Affiliation question

[CubmanPi]

I live in Augusta, GA, and I have seen at least 10-15 Augusta Greenjackets games every year for the last five years. Until this season, they have been the Class A affiliate of the BoSox, but now they are a Giants affiliate of the same level. I was in the team office buying group tickets today, and I learned that they were affiliated with the Pirates before they were a Sox team. They had little figures around the office of known active Major Leaguers who have played for them in the past (Tony Womack, Jason Kendall, Moises Alou, Tim Wakefield), and seeing these figures got me wondering the question I'm getting at with all this:

 

How does a change in minor league affiliation affect their rosters and the affiliations of the players on those teams that change? If Jason Kendall played two years for Augusta, and the second year he played for them was the year that Augusta's affiliation changed from the Pirates to the Red Sox, would Kendall still play for Augusta and become a Red Sox minor league prospect, or would the Pirates organization move him to the equivalent-level affiliate with which Pittsburgh replaced Augusta? If the Pirates move Kendall to another team within their organization, do they do that for the affiliate's entire roster, or just the ones that are important to them?

[CaliforniaRaisin]

The Pirates would move Kendall to the Augusta-equivalent in their system (or promote him to the next level). All Pirate players would remain under their control, the pirates have just lost control of playing their home games at that level in Augusta. Basically, the team has moved.

 

The Cubs did this before last season, having their MWL A-affiliate move from Lansing to Peoria.

[CubmanPi]

Cool, thanks for clearing that up. I asked the guys who worked in the office how it worked, and they had no clue. Moving the entire roster and team seemed like the only logical way to fit the scenario, it just seemed to me like minor league affiliations change frequently enough to make the effort somewhat impractical, so I wasn't sure. Apparently it's not so impractical.

[NCCubFan]

Apparently it's not so impractical.

I don't see why it would be impractical. Changes in affiliation always take place during the offseason, and even without a change minor league rosters would change substantially before the next season due to players moving up in the system.

[texascub]

Apparently it's not so impractical.

I don't see why it would be impractical. Changes in affiliation always take place during the offseason, and even without a change minor league rosters would change substantially before the next season due to players moving up in the system.

 

And because players get traded away :x

[RonnieWooWooSanto]

Why do the affliations constantly change?

 

For example, why would the Marlins choose to leave single A affliate Kane County? Or were they asked to leave in favor of the current affliate Oakland A's

 

Why would the Cubs bolt from Peoria for Lansing and then head back to Peoria?

 

And where did the Cubs Rockford affliate move to?

[Quakers]

My guess is that the reason for the switches is mainly economic.

 

The franchises are privately owned. They want to maximize their profits. Many people want to see the prospects of certain teams, but not of others. certain teams always have the better prospects, always emphasize winning even at the minor league level. Also certain MLB teams have a reputation of managing their system better. They always have their top prospects stay at a certain level for a lengthy period of time. For example, it is my understanding that the Eugene Em's are having a tough time drawing fans. The problem is that the Padres are always switching their players around from one league to the next. This means that the fans have a tough time rooting for their "team".

 

The MLB teams are looking for quality facilities, good places to live, weather, but I am sure that economics is the primary factor.

 

Question. I know that the MLB teams pay the players and coaches salaries. I believe that MLB pays the officials. Do the MLB teams pay the franchises a fee for running the team or do the franchises pay the MLB team a fee and then collect concession/ticket/advertising monies to cover their costs and hopefully make a profit?

 

Anyways rooting for a minor league team can be tough. The player that you really want to see can be gone in short order. The affiliation can change from season to season. And, especially at the lower levels, the teams change from one city to another at frequent intervals.

 

Rockford to Eugene to Boise