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Do the Sox own any of their minor league affiliates?


nickofypres
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The White Sox own (most of) the Winston-Salem Dash (High-A).

 

One of their two rookie affiliates, the AZL White Sox, are a "complex" team that is team-owned and plays at Camelback. And of course the DSL team is also a complex league team.

 

The other four affiliates - Charlotte (AAA), Birmingham (AA), Kannapolis (A) and Great Falls (Rk) are independently owned.

 

The trend is for teams to buy their affiliates, but it is happening slowly. Not sure of all the benefits and negatives to be honest.

 

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I've noticed that a lot of teams are buying their minor league affiliates now, and a couple seem to be trying to get teams closer to their big league club. I know how nice the Knights stadium is, but I wouldn't hate getting some of the other affiliates closer to Chicago. I might help build up the fan base in the region. I lived in South Bend for a couple years and when the local minor league team became an affiliate of the Cubs, a lot of locals became Cubs fans because they had a team they could both watch on TV and watch players who may one day make it there or big league guys on rehab assignments.

 

A second thing I noticed going over minor league affiliates is that we have fewer minor league teams than most organizations. When you look at the lowest four levels (Short Season A, Rookie, Complex, DSL) we have three teams in these league while the average for the rest of baseball is 3.8 with only 10 other teams having only 3 teams. I think it might be a wise investment to try to get a Short Season A ball team so some of the youngest guys we have can get more live at bats. This could be especially important if we end up going HS heavy in the coming drafts.

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The knights seem like a goldmine and a great setup down there. Believe they led all of minor leagues in attendance for two years before finishing 3rd this year. Sox should not risk losing them if they don't have to. Downtown ballpark in a major city with that view is special. Of course they don't own the park so I'm not sure how that would work.

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QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Oct 12, 2017 -> 06:02 PM)
The knights seem like a goldmine and a great setup down there. Believe they led all of minor leagues in attendance for two years before finishing 3rd this year. Sox should not risk losing them if they don't have to. Downtown ballpark in a major city with that view is special. Of course they don't own the park so I'm not sure how that would work.

 

Yeah, I know Charlotte has a great set up, but what about Kannapolis? There are single-a teams near Chicago in Peoria and Kane County. So I guess you have to weigh the advantages of having a lot of your teams in one area in the Carolinas or having the potential of adding fans by having a minor league team near the big club.

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QUOTE (mac9001 @ Oct 13, 2017 -> 08:44 PM)
There's a new independent minor league ballpark coming to Rosemont. If there was ever an opportunity to buy a team and keep it close to home that might a a decent start.

 

It'd be pretty awesome if we had a team in Rosemont and/or Schaumburg

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QUOTE (Jake @ Oct 15, 2017 -> 07:29 PM)
I would hate running a minor league franchise where good players are always taken away without my having any say in it. It's like how do you convince anyone that the winning and losing matters?

 

I don't think they try to. I think they get fans out by selling the game as a fun experience at a good price. Thats why there are always so many weird promotions you see in the minors.

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QUOTE (GenericUserName @ Oct 12, 2017 -> 06:09 PM)
Yeah, I know Charlotte has a great set up, but what about Kannapolis? There are single-a teams near Chicago in Peoria and Kane County. So I guess you have to weigh the advantages of having a lot of your teams in one area in the Carolinas or having the potential of adding fans by having a minor league team near the big club.

 

The White Sox are on the record as liking having their teams all near each other so that player movement is facilitated to cover day to day injuries and oddities more easily versus having to send players across the country to fill last minute problems.

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QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 16, 2017 -> 07:16 AM)
The White Sox are on the record as liking having their teams all near each other so that player movement is facilitated to cover day to day injuries and oddities more easily versus having to send players across the country to fill last minute problems.

Was just going to add this.

 

The other critical benefit is to allow scouts to travel between locations more easily. Hawk mentioned this in passing during a game relatively late in the season, saying he thought Jerry was nuts at first, but that it has proven to be quite advantageous.

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QUOTE (iamshack @ Oct 16, 2017 -> 05:54 PM)
Was just going to add this.

 

The other critical benefit is to allow scouts to travel between locations more easily. Hawk mentioned this in passing during a game relatively late in the season, saying he thought Jerry was nuts at first, but that it has proven to be quite advantageous.

 

I had thought of the player movement part, but I never considered the scouting part. That makes so much sense. I still wish we had a team near Chicago, I now see the advantages of having them all near each other which is really possible if they were near Chicago.

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QUOTE (iamshack @ Oct 16, 2017 -> 05:54 PM)
Was just going to add this.

 

The other critical benefit is to allow scouts to travel between locations more easily. Hawk mentioned this in passing during a game relatively late in the season, saying he thought Jerry was nuts at first, but that it has proven to be quite advantageous.

 

Yeah the amount of teams in the Carolinas is incredible.

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QUOTE (GoodAsGould @ Oct 14, 2017 -> 09:06 AM)
It'd be pretty awesome if we had a team in Rosemont and/or Schaumburg

 

I thought there was also an Independent minor league team in Gurnee at one time. I know there's a team in Gary.

Edited by Donaldo
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QUOTE (GenericUserName @ Oct 12, 2017 -> 05:20 PM)
I lived in South Bend for a couple years and when the local minor league team became an affiliate of the Cubs, a lot of locals became Cubs fans because they had a team they could both watch on TV and watch players who may one day make it there or big league guys on rehab assignment.

 

The South Bend Silver Hawks were a White Sox affiliate back in the 90s.

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QUOTE (Donaldo @ Oct 25, 2017 -> 08:21 PM)
The South Bend Silver Hawks were a White Sox affiliate back in the 90s.

 

I didn't know that. I wonder what the local baseball team that was broadcasted was at that time? There was more at play than just being an affiliate that made everyone Cubs fan, like changing the name to the Cubs so you could reuse your apparel and a new owner who redid the stadium and promotions. I'm pretty sure they've broken their attendance record each year since then. I believe the owner also use to be a minority owner of the White Sox (who some thought would eventually buy the team from Reinsdorf) but switched to the Cubs when they switched affiliations.

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