The Lansing Lugnuts officially ended their six-year relationship with the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday, announcing a new affiliation with the Toronto Blue Jays.

With the new two-year agreement, the Lugnuts will be the Blue Jays' Class A minor league affiliate in the Midwest League effective for the 2005 season.

Rumors about the switch have been circulating for about a week but Lugnuts officials declined to confirm them until Tuesday.

The Lugnuts' season ended last Friday when the West Michigan Whitecaps eliminated them from the Midwest League playoffs.

Lugnuts owner Tom Dickson made it clear there was no disagreement between his organization and the Chicago Cubs that forced the change.

Efforts made by The State News to contact Chicago Cubs representatives were unsuccessful.

"That was a mutual decision and there was no skeleton in the closet there," Dickson said.

"It's very common actually in minor league baseball that these affiliations do move around from time to time."

Before the Lugnuts became the Cubs' affiliate in September 1998, they were an affiliate of the Kansas City Royals.

Dickson said he had a feeling his team's relationship with the Cubs was winding down this summer.

After the deadline passed to extend the affiliation a few weeks ago, Dickson and general manager Jeff Calhoun began serious negotiations with a few major league teams.

"We had really one primary objective for the group that we picked," Dickson said. "Obviously, we wanted to go to a team that had a good minor league system and a good, quality organization.

"At the end of the day, though, it really came down to a relationship."

Dickson, who owns a handful of other minor league baseball teams, has experience working with the Blue Jays through his past ownership of the Charleston Alley Cats in West Virginia.

The Alley Cats had operated under the Blue Jays but announced Tuesday they are now an affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers.

"We certainly look forward to coming here," Blue Jays Director of Player Development Dick Scott said. "I speak on behalf of the entire Blue Jay organization - we couldn't be any happier than being here in Lansing."

Tuesday's announcement means the Lugnuts will field a totally new team next season, Lugnuts marketing manager Seth Van Hoven said. The roster will be made up of players from the Blue Jays' organization, not the Cubs'.

Toronto's general manager, J.P. Ricciardi, prefers drafting college players, a blueprint not all major league clubs follow.

"We just think they're a little bit more experienced, a little bit more battle tested coming into the system," Scott said.

"When we first got here a few years ago, the system was a little light on prospects at the lower end and we realized by taking college players, we'd get them to the big leagues a little quicker."

While the Lugnuts are moving into a new era, Scott said he won't forget the memories of his team's affiliation with the Cubs.

"It's like dating someone, at some point there's opportunities to move on and look else where," he said.

"I live in Chicago, so I hope I can call them for a ticket to Wrigley (field) every now and then. I think we probably can."