Sounds Out, Sky Sox in for Brewers

The Milwaukee Brewers ended a ten-year association with the Class AAA Nashville Sounds, it was announced Wednesday.

Brewers general manager Doug Melvin was informed by Nashville owner Frank Ward that his organization wished to seek other options for his club.

It didn’t take long, as the Oakland A’s reached a four-year agreement with Ward and the Sounds. To top it off, they will begin play in the brand-new First Tennessee Park next season.

The Sounds played in Greer Stadium, which was built in 1978 and did not compare favorably, amenity-wise, to many of the newer minor league parks.

Melvin was also miffed that Ward gave such short notice when nothing appeared to be wrong.

He says he asked Sounds ownership three weeks ago, “If you’re leaning toward not having us, just give us a heads up so we don’t lose out on something else.”

Ward shot back in a statement submitted to MLB.com.

“As a Minor League Baseball affiliate, we have very strict rules as set forth by Major League Baseball when it comes to investigating the possibility of reaffiliation,” he said in an e-mail to MLB.com. “We followed those to the end. Within those parameters, we informed the Brewers that we would explore the opportunity to look at our options at the appropriate time. When it came time for us to have the opportunity to talk to other teams, we decided to do what we felt was best for our franchise and for the city of Nashville with respect to winning baseball.”

Sounds a little bit to me like ‘he said, she said.’

Melvin was also irritated that the Sounds leadership was mum on any plans and made it appear that all was well with the affiliation.

In late August, Melvin inquired if any changes were in the works, but nothing was said so the Brewers assumed they would continue their decade-long affiliation with the Sounds.

How things change.

Luckily, the Brewers were able to hook up with the Colorado Springs Sky Sox on Thursday, signing a two-year deal that will have them playing at Security Service Field, which plays 1,000 feet higher than Denver’s Coors Field.

Expect some softball game-type scores and lots of home runs.

The Brewers’ top farm club returns to Colorado, where their Class AAA team performed from 1987-1992 in Denver.

Once again, the hitters will appear better than they are and the pitchers will post middling numbers, but at least the last piece of the farm system is in place.

Go Sky Sox!