Something we've known for more than a year has finally become official. The Syracuse Chiefs are now the Syracuse Mets, complete with a new logo and everything. The Mets bought the Chiefs last year with the intent to make them their Triple-A team, but they had to wait until this offseason to do it since they were committed to Las Vegas for one final season in 2018.
The player development contracts between Major League and Minor League teams are two- or four-year agreements that are good thru the end of an even year. But once the even-year season is over, teams are free to change affiliates, with many of those deals (such as the Mets and Syracuse) worked out well in advance. And now that the 2018 season is over, it's time for the affiliate dance to begin.
Whenever a change is in store, it's generally the MLB team that takes the lead (although not always). Ideally, it'll work out that the Triple-A affiliate is close enough geographically to the parent club that the travel back-and-forth is relatively easy. (Seattle and its Triple-A team in Tacoma are so close that a guy could get called up between games of a doubleheader and be there by the third inning!) But, that's not always the case. And since every team is required to have a Triple-A affiliate, it can sometimes result in awkward pairings.
That's how the Mets ended up in Las Vegas in the first place. They were in Buffalo, but Toronto wanted Buffalo and Buffalo wanted Toronto (for obvious reasons). So the Bisons moved their affiliation to the Blue Jays in 2013. Which left the Mets homeless and Las Vegas without a parent club, so they had no choice but to pair up.
Six teams are changing Triple-A affiliates in 2019, and this time it's the Nationals (the team the Mets are displacing from Syracuse) that are the odd ones out. Washington will spend at least the next two seasons with its affiliate in Fresno, which was the only Triple-A city left after everyone else moved around. And it's painfully clear that arrangement doesn't make much sense. The 3,000-mile distance between the Nationals and their Triple-A club isn't going to work very well, and I wouldn't be surprised if the Nationals are already looking to find an available Triple-A team closer to home.
Of course, that might be easier said than done. All of the Eastern-based Triple-A teams are in the International League, and Syracuse is the first International League club to change affiliates since Buffalo. We're also seeing more and more Major League teams with an ownership stake (if not total ownership) of their Triple-A affiliate. So, the number of Triple-A cities available for a change is limited to begin with.
There are also Triple-A teams that have become synonymous with their parent club, so even if MLB ownership isn't involved, that relationship isn't changing. The Royals have been in Omaha and the Rays have been in Durham since they came into existence. The Pawtucket Red Sox, Iowa Cubs and Toledo Mud Hens (Detroit) have been with their parent team for more than 30 years, and the Braves have been with the same Triple-A affiliate (which they've moved from their longtime home in Richmond to the Atlanta suburb of Gwinnett) since 1965.
Nevertheless, there are definitely more logical places for some Triple-A affiliates. There are six West Coast teams in the Majors and six Western teams in the Pacific Coast League (Triple-A), plus one in Albuquerque and one in El Paso, which covers the Diamondbacks and Rockies. But the Dodgers' Triple-A team is in Oklahoma City (where they're partial owners), which complicates matters.
For the most part, teams are pretty good with the location of their Triple-A affiliate, for the logistical reasons I mentioned. That doesn't mean it can't be better, though. (Sorry, but Washington in Fresno makes absolutely no sense!) Here's how I'd like them up, with an affiliation change noted:
International League
Buffalo-Toronto; Charlotte-Washington (White Sox); Columbus-Cleveland; Durham-Tampa Bay; Gwinnett-Atlanta; Indianapolis-Milwaukee (Pittsburgh); Lehigh Valley-Philadelphia; Louisville-Cincinnati; Norfolk-Baltimore; Pawtucket-Boston; Rochester-Pittsburgh (Minnesota); Scranton-Wilkes Barre-Yankees; Syracuse-Mets; Toledo-Detroit
Pacific Coast League
Albuquerque-Colorado; El Paso-Arizona (San Diego); Fresno-San Diego (Washington); Iowa-Cubs; Las Vegas-Dodgers (Oakland); Memphis-St. Louis; Nashville-White Sox (Texas); New Orleans-Miami; Oklahoma City-Minnesota (Dodgers); Omaha-Kansas City; Reno-Oakland (Arizona); Round Rock-Houston; Sacramento-San Francisco; Salt Lake-Angels; San Antonio-Texas (Milwaukee); Tacoma-Seattle
As you can see, it's still not a perfect match for everybody. But who's to say relocation wouldn't be on the table? Minor League teams move around all the time. And if there were ever to be a Triple-A team in Richmond again, that would really be the perfect place for the Nationals. At the very least, it would be better than Fresno. That marriage of convenience isn't really too convenient for anybody.
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