Thoughts and pictures of my local minor league baseball team the New York Penn League Connecticut Tigers; a Detriot farm team. We'll still be looking at former Navigators/Defenders players along the way....

Monday, August 25, 2008

From ballparkdigest.com posted 8/25/08 on it's...

website:

Game plan emerges for Richmond market NEW!
Posted Aug. 25, 2008

"A plan for the Richmond, Va. market -- set to be open after the Richmond Braves (Class AAA; International League) franchise moves to a new Gwinnett County ballpark in suburban Atlanta -- appears to be in place. No, it doesn't involve the move of a Carolina League team into the Richmond market, but it does involve a Carolina League team in an indirect way, according to multiple sources.
The tentative plan has the Bowie Baysox (Class AA; Eastern League) moving to Richmond, which would be a step up in markets for owner Ken Young and his partners. Bowie would not lose baseball: the Connecticut Defenders (Class AA; Eastern League) would then move to Bowie, giving the Defenders a better market and a better situation, giving the team a chance to start over with a clean slate. (There's been some tension between the team and the city, although it doesn't sound like the team has done anything to earn the attitude from the city.) Given Young's successes in other markets -- the Norfolk Tides (Class AAA; International League) and the Albuquerque Isotopes (Class AAA; Pacific Coast League) are the two most notable examples -- we'd guess he has a good chance of procuring a new ballpark in Richmond. The maneuvering also means the Erie SeaWolves (Class AA; Eastern League) will stay put, and Norwich loses Double-A baseball. (Too bad: yesterday the Defenders logged just over 200,000 in attendance for the season, the first time that's happened in seven years.)
So where does the Carolina League enter into this? The shift of two teams from the California League to the Carolina League apparently will happen, and one of the teams will move (temporarily) to War Memorial Stadium in Newport News until a better plan emerges. Newport News, of course, is within Norfolk's territory -- and the man who owns Norfolk would need to sign the waiver. Do the math. (There is one troubling factor: how this affects the Peninsula Pilots of the Coastal Plain League.) Several existing organizations are working to secure one of the transferred Cal League franchises; we've heard Ripken Baseball has been working it fairly hard, though there's no chance a Carolina League team would take up residence in Aberdeen. Of course, none of this is written in stone, and things could change -- but this is the current working plan, according to sources."

One of our posters on this blog mentioned this in the comments section. How real is this is anyone's guess as these sources are not revealed. There are also these dates to keep in mind:

*Important deadlines to note:

September 12-15: The beginning of the process, where MLB and MiLB teams are notified of the status of afiliations,

September 16-30: Teams can begin to negotiate affiliations.

October 1-7: Teams without deals will be assigned an affiliation by MiLB and MLB.

* Source: ballparkdigest.com

4 Comments:

Blogger Tom Clifton said...

Greg, do you know the status of the SF Giants player development agreement with the Defenders? Also where is Bowie?

9:49 AM

 
Blogger greg8370 said...

PDC with the Giants runs out this season, Bowie is in Maryland.

4:51 PM

 
Blogger Tom Clifton said...

Aak, so you and all Defenders fans are potentially looking at no baseball next season.

That makes my travails seem trivial.

12:01 AM

 
Blogger thehondohurricane said...

Someone,hopefully not the Giants, will be here next year, after that?????????

1:43 PM

 

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