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Latest in Sky Sox affiliation saga - Latest: Upgrades confirmed in San Antonio's Stadium

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By crickets,
in Brewers Minor League Talk

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LincolnDD College Ball

LincolnDD

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Rumor is a current PCL team could be the team moving to Wichita. Announcement possibly next month.

 

Some rumblings out of Texas that the Rangers, expecting soon to hear officially from Round Rock that they're not planning to renew, are unlikely to link up with San Antonio. No other details, but a Rangers beat reporter tweeted San Antonio looked like a no-go, and the Fort Worth paper said El Paso and Wichita are their preferred potential options.

 

 

 

http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/mlb/texas-rangers/article184957603.html (last paragraph)

 

Seems odd that a San Antonio team wouldn't want the Rangers and vice-versa, so I wonder if something else is up there. The push for AAA in San Antonio was strongly backed by their previous mayor, but the current one isn't as big fan of the idea. Rather, he wanted to put stadium funds towards a MLS team, though now it sounds like they won't get one of the new expansion teams.

 

So I wonder if the Colorado Springs ownership group is concerned about the lack of commitment for a new park from the SA mayor and is instead looking to move to Wichita if they're willing to build a new park. If so, that would be an ideal fit for the Brewers, so pray for the Rangers going to El Paso in that scenario; I've heard the El Paso ownership would like to be aligned with a Texas team anyway. And I think the Padres might jump to Vegas and the new stadium regardless of what happens.

 

I also wonder if the Royals might be interested in shifting to Wichita. They've been in Omaha for almost fifty years, but Wichita is Royals territory. If they leave Omaha, that would be a great fit for the Brewers (Twins as well).

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LincolnDD College Ball

LincolnDD

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Anyone ever listen to Matt Pauly's podcast? Several weeks ago he reported he'd heard from a trusted source (so fwiw...) that the Nashville/Oakland relationship has soured, and that they're likely to split after 2018. This was before the Mets got Syracuse, and before the stuff I wrote above about the Rangers, so he was assuming A's > Fresno, Astros > Round Rock, Rangers > San Antonio, leaving Nashville for the Brewers. I think there will be a lot of movement this cycle, and the Nats are tougher competition for a site than the Mets would've been, but still pretty interesting.

 

Last five minutes of the 10-05-17 podcast:

 

http://www.wtmj.com/brewers-extra-innings-podcast

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Eye Black GOAT

Eye Black

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If the Sky Sox still plan to move to San Antonio for the 2019 season it does not appear that the city’s mayor has any intentions of having taxpayers help fund a new ballpark, and he denies that any conversations have been had about a new downtown ballpark to this point.

 

Article Link: Minor league baseball is a big league strikeout

 

The original article that this appears to be a response to is this one: The proposed baseball stadium is very much alive

Not just “at Night” anymore.
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LincolnDD College Ball

LincolnDD

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Yeah, it's a weird situation.

 

I pinged someone at Ballpark Digest (they seem to be "in the know" with this stuff) and asked if there was a chance Colo Springs might end up going to Wichita next year instead of San Antonio, and received a terse "no" in response. So who knows. Wichita's announcement should offer some clarity, but that's been pending for weeks.

 

I think the stadium lease the Elmore Group (owns both Colorado Springs and San Antonio) has with the city of San Antonio runs for a few more years, and with the move of the AA team to Amarillo moving pretty swiftly, it sure looks like the Sky Sox will be in San Antonio come 2019 to fulfill that lease. But if a new ballpark isn't approved, they may not stay there long-term. Whether that means Wichita will get them a few years down the road, or Wichita is working with another organization, I don't know. The fact that the Rangers' beat guy said El Paso and Wichita are two possibilities doesn't really help clarify things, either.

 

If the rumor about the A's being on the outs in Nashville are true, and if the Rangers do target El Paso, it seems either Oakland or San Diego could be better fits for Fresno than the Brewers, so 2019 is still a huge question mark. The Brewers have that current relationship with the Sky Sox, and the Padres' AA is currently in San Antonio, so maybe we'll see both teams "fight" over the AAA team when it moves there (if the Rangers boot the Padres from El Paso).

 

Ballpark Digest updated their affiliate tracking site. They used to look at Oakland in Nashville and SD in El Paso as likely, but they've added question marks to both. They've also added Oakland as a possible fit in Vegas in 2019, and have no guess as to who will be in San Antonio. They still list the Brewers (with a ?) next to Fresno, fwiw.

 

https://ballparkdigest.com/200905261902/minor-league-baseball/news/affiliate-dance-2012

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JosephC First Round Pick

JosephC

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I was of the understanding that the Brewer/Nashville split was pretty ugly. Wasn't Nashville really unhappy with the Brewers because they had traded so many prospects and frankly left Nashville with a really bad product for a couple seasons? And wasn't the Brewers really unhappy with Nashville because their owner(s) gave the impression they'd continue to work together only to have them sign up with Oakland and pretty much leave the Brewers hanging (and forcing them to Colorado Springs because it was the only option left). Not sure if the ownership situation in Nashville is still the same? If it is I'd be a bit surprised if the two sides were willing to work together again so soon after the last breakup because from the stuff I read there seemed to be bad blood on both sides.
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jerichoholicninja Carolina Mudcats

jerichoholicninja

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I was of the understanding that the Brewer/Nashville split was pretty ugly. Wasn't Nashville really unhappy with the Brewers because they had traded so many prospects and frankly left Nashville with a really bad product for a couple seasons? And wasn't the Brewers really unhappy with Nashville because their owner(s) gave the impression they'd continue to work together only to have them sign up with Oakland and pretty much leave the Brewers hanging (and forcing them to Colorado Springs because it was the only option left). Not sure if the ownership situation in Nashville is still the same? If it is I'd be a bit surprised if the two sides were willing to work together again so soon after the last breakup because from the stuff I read there seemed to be bad blood on both sides.

 

Money talks and the Brewers system should be top 10 for a few years.

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LincolnDD College Ball

LincolnDD

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I was of the understanding that the Brewer/Nashville split was pretty ugly. Wasn't Nashville really unhappy with the Brewers because they had traded so many prospects and frankly left Nashville with a really bad product for a couple seasons? And wasn't the Brewers really unhappy with Nashville because their owner(s) gave the impression they'd continue to work together only to have them sign up with Oakland and pretty much leave the Brewers hanging (and forcing them to Colorado Springs because it was the only option left). Not sure if the ownership situation in Nashville is still the same? If it is I'd be a bit surprised if the two sides were willing to work together again so soon after the last breakup because from the stuff I read there seemed to be bad blood on both sides.

 

Yeah, it was pretty ugly. And the Brewers stuck with Nashville in a substandard stadium for a while only to get booted when the new one opened. I don't think we'll see them reunite. I'd expect the Nationals to be pretty aggressive there, as there aren't many options for them to stay in the International League.

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LincolnDD College Ball

LincolnDD

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The Royals have been in Omaha for nearly fifty(!) years. I wonder what territory they'd prefer? They did have a AA team in Wichita for a little while, and I think that's more or less "Royals Country". New facility might be a big draw? The park in Omaha isn't too old, though.

 

Would the Twins be competition for an available Omaha?

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LincolnDD College Ball

LincolnDD

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Here's something to keep an eye on: The Rochester club is currently operating under a month-to-month lease to use the stadium there, and the International League president is threatening relocation if the issue isn't resolved with a longer term deal reached. A negotiating tactic to be sure, but instability like that is typically a turn-off for Major League teams looking to affiliate, and the current PDC with Minnesota is up after the season.

 

“That type of situation has to be treated very carefully,” Mobley said. If it goes unresolved, he said, the league could “step in.”

 

What does that mean, “step in?”

 

“If you play it out to the one end of the spectrum, it means the league can revoke the franchise and take possession of it and relocate it and do whatever needs to be done to ensure it can play somewhere,” Mobley said.

 

“That’s the nuclear option,” he added. “But it can go to that extreme.”

 

His words shouldn’t be considered a threat. Relocating the Red Wings is not something Mobley wants to do. He knows what the Red Wings mean to Rochester and he said he has confidence the team and county can works things out.

 

But Mobley has an entire league to consider. He acknowledged exploring new homes for the Red Wings last year. Mobley declined to identify the cities, but said, “There are certainly options available to us.”

 

https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/local/columnists/andreatta/2018/01/29/rochester-red-wings-frontier-field-lease-cheryl-dinolfo-naomi-silver-monroe-county/1076403001/

 

The Red Wings are community owned. I'm not sure how the "take possession" would work. Forced sale? The Mets purchased the community-owned Syracuse team last year, but the situation obviously wasn't forced. The Syracuse team reportedly had at least one other offer to purchase from an unnamed MLB team, but the Mets were considered less likely to relocate the club (at least in the near future). Guesses as to the other team, assuming they'd be interested in this case as well? The Brewers seem like a handful of teams who'd fit as a potential buyer of an International League franchise.

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LincolnDD College Ball

LincolnDD

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Definitely possible. With San Diego renewing in El Paso, The A's would be the likely primary competition in Vegas if the rumors about them being on the outs in Nashville are true. And if the A's are out in Nash, they may just opt for the best geographic fit in Fresno anyway.

 

You'd still have difficulty evaluating players in the high altitude, but at least they'd be in a presumably top notch facility.

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