The Tri-City ValleyCats are suing Houston Astros and Major League Baseball due to minor league baseball contraction this season, reports Athletic’s Daniel Kaplan. They become the second known affiliate to file legal action against their former parent club and the league; the Staten Island Yankees did the same in December.
ValleyCats are asking for at least $ 15 million in damages, reports Kaplan. The crux of the team’s claims is that they relied on the now-expired affiliate agreement between Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball to sell tickets and advertising sponsorships, which lost value when the club lost its affiliation with Major League Baseball. ValleyCats remain operational as members of the MLB partner Frontier League, but will no longer serve as traditional minor league affiliates.
The Tri-City complaint (more of which is available in the full Kaplan article) harshly criticizes MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred. “The intimidation tactics of the MLB, which used to pit MiLB teams against each other for the “privilege” of not having their businesses destroyed, persisted for years, but was demonstrated most vividly in an email from May 2020 in which the Commissioner Rob Manfred sent an email to the ValleyCats ‘owner condolences for his father’s passing and then in the same email, issued a veiled threat that any public statement made about MLB’s contraction efforts would be’ unwise, ”ValleyCats claimed.
The previous owner of Tri-City, Bill Gladstone, passed away due to complications from COVID-19 last spring, notes Kaplan, with Gladstone’s son, Doug, receiving the supposed mail from Manfred.
It would not be surprising to see more teams that have lost their membership follow the leadership of the Yankees and ValleyCats (Staten Island) to file lawsuits against their former parent and MLB clubs. The restructuring of the secondary league resulted in 40 teams that lost their affiliation to the Major League Baseball.