By Charlie O. Mallonee

After 15 seasons of being the Triple-A affiliate for the Oakland Athletics, the Sacramento River Cats will become the Triple-A home for the San Francisco Giants. The Sacramento Bee reports that the official announcement of the Giants and River Cats affiliation will be made on Friday.

The River Cats filed paperwork to be able to change team affiliation earlier this week.

The Oakland Athletics announced today that they have reached agreement with the Nashville Sounds to be their new Triple-A affiliate beginning in 2015. It is a four-year agreement that runs through the 2018 season.

The Sounds will open the 2015 season in a brand new 10,000 seat stadium that was built by the City of Nashville. The Sounds have entered into a 30-year lease with the city for use of the stadium.

There had been speculation that Oakland and San Francisco might trade affiliates with the A’s going to Fresno and the Giants moving to Sacramento. However, the A’s appear to have been very impressed with the Nashville organization and its new stadium despite the added distance from the parent club.

Fresno is now the odd-man out in this situation. The Grizzlies will now have to find a new Major League organization to play in Fresno. According to the Fresno Bee, the Grizzlies will become the Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros.

This is not the first time the Giants have jilted the city of Fresno. Fresno was the long time home of the Giants Class A farm team until the affiliation was moved to San Jose in the late 80’s. The city was without a minor league team until the Triple-A Grizzlies began play 18 years ago.Now the Giants have left Fresno for Sacramento.

Reportedly the River Cats believe that the Player Development Agreement with San Francisco will be more lucrative because of the large Giants fan base in the Sacramento area.