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San Francisco Giants Announce

The San Francisco Giants announced their new affiliation with the Sacramento River Cats last week. The Giants general manager, Brian Sabean, released a statement that said  “Sacramento is a great baseball town and the area has traditionally produced top baseball talent for the Major Leagues. Our affiliation with the River Cats provides us with an outstanding player development environment, and we are excited about the opportunity to work with our young players at Raley Field.”

This new agreement between the two teams highlights the fact that the switch was more out of convenience and business transactions rather than a mutual desire to work together because of success. The Giants believe that because of the proximity of Sacramento to San Francisco will help with their player development. Being closer to the Sacramento, than they were to Fresno, who they were previously affiliated with, allows the to see their younger players more often. Being 87 miles away from each other also allows more last minute decisions in terms of who the Giants decide to pull up from triple A. Because its only an hour and a half drive to San Francisco from Sacramento they can call players up and have them there in time for pre game warm up.

Along with the business side of the decision, many from the River Cats organization are saying that the deal was made with fans in mind. River Cats president Jeff Savage called the choice, “not an easy decision, but it was based on the fans’ wishes.” He also revealed how these opinions of the fans were gathered saying “we look at what fans are wearing when they come through the turnstiles,”. He is also quoted talking about the results of surveys which show a larger percentage of Giants fans in the area. There is a hope that because of the large amount of Giants fans, attendance will increase at the River Cats games.

The new agreement between the River Cats and the Giants is good news for this large percent of Giants fans that Savage commented on. With this new business deal Giants fans will be able to see the upcoming talent in the Triple- A level. The fans will also have a chance to see any current players that are assigned to Triple-A in order to minimize the roster or because of injury. This will create more of connection between the Sacramento fans and the future of the Giants organizations.

However for Oakland Athletic fans, the previous affiliate of the River Cats, this new deal is saddening. The River Cats and A’s have been affiliated for 15 years and there’s no doubt that they enjoyed the same benefits that San Francisco will now experience because of location. This longstanding partnership also affected the Sacramento fans. The fans have become attached to many players who won’t be coming back next year and who will in fact be in Tennessee, where the A’s new Triple-A affiliate is located. Worries about the success of the team also come from A’s fans and others who recognize the success of the River Cats under the A’s and the lack of success the Giants previous Triple-A affiliate in Fresno had.

The affiliation is a done deal as of September 30 and A’s and Giants fans of the Sacramento area will cheer the newly affiliated River Cats on next year in their 16th season in Sacramento.