Category:

The history of the Buffalo Bisons franchise

10/23/2013

The Buffalo Bisons are currently the AAA home of the Toronto Blue Jays. It is convenient as Toronto is closer to Buffalo than any other MLB team. The team finished with a 74-70 season, its first as an affiliate of the Blue Jays. In New York, they were known as the AAA affiliate for the Mets from 2009-2012. Catchers Josh Thole and Mike Nickeas and outfielder Adam Loewen played for the Bisons in 2012 and 2013 and Miguel Batista played for them in 2011 and 2013. The Bisons have been a AAA affiliate since 1982 and go back well before that.
The Buffalo Bisons were actually a MLB team in the late 1800s. They were a National League from 1879-1885. The team first became involved in minor league baseball in 1886, after they were dropped from the National League. They stayed there until 1899 when they joined the Western League and were thought of as a real possibility to become a major league baseball team when it was announced that the Western League was becoming the American League. However, they were dropped to make room for another team and returned to minor league baseball again. They would remain in Buffalo until the 1970 season. The team moved to Winnipeg, then Virginia, before they ceased existence after the 1973 season.
The Pittsburgh Pirates brought the Buffalo Bisons back for the 1979 season, making them their AA club. They remained the AA affiliate for the Pirates through the 1982 season, when they took over as the AA club for the Cleveland Indians. After spending 1983 and 1984 as the Indians AA team, the Bisons moved to the American Association as the AAA farm team of the Chicago White Sox. They have been a AAA team ever since. The Bisons were the AAA affiliate of the White Sox for 1985 and 1986, then held the same position for the Cleveland Indians for the 1987 season. After that, they returned to the Pirates organization, this time as the AAA team. They remained there from 1988-1994. Buffalo went back to the Indians organization for the 1995 season, and remained there until 2008. The American Association folded after the 1997 season and the Bisons joined the International League for the 1998 season, where they have been ever since. The Mets owned the Bisons for the next four seasons, and now they are the property of the Blue Jays.
They Bisons have been League Champions 6 times. They beat Rochester in 1934, Baltimore in 1936, Miami in 1957, Rochester again in 1961, Durham in 1998 and Richmond in 2004. They played in a total of 10 Championship Series and since 1998, have won their division 4 times.

0 Comments

2010 Padres and what they had that the 2012 Mets don't

7/15/2012

0 Comments

    The 2010 San Diego Padres went 90-72 and just missed making the playoffs. If the 2nd Wild Card existed then like it does now, the Padres would have been in the playoffs. Like the 2012 New York Mets to this point, the Padres were expected to finish last and overachieved for the majority of the season, losing a late September battle to the eventual World Series Champion San Francisco Giants.
    That Padres team had some similarities to the current Mets team. Adrian Gonzalez (.298, 31, 101) was by far their best offensive player just like David Wright is for this Mets team. Though the Dillon Gee injury hurts the Mets now, both teams are and were carried by their starting pitching. The Padres had three starters, Clayton Richard (14-9, 3.75), Jon Garland (14-12, 3.47) and Mat Latos (14-10. 3.92) win 14 games for them while the Mets should expect at least the same from RA Dickey, Johan Santana and Jon Niese. (The fact that Dickey has 12 wins to this point raises the bar higher for the amount of wins he should finish with.) The Padres also got some production from the bottom of their rotation led by contributions from Wade LeBlanc (8-12, 4.25) and Kevin Correia (10-10, 5.40). They got some important starts from Chris Young and Tim Stauffer, similar to how the Mets will need to get some important starts from Matt Harvey, Miguel Batista and perhaps another starter down the stretch.
    Offensively, the current Mets have more to offer. They have power hitters such as Ike Davis and Lucas Duda that the Padres did not have. The 2010 Padres, outside of Gonzalez, were led in HR by Wil Venable's 13 and RBIs by Chase Headley's 58. It is likely, barring a disaster or injury, that Davis and Duda should easily surplant those numbers. So, if the Mets starting pitching could be on par with the Padres of then and the Mets may have a better offensive team, they should do what they can to change the glaring difference between these two teams, THE BULLPEN!
    San Diego had a classic bullpen that is better than people even give it credit for. Everybody knows about the 2010 version of Heath Bell (6-1, 47 saves, 1.93) and the huge seasons from Mike Adams (4-1, 1.76) and Luke Gregorson (4-7, 3.22 in 80 games). Joe Thatcher was their lefty specialist and was awesome, going 1-0, 1.29 in 65 games, but it did not stop there. Ryan Webb (3-1, 2.90, 54 games) and Ernesto Frieri (1-1, 1.71, 33) made major contributions. Add in Edwin Mujica (2-1, 3.62, 59) and Stauffer (6-5, 1.85, 32 games, 7 starts) and the Padres went 8 deep with relievers performing at a quality level.
    If the Mets are going to have any chance of matching the 2010 Padres (or make it to the postseason), they have to make upgrading the bullpen the top priority. Tim Byrdak and Bobby Parnell are constants and Frank Francisco should be ok when he gets back. But, Francisco has had his issues and Parnell is no money in the bank. Mets fans would sign up for the three of them to be consistent, but thats unlikely to happen. Even if it did, thats only three pitchers in a seven men bullpen that could be counted on, if you call it that. Jon Rauch has pitched better lately, but Ramon Ramirez has not gotten the job done. Perhaps the Mets could get a big second half from Pedro Beato and Josh Edgin. But they still need to add two quality arms to this staff, and it needs to happen soon.
    If I could make the call, I would start with Kansas City's Jonathan Broxton. He could come in here and be the undisputed closer. But one move is not going to change the disaster that is this bullpen. They will have to make an additional move, such as Oakland's Grant Balfour, to stabilize things. Once two dependable relievers are added, the rest could work itself out. The team should not worry about roster spots. Batista may be the first one out, followed by Ramirez, then Rauch. If that makes the pen better, so be it. The looks of a pen that starts with Broxton as the closer, followed by Francisco, Parnell, Balfour, Byrdak and two of the better pitching others such as Beato, Edgin, Rauch, Ramirez, Batista, and even Jenrry Mejia will give the team the chance it does not have now.
    The bullpen has been the team's achilles heal over the past several seasons dating back to 2008. If the organization does not get this now, they never will. Sandy Alderson owes it to the team that has been overperforming and if he does not, it will be a slap in the face to his players. Not to mention the fans, who are starting to buy in to the way this team plays. If the bullpen is not improved, it will be another long summer and a second half that Mets fans are getting used to seeing.

0 Comments

With Gee out indefinitely, Harvey clearly best option

7/12/2012

0 Comments

    Sometimes I choose not to weigh in on highly discussed topics pertaining to the Mets because so much has circulated about it already and its hard to put a different spin on it. Also, by looking at the title, it would be hard to decipher between my article and the other articles that are recycled, copied, pasted and repeated over the course of a day. But, with the injury to Mets RHP Dillion Gee probably costing the rest of the season, I really think its a no-brainer for the Mets to replace him in the rotation with RHP Matt Harvey.
    Harvey has proven he can handle AAA with his 7-4 record, 3.39 ERA, 156 Ks in 135 2/3 IP. Thoughts within the Mets organization were that they wanted to call him up when they knew he would be there to stay. There are roughly 15 starts left between now and the end of the season. Its safe to say that Harvey may not be able to pitch well into September though there has been no talk of an innings cap. In my opinion, there is little more that he can accomplish at Buffalo and his next challenge should be in the majors right now.
    It would be different if the Mets rotation had held up as it had for the majority of the first half. Johan Santana, RA Dickey, Jonathon Niese and Gee had made all their starts and a healthy Chris Young had slotted into the fifth spot vacated by Mike Pelfrey. I would not have said Harvey should fill a spot already occupied. Nor would I suggest he replace a pitcher that was to only miss a couple starts. To me, now is the perfect storm. The Mets have a need at the back of the rotation. Its not like Harvey is coming in to be the savior. And if he struggles, he can go back to AAA and make a return in September.
    Its not like there are better options for the Mets now. Its very unlikely they will make a trade for a starting pitcher. Right now, Miguel Batista is slotted to make the 5th starter's next start, which right now seems to be a week from Saturday, 7/21 (assuming the Mets skip the fifth spot the first time through). Other AAA options are Garrett Olson, who has pitched to a 5.08 ERA and prospect Jeurys Familia who has a 4.98 ERA. Chris Schwinden should not be an option, as he was outrighted off the 40 man roster.
    The only other option that would make any sense is RHP Jeremy Hefner, who is 4-2, 2.50 ERA in 7 starts (8 games) in AAA and 1-3, 5.64 ERA in 3 starts (11 games) for the Mets. He seemed more comfortable as a starter and got hit pretty hard as a reliever. But its pretty clear, the path is set for Matt Harvey to make his MLB debut soon. While it was unlikely Harvey would be brought up before September, it has become pretty clear the one scenario has worked itself out.
    Perhaps this decision may have not needed to come up. As I have mentioned before, it was pretty obvious GM Sandy Alderson went with the bare minimum needed to get by this spring. The team had the fewest catchers in camp out of all the teams in the grapefruit league. Maybe if they had an experienced pitcher or two pitching in AAA, Harvey would not stick out as the best option at this point. Lets face it, how many bad Batista starts are fans going to see before they start calling for Harvey? The future has to start sometime, why not now?

0 Comments

The history of the Buffalo Bisons franchise

2010 Padres and what they had that the 2012 Mets don't

With Gee out indefinitely, Harvey clearly best option

Categories

Archives

Categories