About 18 months after the Atlanta Braves announced they were relocating their Class AAA franchise to Gwinnett County, Ga., Richmond could acquire a new professional baseball franchise this week. Eastern League President Joe McEacharn set Saturday, Aug. 1 as the deadline for identification of which of the league’s 12 Class AA franchises will relocate to Richmond next season.

Behind-the-scenes work apparently has already started as The Diamond readies for Richmond’s next professional baseball team. Sources said it will be the Class AA franchise now based in Connecticut. Those involved with the relocation process have been told by Minor League Baseball and the Eastern League not to comment publicly on the move until it is formally announced, Eastern League President Joe McEacharn said.

Professional baseball won’t return to Richmond until next year, but its presence apparently will be noticeable starting next month. Minor League Baseball and the Eastern League plan to assign a Class AA franchise to Richmond before Aug. 1. When that happens, “somebody is going to go in there and somebody is going to take Richmond by storm,“ Joe McEacharn, the Eastern League president, said yesterday.

The Eastern League Board of Directors met yesterday to discuss which of its 12 franchises is headed to Richmond next season. If there was a resolution, the Eastern League president chose not to publicly share it. “I have nothing to comment on. Nothing to report,“ Joe McEacharn said. McEacharn assured Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones in mid-May that an Eastern League franchise will be at The Diamond next season.

The ownership group moving a Class AA baseball franchise to Richmond next season will commit more than $1 million for short-term improvements to The Diamond, the Eastern League president said yesterday. “We want to bring a first-class product to Richmond,“ Joe McEacharn said. “We are going to show our good faith not only by coming with a team, but we are going to substantially upgrade the product for the short term.“

The Eastern League still intends to relocate one of its 12 Class AA franchises to Richmond next season despite yesterday’s withdrawal of the Shockoe Center proposal and its $60 million ballpark. “Nothing changes,“ said Joe McEacharn, Eastern League president. “It’s more information that we continue to absorb. This does not affect our commitment to be there in 2010.“

A move by the Class AA Connecticut Defenders to Richmond under their current president/managing partner appears to be the most likely scenario for baseball at The Diamond next spring, sources involved with the situation say. Connecticut’s Lou DiBella earlier this month requested from Minor League Baseball permission to explore the Richmond market for the purpose of potentially relocating his franchise here. With members of his potential management team, DiBella visited Richmond this week and met with community leaders.

The continued lack of a ballpark plan “complicates” the Eastern League’s process of identifying a Class AA franchise and ownership group for Richmond, Eastern League President Joe McEacharn acknowledged yesterday, but he added “it’s a challenge that we are committed to meeting.“ McEacharn said he remains optimistic that one of the Eastern League’s dozen franchises will be based at The Diamond next season whether or not the Shockoe Center proposal and its $60 million ballpark gain city approval.

The guy with the simple first name and befuddling last name already delivered one bold stroke in Richmond’s quest for a professional baseball franchise. Eastern League President Joe McEacharn, who pronounces his last name mc-KATH-ren, assured Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones that a Class AA franchise will play at The Diamond next season. Now come the tough parts: determining the Eastern League franchise that will relocate, cobbling together an ownership group with local flavor, brokering a purchase, then building consensus for a long-term Richmond ballpark solution as the kicker.

The Double-A Connecticut Defenders will be allowed to relocate to Richmond even without a long-term plan for where they’ll play, the president of the Eastern League said. Minor League Baseball officials previously expressed reluctance to approving a move without firm plans for a new ballpark.