Astros owner Drayton McLane is nearing a deal to sell the team to Jim Crane, according to Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle. Though McLane denies that he has a deal, Justice hears from insiders who insist the sides are close.
It’s not clear how much McLane will obtain for the Astros, but he will certainly turn a profit on the club he purchased for $117MM in 1992. Justice hears that the team's price tag definitely exceeds $523MM, which is how much the Rangers sold for last summer. That’s well above $474MM, the price at which Forbes recently valued the franchise.
McLane was close to selling the Astros to Crane in 2008, but the deal fell through. Crane has also attempted to buy the Cubs (2008) and Rangers (2010).
Sell, Mortimer, sell!
Hopefully for Stro fans he will spend some money.
Thank God.
See that? Go forth and do likewise….WILPONS!!
Spending money has never been Drayton’s problem – it’s where he’s spent it that’s the problem (Carlos Lee and other short-term fixes). Ed Wade and Bobby Heck are finally rebuilding the farm system, which had been drained since Gerry Hunsicker was run out of town.
You would think Mark Cuban would be interested….maybe…
He had said that he had no interest in buying the Astros soon after word got out that Drayton was looking to sell the team.
Jim crane? Wasn’t he Colonel Hogan?:-)
Seriously, first move, fire Ed Wade and go find Gerry Hunsicker.
Please tell me you are joking.
I know it’s somewhat irrational, but it always bothers me when we hear about potential owners who are basically just trying to buy whatever team might be available. I’m sure the vast majority of owners are out to turn a profit–and they should be–but this just screams it out to me, and not in a good way.
He wouldn’t be paying potentially $100MM+ over Forbes’ value if it was all about profit for him; he seems to genuinely want to own a baseball team.
I think Mark Cuban would jump at the opportunity to own one of the large market teams that will be up for sale in the near future. But I hoping he buys the Dodgers. So we can catch every game on HDnet. Or he can bleed Fox for the television rights since he has the means to provide the service with or without them.
my question is, will Ed Wade get canned after the sale is finalized?
I think Ed Wade is likely to stay…..he and Bobby Heck (farm system director) are doing a good job rebuilding the farm system. However, the fruits of that rebuilding won’t be seen until 2014 at earliest. What the new owner can bring is some deeper pockets than McLane to afford a $100M payroll in 2012/13 instead of the $80M payroll the team currently has. Particularly in 2013 when Carlos Lee’s $20M per year contract comes off the books, the Astros have a chance to add some good free agent talent. If they can do that in 2013, and the farm starts to produce players by 2014 then the new owner will be in good shape.