In the past few days, there have been several extensions of Player Development Contracts. The Kansas City Royals extended their PDC with two clubs, so did the Astros and the Nationals and the Yankees extended their PDC with their AAA farm team.
The Kansas City Royals extended the PDC with their Advanced Rookie affiliate, the Idaho Falls Chukars. This PDC will now run through the 2020 season. The Chukars are the Royals rookie ball affiliate since 2004. Kansas City extended the PDC with the Lexington Legends (A Full Season, South Atlantic League) through the 2020 season as well. The Royals and the Legends are partners since 2013.
Another club that extended its PDCs with two of its farm teams is the Washington Nationals. The Potomac Nationals (A Advanced, Carolina League), where Dutchie Carter Kieboom played during the first half of the 2018 season, before being promoted to AA Harrisburg, will stay in the Nationals’ organization through the 2020 season. With the move of the Expos to Washington, the MLB franchise signed a deal with the club and has stuck with it ever since. The other club the Nats extended the PDC with is the Hagerstown Suns (A Full Season, South Atlantic League). Also this club will stay in the Nats’ organization through the 2020 season.
The Houston Astros extended the PDCs with their farm teams Tri-City ValleyCats and the Quad Cities RiverBandits, both through the 2020 season. The ValleyCats has been their franchise since 2002, the RiverBandits since 2013. Since their cooperation, the RiverBandits have won the Midwest League crown in 2013 and 2017.
The final club (for now) that extended a PDC is the New York Yankees. The Bronx Bombers have extended the PDC with their AAA farm team, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders with two more years through, you may guess it, 2020. In fact, the extension is a formality as the Yankees are the majority owner of the RailRiders. The only way the affiliation can end is when the Yankees sell the International League club. Both clubs are cooperating since 2007. Since 2007, the RailRiders have captured two International League titles: in 2008 and 2016.
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