The Rochester Red Wings (Class AAA; International League) will continue their affiliation with the Minnesota Twins, as the clubs have announced a two-year extension of their player development contract. The extension runs through the 2020 season.
“We have had an excellent relationship with the Twins since 2003, and are pleased to announce the continuation of the affiliation for two more years,” said Red Wings President/CEO/COO Naomi Silver. “The Twins have regularly fielded winning teams here and our fans have had the benefit of seeing so many of our players advance to the Major Leagues. Members of Twins top management visit Rochester regularly, which gives us confidence that their Minor League system is of the utmost importance to them. We consider ourselves lucky that the Minnesota Twins respect and appreciate the strength of our organization, and we are glad to continue this partnership. We do everything we can to provide a great atmosphere for the players, and the Twins recognize that and the enthusiasm of our fans.”
“The Minnesota Twins have been blessed to partner with the Rochester Red Wings since 2003,” said Twins Executive Vice President, Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey. “In the last fifteen-plus years, we have forged a tremendous relationship with the Red Wings, the city of Rochester, Dan Mason, Naomi Silver, the Silver family, and Gary Larder. We are proud to count Naomi, Dan, and Gary as members of the Minnesota Twins family and the city of Rochester as an extension of Twins Territory. We are excited about what we can accomplish together moving forward.”
“We are extremely excited to extend our partnership with Rochester,” said Twins Director of Minor League Operations Jeremy Zoll. “Naomi, Dan, Gary, and the entire Red Wings staff have been phenomenal to work with making life easy on the Twins. We greatly appreciate the support that the city of Rochester has provided for the Twins and Red Wings and work hard to put a competitive product on the field each year. We value the strength and stability of our relationship with the Red Wings and are looking forward to continuing that through the 2020 season.”
“We do not take our choice of an affiliate lightly,” said Red Wings Chairman of the Board Gary Larder. “We, of course, consider how well their players perform on the playing field but we also consider the character of the players whom they send to our city. We also consider how well their front office personnel interfaces with our office personnel in their many daily activities. We feel comfortable in saying that the Minnesota Twins are the best option for continuing as our Major League partner for the remainder of this decade.”
The Red Wings were the only International League team to be above .500 from 2013-17. Rochester was at least 10 games over .500 each year while playing to a collective 392-326 record. Only Scranton/Wilkes-Barre had more wins in the league during that span. Across all full-season leagues in the minors, only one other franchise was at least 10 games over .500 each season from 2013-17 (Single-A Lancaster, California League).
Since the partnership began in 2003, Rochester has been at least .500 in 11 of 15 seasons entering 2018.
Minnesota’s 25-man roster for last year’s American League Wild Card Game at New York featured 22 former Wings and 13 played for Rochester during the 2017 season.
You can read more about the current state of affiliations on our Affiliate Dance page. We expect a number of affiliations to be renewed in coming weeks, but there are always intriguing openings at every level of baseball. As you can see on the Affiliate Dance page, MLB and MiLB teams can renew their existing affiliations at any point. At the end of the 2018 season, teams can file to search new affiliation options, so there’s always a shuffle of sorts at the end of the year.