2020 Omaha Storm Chasers / KC Royals

[Coyote]

Omaha Storm Chasers coaching staff will feature some old and new faces in 2020

Brian Poldberg will be back for his seventh year as manager for the Omaha Storm Chasers next season, with hitting coach Brian Buchanan also returning.

[Greg S]

KC is supposedly close to resigning Alex Gordon.

Greg

[Coyote]

They are in discussions today

[Greg S]

They are in discussions today

From what I have seen, they are trying to get it finalized before FanFest on the 24th and 25th. If you are a Royals fan, FanFest is fantastic.

Greg

[Greg S]

Gordon has officially signed:

https://www.mlb.com/royals/news/alex-gordon-royals-deal




Greg

[Greg S]

Royals release theme schedule:

https://www.mlb.com/royals/tickets/specials

Husker Night (their biggest theme night) is early this year:

https://www.mlb.com/royals/tickets/spec ... -Landscape

Full schedule with promotions:

https://www.mlb.com/royals/tickets/single-game-tickets


Greg

[Greg S]

This is pretty cool. Chasers owner donating 45k masks to Omaha hospitals:

https://www.omaha.com/livewellnebraska/ ... 1_LHQ44VbM


Greg

[skinzfan23]

We went last night when for $20 you got:
4 hot dogs
4 pretzels
4 cups of cheese
4 waters
4 souvenir cups
4 cookies
4 tickets to opening day (whenever that may be)

It was completely sold out (300 pre-packaged deals). I think the Storm Chasers are top notch when thinking of promotion ideas and this was another great one. It sounds like they would like to do another one of these in the future. I know its been said before, but we are lucky to have Martie Cordaro in charge here in Omaha.

[Greg S]

We went last night when for $20 you got:
4 hot dogs
4 pretzels
4 cups of cheese
4 waters
4 souvenir cups
4 cookies
4 tickets to opening day (whenever that may be)

It was completely sold out (300 pre-packaged deals). I think the Storm Chasers are top notch when thinking of promotion ideas and this was another great one. It sounds like they would like to do another one of these in the future. I know its been said before, but we are lucky to have Martie Cordaro in charge here in Omaha.

Agree on Martie. I was going to get that special too but it sold out before I could log in. I will definitely do it next time. Such a great deal.

Greg

[skinzfan23]

My kids loved, they just didn't understand (ages 3 and 6) why we weren't going into the baseball game too...

[nebugeater]

So how packed will it be (in the parking lot) for the drive-in Fireworks on Sat night?

[omaha79]

I really hope there will be baseball and soccer at Werner Park this year, but it feels unlikely at this point. Maybe slightly more likely on soccer than baseball at this point.

[Greg S]

So how packed will it be (in the parking lot) for the drive-in Fireworks on Sat night?

My prediction is full. My understanding is that it's every other space. We are debating whether to even try it there or somewhere nearby.

So glad they are doing this.

Greg

[skinzfan23]

I did see that they are going to have drone footage of the fireworks online as well. Don't think that is quite the same feeling as seeing the fireworks in person, but still cool.

[Coyote]

It was completely sold out (300 pre-packaged deals).

Next meal night is Apr 29.

[Greg S]

It was completely sold out (300 pre-packaged deals).

Next meal night is Apr 29.

Details for the 29th will be on the Storm Chasers Facebook page on Monday.

Greg

[Greg S]

Chasers store opening tomorrow 10-5. 25 per cent off in the store as part of reopening. After tomorrow store is open 11-2 M-F. Masks required.

Greg

[Greg S]

Looks like a great start to the draft for the Royals. Very happy that Baltimore and Minnesota did not draft Lacy. No one seemed to expect him to be there for the Royals. Both of these two could be in Omaha quickly (man I am really missing the Storm Chasers):

https://www.royalsreview.com/2020/6/11/ ... 3-ixuv3cxE

https://kingsofkauffman.com/2020/06/11/ ... oundtable/




Greg

[Greg S]

Chasers July 3rd Fireworks info. Tickets only $10. I think I heard they are going to have a capacity of about 2500.


https://www.milb.com/omaha/news/storm-c ... pectacular




Greg

[GrandpaaSmucker]

The minor league season was cancelled today. Many major league teams are said to be looking at ending their affiliation with their minor teams which could mean when the Storm Chasers come back in 2021 the minor league may look much different.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mino ... and-teams/

[Greg S]

The minor league season was cancelled today. Many major league teams are said to be looking at ending their affiliation with their minor teams which could mean when the Storm Chasers come back in 2021 the minor league may look much different.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mino ... and-teams/

Pre Covid there was talk about eliminating about 40 teams. I think after this, it's all but a sure thing. We're lucky we have AAA and such a long affiliation with KC.

Greg

[omaha79]

This was a very interesting article. The biggest takeaway is that there is going to be massive change. I found it interesting that they are likely doing away with the 2 year player development agreements and moving to something possibly as long as 20 years. I don't believe there is any cause for alarm between Omaha and Kansas City, but I hope their relationship remains extremely strong during this negotiation period, especially with Wichita joining AAA and with a new stadium that is actually pretty darn similar in design to Werner Park, but closer to downtown.

If there is anything I've learned in the last year, is nothing is out of the realm of possibility and there are no sacred cows. There is going to be a fair bit of desperation in negotiations between minor league clubs, cities, and major league affiliates. A prior Baseball America article mentioned minor league franchises throwing partial ownership stakes at their major league affiliates to "sweeten the pot" to ensure their survival and the major league partner they desire. The Storm Chasers franchise may need to be ready for anything.

Also, it looks like Omaha could very well be in a different League in 2021 as there are rumors of AAA splitting back into 3 leagues which would harken back to the days of the IL/PCL/American Association.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories ... pens-next/

Affiliations will change as a part of the plan as well. The standard two-year Player Development Contracts will be wiped out and replaced by much longer agreements (some sources have said the agreements could last as long as 20 years) that will eliminate the bi-annual affiliation shuffle that leads to odd, inconvenient arrangements (the Nationals’ Triple-A affiliate being in Fresno, for example) that make for major headaches for both players and organizations.

The league structure will also look different. Though there are many possibilities, a likely scenario calls for the creation of a third Triple-A league and possibly two more Class A leagues. The short-season Northwest League may go full-time as part of the arrangement, and a “Mid-Atlantic League” may pop up in Class A as well. The low Class A South Atlantic League might also split into two leagues.

[Greg S]

This was a very interesting article. The biggest takeaway is that there is going to be massive change. I found it interesting that they are likely doing away with the 2 year player development agreements and moving to something possibly as long as 20 years. I don't believe there is any cause for alarm between Omaha and Kansas City, but I hope their relationship remains extremely strong during this negotiation period, especially with Wichita joining AAA and with a new stadium that is actually pretty darn similar in design to Werner Park, but closer to downtown.

If there is anything I've learned in the last year, is nothing is out of the realm of possibility and there are no sacred cows. There is going to be a fair bit of desperation in negotiations between minor league clubs, cities, and major league affiliates. A prior Baseball America article mentioned minor league franchises throwing partial ownership stakes at their major league affiliates to "sweeten the pot" to ensure their survival and the major league partner they desire. The Storm Chasers franchise may need to be ready for anything.

Also, it looks like Omaha could very well be in a different League in 2021 as there are rumors of AAA splitting back into 3 leagues which would harken back to the days of the IL/PCL/American Association.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories ... pens-next/

Affiliations will change as a part of the plan as well. The standard two-year Player Development Contracts will be wiped out and replaced by much longer agreements (some sources have said the agreements could last as long as 20 years) that will eliminate the bi-annual affiliation shuffle that leads to odd, inconvenient arrangements (the Nationals’ Triple-A affiliate being in Fresno, for example) that make for major headaches for both players and organizations.

The league structure will also look different. Though there are many possibilities, a likely scenario calls for the creation of a third Triple-A league and possibly two more Class A leagues. The short-season Northwest League may go full-time as part of the arrangement, and a “Mid-Atlantic League” may pop up in Class A as well. The low Class A South Atlantic League might also split into two leagues.

You could almost say back to the future for AAA, as we had 3 AAA leagues back in the old days with the American Association.

Will be interesting to see where Wichita ends up, either AAA or AA like they used to be. I don't see KC and Omaha splitting up. Not only has that association been rock solid for years, but KC draws really well out of Omaha, and Omaha is their largest TV market outside of KC within their exclusive TV rights. That is a very big deal for them.

Greg

[SunMan]

I believe the Omaha Storm Chasers are safe because of their strong and lengthy relationship with the KC Royals. There is also no other league Omaha could move to in a worst case scenario.

Speculation was that two independent league teams would become Triple-A, St Paul Saints and Sugarland Skeeters. Fresno Grizzlies would move to the High-A California League and Round Rock Express to the Double-A Texas League. Round Rock would remain an Astro farm club while Sugarland would become one since it is a suburb of Houston. If that scenario becomes reality and Triple-A becomes three leagues, it may look like this:

"CENTRAL LEAGUE" Omaha Storm Chasers, Iowa Cubs, St Paul Saints, Wichita Wind Surge, Memphis Grizzlies, Nashville Sounds, Indianapolis Indians, Louisville Bats, Toledo Mud Hens, Columbus Clippers

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE Buffalo Bisons, Rochester Red Wings, Syracuse Mets, Scranton-Wilkes Barre RailRiders, Lehigh Valley Ironmen, Worcester Red Sox, Norfolk Tides, Durham Bulls, Charlotte Knights, Gwinnett Stripers

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE Tacoma Raniers, Sacramento River Cats, Reno Aces, Salt Lake Bees, Las Vegas Aviators, Albuquerque Isotopes, El Paso Chihuahuas, San Antonio Missions, Sugarland Skeeters, Oklahoma City Dodgers

[omaha79]

I believe the Omaha Storm Chasers are safe because of their strong and lengthy relationship with the KC Royals. There is also no other league Omaha could move to in a worst case scenario.

Speculation was that two independent league teams would become Triple-A, St Paul Saints and Sugarland Skeeters. Fresno Grizzlies would move to the High-A California League and Round Rock Express to the Double-A Texas League. Round Rock would remain an Astro farm club while Sugarland would become one since it is a suburb of Houston. If that scenario becomes reality and Triple-A becomes three leagues, it may look like this:

"CENTRAL LEAGUE" Omaha Storm Chasers, Iowa Cubs, St Paul Saints, Wichita Wind Surge, Memphis Grizzlies, Nashville Sounds, Indianapolis Indians, Louisville Bats, Toledo Mud Hens, Columbus Clippers

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE Buffalo Bisons, Rochester Red Wings, Syracuse Mets, Scranton-Wilkes Barre RailRiders, Lehigh Valley Ironmen, Worcester Red Sox, Norfolk Tides, Durham Bulls, Charlotte Knights, Gwinnett Stripers

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE Tacoma Raniers, Sacramento River Cats, Reno Aces, Salt Lake Bees, Las Vegas Aviators, Albuquerque Isotopes, El Paso Chihuahuas, San Antonio Missions, Sugarland Skeeters, Oklahoma City Dodgers

I'd heard rumors too though that at least 1-2 current AA teams could move up to AAA. Specifically, I heard Dayton Dragons being listed as one that could move to AAA. I think Birmingham was the second that was mentioned to me. If 2 more AA teams move to AAA along with 2 independent teams, that would shake things up even more.

I'd be just fine with that alignment. I twould make way more sense georgraphically and give us the chance to see some teams we haven't gotten to see before. I would hope they'd come to an agreement to have a more robust AAA Tournament at the end of the year to crown a true champion though. I'd hate to see the AAA Championship go away.

[SunMan]

Dayton is a Low-A team but I can see them mentioned as a possible Triple-A. They're surrounded by Triple-A teams and have an unbelievable sellout streak.

I'm not sure about Birmingham, though. Geographically, they're not in a Triple-A footprint. They fit nicely in the Double-A Southern League, though.

I'm with you on the AAA Championship.

[Greg S]

KC, with the changes in MLB, announces their new streamlined affiliates. No shocker but still nice to see, Omaha remains the AAA affiliate of KC:






Greg

[omaha79]

KC, with the changes in MLB, announces their new streamlined affiliates. No shocker but still nice to see, Omaha remains the AAA affiliate of KC:






Greg

It will be interesting to see what this means for the PCL. With the league losing Fresno, Wichita, and San Antonio, my guess is the PCL drops from 16 teams to 14. Otherwise, you end up with a difficult divisional alignment with someone having to end up in a division with teams that are extremely far away. My best guess at the PCL next year:

East

Omaha
Iowa
St. Paul
Oklahoma City
Round Rock
Sugarland
Memphis

West

El Paso
Albuquerque
Salt Lake City
Reno
Las Vegas
Sacramento
Tacoma

The PCL would have to abandon the 4 division structure and likely go to a 2 division structure where the top 2 in each division make the playoffs.

With this, Nashville would move to the International League, joining Jacksonville and the rest of the existing International League. Now, I've heard Memphis would also like to move to the IL, but I can't see that happening unless someone like Indianapolis or Louisville moved over to the PCL, and that's unlikely.

The only way the PCL would be able to stay at 16 in this scenario would be to keep Nashville and add someone like Indy or Louisville but then push someone like Round Rock or OKC to the West Division of the PCL which likely wouldn't make sense.

I'd still love to see interleague play between the IL and PCL, but I'm sure that's a pipe dream. It would create more interest if once every couple of years we'd be assured of seeing the Red Sox or Yankees minor leaguers show up at Werner Park.

[Greg S]

I agree on interleague play. I liked it when they did that years ago, ever so briefly.

Interesting St Paul is getting a team. I am assuming it's with the Twins?

I saw they were disappointed in Wichita to go from a AAA to AA. I do think they are with a better organization now with being affiliated with the Twins. I wonder if KC thought about switching from NW Arkansas to Wichita?

Would have been interesting to see how these talks and negotiations went. I think I saw these are 10 year agreements.

Greg

[omaha79]

I agree on interleague play. I liked it when they did that years ago, ever so briefly.

Interesting St Paul is getting a team. I am assuming it's with the Twins?

I saw they were disappointed in Wichita to go from a AAA to AA. I do think they are with a better organization now with being affiliated with the Twins. I wonder if KC thought about switching from NW Arkansas to Wichita?

Would have been interesting to see how these talks and negotiations went. I think I saw these are 10 year agreements.

Greg

It is the Twins for St. Paul. I read some comments sections on a few Wichita news stories and people were mad. First, they are calling it bait and switch for building a new ballpark with the promise of AAA baseball only to be relegated to AA. Then, they were disappointed about not only not getting a Royals affiliate, but getting an affiliate of a direct rival of the Royals. They had to know that stealing AAA away from Omaha was a longshot, at best. But, yes, a consolation prize could have been getting the Royals AA affiliate. I don't know the dynamic between the Royals and NW Arkansas, but the Royals have shown that they value organizational loyalty to an extent. They've had NW Arkansas and Omaha for quite some time and I don't know that they think there is much to gain from moving to Wichita as that is a pretty solid blue market either way.

I think I read that these PDA's ranged from five to ten years. I'm not sure all of them are ten year deals, but we'll learn more in time.

Also, cities like Wichita, Fresno, and San Antonio that lost AAA baseball need to focus on the big picture. Due to the lost revenue in 2020 due to Covid (and likely 2021 to an extent) along with the possibility of a players strike in 2022, may make the idea of expansion something that the owners will focus on very soon due to the quick infusion of cash that comes with league entry fees. They did this exact thing back in 1998 after the 1994 strike. Should that happen, some of these cities would be prime candidates to move back up to AAA depending on their proximity to a new franchise. Adding 2 MLB teams would necessitate at least 8 more minor league affiliates across all levels. That could also bode well for some of the Midwest League cities that lost their affiliations like Clinton, Burlington, and Kane County (IL).

[Uffda]

I agree on interleague play. I liked it when they did that years ago, ever so briefly.

Interesting St Paul is getting a team. I am assuming it's with the Twins?

I

The St. Paul Saints are becoming the Twins AAA. The Saints have been around for 20 some years

[Pepe_Silvia]

It's sounding like there will be a 10 team PCL, with Omaha joining an eastern league. There's a desire to cut down on travel, so I doubt there will be any interleague games.

This is purely speculation on my part, but to keep travel costs down I think they should split into 3 divisions, as there are 6 teams that fit well in the northeast: Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Worcester, Scranton-Wilkes Barre, and Lehigh Valley.

Southeast: Memphis, Nashville, Gwinnett, Durham, Norfolk, Charlotte, Jacksonville

Midwest: Omaha, Iowa, St. Paul, Columbus, Toledo, Indianapolis, Louisville

Tons of American Association history in the Midwest; all those cities have spent a significant amount of time in the old AA. Columbus, Toledo, and St. Paul all spent more than 50 years in the AA, Louisville nearly 80, and Indianapolis for 90 years.

[Greg S]

It's crazy how Saint Paul went from independent league all the way to AAA. I believe Bill Murray still owns the team.

Greg

[Uffda]

It's crazy how Saint Paul went from independent league all the way to AAA. I believe Bill Murray still owns the team.

Greg

The partnership between the organizations gives the Twins a minority stake in the franchise, but the majority ownership remains with Saints Chairman, Marv Goldklang, President, Mike Veeck, and Team Psychologist, Bill Murray.

SAINTS BRING THEIR DISTINCTIVE BRAND OF ENTERTAINMENT TO TRIPLE-A

During their 27 full-seasons (not counting 2020 when the Saints played half their home games away from CHS Field), the Saints led the league in attendance 17 times, including each year since they moved into CHS Field in 2015. The Saints have been over 100% capacity in 15 seasons, including each year at CHS Field where they’ve averaged 112%. In 2019, the Saints led all of minor league baseball in percent capacity, were eighth in average attendance, only topped by seven Triple-A teams which played in larger ballparks, and 26th in overall attendance. The 25 teams that outdrew the Saints played at least 20 more home games.

https://www.saintsbaseball.com/news/det ... o-triple-a

[Candleshoe]

While Wichita Wind Surge fans were initially upset with being reassigned to AA with the Twins from their original AAA affiliation with the Marlins, the attitude has changed significantly. Experienced minor league fans know that future stars often spend their quality farm time in AA and being affiliated with the Twins is much preferred to the Marlins.

(Wichita, Kansas) – The Wichita Wind Surge today announced the team has been invited to become the Double-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins organization.

“The Wind Surge are excited to receive an invitation to partner with the Minnesota Twins organization, which is recognized in baseball circles for having a great Minor League system,” said Jordan Kobritz, Wind Surge Partner and CEO. “We have among the best player development facilities in all of MiLB and look forward to watching MLB ‘s soon-to-be stars showing off their skills in Riverfront Stadium.”

“Our state-of-the-art stadium will provide one of the best fan experiences anywhere in Minor League Baseball,” Kobritz continued. “The ballpark features spacious seats, wide concourses, a variety of food and beverage options and multiple seating choices. Fans will be treated to many amenities at the ballpark, including the Emprise Bank Pavilion, Coors Light Party Porch, Fidelity Bank Bravely Onward Club, Dillon’s Picnic Patio and the Left Field Bar. In addition to great baseball, we’re looking forward to hosting a range of non-baseball events that will keep Wichitans and visitors coming to the ballpark year ‘round.”