The A’s AA-Texas League affiliate, the Midland Rockhounds, is playing for the league crown tonight in Game 3 of a 5-game series with the Tulsa Drillers. That didn’t stop the team from getting together with the A’s to announce an extension to their Player Development Contract, which was set to expire at the end of this season. The extension will run another 2 years, to 2016.

As a result, 4 of the A’s minor league affiliates will have PDCs through at least 2016: Vermont (A- – Penn League), Beloit (A – Midwest League), Stockton (A – Cal League), Midland (AA – Texas League). That leaves the Sacramento River Cats as the lone outlier. Murmurs have only gotten louder about an upcoming deal with the Cats and the San Francisco Giants, so much that Sacramento Bee columnist Marcos Breton has come to River Cats’ ownership’s defense about the move. The change would force the A’s to affiliate with another Pacific Coast League city, likely Nashville or Fresno.

The “free agency” period for available affiliates starts next Monday, with announcements followed by a two week negotiation period. Consider it like the Winter Meetings, but for major and minor league teams instead of GMs and agents. If anything, as A’s fans we’d like to hear of an announcement early next week, which would mean that the A’s didn’t end up losing out on the biennial game of musical chairs that often occurs. While that’s somewhat rare among AAA teams, there may be numerous affiliates available, and some locales will be more popular than others (there seems to be a trend that disfavors high-altitude cities such as Albuquerque and Colorado Springs).