The Loop
The New York Yankees just ended their 22-year Staten Island Yankees affiliation without notice and Staten Island is PISSED
This weekend, the tectonic plates of New York baseball could be heard groaning. Windows rattled, picture frames fell, car alarms blared for miles. This was the sound of a seismic baseball power shift in Gotham, and we’re not talking about Steve Cohen buying the Mets. We’re talking about the shocking, out-of-the-blue severing of 22-year-old ties between the New York Yankees and Staten Island Yankees that sent reverberations throughout the local baseball community on Saturday.
That’s a lot to digest, but essentially, as part of Rob Manfraud’s big minor-league contraction grift, the Evil Empire was forced to consolidate their squadrons, and unfortunately Staten Island, a Yankees’ affiliate since their inauguration in 1999, didn’t make the cut. Instead, just like everyone else in New York right now, they high-tailed it north to the Hudson Valley, where they will convert the Renegades into their Single High-A Affiliate. “As the number of our minor-league teams have been limited,” the Yankees said of the decision, “we did not have confidence that the organization [Staten Island Yankees] could continue to allow us to develop players in the best possible way.” If that sounds like it might sting, well, it did.
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That, folks, is the sound of a VERY pissed off baseball team. And can you blame them? According to their statement, they didn’t even find out they’d been dumped by the Yankees until hearing about the Pinstripes’ new squeeze on Twitter. We don’t know if that’s the end of professional minor league baseball on Staten Island. We don’t if the Yankees will make good on their promise of finding a new MLB suitor for New York City’s Tasmania. But we do know this:
If you come at Staten Island, you best not miss. Capisce?