Staten Island Yankees go scorched earth in lawsuit against NYY

The Staten Island Yankees are making their presence felt, filing a lawsuit after the New York Yankees’ sudden minor-league affiliate switch last month.

While most of Major League Baseball’s despicable minor-league shuffle has flown largely under the radar, the feud between the New York Yankees and their

former Low-A Staten Island affiliate

has been as loud as, well, any conversation on Staten Island.

The Yankees dropped three of their previous minor-league affiliates in cold blood a few weeks back, severing ties with the

Trenton Thunder,

Charleston RiverDogs, and Staten Island Yankees, while welcoming in the Somerset Patriots (Double-A, formerly an MLB-controlled member of the Atlantic League) and Hudson Valley Renegades (High-A).

While Trenton has since joined MLB’s Draft League for college talent, Staten Island remains untethered, and they ceased operations on Thursday with a fiery notice that promises a lawsuit heading the Yanks’ way.

Ooooooohkay then.

In case you missed the first round of drama, the Yankees leaked accusations that Staten Island’s facility was subpar, with improperly cared for turf and walls being held together by tape. In fact, it was theorized that players and coaches received better treatment in the lower-down Appalachian League; or, at least, they didn’t have to deal with hand-me-down uniforms.

SI bit back by announcing that, although they were taken aback by the Yankees’ departure, they’d be pouring a significant amount of money into refurbishing their stadium, either for rugby or independent baseball.

On Thursday, they seem to be singing a different tune, filing litigation for the failure of the Yankees organization to adhere to their apparent promise of affiliation.

No matter the success or failure of this suit, it will not go away, and it will not be the only one.

Not every MLB franchise will have a convenient smear campaign lined up for their minor-league affiliates, and to see every supposed partner be forced to go after their controlling entity is antithetical to everything this pipeline is supposed to stand for.

Minor-league baseball is about a pathway to stardom, not betrayal and backstabbing — at least, it was before Rob Manfred had a pandemic-driven excuse to ruin long-term relationships for monetary gain.

Perhaps the legal fees will cut into the profits quite a bit across the country.

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