I don't understand why your number one concern is confirming the likelihood of things actual happening, like you're getting an old school journalist double-confirmation of info from two sources, and not talking about "that's a good idea" or "that's a bad idea."
We're talking big picture, conceptual stuff. The Giants affiliating with Richmond is AN EXAMPLE of a problem. Richmond having a AA team isn't the problem. If the plan has Richmond moving up/down a level or staying in AA hasn't been revealed as of yet.
I would agree that Richmond won't go up a level without a new stadium in the near future. But you can't realign all of minor league baseball with he expectation of permanence because minor league teams are going to move around, A LOT, like they always have.
20 years ago, these cities had Triple A teams: Edmonton, Tucson, Richmond, Pawtucket, Colorado Springs, Calgary, New Orleans, Ottawa. Now they don't.
40 years ago: Wichita, Evansville, Denver, Ogden, Portland, Hawaii, Phoenix, Spokane, Springfield, Charleston. (New Orleans moved to Wichita this off-season, so they got their team back).
This is about putting a structure in place so MLB teams don't end up with their AAA guys 2000 miles away when they need someone in a hurry. It's about making leagues be more compact for travel (a 20-team PCL stretching from Tacoma to Nashville is bonkers).
But we're not being reporters on this stuff. We're commenting about what we think should happen.