Saturday, September 11, 2010

Rays Extend PDC With Bowling Green Hot Rods Through 2012

The Bowling Green Hot Rods have announced a two-year extension of the Player Development Contract with the Tampa Bay Rays.
“We want to thank all of our fans as well as our non-profit and business partners for all of their tremendous support,” stated Hot Rods Owner Art Solomon. “Now we have the chance to reflect on another great year while putting together a blueprint to make a bigger impact in 2011. Our affiliation with the Rays has increased our credibility in the community while also putting an exciting group of Major League prospects on the field. We know our next two years will be exciting ones with an organization that is becoming a perennial American League pennant contender. I also want to thank our dedicated staff for their continued efforts.”

All the above factors, from stadium to community involvement, made it an easy decision for the Rays to renew the PDC. “We are very pleased to extend our relationship with the Hot Rods for another two years,” said Rays Director of Minor League Operations Mitch Lukevics. “The Hot Rods are a first-class organization with a beautiful ballpark and a great community. We look forward to sending our players to Bowling Green to further their development on and off the field.”

10 comments:

  1. any word on a PDC extension at Hudson Valley?

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  2. I was wondering the same thing about Hudson valley

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  3. There have been rumblings of some discord between the home office in Tampa and the management in HV. I sure Hope they Re-up.

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  4. Nothing official on HV yet. In order to move you need an opening somewhere else in the NY-P. I don't follow the PDC's for teams other than the Rays, but according to BA 9 NY-P teams (including HV) have expiring contracts this season. Some of those may have re-upped since the BA article, but I suppose it's possible they move.

    Either way, I would expect a press release sometime next week. My guess is they are staying put. HV has been a Rays affiliate since 1996, so any issues should have been worked out long ago (I'm not sure exactly when the Goldklang Group became owners).

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  5. As a follow up, according to the Goldklang Group's website they have always owned the team in Hudson Valley:

    "In 1990, the Goldklang Group added the Erie, Pa. franchise in
    the short season A New York-Penn League, which was relocated to the
    Hudson Valley, N.Y. region in 1994."

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  6. There are 3 teams in need of homes in the NY Penn League. Batavia is going tobe no more or sold, Vermont may be losing their stadium and the Blue Jays are alledgedly shopping around. Believe me we dont want to lose the Rays.

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  7. Here are all the teams that have not yet extended their PDC's in the New York-Penn league:

    Aberdeen IronBirds - Baltimore
    Auburn Doubledays - Toronto
    Batavia Muckdogs - St. Louis
    Hudson Valley Renegades - Tampa Bay
    Jamestown Jammers - Florida
    Tri-City ValleyCats - Houston
    Vermont Lake Monsters - Washington

    If you look at my Twitter conversation with Josh Leventhal of BA, he thinks they are leaving. I believe teams can begin negotiating with new affiliates this Thursday (can't begin before the season is over -> tampering). So we'll just have to wait and see.

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  8. See updated tweet from Josh, now looks like Renegades and Rays are close to an extension of the PDC. Great news, congrats HVR fans!

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  9. Renegades team president Jeff Goldklang told me they expect to sign a PDC extension with the Rays by tomorrow.
    Read the whole story at http://bit.ly/aY7idX

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  10. From the Renegades website:

    The Hudson Valley Renegades today announced the signing of a two-year Player Development Contract (PDC) to extend their relationship with the Tampa Bay Rays as a short-season A team through the 2012 season.

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