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2021 Brewers Affiliates

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balsamlaker

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It may assist the Brewers in getting back to Nashville as it could steer some teams away. With that said, I have read 2028 may be the soonest that an expansion could occur and there is no guarantee Nashville would be one of the locations.
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LincolnDD College Ball

LincolnDD

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Yeah, expansion wouldn't be an issue short-term, but if the Brewers do end up there, for a team that's been kicked around the AAA level for a while, it would be nice to see some stability, especially since the new agreements are going to be longer than the old 2 or 4 year player development contracts.

 

Once expansion does come, maybe we'll see the new team opt to keep AAA in Nashville, similar to Atlanta and (soon) Houston having AAA teams relatively close. Those are in suburbs though, so not sure keeping a team within the city limits, presumably where the MLB team will be, makes sense. Then again, that's a very, very new stadium there. I wonder how willing the fine folks in Nashville would be to build another new stadium after just getting the Sounds done?

 

There's also a non-zero chance that a team could relocate to Nashville (ahem, Rays). If it's Tampa, they can move their AAA team there as well, and the Brewers can replace them in Durham, right down the road from Zebulon. :)

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LincolnDD

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Major dominoes: Yankees shifting AA to Somerset, High A to Hudson Valley. https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/yankees-moving-minor-league-affiliates-to-somerset-hudson-valley-in-2021/

 

BA further speculates that this frees up the Mets to shift AA to Brooklyn. So I guess it was a compromise, as both Somerset and Brooklyn fall into the shared territories of the two teams.

 

So the Yankees are out of Trenton and Charleston (my home, not sad to see the Evil Empire leave, haha). Also gives a hint as to some of the geography of the new Mid Atlantic League. Hudson Valley is a little ways outside of NYC.

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More news about Minor Leagues is starting to trickle out.

 

Per John Heyman about the Mets deal: "The $2.475B price includes separate relatively small deals by Cohen to acquire the Syracuse and Brooklyn minors teams. The St. Lucie team was included in the main deal."

 

Per JJ Cooper about the Yankees minor leagues: "The New York Yankees will have minor league affiliates in Somerset and Hudson Valley in 2021 and beyond and will not be affiliated with Trenton and Staten Island, Baseball America has learned from multiple sources. ($)"

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LincolnDD

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I'm still bullish on the idea that they stay in Carolina, only at the Low A level. I suppose if they wanted to divest themselves of that investment, now would be the time to do it. But all signs point to the only available Low A spot being in the Southeast, if that Ballpark Digest article is accurate, because there's no fitting into the other Low A leagues (Cal/FSL).

 

I don't know if there will be any opportunity to get them closer at AA unless they do do something radical with league realignment (e.g. what we've played around with here, pulling some MWL teams into AA), but I haven't seen any tangible reporting to suggest that's happening. I'm still guessing they stay in Biloxi. They have been with that San Antonio ownership group for a while now, dating back to Colorado Springs, so maybe they'd ride it out with SA at AA? Maybe the Twins want to stay on the Gulf Coast after getting kicked out of Pensacola, and make a run for Biloxi?

 

I feel like the news about the Yankees means the dam is about to burst on all this news.

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balsamlaker

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There are so many moving pieces...similar to Nashville, San Antonio has also been mentioned as a possible MLB location. San Antonio probably needs a new stadium no matter what level they are at. Also, the Elmore ownership group has had a great relationship with the Brewers, but have also had affiliates with many more teams so the connection may seem more "exclusive" from the Brewers side of things than the Elmore side of things.
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balsamlaker

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At AA, it will be interesting to see who the 30 teams are. If Binghamton, Chattanooga, Erie, Jackson, and Jacksonville leave AA; who are they replaced by? Bowling Green, Brooklyn, Lancaster (PA), Lexington, New Orleans, San Antonio, Somerset, Wichita, others?
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LincolnDD

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It will be interesting over the next few days if we see each team releasing a similar annoucement to the Yankees' from earlier.

 

Yeah, the dude from Ballpark Digest was surprised how this news came out:

 

...we expected an announcement from MLB about the overall MiLB changes for 2021, not a team-by-team approach. Yes, we’ll be watching for similar announcements in coming days.

 

https://ballparkdigest.com/2020/11/07/yankees-announce-affiliate-changes-in-first-glimpse-of-milb-overhaul/

 

So keep an eye on the Brewers' Twitter feed...

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LincolnDD

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Any chance Rangers choose to stay in Nashville, near their A-ball affiliates, and Houston moves to Constellation Field for AAA creating the possibility for a Round Rock / San Antonio pairing for AAA/AA for Milwaukee?

 

That's a really interesting idea. Probably depends on what the Rangers want. I know they really like Nashville.

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patrickgpe Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

patrickgpe

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I am going to assume the answer to this question is a resounding NO, but any chance that the Milkmen and Brewers work out an affiliation agreement. I would have thought it is silly, but Somerset just upgraded from indy ball to double A today for the Yanks. The Milkmen do have a very nice facility. Somerset's stadium has a capacity of 6k, Milwaukee 4k. So that may be a factor.
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The American Association is now a partner league of MLB, https://www.americanassociationbaseball.com/american-association-frontier-league-designated-as-partner-leagues-of-mlb/, so I think that will dictate what goes on with the Milkmen. Anything is possible though. One team in Texas did quit the AA at the end of October and the AA commissioner says they plan on expanding in Texas in 2021. https://www.americanassociationbaseball.com/texas-airhogs-terminate-membership-in-american-association/
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Per the SF Chronicle: https://www.sfchronicle.com/giants/article/Giants-could-lose-two-minor-league-affiliates-on-15713939.php

The Giants are poised to lose their longtime low Class A minor-league team in Augusta, Ga., with a chance they also could part ways with Double-A Richmond, Va., The Chronicle has learned.

Also this from the same article:

One source said, as a result, he expects West Coast teams to lose their affiliations in the South Atlantic League, which includes Augusta. The West Coast teams could gain low-A affiliations in the much closer California and Northwest leagues.

 

The Northwest League, which includes a Giants affiliate in Keizer, Ore., has been a short-season rookie league that runs from mid-June through Labor Day. That level is expected to be eliminated in the realignment. The Salem-Keizer Volcanoes are one of the 42 teams expected to lose their affiliation with Major League Baseball entirely (with two current independent teams being added).

 

If the Giants lose Richmond, their new affiliate would still be far from San Francisco. The three Double-A leagues - Eastern, Texas and Southern - are expected to remain intact. Currently there are no Double-A teams west of Texas.

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LincolnDD College Ball

LincolnDD

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I am going to assume the answer to this question is a resounding NO, but any chance that the Milkmen and Brewers work out an affiliation agreement. I would have thought it is silly, but Somerset just upgraded from indy ball to double A today for the Yanks. The Milkmen do have a very nice facility. Somerset's stadium has a capacity of 6k, Milwaukee 4k. So that may be a factor.

 

So...probably not (right now). It's not impossible, just like the Somerset example you cited. Something to keep in mind, the new affiliation agreements teams will enter in to (I think they're calling them "licenses") give the MLB team an out at any point if they're not happy (e.g. facilities aren't being maintained). Of course, when a team opts out, chances of another team doing so at the same time are pretty slim. Because of that, teams would have the option of affiliating with any available organization, including independent teams, to fill the void. So say the Brewers stick with the Timber Rattlers, but a few years in, promised facilities improvements haven't been done, the Brewers could opt out and come to an agreement with the Milkmen.

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LincolnDD College Ball

LincolnDD

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Very interesting, thank you for sharing.

 

The Augusta news isn't surprising. I was told that the Rays will be replacing the Yankees here in Charleston, with Charleston moving up to High A. I expect then that other teams close by (including Augusta) will be making the move up as well.

 

The Richmond paper seems to think Richmond to AAA is still a possibility: https://richmond.com/sports/professional/squirrels-insecurity-mounts-as-yankees-leave-double-a-trenton-for-better-ballpark/article_f166be72-2004-5ef9-bd06-fce01a11c6d7.html

 

That just muddles things up more. What's the fourth team with Fresno, Wichita and San Antonio that gets kicked out of AAA?

 

All these media reports coming out now sure makes it seems like we're getting really, really close.

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