Minor League (Triple A) affiliation changes for 2009

This was a post I have been meaning to write for a little while ago. I'd probably write more about the minors if I knew more! Anyway, there are a few changes worth noting. I'll start with Triple A.

The Syracuse Chiefs are now the Triple A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. Their triple A club prior was the Columbus Clippers for 2007 and 2008. The Jays end their long 31 year affiliation with them, and now have the Las Vegas 51s. I mentioned this in a past post. That won't be too convenient unless the Jays are playing on the West Coast. The 51s were the Dodgers affiliate from 2001 - 2008.

The Dodgers now have the Albuquerque Isotopes (named after the Simpsons episode where the Springfield Isotopes were supposed to move to Albuquerque). They were the Marlins affiliate before that, from 2003 - 2008. Said Simpsons (Hungry, Hungry Homer) episode aired March 4, 2001. At that point the Albuquerque Isotopes were still the Calgary Cannons. On another note, Canada should have more minor league ball, not to mention major league ball (*cough*Montreal*cough*), maybe the World Baseball Classic will help bring more ball back to Canada, as that is the goal of the tourney, or one of. That and when Selig leaves, but this all deserves a post of its own.

So the Marlins have a better affiliate now geographically, the New Orleans Zephyrs. They were affiliated with the Mets for 2007 and 2008, Nationals for 2005 and 2006, and the Astros from 1997 - 2004 (to go a little ways back). They were the first professional team to return after Hurricane Katrina (from Wikipedia). I actually helped with that Wikipedia article around that time! Anyway...

The Mets now have the Buffalo Bisons as their Triple A squadron. It was a possibility that the Jays would get Buffalo, but I suppose that obviously did not work out, or happen. They were the Indians affiliate from 1995 - 2008. So now the Indians have the Columbus Clippers.

I think that covers it. I will end this post now, and cover more affiliation changes soon. I had a lot of help from this article, Baseball affiliation changes don’t follow the script, and accompanying graphic!

Major League Baseball Spring Training 2009

With Spring Training 2009 getting underway, I updated my little Google Maps mashup, hopefully I will get around to make it somewhat better, but it works anyway.

MLB Spring Training 2009

So a few changes were made since last year. Most notable is the Dodgers leaving Vero Beach and Holman Stadium for the Cactus League. Spring training was held in Dodgertown for 61 seasons, from 1948 to 2008. Going back to when they were still in Brooklyn. Their brand new Cactus League park is Camelback Ranch in Glendale, just outside Phoenix.

The Cleveland Indians are the other team leaving the Grapefruit League for the Cactus League. There new location in Arizona is the Goodyear Park in Goodyear, AZ. They are returning to the Cactus League after 16 seasons in Florida. They were in Winter Haven, Florida, at the Chain of Lakes Park.

The Tampa Bay rays move slightly south, from St. Petersburg to Port Charlotte. They move to the "newly renovated state-of-the-art" Charlotte Sports Park after having been in the Progress Energy Park, Home of Al Lang Field.

The Chicago White Sox move from Tucson to Phoenix (Glendale to be more specific) to share Camelback Ranch with the Dodgers.

So now in 2009 the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues are closer to the same number of teams. In 2008 there were 18 teams in Florida, and obviously 12 in Arizona, now however the ratio is 16 to 14. Next year the Cincinnati Reds will leave the Grapefruit League, and join the Indians in Goodyear.

For the geeks: Maps showing each teams move in plain old Google Maps (as I don't have the javascript knowledge to do a DIY site!).

Los Angeles Dodgers: Vero Beach, Florida to Glendale, Arizona.
Cleveland Indians: Winter Haven, Florida to Goodyear, Arizona.
Tampa Bay Rays: St. Petersburg to Port Charlotte.
Chicago White Sox: Tucson to Glendale.

Baseball Blog of the Moment feature

For a while now I have had the baseball blog of the moment feature to the right. Anyway, thought I'd write a few sentences about it now. Basically it is a link to a good (or noteworthy) baseball blog I came upon. Also, I add the link to blog links below, working on my 'blogroll'.

So I just featured a couple 'Hot Stove' blogs, as this is the time for free agent wheeling and dealing. Now they can be found below. Now I am featuring Uni Watch. It is not solely a baseball blog, but features everything you can imagine about uniforms, logos, and so on. Click on MLB, or Minor League Baseball under categories to get to those specific posts.