Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane and Nashville Sounds owner Frank Ward signed the two-year player development agreement in the Omni Hotel this morning. Credit: Emily R. West.
The Oakland A’s know how to win. That’s what Nashville Sounds’ owner Frank Ward says convinced him to switch his team’s Major League Baseball affiliation.
Ward made it official in front of a bevy of media Tuesday as A’s manager Billy Beane slid a clipboard across the table for Ward to ink the two-year player development deal.
“We consider winning at this level a major part of the relationship development,” Beane says. “We recognize the importance in the community of this team, and part of that is making sure it’s a good team.”
The A’s formerly were in contract with the Triple-A Sacramento Cats, who had several league championships and winning seasons under the A’s. Beane says that most were questioning the A’s distance from it’s new affiliate in Nashville, but he says he doesn’t think that will make a difference.
“Given the opportunity to come to a city like this, it would be hard to pass up with a new facility and a new stadium,” Beane says. “Geography for us was way down on the list. It’s actually a geographic advantage. Half of our player moves are done to the east and the Midwest.”
For the past decade, the Sounds were a farm team for the Milwaukee Brewers. The switch irks Brewers’ management, who says it stuck with the Sounds despite a crumbling Greer stadium. The Sounds move into a new downtown ballpark next year.
Ward says the minor league team made the right move.
“I think there is always two sides to every story. To move a franchise you have to have a marriage,” Ward says. “You have to have someone wanting you versus… You have to have someone that wants you first before you move.”
Ward didn’t elaborate any further on the relationship between the Sounds and the Brewers, instead saying the new A’s partnership will be better all around.
Unless, as he says, “you’re a Milwaukee Brewer’s fan.”
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