As MLB teams are informed about their 2021 (and beyond) affiliations, several teams are not happy with the new alignments.
The San Francisco Giants for example are losing their A-Short Season (previously A Full Season) team in Augusta and their AA team in Richmond. The new ballpark of the Augusta GreenJackets was constructed after the wishes of the San Francisco Giants and now two teams on the West Coast are shoved down their throat. The San José Giants will remain in the Giants’ farm system but now as A-Short Season team. Also the Sacramento RiverCats will remain in the Giants’ ranks but the Giants will also get appointed a team in the Northwest League, formerly an A-Short Season league but from 2021 an A-Advanced league.
The biggest change of all will be that MLB will appoint farm teams to MLB franchises and the MiLB clubs will have no say in it. The days of PDC negotiations are something of the past.
Reportedly, several MLB farm directors are not happy with the new affiliate lineup. One major issue: with the move of the Northwest League from Short Season A to A-Advanced, West Coast MLB teams are being herded into affiliations there. With the Midwest League also shifting to High A, some West Coast MLB teams don’t like to move away from their longtime Midwest League affiliates to new Northwest League affiliates, even though the travel and the distance to their Midwest affiliates were pretty inconvenient.
And all this for a couple of bucks and under the guise of several bad MiLB facilities.
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