The Yankees are going to have a new look when it comes to their minor league facilities in 2021 and onward. No longer will the Bombers call Trenton, New Jersey home for their Double-A affiliate, instead moving some 46 miles north to Bridgewater, the home of the Somerset Patriots.
The Yankees are also eliminating their single-A affiliation in Staten Island and Charleston, South Carolina which is part of Major League Baseball's greater shakeup to widdle down the minors from 160 teams to 120.
On Tuesday the Yankees made it official, christening a new 10-year partnership with the Somerset Patriots, who had been an independent team out of the Atlantic League for the past 20 years. The Patriots will replace the Thunder in the Eastern League.
The Thunder do not have a destination as of yet, but there was belief they could get slotted into the Atlantic League as an independent. There was also mention that the Thunder felt blindsided by the Yankees decision to leave Trenton for Somerset.
The Patriots offer a state of the art 6,100 seat stadium in Bridgewater off highway Route 287. The Yankees have had partnerships with the Patriots in the past, namely their association with former Yankees pitcher Sparky Lyle who was the Patriots' first ever manager.
According to Chairman Emeritus Steven Kalafer, the Patriots will maintain the stadium, but the Yankees will be in charge of baseball operations from picking players and a new coaching staff and manager.
Also on hand for the ceremony at TD Bank Ballpark were Lyle, and former Yankees All Star and third base coach Willie Randolph, and former Manager Joe Torre.
Torre, who led the Yankees to four World Series titles in the late 90s said that late Yankees owner George Steinbrenner would have loved the new partnership with the Patriots, since he loves winners. The Patriots won six Atlantic League titles in 18 years.
The season is expected to begin in April.
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