Buster T. Bison and his ball club welcome Toronto with open arms, marking the return of the Blue Jays Triple-A affiliate to the International League after a four-year absence.
The new Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays is the Buffalo Bisons. The Buffalo News reports that the two sides have signed off on a two-year Player Development Contract for the 2013 and 2014 seasons.
Buster T. Bison and his ball club welcome Toronto with open arms, marking the return of the Blue Jays Triple-A affiliate to the International League after a four-year absence.
It was widely thought that the Blue Jays and Bisons were originally going to get together after the 2008 season. The openings for the potential partnership were created when Syracuse dropped Toronto as its affiliate after a 31 year-partnership while Buffalo was dumped by Cleveland after a 14-year marriage. Syracuse was frustrated with the fact they suffered eight losing seasons in a row while Cleveland wanted to have its Triple-A club in the state of Ohio - moving to Columbus and its new ballpark. However, the Norfolk Tides threw a wrench into the Jays plans by dropping its longtime affiliate in the New York Mets, despite a last-ditch effort of Norfolk native and Mets third baseman David Wright. The Tides decided to go for a better geographical fit in Baltimore, resulting in the Mets landing Buffalo.
Recency bias probably played a role in the Bisons decision to drop the Mets in favour of the Jays. Though both clubs had three losing seasons out of four with Buffalo and Las Vegas, the Jays snapped its Triple-A losing skid at 11 seasons when Las Vegas posted a 79-64 record this year, good for second place in its division. The Mets only winning season with the Bisons in its four-year partnership came in 2010. The Bisons are also hoping the Blue Jays highly regarded farm system will lead to more winning seasons and an attendance boost at Coca-Cola Field - previously known as Pilot Field, North AmeriCare Park and Dunn Tire Park.
Other factors that may have played a role in delaying this partnership was the anxiety of the Buffalo Bills playing its annual home game in Toronto and the heated rivalry between the Maple Leafs and the Sabres.
The Bisons will host a press conference this Friday afternoon with Jays president/CEO Paul Beeston and general manager Alex Anthopoulos expected to attend.
Cosmo, the Las Vegas 51s mascot, bids farewell to the Blue Jays Triple-A prospects but will get to watch some future New York Mets in action at Cashman Field next season.
The Buffalo Bisons will play its first game under the Blue Jays
banner at home against the Rochester Red Wings, on Thursday, April 4 at
2:05 p.m. That marks the first of a two-game series before the clubs
head to Rochester for the weekend for another two-game set. It was
thought for a while that Rochester was on the verge of dropping
Minnesota as an affiliate, perhaps creating another potential opening
for Toronto, but the Red Wings and Twins did
reach a two-year extension recently to continue its
relationship after the Wings recovered from a tough start to finish at
.500. Instead of flying out to Las Vegas, Blue Jays fans will now be within
driving distance to see the Bisons at home and nearby on the road in
Rochester to start the 2013 season.
Now it's up to the Jays to
provide a winning product on the field for the Bisons. They have two
seasons to make a good first impression.
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