The Mets have purchased the Syracuse Chiefs and will become a Mets affiliate in 2019. This cannot happen sooner as the Nationals have a player development contract signed through 2018 and when that ends the Mets can affiliate with Syracuse. The Mets current AAA contract with the Las Vegas 51s also expires after the 2018 season. The Mets have been trying to move their AAA affiliate out of Las Vegas and back to the International League for years and purchasing a team is one way to guarantee it. Las Vegas is known for having subpar facilities, so it will be interesting to see which team is the odd man out and ends up there next year. I would expect the Nationals to push to stay in the International League and will a number of contracts that haven’t yet been renewed, it will be interesting to see how things play out.
