04 February 2020

Rookie League Spring Traning @ Sloan Park > What to expect from Cubs in Arizona Rookie League in 2020

Mesa has no 'home team' but Mesa taxpayers financed the construction of not one but two stadiums. we got some news yesterday from Chicago Cubs Headquarters.com 
What to expect from Cubs in Arizona Rookie League in 2020
Dustin Riese
CubsHQ.com
"We move to the least familiar of the Minor League levels as we shift to the Arizona Summer League Rookie teams.  . .
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BLOGGER INSERT: The sprawling suburban city of Mesa has always had 'big league dreams'
     
14 years into his job as the City of Mesa's Chief Executive Officer, we're getting some new revelations for what's next:
ENVISION A PIPE
“It’s our next pocket of water,’’ City Manager Chris Brady said. “It’s going to be our lifeline for the future expansion of southeast Mesa.’’
 
 

HERE'S HOW AN EARLIER DEAL WENT DOWN > Total Charade!
Here's how the deal - with few financial details disclosed - went down last month with Mayor John Giles signing off on it in a staged-for-public-consumption photo opp at the Mesa City Council Meeting on 19 August 2019 - $94,000,000 Paid in Full
City Manager Chris Brady is behind the foam core poster board holding it up.
The sale was promoted as a $94,000,000 Pay-Off, but city officials never said who paid the low-ball sell-off to water-rights on 11,442 acres.
DETAILS:Titles changed hands over-time - first to Pinal Land Holdings and ultimately to Saints Holdings LLC - you can watch an edited video of the occasion of the sell-off that was turned into an escrow account . . .clips of cheering baseball fans were inserted with a voice-over by Mesa Mayor John Giles. . .
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We didn't know more about it then.
Mesa Seals $135 Million Land Deal
Posted on
by Kristian Seemeyer
The "land deal" land sale proceeds will boost the City’s Economic Investment Fund, financing in part projects such as: Sloan Park, The Cubs new Spring Training facility  and the so-called then "Higher Education Initiative". We're talking 11,400 acres, folks!
The vast tracts of land were know back then as The Mesa Water Farm.
Read more ....this is where you find it > Click or Tap Here 
The Saints Have A Plan:
THIS IS WHAT THAT $135M LAND DEAL - OR LAND SWINDLE OR STEAL?? - FOR THEIR VISION ON THE 11,447 ACRES THAT WERE ONCE THE MESA WATER FARM ...
Nice buy: $135M 11,400+ ACRES
Watch where this story goes and note that the buyer in  2012, a company in Scottsdale, is now called Saints Holdings Company. They agreed to buy the land in three 5-year phases.
Let's do some numbers first: a recent city auction for 132 acres, without water rights, went for $21.1M (that's $5M above the appraised price) . . .or $159,848 per acre.
"According to Natalie Lewis, assistant to city manager Chris Brady, and also lead negotiator on the deal, Mesa purchased the land in 1985 for more than $29 million for its water rights to create a water farm.
Eventually, the city found more cost-effective means to provide the city water.
OH REALLY? DID THEY?
NO IDEA WHERE? Get a clue
. . . if readers of this blog are curious what the Saint's holding companies are planning to create between Phoenix and Tucson around Casa Grande and Coolidge and Florence >
"a new "inland port", much similar to the same thing in-the-works in Utah. . . it certainly looks likes they are tending to now privatize water-rights just when a federal Drought Emergency Contingency Plan has been activated,
When big deals like the sale of 'obsolete water-rights' on thousands of acres that would be just dirt without it, there's always scandals that surface somehow taking a cue from an earlier extract:
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Unlike the Arizona fall league, where multiple organizations make up a team, the Arizona Rookie League program is one or more teams per organization, aimed at developing some of their younger minor league talent.
The Cubs are fortunate to have not one, but two Arizona league teams, so the abundance of players continues to be flowing from year to year. Another good thing about this league is that it tends to be a steppingstone for rehabbing players also as they try to get into the swing of things once again. With AZL 1 going 24-31 and AZL 2 going 31-25, you see that there has been some consistent success one way or another, but the question is for how long.Not only does the agreement between Minor League Baseball and the MLB end this season, but if talks continue at the level they are at right now, it looks as if the Rookie league program will be a thing in the past after the conclusion of this season. Not only would that be a hit to the organization itself, but with so many players getting drafted yearly, what would that mean for them if two leagues are entirely removed. Until we get to that point, this is what I am looking for in the Arizona Rookie League this year. . .
READ MORE > https://www.cubshq.com/story

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