The City of Modesto and the Seattle Mariners are no longer calling balls and strikes in negotiations to keep Minor League Baseball in the land of water, wealth, contentment and health.
On Thursday morning, the Mariners announced the sale of the Modesto Nuts organization to Diamond Baseball Holdings (DBH), an ownership and sports management group co-founded in 2021 by former college sports licensing executive Pat Battle and longtime minor league owner Peter Freund, established by media conglomerate Endeavor, and financially backed by private equity investment firm Silver Lake.
As a result of the transaction, the Nuts will remain as a Single-A affiliate of the Mariners, playing in Modesto through the 2025 season, but relocating to San Bernardino, where the Inland Empire 66ers, the Single-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels, currently play. In 2026, the Angels will move their affiliation to Rancho Cucamonga to play as the Quakes. The Quakes are currently an affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and will relocate to a new stadium in Ontario in 2026 under a name to be announced at a later date.
The Nuts, the reigning, back-to-back champions of the California League, became the 39th MiLB team acquired by DBH since their inception. The Mariners became partial owners of the Nuts in October of 2017 alongside private ownership group HWS. They fully acquired the organization in November of 2020.
“When we purchased the Nuts our goal was to guarantee a spot in the Cal League. That was important to us for competitive reasons in developing our players to assist us in winning at the Big League level,” the Mariners said in the announcement. “Our success in Modesto has been demonstrated both by our back-to-back Cal League Championships and the quality of players that have matriculated from Modesto to the rest of our system, and to the Major League Club.
“Following the changes in the minor league system in recent years, it is no longer necessary for us to own a team to be confident in our ability to remain in the Cal League, so we are transferring the team to DBH.”
The move to Inland Empire will be a reunion between the Mariners and the city. The Mariners have had two prior affiliations with the club in San Bernardino, from 1987-1994, and from 2001-2006.
“Minor League Baseball has been a fixture in San Bernardino for decades and we couldn’t be more excited to continue to be a part of that tradition,” said Battle and Freund, now Executive Chairman and CEO of DBH, respectively. “The Mariners have been terrific partners, and we look forward to continuing to build our relationship with them.”
The Nuts were originally slated to leave town after the 2024 campaign after the City of Modesto and the Seattle Mariners were unable to reach a long-term lease agreement for the team to continue playing at John Thurman Field, according to an announcement in July. But a month later, negotiations were reignited, and a one-year, $600,000 lease agreement was reached. Terms of the deal also stated that the Mariners agreed to not engage any other city or entity within Stanislaus County to negotiate the development or redevelopment of a baseball or multipurpose sports facility through December 2026. Nevertheless, if a new, long-term lease agreement for John Thurman Field was not finalized by April 1, 2025, unless otherwise agreed in writing, negotiations between the two sides would have ended, and the team would be out of town by Oct. 1, 2025.
John Thurman Field, built in 1955, was at the center of lease negotiations over the past year. Major League Baseball had been requiring renovations of roughly $32,054,611 to get the facility up to professional standards, per a memo provided to the Modesto City Council. Those renovations included larger clubhouses for both teams with improved lockers; nutrition, food-prep and dining areas for home and visiting teams; better training facilities for players including weight rooms and multiple pitching and batting tunnels; separate spaces for female staffers and brighter stadium lights.
Connor Letourneau of the San Francisco Chronicle reported in September that the Mariners had actually offered to cover all those expenses in hopes of a long-term extension, though it remains unclear as to why the city turned down the offer to later claim that they had to choose to use funds for either the stadium or elsewhere in the community.
"It is disappointing to see the Modesto Nuts have been sold and will leave after being part of our community for so long," the City of Modesto said in a statement.
The city also claimed that they 'worked hard to negotiate a long-term lease agreement to keep the team in Modesto, but the Seattle Mariners chose to go in a different direction."
But as the Mariners’ statement said, the purchase by DBH and their confirmed home in the California League with Inland Empire for 2026 onwards leaves them with little reason to retain ownership and pay for upgrades at the nearly 70-year-old ballpark.
A new ownership group and city outside of Stanislaus County reaping the benefits of the team’s relocation, the city of Modesto now finds themselves on the outside looking in on professional baseball.
“It’s for real this time,” said one source familiar with the situation, but is not authorized to speak publicly. “The teams have had this plan for a while now, since Rancho (Cucamonga) started that new Ontario park.”
Ballpark Digest, a website covering news and negotiations on baseball stadiums at all professional levels, first predicted the shuffling of teams and cities in July in the wake of the initial announcement that the Nuts would move after the 2024 season.
The City of Modesto continued their statement by saying they will "continue to explore affordable sports and entertainment options for Modesto," and that they will look at how to use John Thurman Field for community events. In September, Modesto entered an agreement with the United Soccer League to explore the possibilities of building a soccer stadium in downtown for expansion men's and women's team.
The Nuts, Seattle Mariners, DBH and Minor League Baseball announced that there will be no front office changes for the team in their final season.
“Home games throughout the season will be dedicated to honoring and celebrating the club’s storied history in Modesto,” the Nuts said in a press release.
"I am sad to see the Modesto Nuts leave," Mayor Sue Zwahlen said in a statement. "We have a long-standing tradition and local pride around baseball in Modesto. I am looking forward to the upcoming season and with them well."
The team was originally founded in 1872 as a makeshift community club, the Modesto Red Caps. By the early 1900s, they rebranded as the Modesto Reds, competing in a local league consisting of other community teams in Modesto, Merced, Chowchilla and Stockton.
Two years after joining the Cal League as a non-affiliated club in 1946, the Reds were picked up by the St. Louis organization. Following just one season with the Browns, they moved to the Pittsburgh Pirates organization and stayed with them till 1952. The Milwaukee Braves took over for the 1953 season before the New York Yankees became the parent team from 1954 to 1961. The next year, the Reds rebranded as the Modesto Colts from 1962 to 1964 after becoming an affiliate of the Houston Colt .45's. There was no team for the 1965 season, but returned for the 1966 season as an affiliate of the Kansas City Athletics, who renamed the team to the Reds. The following season, they joined the St. Louis Cardinals organization, a partnership that lasted until 1974. In 1975, the club became the Modesto A’s following a sale to the Athletics, who had since relocated to Oakland in 1968.
Ahead of the 2005 season, the A’s moved their Class-A team to Stockton, where they remain today. As a result, the Colorado Rockies took over and stayed in Modesto until the conclusion of the 2016 season. The team was renamed the Nuts as an ode to the region’s many orchards that grow 80% of the world's almonds, 75% of the world's walnuts and 98% of the nation’s pistachios.
With 77 years under its belt, Modesto is the longest tenured team in the California League.
