Nolan Ryan Pushes for Auction of the Rangers
The Texas Rangers may be performing well on the field, but off the field, the franchise still faces uncertainty surrounding their future owners.
There have been talks about a possible delay in auctioning off the club. The auction is currently scheduled for August 4th in the Texas bankruptcy court.
Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan called on a federal bankruptcy judge to move with the auction on the scheduled date, saying that a delay would hurt the team and may cost them slugger Josh Hamilton.
Ryan is currently the team’s president and is seen as the most likely buyer of the team, along with Pittsburgh sports attorney Chuck Greenberg. They have the endorsement of Major League Baseball (MLB) to buy the Rangers and would love to close the deal soon.
The deal has not closed easily as the sale is now part of a contentious bankruptcy proceeding.
Creditors have pushed for a delay in the auction so that other potential buyers may line up their finances.
The Greenberg-Ryan group has already bid $575 million and is strongly against a delay because their financing guarantee is set to expire August 12th.
Ryan has also stated that the auction should be done as soon as possible so that the team can focus on their pennant race and a run to the World Series. Although, the team has performed really well in the midst of all this ownership talk.
Ryan also expressed concern about lining up financing plans for next year, and specifically mentioned his desire to keep Josh Hamilton. Hamilton's .357 batting average leads the major leagues and Ryan needs to find a way to keep the slugger around next year. Hamilton is scheduled to become a free agent at the end of the season.
"I don't know that I want to be there [if] Josh Hamilton doesn't come back next year," Ryan said.
This past January, Hamilton signed a one-year, $3.25 million contract with the Rangers and judging by his performance this year, his value will be a lot higher this offseason. He could command a much higher salary and Ryan has put him “in the ballpark” of trying to sign him for around $8-10 million.
Don’t forget that the team also made trades to acquire ace Cliff Lee and Bengie Molina, which may further limit what the team can do.
While testifying in court, Ryan acknowledged that the team has received loans from Major League Baseball to stay afloat. The bankruptcy court earlier approved a $21.5 million MLB loan on top of $18.45 million in loans since last year.
Ryan’s business partner Greenburg is set to testify soon as well.
The Rangers filed for bankruptcy in May and wanted to sell the team to the Greenburg-Ryan group and repay creditors $75 million. Angry creditors have since complained that bids from the Greenburg-Ryan group weren’t high enough and that there could be several other higher bidders.
Several other bidders have indeed emerged. Among them are Houston businessman Jim Crane and Dallas investor Jeff Beck. Both have been cleared by the MLB to submit bids, as well as two other undisclosed parties. There has been speculation that Dallas Mavericks owner and billionaire Mark Cuban is one of them, though he has said only that he is "interested."
Rangers’ manager Ron Washington is expected to take the stand in court as well very soon.
It is quite remarkable that in spite of all this mess, the Rangers have still been able to perform at such a high level. This can very well be the best Texas Rangers team we have ever seen. One might compare this situation to the Phoenix Coyotes of the NHL. While their ownership was in question and bankruptcy issues surrounded the team, the team on the ice still performed well and made the playoffs.
Maybe it’s just a question of both sides of the organization balancing each other out. Nevertheless, who will claim the Rangers franchise is yet to be determined.
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