The team’s home in Waldorf would be Regency Furniture Stadium, which opened in 2008.

A member of the Nationals front office said that team policy dictates refraining from comment on deals with affiliates while existing deals are still in effect. “We are committed to Auburn,” was all he would say. The Nationals’ short-season A team is located in Auburn, N.Y., and plays with the Muckdogs in the New York Penn League.

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The Muckdogs are owned by the Genesee County Baseball Club and operated by the Rochester Red Wings, the Class AAA affiliate of the Twins. Their president, Naomi Silver, issued a statement earlier this week.

“Since the Red Wings took over operation of the Batavia Muckdogs in 2008 after the Muckdogs had endured several years of financial hardship, there have been several serious out-of-town suitors, none of which met our, or the Genesee County Baseball Club’s, criteria for selling,” Silver said. “While we have made no secret of the fact that the team is for sale, we are not in a position to comment on the current status except to say that baseball will go on as expected in 2016.

“The Red Wings are very proud of the way we have operated the Batavia franchise and continue to enjoy extending our reach to Genesee County. We are looking forward to opening day in Batavia on June 22nd.”

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Robinson confirmed earlier reports by Ballparkdigest.com and BaseballAmerica.com that the new ownership group is comprised of African American businessmen from the D.C. area, but would not name names. He said the group is led by “a Charles County resident with a history in baseball.”

Jeff Lantz, a spokesman for Minor League Baseball, said that while the league “would welcome more minority ownership” in the minors, it is “too early to comment” on a potential deal. Lantz added that while selling a minor league team is normally somewhat straightforward, the relocation process can be “more complicated.”

“There are intricate negotiations including entities in both Major and Minor League Baseball because it has to do with territorial rights and the like,” said Robinson, who has been a member of the Charles County Board of Commissioners since 2010. “But I’m pretty confident this will happen, not just because it would move a minor league team from upstate New York to Charles County, but because this would result in the only African American ownership in all of organized baseball.”

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The biggest hurdles to completion include those territorial rights, owned by the Orioles and Nationals. Robinson said the Nationals have been involved in negotiations “on a limited basis” and that Major League Baseball’s commissioner’s office has been, too. The commissioner’s office did not immediately respond to request for comment on a potential deal.

“Obviously, if it’s a Nationals affiliate — which is what we’re expecting — [territorial rights] are not an issue. So we just need to make sure that the Orioles are on board and we’re working toward that,” Robinson said. “It would set up a really good interstate rivalry in that state because the Orioles have a minor league affiliate in that league that’s owned by Cal Ripken.”

Indeed, Ripken’s Aberdeen Ironbirds are also members of the New York Penn League, which plays from early June until early September and is currently comprised of 14 teams divided into three somewhat geographically diverse divisions. The Ironbirds are in a division with teams in Brooklyn and the Hudson Valley, while the Nationals’ Auburn Doubledays play in the same division as the State College Spikes, Williamsport Crosscutters and other intuitively named teams that are not quite nearby.

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Auburn’s current home is located 379 miles from Nationals Park; a potential home in Waldorf would be 27 miles away. Proximity is not necessarily crucial at the lower minor league levels, as players are not often shuttled between short-season A ball and the majors. Regency Furniture Stadium was built as part of a $25 million entertainment complex in 2007, and play began there in 2008. That stadium was built to meet Double A standards, Robinson said, meaning it would need few major upgrades to host an affiliated team instead of an independent one.