The regional baseball landscape is changing for 2021 and perhaps beyond.

Not only will Worcester, Mass. be the home of the Boston Red Sox Triple A affiliate beginning this summer, but Wednesday the news broke that the nearby Lowell Spinners will not be a Boston Red Sox affiliate for the 2021 season.

Will that be the case for Lowell in 2022? Many are going to great lengths to give the impression it won’t, but other sources say it’s a longshot for the franchise that helped create the Nashua Silver Knights 10 years ago.

The Red Sox sent out a statement on Wednesday saying they were working on helping to keep baseball in Lowell, Mass. this summer – the Spinners would likely be a part of a MLB created wooden bat league made up of college age draft prospects as the draft will now be in late July – and beyond this year.

The Spinners as well as all minor league teams around the country didn’t play last summer due to the pandemic.

“The Red Sox and the City of Lowell today announce that they are working to keep baseball in the Lowell community,” the release said. “The two sides are in the early stages of evaluating various opportunities for the 2021 season, and will continue to discuss longer-term options in the weeks ahead.”

“For over a year, we have worked with Congresswoman Trahan, Lowell City Manager Eileen Donoghue, Major League Baseball, and Lowell Spinners ownership to examine every option that would keep baseball in the City of Lowell,” said Red Sox President and CEO Sam Kennedy. “We are exploring what form that could take in 2021, and are committed to maintaining the 24-year-long tradition of baseball in the Lowell community. We are grateful to Governor Baker, Senator Markey, and Senator Warren for their support of our collective efforts, and look forward to our continued work with Lowell’s public officials as we develop and formalize our plans.”

The Red Sox announced their four affiliates under the new minor league baseball format on Wednesday – Salem, Va. (Class A), Greenville, S.C. (Class A), Portland, Maine (Double A) and Worcester (Triple A).

As had been feared for the past year, the Spinners were an apparent victim of the MLB imposed new minor league setup forcing major league clubs to reduce their affiliates to four and contracting some 40 minor league teams, mainly short season clubs.

It doesn’t appear the NY-Penn League that the Spinners were in since their creation in 1996 will exist.

It also appeared, according to reports, that it was between Lowell and Salem to be the sixth team in a new six-team Class A league, but the Red Sox reportedly hold a 30-percent ownership stake in Salem and were reluctant to move it this year.

They may do so next season, with Lowell as a possibility, but there is a lot going on behind the scenes. Industry sources say Worcester ownership would try to block Lowell from regaining a minor league/Sox affiliated franchise.

Also, sources say the lack of Sox affiliation basically makes the current Spinners lease for Lelacheur Park with the city of Lowell null and void. The franchise would likely be replaced by the wooden bat prospect team, which, according to industry sources, current Spinners owner David Heller wants no part of and may simply walk away. There were reports that longtime Spinner officials Shawn Smith (general manager) and Brian Lindsay (VP of Sales) have been let go. Smith was the GM under former Spinners owner Drew Weber from 1996-2004 and then returned to work for Heller in 2016.

Of course, the Spinners are one of the main reasons the Nashua Silver Knights of the Futures Collegiate League exist. Then-Spinners owner Weber, as well as team VP’s Tim Bawmann and Jon Goode created the Nashua franchise back in 2010, and resources from Lowell were certainly used to make the Knights viable. That relationship basically ended when Weber kept the Knights but sold the Spinners to Heller in 2016. Weber sold the Knights to current team owner, Worcester businessman John Creedon, Jr., two years ago.

The Spinners were at one of the most popular minor league franchises in the country, with all sorts of marketing and creative promotional events that drew national attention.

One of the franchise’s creative minds, Goode, now a Nashua businessman, said the news of Lowell’s demise hit hard.

“I’m devastated,” he said. “My heart sank when I first found out, and I called my Mom. The Spinners were a big part of my life for 15 years, and my kids grew up there (at Lelacheur Park). They took it really hard.”

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