Baseball America reported yesterday that in part due to the strain the Coronavirus pandemic has put on various minor league teams, the MiLB would indicate on a conference call today that it ready to agrees to the MLB’s plan. This plan would cut the number of affiliated minor league teams down from 160 to 120. While most of the teams cut would be from the lower levels of the minors, the initial proposal indicated the Mets would make the Brooklyn Cyclones their new Double-A affiliate, ending their affiliation with the Binghamton Rumble Ponies.

Rumble Ponies Owner John Hughes says the report was largely inaccurate. He says as Owner the MiLB would need to inform him of any such agreements and he has not been approached with anything like that. He says the spread of misinformation during such critical negotiations is frustrating. 

“Things like this require a lot of inertia, they require a lot of energy and a lot of work,” says Hughes. “When articles like that come out all it does is become a detractor and it sidetracks what everyone wants which is progress and resolution.” 

The MiLB came out and responded to this report yesterday saying that there are no agreements in place at this time and negotiations are ongoing.