I could understand you wanting the Mets in your backyard that’s for sure, hopefully as much as you could understand my not wanting them to leave.

Next? Aw heck boss, not sure on that one – I’m kinda spent on this one. I’ll think about this weekend when I’m runnin’ 13.1 in Beantown

I think a LOT goes into minor league affiliations, which is why I do think in February there were talks about Toronto going to Ottawa because its possible talks with New Hampshire ownership didn’t go so well during that time period.

I personally am rooting against you here haha. I live 2 miles from the New Britain Stadium, and did my 1st internship there in the summer of 03 (The Summer of Mauer!)

I think this would be a great market for the Mets to be in. The Mets are 1 of 3 teams in this market (we get Yes, Sny, Nesn on all packages and subject to blackouts). Yet, none of those teams have a minor league affiliate in the area.

I have no problem with Binghamton, except that I do not think the BMets do much to further the BRAND of the Mets.

I could be wrong, but for me, Hartford is a bigger market than anything Binghamton has to offer. If we’re talking about rebranding the Mets from top to bottom (not just roster space) then this area is prime for the taking when it comes to doing that.

I said to you, “wow, this would make a great post”.

Then you went to town and produced this and we posted it in the late afternoon.

Hours later the internet is abuzz with posts from Rubin, the Citizen, MetsBlog and everyone else without a mention to your excellent research on this. Hmm…

Basically, what I’m trying to say is, what shall we talk about next? Hey what your thoughts on Omar as compared to Sandy?

As all of this comes together or falls apart, the thing that is concerning to me somewhat at this point (and this is just me thinking out loud here, nothing at all to base it on) is that the ‘players’ left after the last few days are New Britain and Binghamton. We can’t hold a candle here in Bingo to New Britain – they have a nice stadium (albeit very similar to the one here) and they draw very, very well. It’s clear they are a healthy franchise. That’s not to say that Binghamton isn’t (they pay $1.00 a year in rent for goodness sakes – they made that up when I bought my first beer at the home opener and had change to spare!), but comparing the two you can see how the Rock Cats may rank higher and catch the eye of many MLB clubs looking for greener pastures this offseason. So, AA baseball stays in Bingo but there is a shift in affiliations? I don’t know; this really is the part where the chess match begins and the Monday morning quarterbacks come out of the woodwork, and to use Rubin’s word, I won’t speculate as to what will happen. I’m a lifelong Mets fan, and a diehard B-Mets fan, hence the reason I defend the city and team so vehemently. The marriage of the two in 1992 couldn’t have worked out better for me, and its been an awesome run – I’m not ready to see it end. So, in that, my apologies if I come across a bit ‘strong’ – we’ve already lived through losing one team in this area in my lifetime (when the Binghamton Rangers bolted for another Central Connecticut city) and the prospect of it happening again just plain sucks.

In February Rubin did say
“One in-the-know person speculates the Mets could wind up in New Britain in 2013, with the Twins moving to New Hampshire and the Blue Jays in Ottawa. ”

Now granted that was February and anything could have happened from Feb-May to lead to a New Hampshire/Toronto agreement… but I’d say Rubin counts as a credible source that there is or was at some point a possibility the Mets move to New Britain.

All in all good stuff here Tim!

“Q: What is the status of the PDA with the Twins after this season?
‏A: It’s scheduled to expire after this season. We are hopeful that the relationship can continue.

Q: Any truth to rumor of Rock Cats becoming a Mets affiliate?
A: We have a great partner with the Twins and look forward to continuing that.”

Now, no one wants to create a legitimate lame duck team, so even if anything is going on behind closed doors Willi isn’t going to admit it to anyone.

The blog entry can be found here:

http://twinsdaily.com/entry.php?1102-The-Rock-Cats-and-Affiliation-Part-II

Ottawa was where the Binghamton AA franchise was rumored to be going. If that happened, the news sources above hypothesized that they would be affiliated with the Blue Jays (which was debunked yesterday when they renewed their PDC with New Hampshire). If that domino fell, and Ottawa affiliated with Toronto, then the Mets would need a new AA city.

Never has any legitimate news source stated that city would be New Britain. The Mets going to New Britain rumor/thought was the direct result of those in the rumor mill trying to connect the dots. Yes, the PDC is up in New Britain this year. Yes, New Britain and Minnesota have not signed a new one yet. Yes, the Binghamton Mets and New York Mets PDC is up at the end of this year. And finally, yes the two Mets entities have, as of yet, not signed a new PDC. All of that is fact. Everything beyond that is conjecture, rumor, and supposition, and until someone that works for or owns the Rock Cats, B-Mets, or New York Mets goes on record and reports otherwise I choose to only believe what’s on the surface.

The President (and General Manager) of the New Britain Rock Cats is John Willi, who worked for the Binghamton Mets, not the New York Mets. He worked for the B-Mets and the AHL’s Binghamton Rangers, and is listed as having a marketing degree from Binghamton University. Although I can’t confirm it, I’d be willing to bet while earning his degree he did internships with both local teams. I can’t connect the ‘he once worked for the Mets’ dot to the ‘they will be affiliated with the Mets’ dot on that one, sorry.

Yes, not only was it ‘weird’ that the Rock Cats held a ‘meet and greet’ for the fans the first game in New Britain, in my eyes it was a slap in the face of the home players. I’d be pretty upset if the B-Mets held a meet and greet with the Trenton Thunder when they came to town just because we’re ‘near’ the Bronx.

All of that being said, and all of the facts I’ve tried to stick to above, I will say this – I’m a firefighter, and I know full well ‘where there is smoke, there is fire’. I do believe that in some way much of the rumor’s out there had some truth to them, but as I laid out above much of that is being debunked. I won’t be comfortable with the situation here in Binghamton with the Mets until something solid and legitimate comes out, and as I’ve said over and over, hopefully that time is soon.

I just found it strange that New Britain gets a new ownership group in there, their President worked with the Mets in the past and the 1st day the BMets are in town they schedule a “meet and greet” for fans.

I don’t think it’s as much a ‘competition’ thing this time of year. A couple things have killed attendance this year. Weather has SUCKED! It was brutally cold early in the season – like 30′s. Colder on a regular basis than normal. But that wasn’t enough to kill it. Out and about we’ve talked to so many that have simply said ‘Oh, the B-Mets are still here?’ And the team is doing NOTHING ABOUT IT!! A few ads on television aren’t going to fix this. They need to get out there – do some community work, let the community know they are still here and they aren’t leaving. And the absolute best thing would be to sign a new PDC…

Unfortunately, this is still Yankee land. The many years of the Triplets in Binghamton made this Yankee country, and the best draw at the Mets game is when the Thunder is in town. But a wise B-Mets GM (now gone…) once told us, “I told care why they come, as long as they come”…

http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/mets/post/_/id/46246/report-b-mets-may-not-move-for-13

Alex, I’m glad that I’m not the only one who thought that of Ballpark Digest. I read the site to see any official press releases I may have missed, but have noticed with increasing regularity over the past few years that beyond those most of it is nothing but ‘him’ being a fire starter – light a match in the form of an anonymous rumor and watch what happens.

I can’t disagree with what Jill says in regards to the team and missing the opportunity to say ‘hey we’re still here’!! or the ‘fit’ for this area – I just don’t want to lose the Mets affiliation (and she echo’s my sentiment on this as well).

Joe – love bein here and love writin’ for MMO – thanks for the kind words! One of the main biased reasons I have for hoping the B-Mets stay is so that I can stay on here babblin’ away.

Now, a bit of ‘tale of the tape’……

Team 2007 2006 2005

Total Attendance
Ottawa Lynx 126,894 122,574 160,544
Binghamton Mets 230,078 215,336 222,243

Average Attendance
Ottawa Lynx 1,923 1,915 2,396
Binghamton Mets 3,486 3,214 3,221

Yearly Rent:
Ottawa: $257,000 a year
Binghamton: $1.00

So, Ottawa had AAA baseball, the top level in all of the minor leagues, and over the snapshot above they drew less than the B-Mets did – considerably less; and Binghamton is the one being scrutinized for their attendance numbers? And, I’m not all that great at math, but how much business sense does it make to leave a venue where you pay $1.00 a year to one where you would pay over $200,000 a year?

There may be those that say we’d be better suited to a NYPENN team here, myself included some of the time. But until that terrible time rolls around I’m very happy to be a B-Mets fan, keep supporting the boys and AA baseball. Hey – maybe Brooklyn will want to switch with us eventually??