The teams you just mentioned have some though decisions to make on key free agents, and their payroll will increase significally if they choose to retain those key players.
according to Forbes, these are the richest Houstonians. John Arnold 3.3 Billion Randa Williams 3.1 Dannine Avara 3.1 Milane Frantz 3.1 Scott Duncan 3.1 George Mitchell 2.0 Jeffrey Hildebrand 1.9 Joe Jamail 1.5 Thomas Friedkin 1.5 <s>Drayton McLane</s> 1.45 Robert McNair 1.4 <s>Kenneth Adams</s> 1.15 Pshhh You think these guys (and gals) want to buy a play toy called the Astros?
I was listening to ESPN 97.5 last week and they had an interview with Mark Cuban. Carl Dukes asked him if he would have any interest in the Astros if they were put on the market and he said he would have zero interest. He said he would only want to own the Rangers or a team in a major market. He also raised some doubts whether he would get approved as an owner.
I think Cuban was in the running for the Cubs, but the owners didn't approve. He needs to buy his hometown Pirates.
Key word being sustained excellence, not temporary. You can bet the Rangers payroll will start increasing. They were even saying it tonight on DFW sports radio.
I know this is a really weird exception, but the Expos put out a fairly competitive team over their last 10 or so seasons. Of course you need fans to actually show up to games in order to keep the team running though.
I found this interesting. Per Forbes... those four are all siblings. Children of the late Dan L. Duncan, co-founder, chairman and majority shareholder of Enterprise Products. Before his death this past March, he was previously the most wealthy individual in Houston, worth over $9 Billion at the time of his death (I know that doesn't add up to the above, but quoting wikipedia here). If ya'll remember in 2007, got in a bit of a flap for hunting from a helicopter:
Here's hoping the change is a positive one. I've been seething over Drayton for years, but recognize it's always easy to get worse.
Thanks for a good ride, Drayton. Warts, mistakes, and all, it was a good ride. Here's hoping the new owner is a good one. I'm with Max, I wish I had $800M right about now!
I tell you what. You get $200M, I'll get 200M, & Max can get $200M together and we'll offer $600M. Send me a message through the board when you raise your share.
You realize it takes months for these kinds of things to become official. It's not something that can happen in a matter of days. A new owner will only be able to attempt to trade for Lee or Crawford as they would have signed with teams months before.
Times a million. I have no idea how Tal has been able to remain in the organization for so long...smh
I wonder if Cuban is actually privately interested...but is keeping hush-hush on this after what happened with the Rangers. I'd love to sport an AFFL t-shirt!
Might be a conflict of interest if he's a partner with his rival Rockets on the Comcast deal.... would be interesting though. We'd definitely have the nicest locker room amenities of anyone around, and we might even get better HD with Cuban on-board :grin:
