As has been announced, the Mets have reached an agreement to buy the Syracuse Chiefs, and move their Triple-A affiliate to upstate New York. A two-thirds vote by shareholders is needed to make the sale official, but Chiefs General Manager Jason Smorol is confident that the sale will be approved by the 1,700 people holding the Chiefs' 11,000 outstanding shares.
With the change in affiliates comes the question: What will the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate be called in 2019, when the Mets will field their first team in Syracuse?
Syracuse Chiefs
Except for a period between 1997 to 2006, when the team was rebranded as the Syracuse SkyChiefs, the Syracuse Chiefs have been the Syracuse Chiefs for more than fifty years. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Syracuse Cuomos
Mario Cuomo was many things over the course of his 82-year life, but one of the constants in his life was baseball. Born in Queens in 1932, he grew up idolizing Joe DiMaggio and playing sandlot games with and against Whitey Ford. During an exhibition game in Bridgeport, Connecticut where Ford was the main draw, Pirates scout Ed McCarrick saw a young St. John’s University student playing under an assumed name hit a bunt single off of the future Hall of Famer.
That kid? Mario Cuomo. The Pirates signed Cuomo for $2,000 and some saw a bright future for him. While he didn’t exactly have a bright baseball future, Cuomo overall had a bright future in other ways. With the new Tappan Zee Bridge being renamed in Cuomo’s name, maybe fellow Mets fan Andrew Cuomo lobbies to have the new team follow suit.
Syracuse Mets
Like virtually every other major league club, the Mets have had numerous farm teams bear their name. While St. Lucie and Kingsport are the only minor league affiliates that currently bear the Mets name, at one point or another, the cities of Auburn, Binghamton, Columbia, Greenville, Little Falls, Lynchburg, Jackson, Marion, Pittsfield, Pompano Beach, Raleigh, Salinas, Shelby, Visalia, Wausau, Williamsport, and Winter Haven all had a team simply called the Mets. While plainly calling a farm team the name of the parent club is a trend that is falling out of favor, it is still an option.
Syracuse Salt Potatoes
On August 5, 2017, the Syracuse Chiefs temporarily became the Syracuse Salt Potatoes for one game against the Rochester Red Wings as part of a "What-if Night" promotion, paying homage to the local staple. Due to popular demand, the Syracuse front office morphed the Chiefs back into the Salt Potatoes on September 4, 2017, Fan Appreciation Day. The promotion made a lot of money for the Chiefs, in both merchandise and concession sales, and a brand change could make such temporary gains a more permanent thing.
Syracuse Surgeons
SUNY Upstate Medical University is one of the largest employers in the city, according to the Greater Syracuse Economic Council. The Mets, themselves, are no strangers to keeping medical professionals gainfully employed. It’s a match made in heaven, so why not let the new team name and logo reflect that?
Syracuse 81s
Rebranding a team costs money. Jerseys, caps, patches, logos, all of these things need to be changed, and change costs money. With I-81 running north-south through Syracuse, and with a surplus of 51s paraphernalia left over from the half-decade plus in Las Vegas, you might as well use what you’ve got.
Poll
What team name do you prefer?
This poll is closed
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34%
Syracuse Chiefs
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1%
Syracuse Cuomos
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22%
Syracuse Mets
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22%
Syracuse Salt Potatoes
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4%
Syracuse Surgeons
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6%
Syracuse 81s
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7%
Other