The A's announced a four-year player development deal with Triple-A Nashville of the Pacific Coast League on Thursday, a deal that will run through the 2018 season. Oakland's Triple-A home has been in Sacramento the past 15 years.

Oakland will be the seventh Major League team to have an affiliation with the Nashville Sounds since the franchise was established in 1978. Billy Beane, GM and vice president of the A's, released an official statement in which he addressed the club's decision to relocate its top affiliate.