Sources: Cubs moving Class A affiliate to Kane County
From Sun-Times Media Staff Reports August 21, 2012 12:58PM
Updated: November 30, 2012 11:30AM
The Cubs may be on the verge of moving some of their highest-profile Class A prospects to Kane County as soon as next season.
Sources say the Cubs are in the process of working out a player development agreement with the Kane County Cougars in an effort to move their Midwest League affiliate from Peoria — putting those Class A players 120 miles closer to Chicago.
The change would mean ending a relationship with the Peoria Chiefs that goes back nearly 30 years between a 10-year affiliation in the 1980s and early ‘90s and the current eight-year affiliation.
It’s where Greg Maddux and Mark Grace played on the way to the majors, where Ryne Sandberg started his managing career, and where one of the team’s top current prospects – outfielder Jorge Soler – now plays.
The Kane County Forest Preserve District, which owns the Fifth Third Bank Stadium in Geneva where the Cougars play, referred comment on the possible team shift to the Cougars.
The Cougars issued a short statement Tuesday, which said:
“The Kane County Cougars organization enjoys a great professional working relationship with the Kansas City Royals. In accordance with Major League Baseball rules, we will not comment on any existing or future Player Development Contract involving our organization or any other organization.”
Both the Chiefs and Cougars have PDCs (player development contracts) that expire at the end of this season, but until the report there was no sign that the Cubs were entertaining leaving Peoria.
“It definitely caught us off guard,” Chiefs president Rocky Vonachen told the Peoria Journal Star. “It’s the first we’ve heard anything like that.”
This is the Cougars last season on a two-year contract with the Kansas City Royals, and rumors have been circulating among fans this year that the team would become a Cubs’ affiliate.
Quite a few teams have minor league operations close to their home fields, including the New York Mets with the Brooklyn Cyclones, the New York Yankees with Staten Island Yankees, and the Atlanta Braves with the Gwinnett (Ga.) Braves.
In the Midwest League, the Dayton Dragons are affiliated with the Cincinnati Reds and consistently sell out home games, while the Lake County (Ohio) Captains are affiliated with the Cleveland Indians.
Marc Ganis, president of the Chicago-based sports consulting firm Sportscorp Limited, said the Cubs arrangement with Kane County would be a smart idea for both the Kane County team owners and the big league club. And a boost for Cubs fans.
For the Kane County organization, there will likely be increased attention from the fans because they can watch the “Cubs of the future,” said Ganis.
The A-level Midwest League usually holds prospects playing their first full professional season. With a minor league team nearby, a big league team can keep a closer eye on its prospects, Ganis added, and use some of its personnel, such as team physicians, to care for the younger players. Additionally, said Ganis, “if you have a [Cubs] player who’s injured and needs a quick rehab, you don’t have to put him on a plane.” Instead, the big league team can simply drive them out to Kane County for a faster turnaround.
That factor helped the Cougars draw large crowds to Elfstrom to see then-Cubs Aramis Ramirez and Reed Johnson playing rehab stints with the Chiefs in 2009, with an attendance record of 14,872 set that July 3.
When Cub Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg, who now skippers the Phillies AAA club in Lehigh Valley, Pa., managed the Chiefs in 2008, the Cougars saw huge crowds, too, as did games against the Peoria team in 2006 and 2007.
Having minor league players play close geographically to the parent team “allows fans to get an early look at players and identify with them through their careers,” added Ganis.
The Cougars came to Kane County from Wausau, Wisc., and the team hosted its first season at Elfstrom Stadium in 1991. In 1991, there were flurries during the home opener, and in 1997 the first home game was snowed out.
Last season, the team passed the 400,000 mark in yearly attendance for the 17th straight season, and made the playoffs for the sixth time in their last eight seasons. Elfstrom hosted the Midwest League All Star Game this season.
Over the club’s history, the Cougars have sent more than 100 players to the Major Leagues, including Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett, former Cub pitcher and now Texas Ranger Ryan Dempster, injured Milwaukee Brewer Alex Gonzalez and Edgar Renteria who retired from the Reds in 2011.
The team was affiliated with the Baltimore Orioles in 1991 and 1992, the Florida Marlins from 1993 through 2002, the Oakland A’s from 2003 through 2010, and with the Kansas City Royals from 2010.
Affiliations can come and go in minor league baseball, and the Peoria Chiefs have been with the Anaheim Angels in 1983 and 1984, the Cubs from 1985 through 1995, the St. Louis Cardinals from 1996 through 2004 and the Cubs again from 2005 through now.
While there might be anticipation of the move among many Cubs’ faithful, one Cougars fan is less than thrilled with the possibility.
David Malamut and his family have held season tickets since the team’s inception and he doesn’t want the change to come.
“The affiliation change will bring curious Cub fans to Elfstrom Stadium, it will bring in more fans and be a boost for business. The one thing is that for baseball fans of one team or another in Chicago it will alienate them. I think the Cougars made a mistake by leaving (being affiliated with) Oakland (in 2010). The Cubs affiliation will bring in more fans for a year or two, but then the attendance will go back down,” Malamut said.
Malumut is the author of “Kane County Baseball” (Arcadia Publishing), and he noted claimed attendance has been falling in recent years. Attendance peaked at 523,222 in 2001; last year’s attendance was 410, 262 with an average of about 6,000 per game, he said.
But, he added, most fans don’t know who the team is affiliated with now. “They’re just there for the game,” he said. “If they go and it’s a good experience, they’ll be back. If not, they won’t come back.”
However, Malamut said, there is a danger it could backfire.
“Half the city are Sox fans,” he said, suggesting those people may not want to root for their rivals — even if they are just Cubs in waiting.
Staff reporter Mike Danahey and correspondent Mike Knapp contributed to this story.
Staff reporter Mike Danahey and correspondent Mike Knapp contributed to this story.
