Dodgers Moving Triple-A Affiliate To Oklahoma City, Per Report

There are some places that just aren’t the best places to play Baseball. I’m not saying that Albuquerque isn’t a good place to play Baseball. What I am saying is that some places just don’t have great weather or geography for Baseball.

We’ve already had nearly 20 years of Baseball in Denver. Let’s face it, they don’t play normal Baseball up there. We know that it is very hard to evaluate players in high altitude cities. So this might seem as a shock to some of you, it really isn’t when you think about it.

Michael Baldwin of Newsok.com is reporting that the Dodgers are moving their triple-A affiliate from Albuquerque to Oklahoma City starting next season. The RedHawks are currently the triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros, and play in the Northern division of the Pacific Coast League

Per report, the Dodgers have been growing discontent with Albuquerque because of the high altitude and outrageous offense making it hard to evaluate prospects.

The Dodgers have used Albuquerque as an affiliate for 44 years. The Albuquerque Dukes were the Dodgers triple-A affiliate from 1963-2000. After the 2000 season the Dodgers moved their triple-A affiliate to Las Vegas. Albuquerque was left without a team until 2003, when they rejoined the PCL as the Albuquerque Isotopes. Then an affiliate of the Miami Marlins. The Dodgers repurchased them in 2009.

According to the report, the Dodgers are in the final stages of contract negotiations that began several weeks ago. The article states that the purchase price will be between 22 and 28 million dollars. The RedHawks are currently owned by the Mandalay entertainment group, who is also selling their five other  minor league clubs. Reportedly Peter Guber could possibly be involved in the negotiations.

I’m sure you’ve heard by now that this season the Dodgers asked the Isotopes to begin using humidor balls like the Rockies have been doing for the last few years. It’s a tough break for Albuquerque fans that could be left without a team again.

Albuquerque is 5300 feet above sea level.