I know there's suddenly a lot of chatter about the Nats trying to move their Class AAA affiliate to Richmond now that the Braves have announced they're pulling out and moving to Gwinett, Ga. Seems like a perfect opportunity for the Nats to swoop in, claim Richmond as their own and reap the benefits, right?

Not so fast.

It's not as easy as it looks. Actually, it's going to be almost impossible for the Nats to move their Class AAA club to Richmond. Why? Because this isn't a case of the Braves pulling their affiliation and latching on with a new one. No, the Richmond Braves (who are owned by the Atlanta Braves) are actually relocating the entire franchise to Gwinett, leaving nothing behind. (Think the Montreal Expos relocating to Washington, just on a smaller scale.) So there's no empty Class AAA affiliate sitting in Richmond for the Nats (or anyone else) to take over.

In order for that to happen, another existing Class AAA franchise would have to pack up and relocate itself to Richmond, then align itself with the Nats. And, there's almost no chance of that happening. There are only 30 Class AAA teams out there, and only 14 of them play in the International League. (None of the 16 Pacific Coast League teams are allowed to jump ship and join the IL without the league's consent.) And none of those IL franchises are looking to relocate, not now that the Ottawa Lynx are set to move to Pennsylvania and become the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

So Richmond's hopes of landing another Class AAA team are miniscule.

What about a lower-level minor-league franchise? That's possible. There are more Class AA and Class A clubs to choose from, and those situations are usually less stable than the Class AAA ones. Perhaps the Nats could someday try to engineer a relocation of the Potomac Nationals or the Hagerstown Suns to Richmond, but that still would require ownership of those franchises -- remember, they're not owned by the Nats -- to want to move.

So for at least the foreseeable future, the Nats' presence in Richmond will have to remain strictly on the marketing level.