Minors switch could be major for Giants
S. F. set to lose Class A team, maybe DoubleA
The Giants are poised to lose their longtime low Class A minorleague team in Augusta, Ga., with a chance they also could part ways with DoubleA Richmond, Va., The Chronicle has learned.
The changes would be part of a massive realignment of leagues and teams that Major League Baseball is undertaking as it assumes direct control of minorleague baseball.
Multiple sources said the Giants almost assuredly will lose Augusta, with Richmond more up in the air.
The sources sought anonymity to discuss an issue that has not been finalized.
Augusta general manager Tom Denlinger said Monday he has heard nothing definitive and continues to await word from Major League Baseball how new affiliation agreements would
unfold.
“We’ve enjoyed our relationship with the Giants since 2005, and we’re looking forward to seeing what the future holds,” Denlinger said.
Most Giants prospects who have reached the majors since the late 2000s have gone through Augusta. Madison Bumgarner started his minorleague career there in 2008, the year after he was drafted.
Officials from the Giants and Richmond did not immediately return messages seeking comment. The Flying Squirrels have been the Giants’ DoubleA team since 2010.
The Chronicle has not determined the status of the Giants’ TripleA club in Sacramento or high Class A San Jose, but changes are not likely because Sacramento is nearby and the big club owns the San Jose Giants.
Wholesale affiliation shifts are expected now that the commissioner’s office, under newly appointed senior vice president of minorleague operations and development Peter Woodfork, is taking a more direct role.
In a plan that has raised hackles throughout the game, MLB plans to trim the number of affiliated teams from 160 to 120, leaving intact four affiliated levels: TripleA, DoubleA, high Class A and low Class A.
That means a significant cut in prospects playing for affiliated teams, although MLB has promised to improve their working and travel conditions, making leagues more geographically compact.
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 lowA affiliations in the much closer California and Northwest leagues.
The Northwest League, which includes a Giants affiliate in Keizer, Ore., has been a shortseason rookie league that runs from midJune through Labor Day. That level is expected to be eliminated in the realignment. The SalemKeizer 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 DoubleA leagues — Eastern, Texas and Southern — are expected to remain intact. Currently there are no DoubleA teams west of Texas.
Although changes have been rumored for months, baseball people were stunned when the Yankees became the first team to announce their new lineup of teams Saturday because the minorleague structure remained in flux.
One of two changes was in DoubleA, where the Yankees are leaving Trenton, N. J., for the more affluent New Jersey town of Somerset.
Trenton owner Joseph Plumeri ripped the Yankees in a statement, saying the big club “betrayed their partnership at the 11th hour.”
Major League Baseball has proposed a “dream league” of unaffiliated prospects to help fund longtime minorleague partners that will lose their status when MLB cuts 40 affiliations.