Latest in Sky Sox affiliation saga - Latest: Upgrades confirmed in San Antonio's Stadium

[balsamlaker]

I just don't have a ton of confidence that Milwaukee can steal an affiliation like Louisville, Nashville, or Durham in 2018. Sadly (if it hasn't been torn down) I would prefer the Brewers AAA team play their games at "The Joe" in Huntsville in 2017. It may be a better ballpark than Colorado Springs even though it was suppose to be demolished last year.

[MrTPlush]

I didn't say Colorado Springs ruined Hader, just Lopez. But I do stand by that.

 

He did better in Colorado Springs than on the road. Just a fun tidbit.

[zjl3]

Why was Gord at fault for the Nashville Sounds no longer being a Brewers affiliate?

[Mass Haas]

Why was Gord at fault for the Nashville Sounds no longer being a Brewers affiliate?

 

No, not sure that's been implied.

 

This Journal-Sentinel article from April details the tough status the Brewers were in at AAA this year, with little hope for a move until 2020.

 

A separate J-S notes column includes this text:

 

Manatees moving: The Brewers' high Class A Brevard County affiliate is expected to move to a new venue in the Florida State League in 2017, most likely Osceola County Stadium. With the Washington Nationals moving to a new spring training site in West Palm Beach, Space Coast Stadium in Viera is expected to be designated for use other than affiliated baseball.

 

"They are going to need to relocate," said Gord Ash, the Brewers vice president for special projects. "We keep hearing Osceola."

 

The Brewers' player development contract with Brevard County expires after this season but they wish to keep their high Class A affiliate in the FSL. Therefore, they would seek to follow the Manatees to Osceola.

 

In likelihood, Ash was in a no-win situation, the Manatees knew that even before Kissimmee became a reality, they would be somewhere in Central Florida, which certainly piqued the interest of the Braves.

 

So it's a little unfair, but since his name is associated with the affiliate relationships, he becomes a bit of a fall guy for the fandom here on the forums.

[patrickgpe]

Why was Gord at fault for the Nashville Sounds no longer being a Brewers affiliate?

there is no blame towards gord on that. I think the frustration is that he was assigned to be in charge of "special projects" which was implied to improve their minor league affiliate outlook and the brewers are on the verge of the worst 2 affiliates in baseball.

[balsamlaker]

Lancaster should not be considered one of the worst affiliates in baseball. Homers do fly out of the park in the desert, but it may also be the nicest park in the California League and likely much nicer than the Carolina Mudcats park. Colorado Springs has the double negative (that does not make a positive) of being very hitter-friendly and a bad park besides. Helena is not much better. Both of these teams (Colorado Springs and Helena) are owned by the same company.

[patrickgpe]

from my point of view, i do not care about the quality of the park, only the fairness of the park and how well the brewers can gauge hitters and pitchers.

[CheezWizHed]

I didn't say Colorado Springs ruined Hader, just Lopez. But I do stand by that. No, FB control can't be blamed on Colorado Springs air. But lack I

of break on a CB can. And once the cycle begins, and confidence is lost, it can lead to other problems.

 

Just because higher results at Colorado Springs is expected doesn't mean it doesn't get in a pitcher's head anyway.

 

TheCrew summarized something I've tried to say in the past, but I think he summarized it better.

 

CS isn't an easy place to pitch and it adds stress to a pitcher. Take away a favorite pitch (CB) and see what the pitcher can do to compensate or manage. Hader seemed to adjust (not great, but he was adjusting at the end), but Lopez couldn't. CS exposed his lack of FB control. And perhaps a need to work on his mental adjustments, too.

 

CS isn't my ideal environment for AAA development (hitting especially), but if you have lemons, make lemonade; focus on using CS's strengths in developing players instead. Hopefully, coaches set the expectations when a pitcher comes to AAA (expect more hits and giving up more runs) as well as a plan of attack due to the thin air (focus on spotting FB, use a change-up, fewer CBs).

 

Once a pitcher gets to MLB, it only gets more difficult. Playing in any MLB ballpark (against MLB players) is going to be more difficult than playing at AAA CS.

[logan82]

Sheets could spot a fastball pretty well but when you took away his CB he wasn't anywhere near as good. You can talk about spotting your fastball but it's more than that. CS is going to make good pitchers look bad.

[Greenleaf1]

For what it's worth, both Davies and Guerra started the year at Colorado Springs. They weren't there long, but Guerra struggled, Davies didn't.

 

When Davies was called up, he struggled for a bit and figured it out. Guerra came up and was, for the most part, pretty good right away.

 

Peralta struggled mightily in the majors, then was no better at CS, at least results wise. Obviously he had made some improvements as evidenced by how he looks like an entirely different guy now, but the results at CS were still bad.

 

CS will affect every player differently, but I can't help but wonder if the increased difficulties at CS might not help a little bit for pitchers to prepare for the dramatic increase in difficulty that it is between pitching to AAA hitters and pitching to big league hitters.

 

I still think we're better off getting out of Colorado Springs, but Jungmann was struggling before getting sent down, and Lopez could've just had a bad year (he still struggled a lot after his demotion to AA, and he struggled on the road in AAA too).

[Mass Haas]

From Baseball America's Matt Eddy's Transaction update 12/24:

 

The Tigers have searched far and wide for minor league depth this offseason by signing players from the top leagues in Mexico (Travis Blackley, Waldis Joaquin, Arcenio Leon), Japan (Jake Brigham) and Korea (Jim Adduci, Collin Balester) leagues. Detroit had success with this a year ago when they brought first baseman Chad Huffman back after two years in Japan. He hit .286/.387/.505 with 17 home runs at Triple-A Toledo in 2016.

 

Detroit also signed veteran glove man Brendan Ryan, slugging third baseman Gabriel Quintana (20 homers at Double-A San Antonio) and 2010 first-rounder Zack Cox, who hit .290/.348/.452 in 96 games in the independent American Association.

 

***

 

Just speculation, but there were enough inklings from press reports in Toledo last fall that the Tigers' continued terrible AAA performance might finally, finally, tempt Mud Hen management to break with their decades-long affiliation with Detroit.

 

As we know, that did not happen.

 

But this new somewhat unique tact to fortify a weak upper-level system may be partly in response to that.

 

I don't plan on obsessing about Toledo's record the next two years, but if it's "more of the same", then it remains one of the better chances at an escape route from Colorado Springs (no offense to our friends with the Sky Sox or their fans).

[clancyphile]

For what it's worth, both Davies and Guerra started the year at Colorado Springs. They weren't there long, but Guerra struggled, Davies didn't.

 

When Davies was called up, he struggled for a bit and figured it out. Guerra came up and was, for the most part, pretty good right away.

 

Peralta struggled mightily in the majors, then was no better at CS, at least results wise. Obviously he had made some improvements as evidenced by how he looks like an entirely different guy now, but the results at CS were still bad.

 

CS will affect every player differently, but I can't help but wonder if the increased difficulties at CS might not help a little bit for pitchers to prepare for the dramatic increase in difficulty that it is between pitching to AAA hitters and pitching to big league hitters.

 

I still think we're better off getting out of Colorado Springs, but Jungmann was struggling before getting sent down, and Lopez could've just had a bad year (he still struggled a lot after his demotion to AA, and he struggled on the road in AAA too).

 

I agree that every pitcher is unique. That said, CS or an affiliate like it can be useful in helping find some pitching gem. If someone has a lower-than-average ERA there, it may be a very positive sign for them.

 

Similarly, I think it would be helpful to catch if a hitter needs more seasoning.

[MadThinker88]

Two more years until the Crew can try moving to another location (& I highly recommend they do move).

 

It will be interesting to watch numerous AAA relationships and see if ANYONE will be interested in leaving their current slot for Colorado Springs while the Crew affiliate moves to another location..

[clancyphile]

Two more years until the Crew can try moving to another location (& I highly recommend they do move).

 

It will be interesting to watch numerous AAA relationships and see if ANYONE will be interested in leaving their current slot for Colorado Springs while the Crew affiliate moves to another location..

 

The Rockies, maybe?

 

It would closely mimic the dynamics of Coors Field.

[Mass Haas]

The Rockies, maybe?

 

It would closely mimic the dynamics of Coors Field.

 

They've kind of been there, done that, clancyphile. That's why the Brewers are there.

[MadThinker88]

Two more years until the Crew can try moving to another location (& I highly recommend they do move).

 

It will be interesting to watch numerous AAA relationships and see if ANYONE will be interested in leaving their current slot for Colorado Springs while the Crew affiliate moves to another location..

 

The Rockies, maybe?

 

It would closely mimic the dynamics of Coors Field.

 

To the Rockies credit, they spent 20 years there before departing.

IMHO, no other franchise wants to be in Colorado Springs, looking upon it as the very bottom of the AAA affiliate locations.

[logan82]

Two more years until the Crew can try moving to another location (& I highly recommend they do move).

We said that two years ago. CS is a horrible place to have a AAA affiliate.

[JohnBriggs12]

I still don't understand why Attanasio doesn't invest in a stadium 75 miles to the west in Madison for the Brewers AAA home. Do the Brewers fear it would be too popular and diminish home attendance at Miller Park?

[brewmann04]

I have a feeling we be in Col springs much longer than 2 years

[MadThinker88]

I still don't understand why Attanasio doesn't invest in a stadium 75 miles to the west in Madison for the Brewers AAA home. Do the Brewers fear it would be too popular and diminish home attendance at Miller Park?

 

Overall not a bad idea, but even if the club/ MA was interested in doing that (there are various hurdles/ issues on that), the politics of the PCL losing the location in Colorado still needs to be addressed.

 

Somewhere earlier in this thread (or in the newspaper links embedded) it was noted how the PCL wishes to keep a club there for scheduling and traveling purposes.

[MadThinker88]

Texas & Cleveland have played a couple split-squad games (Friday night & today) in San Antonio. The Alamo Dome was converted for the games & it appears there are very good crowds, even with NCAA tourney games this weekend.

 

Dimensions are strange and there are some ground rules like in Tampa (ball of the scoreboard is live) but its interesting to watch and experience. One Tribe announcer likened it to the old Exhibition Stadium setup in Toronto before SkyDome was built..

 

Just thinking out of the box here: perhaps a club could play there for 1 season while a true baseball park is being built. If others could see parts of these games and comment, I would be interested in reading their thoughts...

[Mr Southpaw]

Link

 

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Baseball-in-Alamodome-is-a-home-run-with-the-fans-4396187.php#photo-4400936

[paul253]

The problem with a move to San Antonio is you'd figure they'd dump us ASAP in favor of either Houston or Texas and we'd get the shaft again. A move to Madison would be ideal and I don't see why the PCL would be against it. Nobody wants to be in Colorado Springs and thats not really fair to the franchise. Plus, they could remain in the same division and while trips to Omaha and OKC may be a bit longer the trip to Iowa would be much shorter. Trips from San Antonio to Omaha and Iowa would be a haul.

 

That being said I've always believed Mark A is looking first and foremost at this whole thing financially. That's why it took him so long to give into this obvious need to rebuild. If it doesn't make sense financially for him to buy the Sky Sox and move them to Madison then he's not going to do it.

[jerichoholicninja]

Link

 

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Baseball-in-Alamodome-is-a-home-run-with-the-fans-4396187.php#photo-4400936

 

That game and article are 4 years old.

[Mr Southpaw]

Link

 

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Baseball-in-Alamodome-is-a-home-run-with-the-fans-4396187.php#photo-4400936

 

That game and article are 4 years old.

 

I can't help the games happened 4 years ago. I was just giving some data to help MadThinker's point, Jeez!