John Henry called for a salary cap. Not just any old salary cap, mind you, but an enlightened one.

What I want to know is what is John going to do with all the extra money the Red Sox make from the cap? With Fenway selling out, there's no reason to lower ticket prices. I doubt advertising on NESN will cost less. Beer will keep getting more expensive.

Henry is like Warren Buffett. Buffett campaigns to bring back the death tax, and for his he's praised. Berkshire Hathaway, however, sells insurance. The way to get around inheritance tax is through buying insurance policies. So if the death tax disappears, so does a huge chunk of insurance business.

Henry is for a salary cap, not in the best interests of baseball, but to put more money in his pocket instead handing it out to the players. That doesn't seem very enlightened.

Jeff Moorad is one step closer to owning the Padres:

Moorad, who resigned last month as chief executive officer of the Arizona Diamondbacks, will acquire 100 percent ownership during a period of up to five years, subject to approval by baseball owners.

The sale, precipitated by Moores' difficult divorce from his wife, Becky, is expected to close by Opening Day, and Moorad would become CEO. That could mean the end of Sandy Alderson's tenure with the club, which lost 99 games last year.

I have a friend who has a rule for determining how young a person you should date. Take your age, divide by two, then add seven. So if you're 30, the youngest person you should date is 22. If you're 50, a 32 year old is as young as you should go. If you're 59, the person should be no younger than 36 1/2. John Henry doesn't come close.

Red Sox owner John Henry is engaged to girlfriend Linda Pizzuti.

...

It will be the first marriage for Pizzuti, who has been dating the millionaire businessman since she was introduced to him last summer at Alibi, the bar at the Liberty Hotel. Henry, the 59-year-old founder of the Boca Raton-based investment firm John W. Henry & Co., has one daughter from his 14-year marriage to Peggy. He was also married once before.

Pizzuti, 30, is from Lynnfield, and she and her family are in the real estate development business. She's been a near-constant companion of the Sox owner in recent months, traveling with him to Europe and hosting parties on his 164-foot yacht.

At least she'll be a rich widow before she's too old.

The Cubs make it official. Chicago picks Tom Ricketts's bid to buy the team:

Tom Ricketts once lived across the street from Wrigley Field and met his wife in the bleachers.

Now that his billionaire family is set to purchase the Chicago Cubs and their historic ballpark from Tribune Co., he's about to get a closer view of his favorite team.

I hope he hires a GM named Scurvy. :-)

"They want Ricketts, and it's always been Ricketts," a source said.

Andy Kessler looks at the price of the Cubs through the eyes of Mark Cuban. It's a lesson how how the availability of financing helps increase the price of an asset, or lack thereof drive the price down.

Maury Brown looks at the ways baseball teams receive value from MLBAM and MLB Network.

Both of these assets are used for matters such as league-based credit. For example, Fitch Ratings, which sets the bar for the creditworthiness of businesses around the world, recently affirmed an 'A' rating for MLB based in part on the league's economic structure.

It is not widely reported, but the majority of the clubs in MLB borrow money against a league fund - its credit facility called the Major League Baseball Trust. Last month, the league was able to refinance most, but not all of the credit facility, which translated into $30 million in principle payments to lenders as the portion that was not refinanced turned to debt. That turned into a bill that averaged $1.5 million for 20 of the clubs this off-season, according to the SportsBusiness Journal. While one might say that the league's economics don't appear to be some advantage when clubs are paying $1.5 million in debt before the season starts, consider that the NFL -the most popular league in the U.S. - was unable to refinance even a portion of their credit facility this past year.

The other way to view MLBAM and MLBN is what they are worth in net value, which in turn trickles down to increase franchise value. If projections remain true, MLBN would have a net value of over $1 billion by 2015. As for MLBAM, in 2005, MLB engaged in the possibility of an initial public offer for the digital rights asset. Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, First Boston and J.P. Morgan tried in vain to get the owners to go forward with the initial public offering (IPO). After all, they had good reason to want to see it happen, as these analysts predicted the value of the IPO at the time to be $2-2.5 billion, or approx $2.7 billion in 2008 based on inflation.

So, let's say that MLB befalls some incredible headwinds. Let's say that in 2-3 years the country is still in the throws of a recession. The league could then offer up MLBAM and/or MLBN as an IPO and reap the benefits - the two act as a security blanket for MLB.

Just like regional sports networks (RSN) add value to teams, these league wide entities do the same for the league. As they increase the equity of the teams, owners will have more room to borrow and build up their franchises.

Jeff Moorad's buy of the Padres doesn't look like a real buy to Shysterball.

So Moores is still going to call the shots and still be Selig's man in San Diego. I'm no expert, but from where I'm sitting, this is less a sale than it is a simple cash infusion for the Padres. I wonder if Moorad's bid would have been approved if he actually wanted to run the team now. I kind of doubt it, and all of this strikes me as Moorad being allowed to enter a kind of ownership training program in exchange for bailing out the cash poor Moores. As everyone knows, the impetus for the sale is Moores' divorce. In light of Moores selling but kinda not really selling, I wonder if the Mrs. Moores divorce attorneys won't try to blow up or at least slow down this deal so that they might determine if any financial shenanigans are involved.

I have to agree here. While I would think Mrs. Moores would be happy to get the cash equivalent, she may want to inflict as much pain on her husband as possible and get him out of the Padres altogether. The drama is not over.

Don't build homes equal to the contract of a superstar you're not trying very hard to sign.

Tom Krasovic cites evidence that Jeff Moorad will be more likely to spend money on drafted players to bring young talent to the Padres than the current ownership.

Here's more on Jeff Moorad buying the Padres:

Fifteen years after Texan software mogul John Moores bought the Padres, Moores and his wife Becky have reached "an agreement in principle" to sell the club to a group led by Jeff Moorad, an Orange County resident with wide-ranging experiences in the baseball business.

Moorad was the general partner of the rival Arizona Diamondbacks the past 4 1/2 years and for 20 years prior was a powerful agent to baseball stars such as Manny Ramirez and Mo Vaughn.

If the sale of the Padres goes through, the price will exceed $400 million, according to a major-league source. Moores put up about $80 million to buy the Padres in December 1994.

"It's a jewel of a franchise," Moorad said.

I like the people Moorad hired to rebuild the Diamondbacks, and the way they went about it. With some luck and a weak division they were able to become competitive faster than I thought. The Padres are at a similar point. Moorad already has a smart group of people running the team, so maybe he can accomplish the same thing in San Diego.

Jeff Morad resigned as CEO of the Diamondbacks:

"Jeff was an integral part of the D-Backs' many achievements on and off of the field since joining the organization in 2004. However, it was necessary for him to tender his resignation with the organization as he pursues the acquisition of the San Diego Padres."

Morad started as an agent. That's a pretty interesting career, seeing the game from both sides of the negotiating table.

Update: Gaslamp Ball says the sale is done.

Mark Attanasio is complaining about the Yankees and calling for a salary cap:

In an e-mail to Bloomberg News, Attansio voiced his frustration, while hinting at a solution: "At the rate the Yankees are going, I'm not sure anyone can compete with them. Frankly, the sport might need a salary cap."

Speaking to Bloomberg News on the phone, Attansio added, "They (Yankees) are on a completely different economic playing field. I paid $220 million for my team; now they get three players for $420 million."

Really, the Yankees just shelled out $420 million? No, the Yankees committed to that much money over a long time period.

Secondly, Mr. Attansio's investment in the Brewers was worth $331 million as of the last Forbes report, a 50% increase. The income for the team is $19 million, an 8.6% annual return on his original investment. So maybe, just maybe, Attansio had the resources to go five-years, $120 million on CC and hope that goodwill would carry the day.

Update: This might be the real reason Attansio is upset:

Because Teixeira's Elias rating is higher than those of CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, the Angels now get the Yankees' first round draft pick, pushing the Brewers' compensation pick from the first round to the second (at least 40 picks below where it would have been had the Yanks not signed Teixeira). This is no insignificant matter for a small market organization that has used the draft to its advantage in constructing a playoff-caliber team.

Martin Silver wants to buy the Mets. He's betting on Fred Wilpon being more broke than we think. It's not a bad idea, as this is a good time to buy assets cheap.

Update: On a more serious note, the New York Times explores how the fraud might impact the Mets.

I bid $10,000.

I'm somewhat surprised with all the hype over MLB designating Hal Steinbrenner responsible for the Yankees. This seems like a formality. Of course it was going to be Hal, as he is the good cop in the Hal/Hank ownership duo. This announcement doesn't really change anything.

The Arizona Republic sold their stake in the Diamondbacks. They invested $7 million, but the report does not mention how much they received for their investment. I assume they needed the cash infusion to keep the paper going. I wonder when the New York Times sells their stake in the Red Sox?

Hat tip, AZ Snakepit.

Mark Cuban charged with insider trading. Will that hurt his attempt to buy the Cubs? Thanks to Bob Tufts for the link.

Bleed Cubbie Blue notes an article reporting MLB will block Mark Cuban from owning the Cubs.

Global financial crisis or not, baseball's old guard plans to stand firm against letting Cuban into the club. ''There's no way Bud and the owners are going to let that happen,'' a Major League Baseball source said this week. ''Zero chance.''

That's too bad. Cuban likes to talk, and Selig doesn't like owners to express opinions about the game unless Bud cleared them. I was hoping Mark would get a team, just so we could hear dissenting views on Bud's policies from some owner. I'm not surprised the commissioner won't let that happen.

Somehow, if you have to say you're in charge, you're probably not in charge.

Big League Stew offers a very good takedown of Hank Steinbrenners whine about unfair division alignments keeping the Yankees out of the playoffs. He would hate my idea of realigning every year, creating divisions based on the previous season's record to encourage different teams to make the post season every year.

Maury Brown reports a rumor that Thomas Ricketts will buy the Cubs. If my name were Ricketts, I'd want a team that played a lot of day games, too.

Via the Hardball Times, Squawking Baseball wonders if Mark Cuban will challenge baseball's anti-trust exemption if MLB owners don't vote him into the club.

I'd like to see Cuban own a baseball team because I believe he would bring transparency to the owners meetings. Right now, we just hear results of the meetings, which in the way Bud Selig runs things are always unanimous votes of approval. Given that Cuban is a very public person, I would hope he'd give us an idea of how the consensus was reached. What ideas were shot down, which owners are the stumbling blocks to innovative ideas. Of course, that's probably a good reason (in the minds of the other owners) to keep him out.

Hank Steinbrenner complained about the Yankees offense, so they scored 18 runs tonight as they defeat the Rangers 18-7. Giambi hit a grand slam and A-Rod hit career number 535, moving him past Jimmie Foxx and one behind Mickey Mantle. Every time Hank complains about the team, it seems to have a positive effect. I don't think he'll be keeping quiet any time soon.

Lew Wolff requested to go on the Angels broadcast. In the top of the third, he's praising the Angels organization, saying Angels Stadium gives fans the best experience in baseball. Lew is traveling around to ballparks to get an idea of what works and what doesn't for the Athletics new park, and he has high praise for what Arte Moreno has done in Anaheim. I can't say I've ever seen something like this before.

John Royal points out that anachry in the Astros clubhouse has a long history, and Drayton McLane can blame himself.

It's possible the divorce proceedings between San Diego owner John Moores and his wife Becky could lead to a sale of the Padres.

The Marlins broadcast tonight is holding a charity auction. The announcers are in a Tiki tent in the outfield calling the game. They bring in David Samson for an interview and to promote the items for sale, and put a lei on him. At that point, Samson says, "I've been officially laid!" Thanks for sharing, David.

Via Peter Abraham, the story of the Steinbrenner son-in-law who revived the franchise before his marriage fell apart.

Peter Magowan is going to step down from the Giants at the end of the year.

Peter Abraham has the latest Hank Steinbrenner quotes:

"This is going to get turned around. If it's not turned around this year, then it will be turned around next year, by force if we have to."

By force? What does that mean, executions at dawn for anybody not trying hard enough?

Until Hank came on the scene, I had forgotten how much I missed George. If nothing else, Yankees fans know their owner wants exactly what they want, the team to win.

A great article in the Boston Globe points out that if an owner doesn't win early, that owner rarely wins at all:

In professional sports, an owner's commitment to winning right out of the gate counts, according to a Globe compilation and analysis of championships won by the last two rounds of owners for every team in the four major US sports leagues. If new owners don't win a championship within five to eight years of buying a team, depending on the sport, their chances of ever doing so decline dramatically, the Globe found. Many will never win.

Kraft claimed his first championship in precisely the median time it has taken other football owners to win - eight years. For baseball, basketball, and hockey, the median time to win the big trophy is five years, the data show. The largest slice of winning owners earn their victories within five years.

Take baseball, with its 30 teams, for example. Among 59 current and immediate past owners, seven won a World Series within five years of buy ing a team. After that, a handful of victories are sprinkled over four decades. And 38 owners have never won (not counting nine who have owned teams for less than five years).

The odds are surprisingly similar in the other major-league sports. It turns out that an owner's impatience to deliver championships is a big factor in the results.

That's really fascinating. One would think that owners would learn what works and what doesn't over time and improve their chances of winning by being more experienced. The desire to win early on seems to be a great motivator.

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Peter Abraham saw George Steinbrenner this morning:

Steinbrenner certainly looked better than he has in the past.

Maybe the lack of pressure due to his sons taking over the team is helping.

River Ave. Blues looks at changing fan feelings toward George Steinbrenner:

When I, on Monday, wrote about George's buying the Yankees, I got the sense that the older Yankee fans have long passed judgment on George. He was a two-faced liar who would backstab fellow front office employees and his dugout and on-field personnel. He would do whatever it took to win and eventually wound up in trouble with the baseball law. In fact, I was at the game on July 30, 1990 when George was suspended, and the Yankee fans sitting around me applauded.

But a funny thing happened on the way to 2008. New Yorkers started adopting King George's maniacally bent on winning, and the Yankees on the field became victorious once more. Following Steinbrenner's reinstatement in 1993, the Yankees entered a period of prosperity largely unmatched in franchise history. They've finished first or second every season since 1993 and have won four World Series titles and six AL championships since then.

In the eyes of the public, George became a hero.

I was a Yankees fan growing up, but had no problem transitioning to a baseball fan because of how poorly Steinbrenner ran the team during the 1980s. It should be noted that the two championship eras under were due to team building while he was suspended. By the time he came back from the second suspension, I believe he mellowed a bit. He was still driving the team to win, but was a bit more willing to listen to his baseball people.

Praise for Pirates owner Bob Nutting's first year at the helm at Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke?

CorrectionFixed link.

John Brattain spares no words in ripping the Marlins owners:

I feel for Marlins fans. They do not deserve this greedy mismanagement of their team. They are on the short list (Samson doubly so) of the worst owners ever to be inflicted on professional sports. They are Bill Wirtz; they are Charles Comiskey; they are the Bidwell family; they are the polyps in the bowels of how major league baseball does business.

I take that last line back.

They are no longer polyps; they are now cancers and should be treated accordingly.

Baseball ownership remains an exclusive club, open not to anyone who can buy a team, but only those who meet the approval of the other club members. Maybe the next owners meeting should take up revoking the membership of the Marlins owners.

Murray Chass suggest Carl Pohlad should pay for Johan Santana out of his own pocket:

The owner of the Kansas City Royals from their birth in 1969 until his death in 1993, Kauffman operated the Royals as if they were a public trust and financed them partly with his personal fortune. Kauffman spent what he had to spend to keep players like George Brett, Frank White, Willie Wilson, Dan Quisenberry and Bret Saberhagen.

I don't know if Pohlad has put any of his personal fortune into the Twins, but it is considerable. A longtime banker, the 92-year-old Pohlad is tied for 114th on the Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest people in the country with a fortune estimated at $3.1 billion.

One reason Pohlad is so wealthy is that he doesn't toss away money. However if his net worth $3.1 billion, investing poorly he's still going to make about 5% a year on his money. That's over $400,000 a day. So two months interest on Carl's money pays a $20 million dollar salary. My guess is Pohlad does much better than 5%, so he could pay Santana, still have an extremely high income, and never touch the principle.

Steinbrenner would do it because George is driven to win. Pohlad appears to be driven to accumulate wealth, so operating a business at a loss just to win is not in his blood.

Hank Steinbrenner is actually making sense:

"I think the most important thing is whoever we hire, give 'em a chance because he's not getting the '96 Yankees. He's getting an even younger team or for the most part a team in transition. Give him a little while,'' Hank Steinbrenner said, "We want to win the World Series every year. We're not stupid enough to think we can do it. Of course, we'd love to win the World Series next year.''

That certainly is a change in attitude from father to son.

The View from the Bleachers states the reasons why Mark Cuban shouldn't own the Cubs.

Franz Lidz visits George Steinbrenner at home and the boss is not well. He brings along an old friend of George's, Tom McEwen:

He doesn't look all right. In fact, he looks dreadful. His body is bloated; his jawline has slackened into a triple chin; his skin looks as if a dry-cleaner bag has been stretched over it. Steinbrenner's face, pale and swollen, has a curiously undefined look. His features seem frozen in a permanent rictus of careworn disbelief.

McEwen recounts a surreal showdown at a Tampa dogtrack in which George and Joan cursed each other out in the most obscene language possible. "That's Joan," Steinbrenner says, chuckling. "She's feisty."

I ask Steinbrenner about the Yankees, who are struggling mightily at the time. The grin turns into a snarl. "They'll come around," he snaps. It's the first sign of the old George.

I ask Steinbrenner whom he wants to succeed him. He ignores me. That's the last sign of the old George.
A few minutes later, Steinbrenner starts repeating himself again. "Great to see ya, Tommy," he says in response to every question. "Great to see ya."

Shifting uneasily in his wheelchair, McEwen thanks his old friend for receiving us and says goodbye. Steinbrenner waves and grins. While I wheel McEwen to the car, he whispers, "It's the strangest thing. George didn't want us to go, yet he didn't want us to stay." I look back at the Yankees owner, who is still waving and grinning. "Great to see ya, Tommy," he shouts. "Great to see ya." Then he turns and limps back into the house.

"I'm shocked," McEwen tells me. "George doesn't even seem like the same person. I figured he might be in a bad way, but I never expected this."

Mark Cuban joined the ranks of people looking to buy the Cubs.

"I submitted an app," Cuban said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

Interested parties must submit an application to Major League Baseball to examine the team's finances. Cuban told the Chicago Tribune he sent in the application last week, although he wasn't sure of the date.

Tribune Co., which owns the team, announced in April it was selling itself for $8.2 billion to Chicago real estate mogul Sam Zell, who made the deal contingent on shedding non-core assets. That means the Cubs will go on the auction block at the end of the season - a decision Tribune chairman and CEO Dennis FitzSimons has conceded was difficult but one that "really makes sense for our shareholders."

Several potential deep-pocketed bidders are expected to vie for the Cubs and possibly for Wrigley Field, including Cuban and Chicago native Jerry Colangelo, the Phoenix Suns CEO who once ran the Arizona Diamondbacks.

I'm sure Chicago fans would love to see Cuban own the team. He has a passion for winning on a par with Steinbrenner. I'd actually like to see Mark take over a more dysfunctional organization, like the Pirates, but you can't blame him for wanting one of the crown jewels of baseball.

WasWatching notes that George Steinbrenner continues to fail. Nice Star Trek reference as well.

Maury Brown looks at the groups in line to buy the Cubs.

Forbes publishes their annual value of major league teams. Maury Brown criticizes the piece here. I'm somewhat surprised at the debt level of the Yankees, but that does include the new stadium. Given that Steinbrenner's group paid $20 million for the team in the early 1970s, and it's worth $1.2 billion now, you'd think they had a lot more equity. But they've invested well, not only in players who help them win, but in media as well. The Yankees are also the only team with an operating deficit.

View from the Bleachers notes an AP story on the sale of the Cubs. I'm someone who thought the Tribune company did a poor job of delivering a winner to Chicago. I hope Sam Zell does better. No word on how this might effect the Zambrano negotiations.

Update: I misunderstood the article. Zell bought the Tribune, but he's going to sell the Cubs. Start saving that pocket change for a chance to buy a great franchise!

Yanksfan vs. Soxfan notes that Steve Swindal and the Steinbrenner family are parting ways.

George Steinbrenner's daughter filed divorce papers this week against husband Steve Swindal, a move that appears to end his chance to take over as head of the New York Yankees.

Jennifer Swindal filed the papers Tuesday in Hillsborough County Circuit Court's family law department, Yankees spokesman Howard Rubenstein said Wednesday. Rubenstein said the papers cited "irreconcilable differences."

"Steve and Jenny Swindal announced today that they are amicably ending their marriage of 23 years," Rubenstein said in a statement. "Although their marriage is dissolving, they remain friends and maintain a strong mutual respect. They are devoted to their two children and will make them their shared focus."

Reached by telephone, Swindal said he didn't want to comment beyond the statement or address his role with the team.

This doesn't really mean that Swindal can't continue to run the team. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez divorced and worked together at Desilu for years. And a successful Yankees team is good for both Steinbrenner's daughter and grand children. If Swindal is the best person to run the team, then he'll make money for the Steinbrenner family, which is the point of leaving the team to the family. And since his own children are involved, that gives him an incentive to run the team well.

Update 3/29/2007: This article seems to indicate that Swindal won't be staying on in any capacity. That's too bad. I like the way he's worked with Cashman and Torre. It would be a shame to lose that.

Ben Kabak thinks about the post-Steinbrenner Yankees:

But for the fans, as George fades away and the Yanks are left in new hands, we the fans are going to wonder. George Steinbrenner and his wallet provided us with comfort. His spending was our security blanket, and that security blanket is gone. As this era ends and a new one begins, I hope we see smart baseball moves and smart spending. I do after all want that elusive 27th World Championship just as much as the Boss has yearned for it since we were a few outs away in 2001. I want it now.

The Cub Reporter doesn't put much stock into the rumor that Mark Cuban is going to buy the Cubs.

Limited partner Bill Giles sits down with Todd Zolecki to discuss what he can about the Phillies season including this interesting bit about Brett Myers:

Q: What did you hear?

A: "I don't know that I'm privileged to say. I'm not the spokesman for the Phillies. I do know what really happened was a lot less than what the public thinks happened and that's the sad part because some bystander saw something that really didn't happen. Brett was trying to help his wife."

Q: What do you mean?

A: "I can't say. I just don't know what Dave wants me to say."

Q: But witnesses saw it.

A: "One of our employees [marketing manager Debbie Nocito] saw the whole thing. She said, 'He did not hit her at all, and he didn't grab her hair or anything.' So all the reports were untrue, from what I understand."

I'm not sure if this site is serious, but you might want to check out Sell The Yankees, a site devoted to finding new ownership for the Bronx Bombers. I guess eleven straight playoff appearances just isn't enough.

Baseball Primer Newsblog at Baseball Think Factory posts a quote from the Pirates owner about how he doesn't think he'll be a long time owner of the a franchise. Mark Cuban is interested and probably has the cash in his pocket.

Three True Outcomes wonders why Bud Selig only met Lerner once.

David Steele hopes this move gets the Nationals on TV.

The Beltway Boys note that it was time to sell because Bud Selig inflicted all the damage he could. I disagree. He have forced the team to trade Nick Johnson to the Royals for Kerry Robinson.

Nationals Farm Authority is very pleased Kasten is going to be rebuilding the team.

By the way, given the resources of the Lerner group, why couldn't they have contributed to the stadium? Why, in fact, couldn't they have built it outright? The team became more valuable if the new owner didn't need to build a park. The taxpayers of Washington aren't' giving a handout to the new owner. They're giving a handout to the rest of the major league baseball teams that are enjoying the profit of the sale.

The Lerner group wins the bidding war for the Washington Nationals.

Selig is expected to hold a telephone news conference from Milwaukee at 4:45 p.m., sources said. The Lerners are planning their own news conference at 7 p.m. at the Fairmont Hotel in Washington.

Lerner has agreed to pay Baseball's price of $450 million for the franchise and the league has said it will fast-track the Lerners' approval process and vote on the Nationals' purchaser in time for the league's next owners' meeting May 17-18 in New York. Lerner is expected to take possession in June.

It's about time. Stan Kasten will run the club. We'll see if his first move is to fire Bowden.

Of course, since baseball got the group such a sweetheart deal on a stadium, I'm sure Lerner is another owner who owes his allegiance to Bud. And, since Bud made a nice piece of change for all the other owners, it's another reason for everyone else to be pleased with the commissioner.

Best of luck to the Lerner group. It's good to see baseball back in Washington, and I hope they can be more successful than the other baseball franchises in the city. They've been given a good start with the stadium deal. We'll see if they can build a winner.

The Washington Post reports that comments by D.C. politians against the Lerner group pushed major league baseball closer to the Lerner group.

Major League Baseball is likely to award ownership of the Washington Nationals to a group led by Bethesda developer Theodore N. Lerner, after efforts by District politicians and others to steer the selection to competing bidders apparently backfired, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.

Commissioner Bud Selig, who will decide who gets the franchise, was angered by accusations that Lerner's group was unacceptable because it had included minorities only as tokens rather than genuine partners, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the negotiations.

For all the things I don't like about Bud, he's worked dilligently to promote minorities throughout baseball. I can see where he would be angered by the comments, although it certainly seemed to me that these groups were bidding with African-Americans rather than money.

Once again, Mark Cuban in making noises about buying the Pirates. It would be the best thing to happen to the team since they drafted Barry Bonds.

The top three groups in line for buying the Washington Nationals are using African-Americans instead of dollars to bid for the team. Somehow usings blacks as currency seems like a step backwards to me.

Lewis Wolff sits down with the San Francisco Chronicles to discuss the Athletics' quest for a new stadium. Here's his clever idea for building a ballpark:

What cities do have, especially in the area of growth, and the Bay Area, good or bad, is growing, whether it's growing right or not is not my decision totally, they have zoning rights. We call them entitlements; you're entitled to build 1,000 apartment units.

Those entitlements are the new currency, in my opinion, for cities, governments and regionals and counties and so forth.

So let's assume there is the Oakland army base, and that has a lot of demands from a lot of groups, and it's not a great location for a ballpark. It's a piece of land I think the city owns, but if not, they can get to it.

Let's assume that developers, not so much ourselves, feel that is a great housing location. Our idea might be that since it's not zoned right now but is to be zoned or to be entitled, why not entitle it for 3,000 apartment units?

Those units might be worth $100,000 a piece. It's sort of your land value. Whether we're the developer or we join with a developer or a developer that we're not associated with says, "We'll pay $300 million for those entitlements rights."

We're saying to the city, "That's the subsidy we want, but we don't want it for free. Put it into the ballpark. If the ballpark costs $500 million, we'll add the $200 million, take care of the overruns, and we'll do the land under it."

That entitlement is a value, is a currency they can help us with. So what do they get out of it? They get a ballpark, which they'll own, and we'll have a longer lease than we have today, and somebody will build 3,000 apartment units. We think it's a very interesting idea.

In talking to a lot of people who are a little more creative in thinking in government and the private side, they think it's a unique approach. It's not totally, but you could call it a huge subsidy if you want. You could call it a clever way of getting through the process.

I'm listening to Robert Castellini, and he just said, "We're buying the Reds to win." He says they will be making changes to the structure of the front office, but it's structural, not personnel (yet). He's also talking about spending the buget better, using Cleveland, the White Sox and Astros as examples.

Correction: Robert Castellini is the Reds owner, not Ned Colletti.

MLB Radio will carry Robert Castellini's news conference as he takes control of the Reds at 4 PM EST.

It's official, Robert Castellini is the new owner of the Cincinnati Reds. We'll learn more tomorrow:

Castellini chose not to discuss his acquisition of the team on Thursday. He saved his comments for a news conference at Great American Ballpark on Friday.

"Mr. Castellini wanted his first comments to be live and in public before the fans of Cincinnati," Castellini spokesman Joe Bride said earlier. "He wanted to talk directly to the fans of Cincinnati from Cincinnati."

MLB owners are set to approve the sale of the Cincinnati Reds to Robert Castellini today. Hal McCoy at the Dayton Daily News offers background.

The Arizona Republic posts the agenda of the owner's meeting starting in Scottsdale.

In addition to hearing about the classic, owners will get a detailed briefing on the Western operations center that opened in Phoenix last summer. The office works with teams in the western divisions of both the National and American leagues as well as the Cactus League, and it houses the West Coast operations of Major League Baseball Advanced Media, which, among other things, runs baseball's Internet site, MLB.com.

This week's meetings are the second in two months for the owners, who gathered in Milwaukee in November. Again, as at every owners meetings in recent years, the fate of the Washington franchise will be a topic of discussion.

I wonder if the owners are going to be asking "Where is my money?" when Washington is discussed. It seems to me some clubs are already committed to using the money they'll get from the sale of that team. Will someone ask Selig why the team can't be sold to someone who is willing to absorb cost overruns on a stadium?

The new owners set to take over the Cincinnati Reds have ties to the St. Louis Cardinals organization. Brian at Redleg Nation starts a four part series on how ties to St. Louis helped Cincinnati win in the past.

Three former Reds owner’s names mentioned, a brief flash that touches the memory of the best times in the long history of baseball in Cincinnati, great column filler for the local writers, rehashing the Crosley era and the Big Red Machine never gets old in Cincinnati. The Williams Brothers’ father and uncle both owned a piece of the Reds in the Big Red Machine era and Bill DeWitt Jr. the current Cardinals owner is a Cincinnati resident and got his start in baseball when his father owned the Reds in the early 60’s. Since the DeWitt group purchased the Cardinals in 1996, they have had the second best winning percentage in the National League. The Reds on the other hand in that time frame ranked 11th.

The dreamers and optimists may see this as a faint glimmer of hope that the new owners might have an inkling of what they are going to do to when they are in control. There is a world of difference between the Reds and the Cardinals organizations at this point and time, is it possible that someone from the St. Louis Cardinals could help Reds fix their lingering problem?

We shouldn’t be surprised, it’s not as though it hasn’t happened numerous times before.

There's still no end in sight for the sale of the Washington Nationals.

"All these people have spent an enormous amount of time, money, effort," Selig told reporters at the Hyatt Grand Champions Resort in Indian Wells, Calif., where baseball general managers were meeting. "And they certainly deserve one interview. I've enjoyed it. I've done five groups so far. I have three to go, and I'm trying to do those as quickly as possible."

Oh please. Selig is going to pick the group that most likely will agree with Bud in running major league baseball. That's what he did in Boston, after all. Bud knows who is going to be the new owner of the Nationals, he just hasn't let us know.

This has Frank Robinson upset:

"It's not fair to this ballclub and this organization to be put in this position for the coming season because we're behind on moves and things we can do and approaching players, the free agent market, either signing free agents or even really seriously talking to them," Robinson said. "Just overall, the feeling and the atmosphere around this ballclub is that we're at a disadvantage."

He's right. With Bowden more interested in the Red Sox job than his own, with no idea about the size of the 2006 budget, what can the team do? Even the coaches are in limbo:

"It's not as frustrating for me," he said of the uncertain situation. "It's really just not fair for the coaching staff. These guys depend on these jobs, and they just can't go and get another job. . . . To hang them out there and to say, 'We don't know what's going to happen here. You feel free to go look for another job.' That's worse than saying, 'You're fired,' because if they're fired, then they know they have to go look for a job. . . . It's a very unfair situation here as far as that's concerned. It's even worse than in Montreal."

But MLB is getting their big paycheck out of the situation, and if there's one less team in a good position to compete, that's good for the 29 others. Washington is learning first hand how much Bud cares about the health of baseball in their city.

On a side note, congratulations to Frank Robinson on his Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Mark Cuban wants to buy the Pittsburgh Pirates, but the ownership turned him down.

I'd like to see Mark Cuban as an MLB owner. You might not see complete agreement at owners meetings. With his blog, you might actually get to hear about the discussion that goes on before Bud brings everyone to unanimity.

Also, for a losing franchise, the Pittsburgh owners must believe they have a pretty valuable property if they don't want to sell to Mr. Cuban.

In what some people call the most unlikely turn of events since Bobby Ewing's return to Dallas, George Steinbrenner apologized today for running the Yankees as an evil empire. As a way of doing penance, Steinbrenner has traded rosters with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

"I didn't know what else I could do," Steinbrenner explained. "We've been on a ten year roll, and Tampa's never won more than 63 games. Besides, I thought I owed Lou one after firing him two or three times. And with all the time I spend in Tampa, I'll still get to see a championship team. Besides, maybe now the fans will get off my back for letting Tino go."

Although he's traded the players, George is still going to pay the contracts. And as a special gesture, he's picking up the tab for the new Yankees as well.

"It's only fair," the Boss remarked. "The value of the franchise has grown about a billion dollars since I purchased it. I want to share the wealth. And I'm sick of the three and a half hour games the old Yankees played. With everyone swinging at the first pitch, I'll be home in time to watch Joan of Arcadia!"

Larry Lucchino was not impressed.

"Why did he have to trade them to Tampa?" Larry whined. "We couldn't beat this team in NY, and we're not going to be able to beat them in Tampa. Why couldn't he send them to Pittsburgh or Milwaukee? Now we'll never win the World Series. He's still evil. I want my mommy!"

Derek Jeter looks forward to playing in the relative obscurity of Tampa Bay.

"It's cool. I'm tired of staying out late and partying at night clubs anyway. I can use the extra time to work on my defense."

In a related story, the Dodgers are trying to work a deal to swap teams with the Angels.

Sam Ryan just interviewed Arte Moreno during the Angels-Mariners game. It was short, and nothing he hasn't said before. But when asked about spending money, he said that he was investing, not spending. Love that attitude.

Arte Moreno has rapidly become my favorite owner in all of baseball. Doug Krikorian sat down with the Angles chief, and I loved everything Moreno said.

When I asked him the other day if he would have pursued Alex Rodriguez had he known he could have been had from the Texas Rangers for $16 million a year, which is what the New York Yankees are paying him, he didn't hesitate in his answer.

"Yes,' he said. "Definitely. Why not? Alex Rodriguez is one of the great players in baseball.'

If you can get a great player cheap, why not? That's why Vlad Guerrero is in the Angels camp.

Moreno has turned into the West Coast version of George Steinbrenner without the meanness to employees and the condescending bluster.

He also is willing to go after high-priced personnel to bolster his ballclub, with his only bottom line being the success of his team and the comfort of its patrons.

"What we're trying to do with the Angels is to produce a good enough product to get people to come to the show, and also to make it an affordable experience,' he said. "We're always going to try to field a strong team. This is our aim, as well as to take care of the fans.'

And taking care of the fans he is:

His first major move with the club was slashing the price of beer by almost a third, from $6.50 a cup to $4.50, an act of pure sacrilege by a baseball owner that was greeted with joy by the long- gouged fans.

"Ridiculous that a cup of beer was so high,' said Moreno.

He has made the purchase of Angels caps more affordable, with the cheapest now going for $11 compared to $22.50 in the past.

"We've sold more than 60,000 of those $11 caps,' he said proudly.

On top of all of it, he's realistic:

"Your popularity is staggering in Southern California after you signed Vladimir Guerrero in the wake of signing Bartolo Colon,' I said to Moreno as we sat in the stands at Diablo Stadium after an Angels spring training workout.

Moreno, wearing tinted brown glasses, blue jeans, black cowboy boots and a red Angels jacket, shook his head slowly.

"I'm just on a honeymoon period,' he said. "Down the road, I'm going to have to make some tough decisions that I'm sure some people won't like. That's the nature of this game. There comes a time when you might not bring back a player who's been popular, and I'm sure I'll be criticized for it.'

And he seems to know to balance the desire for new fans with the needs of long-time patrons:

"We're, of course, always seeking new fans to come to see us play, but we must never forget to take care of long-existing customers,' he said. "I've always felt the key to success in business is to treat people with consistency on a long-term basis. If they have complaints, you listen to them and do something about it.'

Moreno has installed a couple of new scoreboards at Angels Stadium, and fans throughout the ballpark will now find it easier to pick up the ball-and-strike count and out-of-town scores.

When people ask me which team I root for, I say I like to cheer for good organizations. The Angels are one team I'll be happy to root for this year.

Marge Schott has passed away.

It sounds like Marge Schott is not long for this world.

There are a lot of strong opinions about Marge, and you can see a discussion here at Baseball Primer that dates to her entry into the hospital. I always find it interesting that the worst of people often get praised on their deaths. It will be interesting to see how the media, which did plenty to help bring her down, responds when she passes.

Update: Marge Schott has passed away.

I wonder if George Steinbrenner reads Baseball Musings?

Joan Kroc, former owner of the San Diego Padres died yesterday of brain cancer. She was the wife of Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald's, and she inherited the team from him:

Although she admitted knowing nothing about baseball when she took over the club, she quickly learned as her team made it to the World Series in her first year as owner. When the team clinched the National League pennant, star reliever Goose Gossage celebrated by her tossing her into a swimming pool.

She sold the team in 1990 to spend more time with her family.

"I'm a few years older now, and, unlike Zsa Zsa (Gabor), I'm not ashamed to admit that I'll be 62 next August," she said in a 1989 interview. "I think it's time to prioritize."

Ted Turner can't afford to buy the Braves.

Turner bought the Braves for about $10 million in 1976. He sold the team and the rest of his cable empire to Time Warner in 1996 for $7.5 billion, becoming the company's largest shareholder in the process. The Braves are now worth about $424 million, according to an estimate by Forbes magazine.

Turner has lost $7 billion to $8 billion from his net worth as AOL Time Warner's stock has plunged. After pledging $1 billion to the United Nations, he recently said he would extend the duration of payments to more than 10 years.

Not that I feel sorry for him, but it's too bad for the Braves. I'm afraid that AOL won't be able to maintain the team at the level to which they are accustomed.