clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Cohen Private Ventures sells Mets’ Syracuse, Brooklyn affiliates to Diamond Baseball Holdings

The Syracuse Mets and Brooklyn Cyclones will have new owners but will continue to operate as Mets affiliates.

Brooklyn Cyclones vs Hudson Valley Renegades
Maimonides Park
Set Number: X163621 TK1

Diamond Baseball Holdings, an organization that owns and operates 38 minor league baseball teams around the country announced that it entered into an agreement with Cohen Private Ventures to purchase the Syracuse Mets and the Brooklyn Cyclones, the Mets’ Triple-A and High-A minor league affiliates. Both teams will remain parts of the organization and will retain their front office staffs. Diamond Baseball Holdings purchased the Binghamton Rumble Ponies from Cohen Private Ventures earlier this year.

“We are excited to grow our relationship with DBH as they work to finalize this sale,” said Andy Green, the Mets’ Senior Vice President of Player Development. “Our affiliates provide valuable steppingstones for our players in these communities, but also family-friendly experiences for our fans in those cities. As we’ve seen in Binghamton, DBH will strengthen our affiliates from a baseball and fan perspective.”

In October 2017, following six seasons with their Triple-A affiliate in Las Vegas, the Mets purchased the Syracuse Chiefs franchise, desirous of having a team closer to Queens. The following year, after the Mets finished their player development contract with Las Vegas and the Washington Nationals finished theirs with Syracuse, the team was rebranded as the Syracuse Mets and made the organizations’ Triple-A affiliate. The team finished in second place in the International League North in their inaugural 2019 season with a 75-66 record, but has struggled in the years since, only this past season finally posting a cumulative season record over .500 (78-71).

In 1999, mayor Rudy Giuliani announced that, thanks to cooperation between the Steinbrenner and Wilpon families, New York City would be adding two new minor league teams to the city’s sports smorgasbord. The Yankees purchased the Watertown Indians and then moved the team from Watertown to Staten Island, rebranding them the Staten Island Yankees. The Mets purchased the St. Catharines Stompers and relocated the team to St. John’s University in Queens for a season while the Toronto Blue Jays’ player development contract expired. When it did, the team was then moved to Brooklyn, where they were rebranded the Brooklyn Cyclones. The Cyclones were deemed “co-champions” in their inaugural 2001 season after all minor league playoffs were cancelled in wake of 9/11, and finally won a championship in a truer sense in 2019, ironically the last season that the New York-Penn League would exist.