at 10:41 pm (UTC -4)
on a side note, it makes sense that the team that is so screwed up that they get the booby prize for AAA affiliate, has an official blog that posted this beauty tonight:
Dickey now has 205 strikeouts and became the sixth Met in franchise history to strikeout 200 or more in a season – others to accomplish the feat are Tom Seaver (1968-1976), David Cone (214 in 1992), Al Leiter (200 in 2000), Pedro Martinez (208 in 2005) and Johan Santana (206 in 2008).
gategem
9/18/2012-7:15am at 7:15 am (UTC -4)
They originally left out Tom Seaver so it was actually worse. They amended the statement to include only those Mets pitchers that accomplished the feat (they could have said “feet”) over the last 20 years. BTW Baltimore Orioles pitcher Mat Kilroy struck out 513 batters in 583 innings in the year Fred Wilpon was born,1886,
NJstuckinTX
9/17/2012-11:49pm at 11:49 pm (UTC -4)
hey, at least they didn’t have to fold the club…
kingman 26
9/18/2012-12:15am at 12:15 am (UTC -4)
…yet.
When Las Vegas kicks them out, where will they go next?
NJstuckinTX
9/18/2012-6:40am at 6:40 am (UTC -4)
The could come out to Seattle with me…
I thought I read somewhere that there was going to be an opening in NH not this year but the next? I’ll have to try to find where I read that.
kingman 26
9/18/2012-12:14am at 12:14 am (UTC -4)
Well, sure, it makes sense for a team based in NYC with AA and A teams in NY to have its AAA team in Nevada.
But the really unreal part is that New Orleans AND Buffalo clearly did not want the Mets. OK, New Orleans is a happening town, but getting kicked out of Buffalo? How far can this organization sink?
Those who know me know I am a serious Las Vegas fan, so I have to see the positives. Yes, it is brutally hot all summer, but it does cool off at night. Yes the altitude and PCL tradition will be tough on pitchers. Maybe this will engender some VERY badly needed toughness in this incredibly soft and weak failure organization. And people there do support the AAA team pretty well.
And now I will be able to go to a Mets AAA game next summer!