Let’s check in on the latest from the minor league landscape…
- The Sugar Land Skeeters have completed their rebrand. The Astros’ Triple-A affiliate is now the Sugar Land Space Cowboys, with brand new duds and a new logo to boot. The Skeeters had played in the independent league from 2012 until 2019, with last season being their first season as an affiliated ballclub. In terms of the re-brand, the Space Cowboys struck a chord alluding to both their Texas roots and Houston’s NASA connection. “We really wanted an identity that reflected a connection to the Astros but stood out as unique and was aligned with the values of Sugar Land: vibrant, thriving, aggressive and a very family-oriented community that’s clearly focused on investing in the future,” said Anita Sehgal, SVP, marketing and communications at the Astros, per MLB.com’s Tyler Maun.
- Phillies prospect Hsin-Chieh Lin plans to enter the 2022 draft for the Chinese Professional Baseball League, per the CPBL Stats Twitter account. Lin has pitched in the Phillies farm system since 2018. The right-hander pitched most of 2021 with Single-A Clearwater, tossing 20 innings with a 7.20ERA over four starts and four relief appearances. Lin was not considered to be a top prospect, and given that he is a native of Taiwan, it’s easy to understand a desire to make a run at the CPBL.
So much for trading Lin to Tampa for Kiermaier…
Why does he have to enter the draft? He’s already a professional baseball player. If an American player were already a professional in China (or even someone who isn’t American) wouldn’t they be able to join an MLB team without going through the draft process? I’m sure it’s done differently in China but I’m curious as to how and maybe even why a professional would still have to go through the draft process.
Only players who’ve played professionally foreignly for at least 6 years and at least 25 years old would enter MLB as a normal free agent. Otherwise they’re an international free agent.
This is pretty much the situation for why Ohtani basically only made the league minimum for his first 3 years rather than say $20 million per year (not taking the time to figure out what that number actually should be).
If you’re from Taiwan, the CPBL makes you go through the draft even if you’re in your late 30s coming back after a major league career (I recall that happening to an ex-MLBer in 2020, I forget who). Why? Because the owners have a better deal for themselves there to control salaries. It also takes 9 years of service time to become a free agent in the CPBL. That’s why anyone who has any MLB/KBO/NPB ambitions signs out of high school or college instead of going into the CPBL first.
CPBL is a league based in Taiwan. It got nothing to do with China.
Also, the reason why Lin would have to go through the draft process again is because he slipped the CPBL draft and went straight to MLB system, that’s why in order for him to come back to play in the CPBL, he needs to enter the draft.
Apparently the family oriented community of Sugar Land opted for Space Cowboys versus the Love Gangsters, Midnight Tokers, or Peach Shakers.
or the Maurices
They don’t speak to the papatus (?) of love.
What we have discovered is songs and words by Steve Miller should be used to rename half of minor league teams.
I’m just upset that one of the best minor league team names got changed while my favorite team, the Pirates, has minor league affiliates named the Indians (offensive to native Americans), the Curve (just lame), Grasshoppers (sounds like a little league name that even 12 year olds would make fun of) and Maurauders (decent but seems like something an intern came up with looking up Pirates in a thesaurus). Going from Skeeters to Space Cowboys is still better than the El Paso Diablos becoming the Chihuahuas though.
@jimmyz, I have a very basic question. Why did they decide to change the name?
Ya, that’s what I would like to know. I get that nobody likes mosquitos but the Sugar Land Skeeters sounds good. The logo is/was pretty cool and if you are Houstonian, you know mosquitos are a way of life. It’s almost a pride thing that we overcome them… haha. I really liked the Skeeters name.
Space Cowboys is just flat out stupid.
And the Cleveland Guardians
Jim Crane bought a controlling interest in the team and did not like the name.
Money talks.
Hello TC,
Can you please fix the sentence/grammer of the word ‘7.20ERA’ between ‘with a’ & ‘over four starts’? Please & thank you!
“The right-hander pitched most of 2021 with Single-A Clearwater, tossing 20 innings with a ‘7.20ERA’ over four starts and four relief appearances”.
grammar*
Space cowboy….Bet you weren’t ready for that….
Great movie starring Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, and James Garner.
No update on Suzuki’s agent saying that the reports from this week were bogus?
sponichi.co.jp/baseball/news/2022/01/30/kiji/20220…
Nothing to say is bogus within the body of the article. I wouldn’t go by headlines. Simply saying he will come to the U.S. to practice, he’s negotiating both with U.S. and Japanese teams, and he’s ready to sign as soon as the lockout is over.
You clearly didn’t read the article. The English is slightly off due to Google translate not being that great, but it says:
“He said that 10 to 15 teams continued to be interested…’The campsite is not narrowed down to Arizona teams’ said the team that camps in Florida, denying some reports that it is inferior”
If the grammar in your first sentence is anything to go by, it looks like you ran your comment through a translator a couple times as well. I trust Suzuki’s agent and NPB insiders more than the GMs who made speculations based solely on teams’ needs.
The issue is you have been unable to state clearly what you want updated. Apologies in advance if English is your second language.
Suzuki is signing with the Bucs as a WR because he heard Brady is staying and he needs an AB replacement.
Hmmm…the Cleveland Skeeters or the Cleveland Space Cowboys would both be better names than the Cleveland Guardians.
And the Peach Shakers !
The original “space cowboy” Terry Bam Bam Gordy
Galactic Cowboys!!! Criminally underrated Houston area band. Team should get them to be the “house band” Space in Your Face!!!
*ex-Phillies prospect. he was released a few weeks/months back (forget exactly when)
December 10, 2021
FCL Phillies released RHP Hsin-Chieh Lin.
I don’t like the Space Cowboys name.
1. It evokes the Dallas Cowboys. Not sure yet exactly Houston.
2. There were cooler space themed names like Sunspots, Black Holes, or Red Dwarfs.
As current space-themed team names go, my favorite after “Astros” and “Rockets” belongs to the Rocket City Trash Pandas.
Isn’t rocket city a Town?
given the fact that I only just connected that the name is space related because…you know, Astros, I would have to imagine that that played into HOU’s decision to add the Tourists as an affiliate, right?
NASA is SE Houston (Clear Lake). Sugar Land is SW of Houston. A minor league team should’ve been placed in either Pearland or between Woodlands and Kingwood.
Red Dwarfs and Black Holes can sound vaguely offensive out of context, probably not the smartest branding.
I like Space Cowboys. I just hope their mascot is a cow wearing a space suit.
lol “Black Holes”
I thought the comments would be filled with people upset about the name change… what gives? Certainly there are some people out there that want to announce “they’ll always be the Skeeters to me”, right?
It’s kinda lame because rarely does NASA or space exploration come up in much conversation amongst Houston area residents unless you live in Clear Lake.
I guess Sugar Land didn’t want to be associated with Lil Jon and the Eastside Boys any longer. Awww Skeet Skeet!!!
That is a stupid name Space Cowboys. Should have brought back the Colt 45’s. Or name them the Space Sprockets.