Yet more bad news on the team sale
by t ball on Apr 29, 2010 12:03 AM CDT
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PrintAccording to Evan Grant, the team may need to borrow more from MLB to make payroll as soon as next month, and it may make signing draft picks nearly impossible for anything over slot.
According to multiple club and industry sources, the Rangers will have to reach deeper into a $25 million line of credit Major League Baseball extended them if the sale is not completed by early June. The Rangers have taken $16 million since MLB extended the line of credit last summer. That was enough to last a year. Payroll has stayed essentially flat. So have revenues. Come the end of May, there could be financial issues.
This actually serves as incentive for both MLB and the lenders, now led by hedge fund Monarch Alternative Capital, to finalize a deal 14 months in the making.
After that? Everybody's position would take a turn for the worse. And while MLB would eventually get its money back and the lenders would eventually recoup most, if not all, of their money, the poor Rangers could be left with a barren draft class. There would be no impact on the day-to-day operations of the club, but big-ticket items (think over-slot draft bonuses and payroll flexibility) would once again be out of the question.
Apparently, despite all the noisy back and forth last week between MLB and Hicks, there are has been zero progress. Damnit this sucks.
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I'm glad this went up after a win.
If Feliz had lost the game tonight and we found out about this as well, people would be jumping out of windows.
"I don't really like pitchers." - Nelson Cruz
I guess I've already prepared myself to hear that,
this doesn’t surprise me much. And yes, it sucks beyond belief.
So you're saying we're fucked?
Hey, what else is new.
We're like soccer hooligans... except, like the Rangers, we can’t even get that right. We beat each other up instead of the other side. - AJM
by LSJ on Apr 29, 2010 12:29 AM CDT reply actions 2 recs
One positive note
I’m reading again that first sentence I quoted. I expect the sale to be completed by early June unless Monarch calls all bluffs and the team is either taken over by MLB or put into bankruptcy. But the clock is ticking on what could be a very disappointing draft and trade deadline. And international free agency signing season. I need a drink.
Ceterum censeo, Ron Washington esse delendam
Draft
Unfortunately, I continue to look right about their compensation pick for Purke. If they can’t go over slot for anyone, then that pick will have to be a college pick that is projected to go 10-20 picks later.
Evan
paints doom and gloom… but the sale doesn’t have to be completed by June for the draft to work out… just by August 15th (when draft picks have to be signed).
No, I don't think so
I don’t see them taking that big a chance unless they feel the sale will be closed the day after the draft.
Ceterum censeo, Ron Washington esse delendam
yea this is how i feel too
why would they draft a big name w their first pick w/ little to no chance to sign him?
Scout: He was a first-round pick right? Got a huge bonus?
KG: Oh yeah.
Scout: Well, he spent a lot of it on milkshakes.
by knockoutking on Apr 29, 2010 9:28 AM CDT up reply actions
To block somebody else from getting him?
I don’t know. /cries
Pitching coach Mike Maddux on Darren Oliver’s 0.00 ERA this spring:
"Economical work. He ain’t getting paid by the hour."
According to your mock and others I've seen
it looks like we will be positioned at 15 to take Brentz or Choice. After taking so many high risk/high reward arms over the last few years, taking a college OF that still offers upside wouldn’t upset me greatly. BPA, yes, but I’m hoping like hell that three out of four of our first picks happen to see a position player as the BPA, because the crop on our farm is thinner than Shelley Duvall.
What is this, Horseville? Because I'm surrounded by naysayers.
Post
"I don’t know how these SN blog authors get their gigs, but I’m frankly surprised SN tolerates AJM’s lack of effort." Tex34
Neftali Feliz says sit your 5 dollar ass down before he makes change...
by Brian Thomas on Apr 29, 2010 6:32 PM CDT up reply actions
I'm amazed at my continually growing capability to harbor larger and larger reserves of rage to direct towards Thomas Hicks, Sr.
Look at the comments under Jeff Wilson's blog post on dallasnews.com. What a bunch of rocket scientists.- Keith Law
Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!
This Tom Hicks guy is something else.
"Sometimes you just want to sit back and watch somebody throw 100." - Jeff Passan on Neftali Feliz
"Baseball's all that's real" - JB
Timing..
.. you can pick an over-slot guy, just don’t sign him until right up against the deadline. Betting on the sale being completed by the signing deadline, not draft day.
so later on you can
but the poitn is that your not going to with the purke comp pick because if you DONT sign the guy you dont get another compensation pick next year
Scout: He was a first-round pick right? Got a huge bonus?
KG: Oh yeah.
Scout: Well, he spent a lot of it on milkshakes.
by knockoutking on Apr 29, 2010 9:29 AM CDT up reply actions
True for pick #15, but
that doesn’t have anything to do with the ownership situation THIS year. That comes from last year, which there is no control over.
If the Rangers pick a 1 or supplemental with signability concerns, they have until 8/15 to sign him. Hopefully they will go after the talent with the hopes that they have an owner by then. If not, they get another pick next year.
But doesn't this ridiculous budget situation shift the leverage back to even on the Purke pick
Before, it was assumed that the guy the Rangers picked in the Purke slot had all the leverage since he knew the Rangers would not be willing to walk away. Now, he knows the Rangers have no choice. The Rangers could still draft a high school guy that just opts for college but if they pick a guy who they feel really wants to start his big league career, it will make it really hard for said high schooler to turn down the Rangers offer, especially knowing that the Rangers’ hands are tied.
Although, I guess other teams who have historically gone into the draft with limited budgets just take crappy picks so maybe I’m just being optimistic
Has Hicks been showing his face at any games this year?
I can’t imagine he doesn’t need a police escort.
"I don’t know how these SN blog authors get their gigs, but I’m frankly surprised SN tolerates AJM’s lack of effort." Tex34
Neftali Feliz says sit your 5 dollar ass down before he makes change...
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