Reality setting in for Tri-city
Team weighing its options as newly independent franchise
The Tri-city Valleycats are quickly learning how to be independent.
That’s their new reality after learning Wednesday that Major League Baseball didn’t invite them to be one of 120 minor league affiliates.
The deflating news severed Tri-city’s connection to MLB after serving for 18 seasons as a Houston Astros farm team.
“We’re regrouping,” general manager Matt Callahan said Thursday. “We’re talking to fans and (corporate) partners that have questions. … We’re starting to dive into a little more depth as to what comes next in the independent league opportunities and where we may go from here.”
He said he believes the area will embrace an independent team after watching Astros prospects since 2002.
“We’ve tried to create a fan experience and atmosphere that are both conducive to baseball but also provides affordable family entertainment,” Callahan said. “We can continue to do that, albeit a different model, but I’m confident our fan base and the market will support it.”
As to whether the Valleycats are considering legal action against MLB, Callahan replied, “We’re keeping all of our options open. I don’t really have more of a comment beyond that.”
Callahan said the Valleycats are in discussions with two independent leagues for next season: The Atlantic League and the Frontier League.
The Atlantic and Frontier each have a
footprint in the Northeast. A third league, the American Association, does not.
“Realistically, it’s probably going to be between the Atlantic League and the Frontier League,” Callahan said. “I would characterize it as mutual interest on both fronts in both leagues. We’re still 24 hours into this, so we’re in the factfinding mode. We’re accelerating that process as we speak, but I can’t really classify if one over the other seems like a better fit right now.”
The Valleycats could make a decision by early January, according to team president Rick Murphy. They could go dark next season and return in 2022, taking COVID -19 into consideration, but Callahan and Murphy both said that’s not their preference.
Atlantic League president Rick White declined to comment. His league is down to six teams after the Somerset Patriots and Sugar Land Skeeters left to become MLB affiliates of the Yankees and Astros, respectively.
Frontier League commissioner Bill Lee said his league is looking to expand beyond its current 15 teams, split into Can-am and Midwestern divisions.
Lee declined to say what the entry fee is for a team to join his league. He said he heard MLB is willing to pay the entry fee to independent leagues on behalf of teams that have lost their affiliation. The Frontier and Atlantic recently became “partner leagues” of MLB.
The fee is typically $3 million for the Atlantic League, which promotes itself as the highest level of professional baseball other than MLB. More than 40 percent of Atlantic League
players have big-league service time, according to the league.
Lee said Frontier League players run the gamut from those fresh out of college to former major leaguers.
While the Valleycats will no longer be affiliated, the caliber of play should be higher in independent ball, Callahan said.
“When we were in the New York-penn League, you had a tremendous amount of talent, but oftentimes, it tends to be pretty raw,” he said. “I think some of these independent leagues, you have players who are a little bit older, a little bit more polished.”
The Atlantic League plays a 140 game schedule — Callahan said they might reduce it slightly — while the Frontier plays 96. Either would be an adjustment for the Valleycats, used to a 76-game schedule in the now-defunct New YorkPenn League.
But the Valleycats will need the extra revenue, Murphy pointed out. They’ll have to pay the players’ and coaches’ salaries, which the Astros handled when Tri-city was affiliated. Murphy said the added expense could be around $300,000. The Valleycats will also have to find and sign players, which was Houston’s responsibility.
On the other hand, the Valleycats will no longer have to pay a ticket tax to MLB when they’re independent.
“If we’re going to have increased costs, I would say having additional games would be advantageous,” Murphy said. “There is a point of diminished return. If you had a lot of games in April and May, given what the weather challenges are in the Northeast, that may not turn out to be advantageous financially.”