What’s happening in Auburn with the Doubledays?

There seems to be more questions than answers coming out of Auburn regarding the future of the Doubledays of the New York-Penn League.

An editorial posted at The Citizen website (auburnpub.com) on December 28, 2016, called for a public update on the status of the team. This came a week after it was reported that the Doubledays' General Manager, Mike Voutsinas was out. The editorial asks if the Auburn team is “getting closer to stability or falling further into disrepair”.

Mike Voutsinas’s departure is a complete surprise. He had the franchise headed in the right direction since assuming the General Manager position in January, 2014. In 2015, the team registered its first operational profit in five years. Corporate partnerships were up under his leadership.

In July, 2016, the Seneca County Chamber of Commerce presented its 2016 Small Business of the Year Award to the Doubledays. In September, 2016, the Washington Nationals announced that they had renewed their player development agreement with the Auburn Doubledays through the 2018 season. Also in September, Voutsinas was named the New York-Penn League General Manager of the Year and co-winner of the league's Hon. Robert F. Julian Community & Baseball Service Award. Attendance during the 2016 season was 23% higher than the 2013 season. Voutsinas seemed excited about the future of the franchise in an interview conducted in October, 2016 (see video below). So why the abrupt resignation?

The city of Auburn has owned the team for more than three decades. In November, 2016, the city council formed the city-controlled Auburn Community Baseball LLC to assume ownership and franchise management. The city has been seeking a buyer of the franchise since 2014 with the stipulation that the team would remain in Auburn.

Given the uncertainty of the future of baseball in Auburn, it is on my list of road trips for 2017.