All the recent news about the Atlanta Braves organization wanting to expand to Wilmington, North Carolina, has left some towns a little jealous. Especially one town in Southwest Georgia:

The article does say that the Columbus City Council likely wouldn't consider building the Braves a new stadium the way that the Wilmington City Council is considering it. Of course, Golden Park is a pretty nice park for a minor league team. Go here for a great review of the park, and more pictures like the one above.

A decade ago the Braves abandoned South Georgia (anywhere below Atlanta) when they moved their Sally League team from Macon to Rome after the 2002 season. The Macon ballpark is the oldest park in the state (opened in 1929), and deserves a team of some sort. Unfortunately, the trend around baseball is away from the historic minor league stadiums to new ergonomic money-machines that try for a diluted faux-historic flavor.

If you want a Braves minor league franchise, then you better build them a new stadium. Surely someone can find a use for these gorgeous old parks. Maybe we need more Rickwood Classics around the South. Speaking of, the 2012 Rickwood Classic will feature a guest appearance by Dale Murphy. Perhaps we could get Dale to start up a series of "Classic" games throughout the old parks of the South.

During the past few weeks we've been following the unfolding saga of the Atlanta Braves intention to relocate their high-A franchise to Wilmington, North Carolina. All along I figured that the Braves would simply create a new minor league franchise (out of thin air), and not renew their contract with the Lynchburg Hillcats, which expires after the 2014 season.

Come to find out that the Braves seem to prefer to purchase the Hillcats and move that franchise to Wilmington.

The Atlanta Braves have reached a tentative agreement with the Lynchburg Baseball Corporation to purchase full control of the Hillcats, Lynchburg general manager Paul Sunwall said Wednesday. But the sale will not commence unless Wilmington agrees to build a new stadium for the Braves.

The sale would also be contingent on another minor league franchise moving to Lynchburg. Hillcats beat reporter Chris Lang of the Lynchburg News & Advance also wrote this in his story about the Braves possibly purchasing the 'Cats:

The Braves first approached Lynchburg about purchasing the team in the fall and the tentative agreement began to come together in late December, Sunwall said. The Hillcats are the only team in Atlanta’s minor league system not owned by the parent club.

If the stadium deal falls through in Wilmington, Atlanta will not purchase the Lynchburg franchise.

That begs the question about what any new team in Wilmington would be called (clearly this is a very important topic for me). If the Braves purchase the Hillcats franchise, they may not necessarily care about purchasing the Hillcats name. Firstly because we all assume they will want to rebrand the new Wilmington franchise with the "Braves" moniker, and secondly because "Hill" cats doesn't really fit in a coastal city. I continue to hope (and lobby for) the Braves to choose a unique and original name, and not lazily put Braves in front of the city (or state) name as they've done everywhere else.

The process for funding a new Braves minor league stadium in Wilmington, North Carolina, passed its first big hurdle last night. The Star News has the story:

And yes, here is confirmation that the Braves would be bringing the team under their ownership, as speculated earlier on Talking Chop:

Braves and Mandalay officials are offering a 20-year lease guarantee as part of the agreement for the city to in turn build a stadium. The Braves and Mandalay would co-own the minor league team, which Braves officials say would be relocated from Lynchburg, Va.

While the process seems to have gone smoothly so far, there were signs of discontent outside the council meeting last night:

Protestors who carried signs in front of city hall and raised them during the meeting, have similar concerns.

Beau Derosa and Martin Goter sat outside city hall before the meeting holding signs that read "I call foul on corruption" and "Next election you are out."

Talking Chop has been on this story from the beginning, first passing along reports of the Braves interest back in early December of last year, but the AJC is finally catching up.

Overall I support this strategy, but I do hope they decide on an original name for the team, and don't just call them the Wilmington Braves. The Wilmington Wahoos or the Wilmington Wombats would be so much better.

Talking Chop was the first Braves site to bring you the news that the organization was looking to move one of its minor league teams to Wilmington, North Carolina. Bobby Cox and other Braves executives have had meetings with Wilmington City Counsel Members about constructing a new stadium for a Braves minor league affiliate. Now it appears the Wilmington City Counsel is about to set the wheels in motion to negotiate with the Braves. From the Lumina News:

Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo and city council held a press conference Tuesday, Jan. 31 to announce that council will move into serious talks about locating a minor league baseball stadium in Wilmington.

The council will vote in next Tuesday’s regular meeting to approve a memorandum with the understanding that the city of Wilmington, Mandalay Entertainment and the Atlanta Braves Professional Baseball Club will work on finding an agreement for bringing a baseball stadium and team to the city during the next six months. [...]

Mandalay Entertainment and the Atlanta Braves want the stadium to be operational by 2014, Saffo said; hence the urgency to begin discussions.

Mandalay Entertainment via its subsidiary, Mandalay Sports Entertainment, has an ownership stake and/or consults with six current minor league teams, from the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees to the highly successful Dayton Dragons, who have sold out a record 815 consecutive games. They also recently began consulting with a seventh team, the Winston-Salem Dash. I imagine that their role in this venture would be as a partner/consultant to the Braves in a new Class-A Advanced franchise in Wilmington.

The Braves agreement with the Lynchburg Hillcats, the Atlanta organization's current Class-A Advanced affiliate, will expire at the end of the 2014 season, so the urgency the article speaks about is surely meant to imply that the Braves would like a new stadium in place for the 2015 season, when they would presumably move their Class-A Advanced team from Lynchburg to Wilmington. At the same time the Braves would likely switch from having an independently owned Class-A Advanced team to one that is owned by the parent Major League organization, which is the case with all other Braves minor league teams.

It is now clear that the Braves are determined to bring all of their minor league teams under their ownership and control, leaving no independently owned teams within the organizational structure. The Wilmington Braves would be the final piece of that puzzle.

Former Braves minor league pitcher Steven Shell has been suspended for violating baseball's substance abuse policy. Shell was signed by the Braves last year after he was released by the Royals. He appeared in 28 games for the triple-A Gwinnett Braves. Here is what the WSJ had to say:

Former major league right-hander Steven Shell was suspended 50 games after testing positive for metabolites of Stanozolol.

Shell is currently a minor league free agent, and his suspension will begin once he signs with an organization.

I'm not sure if this was an off-season drug test, or a sample from this past season that was just now tested. It's a bit concerning that the Braves organization is once again linked with a positive drug test.

Stanozolol is a synthetic anabolic steroid derived from testosterone according to Wikipedia. It is available in tablet form and can be taken orally. Like many steroids it increases muscular growth and enhances virility.

Shell saw some time in the Nationals bullpen in 2008 and 2009, and was pretty effective in 2008, posting a 2.16 ERA and a .194 batting average against in 50 innings out of the bullpen. More than likely he was not in the Braves plans for 2012, and even if he is re-signed, will likely be triple-A pitching filler.

Atlanta Braves outfield prospect Todd Cunningham has more going on than just baseball. Check out this video he released a few days ago:

I'm not sure if this is a serious video or somewhat slapstick, but the intro and the cutaways are rather funny (again, not sure if that was the intent, but that's the impression I get). Interesting stuff. You can follow Todd on Twitter @Todd_Cunningham.

There has been a good deal of minor league free agent signings the past few days -- none by the Braves, of course. Several former Braves have found new homes. First off is the last remnant of the Mark Teixeira trade. Reliever Stephen Marek signed a minor league deal with the Blue Jays. He'll still be recovering from Tommy John surgery he had last May, but I know many of us who followed him in the minor leagues really hope he comes back and can make it to the Majors. He deserved to be called up last year before he got injured, but the Braves didn't see it the same way.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Werthian outfielder Joe Mather has signed a minor league deal with the Cubs. The Yankees signed Dewayne Wise, who was in the Braves system a long time ago.

In releasing news, the Braves did some more of that to a few minor leaguers, releasing left-handed pitchers Matt Crim and Dustin Richardson, as well as outfielders Willie Cabrera and Marcus Lemon. Crim had a great start to his career in 09 at Danville, going 10-and-2 with a 3.18 ERA and being named the Appy League Pitcher of the Year, but he never matched those numbers as he climbed the ladder.

Richardson was a guy the Braves claimed off waivers from the Marlins last June, who had some Major League experience in the Red Sox bullpen. But he didn't pitch well for Gwinnett, and I'm actually surprised it took this long for them to release him.

Willie Cabrera was a draft-and-follow from the 14th round of the 2005 draft. He had some decent seasons, but never quite showed the promise or power the Braves were hoping for. Marcus Lemon was acquired last March from the Rangers for a non-existent PTBNL. He's a former seven-figure draftee who never amounted to anything.

Other than that and rumors the Braves have got nothing going on. Absolutely nothing.

The Atlanta Braves own all but one of their minor league affiliates, hence why just about every Braves minor league team is the CityName Braves. The lone exception is the Lynchburg Hillcats. The Braves signed a four-year Player Development contract with Lynchburg prior to last year, which makes them the Braves Advanced-A affiliate through the 2014 season. The Braves could be laying the groundwork for what comes after that.

The Wilmington, North Carolina, Star News reports this interesting bit of news:

Former Atlanta Braves Manager Bobby Cox traveled to Wilmington a couple weeks ago to meet with local elected leaders and talk about baseball in the Port City.

Councilman Kevin O'Grady said Tuesday that Cox and other Braves officials dined with a couple council members and New Hanover County commissioners. He said there were not enough elected leaders to require public notice of the meeting.

He did not divulge details but said the dinner was a "general discussion" about baseball in Wilmington.

The article goes on to note that a stadium in downtown Wilmington has been discussed for several years, but the usual refrain of lack of funding has been a reason it hasn't gone anywhere.

Far be it for me to speculate about the state of politics in Wilmington, so beyond this specific spot for a team I believe this gives us a clear insight into what the Braves are thinking regarding their last independent minor league affiliate. They want to bring their Class-A Advanced team into the CityName Braves family of organization-owned teams -- whether it be Wilmington or somewhere else. That type of conversation would need to get started now, especially if the Braves want a new minor league ballpark for this affiliate -- as I'm sure they do.

We'll keep an eye on this, and see if anything else develops.