OMAR MINAYA: “It’s not only about being in the International League. It’s about being in New York and about the great reputation the Bisons fans and ownership have.”
Bisons, Mets join forces
The New York Mets will be moving to a new home in 2009 when Citi Field opens in what was once a parking lot for Shea Stadium. And they’ll also have a homecoming of sorts in Triple-A as their top farm team is coming to the Empire State.
After two years in New Orleans, the Mets joined forces with the Buffalo Bisons Monday by announcing a two-year player development contract. Bisons operators Bob and Mindy Rich made it official in Dunn Tire Park by giving team jerseys with the number “09” on them to Mets General Manager Omar Minaya and Jeff Wilpon, New York’s chief operating officer.
“For me, it’s not only about being in the International League,” said Minaya. “It’s about being in New York and about the great reputation the Bisons fans and ownership have. . . . We’re here today because of the great reputation that this franchise run by Bob and Mindy have in the game of baseball.”
Bob Rich has had a long relationship with the Wilpon family ownership group dating to Buffalo’s expansion chase in the early ’90s while Rich Baseball Operations President Jon Dandes is a Queens native and unabashed Mets fan. Rich added that the first sympathy note he got from baseball officials following the death of his father in 2006 was from the Wilpon family.
“And I’ve never forgotten that,” Rich said. “It was a chance for me to learn and reflect on this great Mets organization, that we have many shared values as family-run companies.”
“They’re a family business like we’re a family business,” Jeff Wilpon said of the Riches. “The synergy there fit very well very quickly. As soon as I talked to them, it felt like the right place to be.”
The Bisons were certainly putting on the ritz at Pettibones Grille to announce their first change of affiliate after 14 years with the Cleveland Indians.
The Mets logo was on the Bisons Big Board in center field for cars to see as they drove down Oak Street. “Welcome NY Mets” read the line score and the theme song “Meet the Mets” was playing over the stadium loudspeakers.
Mr. Met, the team’s longtime baseball head logo, greeted officials as they headed into the stadium restaurant. On hand was was easily the biggest collection of baseball and political figures in the ballpark’s history.
Gov. David A. Paterson, County Executive Chris Collins and Mayor Byron Brown were on hand to greet the Mets, as were Erie County Legislature Chairwoman Lynn Marinelli and State Senator William Stachowski. So were Buffalo Sabres minority partner Larry Quinn and University at Buffalo Athletics Director Warde Manuel.
Buffalo Public Schools Superintendent James Williams and city Athletics Director Dave Thomas also came with members of the city’s baseball league. For their part, the Mets came with a $25,000 check to the Bisons High School Baseball Program.
“The Mets have been very special for many, many years,” Dandes said. “The ’69 group [that won the World Series]. ‘Choo Choo’ Coleman. Those are the guys I grew up with. So it’s a huge moment to have this storied franchise . . . There’s an elite group of major-league teams we’d always loved to have been associated with. This is that dream.”
The Bisons hope the Mets spend wisely in stocking their team with minor- league free agents and prospects the next two years. Their 14 years with Cleveland featured nine playoff teams but none since 2005.
“Our budget for Triple-A is something we’re comfortable maintaining to get quality ‘4-A’ players to go with the young players that will be here developing,” Minaya said. “I feel comfortable we will put a winning product on the field. We’re committed to getting quality Triple-A players.”
The Bisons will be going to a new logo and new uniforms next season, likely some type of Mets blue. Another change is the use of pitchers hitting instead of the designated hitter in games against National League affiliates. Pitchers will thus hit in 56 of the Bisons’ 144 games.
As for a manager, that remains up in the air. New Orleans skipper Ken Oberkfell became a big-league coach when Willie Randolph was fired in June and his status for 2009 remains uncertain.
Minaya said Oberkfell could return to the big-league staff next year or be penciled for Buffalo. The former Cardinals and Braves third baseman has been New York’s Triple-A manager for four years.
“If he’s not going to be in the major leagues, he is definitely in our estimation lined up to be our Triple-A manager,” Minaya said.
This will actually be the second time the Bisons have affiliated with the Mets. Buffalo was New York’s Triple- A team from 1963-65 at a time when the Mets franchise was in its infancy. Famous Mets legends like Cleon Jones, Ed Kranepool, Ron Swoboda and “Marvelous Marv” Throneberry were on those Buffalo teams.
