Baseball's minor league affiliate restructuring is affecting two teams along the Hudson River.
The Tri-City ValleyCats learned this week that they were left out of Major League Baseball’s plan to restructure the Minor League system, which eliminates short-season baseball and cuts the number of affiliated teams from 160 to 120. That ends the team's long association with the Houston Astros. The ValleyCats have been with the New York-Penn League since 2002 when they moved from Pittsfield to Troy.
Mayor Patrick Madden says losing the affiliation is a huge disappointment. He adds a ValleyCats game at the Joe Bruno Stadium offered inexpensive family entertainment and a place for social gathering.
"As my kids aged they all got jobs there, doin' cotton candy and Dippin' Dots and things of that nature, so... It was a first job for a lot of kids in the community. So it's a shame. It's a big disappointment, it's a wonderful stadium. The turnout was good, in my estimation. I think it averaged over 4,000 spectators per game over a 10-year period. That's somewhere in the mid 90 percent capacity range. It generated a lot of impact in the local community."
But General Manger Matt Callahan says the team will play again at the Joe.
"We've had some preliminary discussions with some independent professional leagues. Those leagues actually are gonna become partner leagues of Major League Baseball, so we're going to accelerate those conversations over the next couple weeks, and our hope and our intention is to try to gain placement into one of those leagues so we can play here during the 2021 season ."
Callhan says the new season, depending on the league, would begin in April or May, subject to the pandemic and the vaccine rollout.
Heading down the river, the Hudson Valley Renegades held a press conference Thursday celebrating an invitation to become the High-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. The Renegades had been a New York-Penn League affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays and will continue to play at Dutchess Stadium in Fishkill.
Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro addressed Yankees beat reporter Sweeny Murti on the Zoom call:
"Nothing could make us prouder than to affiliate the Hudson Valley Renegades with the most storied and certainly significant baseball francise in American history, the New York Yankees. On the back porch of Yankee Stadium, great players will mold themselves, challenge themselves, and aspire to find their way to the Bronx. Now I'm saying this, Sweeny, as a New York Mets fan myself, but I can tell you today, in the months and weeks ahead, every Dutchess County resident is a New York Yankee."
Officials say new minor league baseball facility standards including a clubhouse upgrade and other improvements are on tap for Dutchess Stadium, which opened in 1994.
