So it’s now definite that Ottawa will have a AA Eastern League team, but what’s not definite is what team will be making the move across the border.  There are reports that the Binghamton Mets will be moving to Ottawa, but until all approvals are in place, those involved won’t say that is the case.

If that does happen, it will be interesting to see how the affiliations play out.  It would make the most sense for the Blue Jays to have their AA affiliate in Ottawa instead of New Hampshire, but they would be leaving a never facility for the newly upgraded stadium in Ottawa.  None of this can happen until September, but there is rampant speculation that this will be the case and the logical progression would have the Mets going to New Britain and the Twins going to New Hampshire.

I also think there could be movement with the Blue Jays and Mets at the AAA level as the Blue Jays should push hard for Buffalo, with the Mets trying to secure Rochester or Syracuse, and if they get squeezed out ending up in Las Vegas.  I think the Mets would be a better fit in the sin city than the Blue Jays, but I’m sure they would be pretty displeased with that scenario.

The other puzzle piece that would fall into place would be Binghamton gaining a NY-Penn League team as the Batavia Muckdogs would take their spot.  Batavia has been looking for a new home for a while, so this would be a good fit.  While right now that team is a Cardinals affiliate, the PDC does expire in 2012, and at this point could become almost any team’s affiliate.  But some of the more logical options like the Mets, Yankees or Blue Jays won’t be happening because those teams are already under contract elsewhere.

The Hagerstown Suns have signed a letter of intent to relocate to Winchester, VA for the 2013 season.  A new stadium will be built for the team.  While the two cities aren’t that far away, they probably aren’t close enough for current season ticket holders to maintain their status at the new stadium and they would be more likely to follow the Frederick Keys since they would be closer.

There have been rumors for years that the Suns might be moving because they play in one of the older stadiums, so it looks like that is finally happening.

This news comes right after the possible move of the Lynchburg Hillcats to Wilmington, NC and Ottawa has announced that they will be fielding an Eastern League team in 2013, but have yet to announce what team that is (although it is rumored to be the Binghamton Mets).

The Braves are looking at putting their High A affiliate in Wilmington, North Carolina and the way they would make that happen would be to purchase the Lynchburg Hillcats and move the franchise.  Wilmington is working on plans to build a new stadium which would be ready for the 2014 season.  The Braves own all of their other affiliates, so this would complete their set.

I think that if this were to happen that the South Atlantic League or Appalachian League would be a good fit to take their place.  There has been talk about the SAL teams in Savannah and Hagerstown looking for new homes for years, so this could be a possibility.  And if that didn’t work out, I’m sure that one of the Appalachian League teams would love to have a facility like that which had a significant renovation for the 2004 season.  I also think that this would renew discussion about moving two teams from the California League to the Carolina League because two stadiums that had Carolina League teams in 2011 (Lynchburg and Kinston) would be available.

There is still a lot that needs to happen here, so don’t count on this just yet.

The Lowell Spinners have extended their player development contract with the Red Sox to 2014.  This is another affiliation which I don’t think will be changing anytime soon.  The Spinners always draw crowds and there’s no way that either side would want to break this.

For Short Season A, currently there are 17 of 22 PDCs that expire at the end of 2012.

http://minorleaguesource.com/pdc.html

The Greenville Drive have extended their player development contract with the Red Sox to 2016.  There shouldn’t have been any doubt about this one, just look at the left field wall.

For Low A, currently there are 20 of 30 PDCs that expire at the end of 2012.  Even though this is still a pretty high number at this point, most will be renewed before the end of the season.

http://minorleaguesource.com/pdc.html

For AAA, currently there are 15 of 30 PDCs that expire at the end of 2012.  This was the second PDC extension announced this week, and there may be a handful more before the season starts.  And even though half of the AAA player development contracts are set to expire, a good chunk of those will be renewed before September.

http://minorleaguesource.com/pdc.html

For High A, currently there are 13 of 30 PDCs that expire at the end of 2012.

By the way, I do plan on attending a Mudcats game in 2012, most likely in June or July when I can combine it with a trip to see an Appalachian League team, but I have time to figure out what I’m doing.

http://minorleaguesource.com/pdc.html

The Connecticut Tigers have extended their player development contract with Detroit through 2014.  Since they play in one of the largest Short Season A stadiums, I’m sure they are happy with how the team is doing.

For Short Season A, currently there are 18 of 22 PDCs that expire at the end of 2012.  Most of those will be renewed, but with some potential movement with NY-Penn League teams, which I know seems to be a rumor every year, it could influence how the PDC pieces fall into place.

http://minorleaguesource.com/pdc.html

The Ottawa Citizen has had some articles recently talking about how the Eastern League has received permission to explore a franchise move to Ottawa.  The scenario would have the New Hampshire Fisher Cats moving to Ottawa to be the Blue Jays AA affiliate and the Binghamton Mets moving to New Hampshire to be the Mets AA affiliate.  Since both of those teams player development contracts expire at the end of 2012, I don’t think that the affiliation connections would hold in such a manner.  The franchises could move, but as things stand right now, they would be free to negotiate with any team, although you would think that if Ottawa gained a team that they would do their best to become a Blue Jays affiliate.  And if there were no longer a AA team in Binghamton, I could see the Mets showing some interest in New Britain as well.  As usual when reports like this come out, those franchises involved are denying that these have any truth behind them.

There has also been some talk about the Erie SeaWolves looking into moving to Montreal, although it’s unclear which stadium they would play in.  Erie was previously mentioned as a possibility to move to Ottawa as well.

If either or both of these plans were put into motion, part of the arrangement would be a NY-Penn League team moving into Binghamton and/or Erie, where the cities wouldn’t have to worry about the spring weather issues as they would be playing a shorter season from mid-June to Labor Day.  If this were the case, I would expect Batavia and either Jamestown or Vermont to be the most likely teams to make the move.

So while I don’t think that anything could happen until 2013 at the earliest, these kinds of moves need to be finalized far enough in advance that announcements would need to be made sometime soon.

That leaves 16 AAA PDCs that are ending after next season.  Since that’s more than half of the teams, it’s very difficult to speculate how things may play out next year, although I expect most of those 16 to remain with their current affiliation.

http://minorleaguesource.com/pdc.html