Player Development Contracts and Spring Training Updates

Florida Auto Exchange Stadium - ballparkreviews.com photo

  Every two years (in even-numbered years), Player Development Contracts between MLB teams and their minor league affiliates come up for renewal in September.

   In the standard PDC, the MLB team agrees to provide players and coaching staff to the minor league team.  The MiLB team agrees to provide a small-scale MLB experience, with standard training facilities.
The agreement between the two hinges on many aspects, but from the MLB's team point of view, they want a good atmosphere for their prospects to develop in, and the MiLB team wants a good supply of  quality prospects to make the team competitive.

  AAA Buffalo has been a Blue Jays affiliate since 2013, and it has been highly successful relationship for both sides.  The Blue Jays can quickly recall a player from Buffalo, and the team has been very successful both on the field and at the gate during their partnership.  The team drew over 551 000 fans last year, and will come close to that mark again this year.  With prospects like Rowdy Tellez, Reese McGuire, Richard Urena, and Conner Greene likely to be donning Bisons colours at some point next season, Bisons fans on both sides of the border should have plenty of reason to head to Coca-Cola Field, one of the top venues in the minors. Because their affiliation has been so successful, the Blue Jays and Bisons put to rest any doubts about their collective future in early April when they extended their PDC to 2018.

  Toronto is the only MLB affiliation the AA New Hampshire Fisher Cats have known since coming into existence in 2014.  There was talk a few years ago about the Blue Jays switching affiliation in the event of a shift of an existing Eastern League team to Ottawa, and while several prospective ownership groups offered to run the team, no one (including Ottawa City Council) stepped forward to fund necessary stadium improvements.  New Hampshire has been competitive as a Blue Jays affiliate as well, wining a pair of league titles since their inception.  Both sides agreed to a four-year extension in May of 2014.

  Dunedin is owned by the Blue Jays, so there is no PDC coming up for renewal between the two sides.

  Lansing has been another highly successful partnership, dating back to 2005.  It's a little surprising that no extension has been announced (often, they aren't - they just continue) to date, but indications are that both sides are pleased with their agreement.  Lansing is fairly easy to access for Blue Jays roving instructors and front-office executives.  Cooley Law Stadium is a top-notch facility, and the team draws well.  One has to feel for Lansing fans, however, because by being on the bottom of the full season ladder in the system, they often are the first to lose players to promotion.  With the Lugs fighting for a playoff spot as the season winds down, they likely would be headed to the post-season if the still had some or all of promoted players like Jon Harris, Francisco Rios, Sean Reid-Foley, or Max Pentecost, but that is the reality of life in the minors. Toronto did airlift in high profile June draftees like Cavan Biggio, Josh Palacios, J.B. Woodman, and T.J. Zeuch to help with the playoff push, which is good, because the Lansing fans deserved it.

  Vancouver is the Blue Jays' top short season affiliate, and the pairing has been a runaway success since it started in 2011.  It's a natural match in many ways - it helps to grow the Blue Jays brand, and it gives prospects a taste of living in Canada, albeit a brief one.  The C's won the Northwest League title in their first three years as a Blue Jays farm team, and made it to the final in the 4th, but missed the playoffs last year, and are headed to one of their worst finishes of all time as a NWL franchise.  Additions to venerable Nat Bailey Stadium have allowed Vancouver to become the league's runaway attendance leader this year (setting a franchise attendance record in the process, averaging over 6 000 fans per game), but the quality of prospects the team was provided has fallen short, with starting pitching being a huge concern.  One of Mark Shapiro's first acts in 2016 was to get Canadians' ownership to agree to a PDC extension to 2018. Let's hope the team can be competitive next year, because the C's fan base is deserving of it as well.

  Bluefield is the other PDC that is up for renewal.  The town had a long relationship with the Orioles before becoming a Toronto affiliate in 2011.  The Appalachian League is a nice buffer between the complex leagues and short season play, and there have been no suggestions from either side that there are problems in their relationship.  It's reasonable to assume that it will continue.
  From a purely personal standpoint, it would be nice one day to see a Blue Jays affiliate in the New York-Penn League (which, over half a century ago, was known as the Pennsylvania Ontario New York - PONY - league).  The NY-Penn league is a short season loop on par with the Appy League, and Toronto did have a franchise there for a number of years based in St Catharines, ON, but a declining Canadian dollar saw the team move to Queens, NY for the 2000 season.
 
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   The Blue Jays have known only one spring training site since their first spring almost 40 years ago.
Times have changed, and the club has looked at other sites in Florida and possibly Arizona over the past few years, as talks with the City of Dunedin have lagged.  The club would like a new facility - currently, the minor league complex and Florida Auto Exchange Stadium are about a 10-15 (depending on traffic) bus ride away. With other teams in the Tampa area having had huge sums of cash thrown at them over the past decade to remain in the region with upgraded, all-at-one-site complexes, the Blue Jays would like to have a similar one.
  The current agreement between the two sides expires in 2017, and talks have been quietly ongoing to broker a new deal.  The city, of course, would like the team to stay - reports suggest the six weeks of spring training has an economic impact of about $85 million.  The Blue Jays, for their part, would like a considerable upgrade to either FAES or the minor league complex.  Both sides seem to have reached the conclusion that a "one address" site probably is not feasible in Dunedin.  The question becomes which facility will receive upgrades, and how will they be paid for.
   FAES, originally named Grant Field, was built in 1990, and seats 5 000.  The website ballparkdigest.com calls the park, "outdated yet charming,"  but it pales in comparisons to the aesthetics and amenities of other stadiums in the area.  Its landlocked location limits parking, there is no concourse, and the facility's infrastructure is outdated.  The Florida State League Dunedin Blue Jays draw sparse crowds that number in the hundreds, and while FAES is a good place to watch a game, it does feel on the antiquated side.
   There are some quaint features to the stadium.  Located just blocks from the waterway which separates the mainland from Clearwater Beach and the Gulf of Mexico, the park is in a very picturesque setting.  Both teams have to walk down their respective base lines to get to their clubhouses, giving fans ample access for autographs.  Quite a group gathers down the right field line to see their Blue Jays heroes, and the players seem to enjoy interacting with the fans.

A block west of FAES stadium - Clutchlings photo

  The city is in the process to applying to local and state sources of funding to secure financing for the project, and a group of city officials met with the Blue Jays in Toronto in late July.  Megan Reeves of the Tampa Bay Times writes that an announcement from the city should be forthcoming sometime in the next few weeks.   It does appear that funding will be available, but as with most government processes, it takes some time to secure.
   The Blue Jays, for their part, understand the history of their team and Dunedin, and also realize how accessible the city is for Canadians.  Spring training has become an important marketing vehicle for the team, and relocating (especially to Arizona) would hamper those efforts.
   The short take on this is that the Blue Jays will not have their spring training and minor league complexes under one roof, but significant changes should be coming to one of them, meaning that the team will remain in Dunedin.  Word should be coming sometime in the next month about what those changes will look like.

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  Just before hitting the "publish" button, I noticed that Lansing RHP Jordan Romano, who threw a lights-out 10Ks over 6 IP in his last start, went on the 7-day DL.  He was removed from the 7th inning of that start for precautionary reasons, and said he felt fine and wouldn't miss his next turn in the rotation, but with Romano coming back this season from Tommy John surgery, and at a career-high 100 innings, the club opted to shut him down.  The move was retroactive to August 27th.
  Romano threw a bullpen session with no ill effects yesterday, and will likely come off the DL and pitch in a piggyback situation before the season ends.
  The club and Romano, a Markham, ON native, have to be thrilled with his first full season, and his first one as a starter to boot.  Romano missed all of 2015, and went 3-2 with a 2.17 ERA in 14 starts for the Lugnuts.  He struck out 69 in 70 IP, allowing only 48 hits.  Midwest League hitters managed only a .192 batting average against him.

Clutchlings Notebook - Playoff Hunt Edition

Vladimir Guerrero Jr - milb.com photo

      Minor league playoff races, in terms of excitement, don't generate a whole lot of buzz beyond the cities and leagues involved, but they hearken back somewhat to the golden age of the minors, when teams acted as independent entities, and were very much in competition with big league teams for players and the entertainment dollar.  As the season winds down, four Blue Jays affiliates are in a playoff position at the moment.

   The GCL Blue Jays, who perform in front of a small gathering of scouts, family, and girlfriends with no video scoreboards, walk-up music, or between-innings in-game entertainment, sit atop the Northwest Division standings with a league-best 36-13 record, but are separated by only percentage points from the GLC Phillies.  In the abbreviated GCL playoff format, only the four division winners qualify, pairing off in a one-game semi-final with the winners meeting in a best of three final.  The Jays have had to do without their leading hitter, 2nd round pick Bo Bichette, who had his appendix removed in late July.  The infielder was tearing apart the GCL in his pro debut, slashing .421/.440/.744.  There is no word on his return, but with 10 games left in the season, his bat would give the lineup a huge boost.  Last year, the club made it to the league final with one of the more veteran teams in the loop, but they are one of the youngest this year, and have the second-youngest pitching staff.

  If Bichette had remained healthy, he might have moved up to Bluefield of the Appalachian League, forming a potent 1-2 punch in the lineup with 3B Vladimir Guerrero Jr.  Bluefield currently sits in 2nd in the Appy League's East Division, a game back of Burlington, and a half game ahead of Princeton.  The top 2 teams in each division make the post-season.  The club lost leading hitter Nash Knight when he was promoted to Vancouver, but there is still plenty of pop in the lineup - Bluefield leads the league in Home Runs with 50.

   The Low A Lansing Lugnuts also occupy a playoff position at the moment, a half game ahead of both Great Lakes and 1.5 games up on Lake County for the second (and final) Eastern Division playoff spot.  Full season teams see a lot of players come and go, and such is the case with Lansing, who have seen Francisco Rios, Jon Harris, and now Max Pentecost move on to Dunedin.

  Dunedin also is in a playoff spot at the moment, sitting atop the Florida State League's North Division, thanks to a 7-game winning streak.  The D-Jays lost SS Richard Urena to New Hampshire earlier this month, but still have the organization's top prospect in rebounding OF Anthony Alford.

   Playoff participation is something of a double-edge sword for MLB farm departments.  On the one hand, the pressure is a good experience for their prospects, but with some of their younger pitchers already having exceeded their career highs in innings pitched, Managers have to have one eye on the pitch count as well as one on the scoreboard.  Already, Rios has been moved to Dunedin's pen to preserve his arm, and other starters like Ryan Borucki, who has found himself with Lansing this year, are seeing their pitch counts reduced as the season winds down.  Similarly, especially with some of the Lansing roster, many players are in their first year of full season ball, and are wearing down as well.  Still, especially for the top prospects, the organization do doubt likes having them take part in the playoffs together.

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   One team that is conspicuous by its absence from the post-season for the second straight year is Vancouver.  The C's won the Northwest League title in their first three seasons as a Jays affiliate, and made it to the final in their fourth.  The partnership with the Jays has been wildly successful, and the C's lead the NWL in attendance by almost an average of 1 000 fans a game.
   For the second straight year, however, the C's are mostly devoid of top prospects.  Roberto Osuna, Kevin Pillar, Aaron Sanchez, Marcus Stroman, and the departed Franklin Barreto have all spent time in YVR, but the only high profile prospect to adorn the lineup this year was P Justin Maese, who was promoted to Lansing a month ago.
   The C's are next to last in the league in batting average and ERA.  Thanks to the Shaw Cable network, select Saturday night home games are televised - the quality is decent, and you have to love the high camera angle on plays at 1st Base.  After watching a few Shaw games, as well as some at Hillsboro, which provides an milb.tv feed, it's been possible for Eastern Canadians to catch a glimpse of the C's, and get a read on some of their players.
   Three players that have stood out are outfielders Josh Palacios and J.B. Woodman, and SS Yeltsin Gudino.  Palacios, a 4th round pick in June, looks like a 110m hurdler, and his athleticism will no doubt translate well as he gains experience.  Woodman, the team's 2nd round pick, has bat speed but a bit of a long swing, and has struck out in 31% of his ABs.  Gudino, a prized IFA signing from 2013, is slick at shortstop, with good hands and a quick release.  The question has always been about his bat, and while his .214/.328/.244 line has done nothing to quell that, he shows quick hands and makes contact.  At 19, he's fared reasonably well against higher competition after failing to crack the Mendoza line in his previous two minor league stops. C Javier Hernandez is probably another name worth mentioning.  He has already drawn praise for his defensive work from previous seasons, but he's not produced a great deal offensively.
   Fielding a competitive NWL team can be difficult.  The league is filled with recent college grads, most of whom were mid-level draftees.  These players tend to produce well in short season ball, but have low ceilings.  In order to stock an NWL team, an organization has to risk some of its picks on this type of player. Ryan McBroom was among the most successful of these, but this year, the organization has opted to place younger players, like Gudino, Hernanedez, and 3B Bryan Lizardo in Vancouver, and while they ultimately may have higher ceilings, they've mostly struggled against the advanced NWL pitching.
   Still the fans in Vancouver deserve more.  The Blue Jays in the past have liked sending their top prospects there, to give them a taste of life in Canada.  With strong entries in Bluefield and the GCL this year, hopefully that will translate into a more successful C's team next year.

Monday Notebook

  

One next-to-last edition of the Monday Notebook is here for you, Blue Jays Prospect Fans..

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 As the minor league season entered its final weekend, three Blue Jays affiliates were in contention for a playoff spot.
   The Vancouver Canadians clinched the second half Northern Division title in the Northwest League by virtue of a victory over Spokane, the first half champs.
  Vancouver played some inconsistent ball over the second half, but made what is becoming for them a patented run in the last week of the season, and clinched a playoff birth against Spokane on Sunday.  They open their first round series against - you guessed it - Spokane today.
   Buffalo was well back of a playoff spot over a month ago.  Bolstered by the additions of Dalton Pompey, Daniel Norris, and Kendall Graveman from AA, and the return of Cole Gillespie and acquisition of Matt Hague, the Bisons went 24-9 in one stretch, and even briefly overtook Pawtucket for the final playoff spot.  The Bisons entered the final weekend of play needing to sweep playoff-bound Syracuse for the wild card spot, but fell short on Sunday.  Despite a perfect game through 5 and a no-hitter through six by the newly promoted Paolo Espino, the Bisons scored runs in the 7th, 8th, and 9th to tie the contest, only to lose on a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 9th.
   Lansing entered the weekend with a shot at a wild card spot, but failed to make the Midwest League playoffs.
  Dunedin already clinched a spot in the post-season by winning their first half Florida State League division title.  Even though they stumbled a bit down the stretch, the D-Jays are anchored by a rotation of Matt Boyd, Taylor Cole, and Roberto Osuna/Miguel Castro, and have a decent shot at a title.


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   Late last night, our Twitter feed was exploding with news of Blue Jays promotions.  Pompey, Graveman, and Norris were promoted, according to Sportsnet's Shi Davidi, along with Sean Nolin, George Kottaras, Ryan Goins, Dan Johnson, Anthony Gose, and a rehabbing Brendan Morrow.  There has been no confirmation yet from the Blue Jays, and we admit that we're surprised that AJ Jimenez was not part of that group.  Stay tuned....

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   We've been meaning to look into this for a while, but we give a tip of the hat to fellow Blue Jays prospect follower Minor Leaguer for pointing out the the Blue Jays Player Development Contracts with two of their minor league affiliates expire at the end of this season.
 
   The vast majority of minor league teams are owned by private or community interests.  Toronto owns only one of its minor league clubs outright, its Dunedin club in the Advanced A Florida State League.  PDCs usually come up for renewal every other September in even years.

   The Blue Jays PDCs with the Low A Lansing Lugnuts and the Rookie Level Bluefield Blue Jays come up for renewal next month.  A number of minor league teams have already renewed or switched affiliations, but the Blue Jays have yet to give any indication about their plans. The Jays have been affiliated with Bluefield since 2010, and Lansing since 2005.

   In case you're wondering, the Blue Jays have a PDC with Buffalo through 2016.  Even though there was a glimmer of hope they might switch affiliates if Ottawa's city council had voted if favour of stadium improvements in order to house an Eastern League team, the Jays re-upped with New Hampshire until 2016 as well.  The Jays also have a PDC with Vancouver, their short season affiliate, until 2016.  All three have solid local ownership, and draw well.  The 90 minute drive from Buffalo to Toronto is a huge benefit. The partnership with Vancouver has been wildly successful, and has helped to grow the Blue Jays brand in B.C.

   Would the Jays consider moving one or both of their expiring affiliations?  We can't see it in the case of Lansing.  The Lugnuts play in a great stadium, draw well despite fielding losing teams the past several seasons, and is only a 4 1/2 - 5 hour drive away from Toronto, making it the closest of the 8 other teams in the Midwest League which  have PDCs coming up for renewal.   One drawback of Lansing's northern location is that prospects who were raised in temperate climates sometimes struggle in the cold temperatures of the season's opening weeks.
   As for Bluefield, they don't draw as well, but they have been relatively successful in the Blue Jays short time there, after being an Orioles affiliate for decades.
    Other factors, such as quality of facilities, proximity to airports and interstates for roving instructors and front office personnel, likely come into play when deciding whether or not to extend a PDC, as does the affiliates' level of satisfaction with the major league club.  Only one other Appy League team has a PDC expiring this year, and only three Pioneer League (the other short season rookie level league) have ones due for renewal.
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   One last note:  we had said in our last post that we thought that if Osuna pitched anywhere this off-season, it would be in Mexico.  We were working off some information we were given that he was a protected player, but obviously that information was false, as the righthander tweeted himself that he was going to the Arizona Fall League.  And we're thrilled, both to see what he can do against some tough competition, and so that we can follow his progress more closely than we likely could if we was pitching in his homeland.