Bidders for the Cubs have until Dec. 1 to submit offers, Major League Baseball said Wednesday after a meeting of its ownership committee.
Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer, said representatives of four bidders have met in New York in recent weeks with officials from the commissioner's office, MLB's Internet company and the sport's new television network.
The team was put up for sale in April 2007 when Tribune Co., the Cubs' owner, announced it was being acquired by real estate developer Sam Zell. DuPuy said the latest deadline was set by the Tribune Co.
"Bids are expected the week after Thanksgiving," DuPuy said. "Mr. Zell claims the team is for sale and they're moving forward."
I especially like that last part: "Mr. Zell claims the team is for sale." As if they don't really believe him. Clearly, Tribune Co. is in serious financial trouble, as is the entire newspaper industry (not to mention many other sectors of our economy) and the fact that Zell and Tribco have debt service payments due soon is well known.
Still, whether or not the completion of the sale of the team will happen by Thanksgiving (as one rumor had it) or Christmas (said another) or the Twelfth of Never (as many pop singers might have said) is still a matter of YGIAGAM (Your Guess Is As Good As Mine, for those not big into acronyms).
We, as always, await further developments. Prediction: when this deal finally gets done, it will be the Ricketts family of Omaha (whose fortune was made in owning the Ameritrade online brokerage) who will be the new owners.
0 recs | 49 comments
Holy crap
sell the team already.
dtpollitt - November 19, 2008
C'mon Al, we all know this is the 12,786TH update!
Can’t you count?
;)
hip2bsquare - November 19, 2008
Sorry, lost count about six months ago!
Al Yellon - November 19, 2008
Buy a new computer! :-)
DeRoMyHero - November 19, 2008
I did!
Maybe that’s the problem!
Al Yellon - November 20, 2008
Did ya go with the MBP, Al?
dtpollitt - November 20, 2008
Did you get 4GB of memory?
2.4 GHz processor?
Maybe you just don’t have enough crunching power for such a complex calculation.
DeRoMyHero - November 20, 2008
Well...
… yes, I got a MacBook Pro. Love it. Yes, I have 4GB of memory and a 250 GB hard drive.
Still… it must not have transferred over one of those updates from my PC. Let’s blame Microsoft.
Al Yellon - November 20, 2008
OK, it's Bill Gates's fault.
(I have a MacBook Pro as well.)
DeRoMyHero - November 20, 2008
Price Going Down?
I wonder, because of the economy, is the sale price going down? I figure they will have to end up taking a smaller price than they would have a year or too ago. Well, that is if they seriously want it sold ASAP.
Maybe not… I dunno.
TheHawkRules - November 19, 2008
OT: I'm really glad to see Don Wakamatsu get a managing gig;
I just wish it were in a better situation than the morass that is Seattle.
DeRoMyHero - November 19, 2008
just curious
why are you glad to see this? I had never heard of the guy, but he has one funny ass last name.
kylejo - November 20, 2008
I knew him in college
(NOT in the Biblical sense).
He is a first-class person, a very hard worker, and a baseball lifer. He’s paid his dues, and he deserves a shot at managing. Guys who don’t have much of a ML career (he only had 31 ML ABs) usually have to wait in line while the bigger names (e.g., Willie Randolph) get the first shot at managerial openings, and some never get a chance.
DeRoMyHero - November 20, 2008
Nice to know this.
I hope he does well. There’s nowhere to go but up in the Seattle situation.
Wakamatsu, obviously, is of Japanese descent. I wonder if he speaks the language? That might make it easier to communicate with Ichiro and Johjima.
Al Yellon - November 20, 2008
Actually, I think he is half-Japanese.
Not sure, but the other half might be Hawaiian or something. He is 3rd generation, I think. His dad speaks Japanese, but I think Don only knows a smattering of it. At the very least, he understands the culture much better than some of the other candidates they were interviewing.
I think that the communication problems between the pitching staff and Johjima played a big part in the hiring. Wak was a catcher and catching instructor; the pitchers don’t like throwing to Johjima, but management signed him to a new contract anyway.
The Days of our Mariners premieres in four months…
DeRoMyHero - November 20, 2008
OT
what happened to santoswoodenlegs?? havent seen him post in awhile and miss the laughs.
cubsluver22 - November 20, 2008
I've seen an occasional post from him.
Al Yellon - November 20, 2008
I've been around...
just haven’t been that involved in the discussion most of the time…but rest assured, I’m here almost everyday.
santoswoodenlegs - November 20, 2008
Are you gathering up a new supply of JPEGs?
DeRoMyHero - November 20, 2008
I've scouted high and low...but all I've been able to gather up so far...
is this baby deer.
P.S. It was delicious.
santoswoodenlegs - November 20, 2008
Just wrong...
on so many levels. But, I did laugh.
CubbieintheSouth - November 20, 2008
lmao
I needed that!
cubsluver22 - November 20, 2008
Isn't that Mike Fontenot?
Mordecai - November 20, 2008
Too big.
DeRoMyHero - November 20, 2008
12788th
Al you missed 3.
The Jewel Sunday Shopper in July.
The Sewing News Article in May.
The Soap Opera Digest article in August (this has been a soap opera would be appropriate)
puckishcubsfan - November 20, 2008
I think we heard more about Brian Roberts last year
than we have about the pending sale.
SonnyJ9 - November 20, 2008
And this year, too.
Al Yellon - November 20, 2008
who is this Brian Roberts
you speak of?
drewishdrewid - November 20, 2008
Never heard of him.
Al Yellon - November 20, 2008
Ask Deep Goat who he is.
DeRoMyHero - November 20, 2008
Omaha?
Ricketts family of Omaha … The Omaha Cubs? Nah. Doesn’t sound right.
StampMe - November 20, 2008
That will never happen
They barely appreciate the Omaha Royals. But maybe thats because its the Royals.
ryan89 - November 20, 2008
I agree lets get this club sold
This has dragged on longer than the primary season. I am not to familiar of the Ricketts family, hopefully they will run this team properly.
Grockcubs - November 20, 2008
Speaking of the Royals...
Anybody think they’ll trade David DeJesus now that they’ve picked up Coco? There might be a team out there looking for a solid CF who hits from the left side with a .360 OBP
Bierkieser - November 20, 2008
Thinking the same
I am sure they will try to move Teahen or DeJesus
Grockcubs - November 20, 2008
I'd be happy with Ricketts.
It seems like he’s a Cub fan at heart and would be pretty pragmatic in running the team. I wouldn’t be at all happy with the Canning group.
jerry morales rules - November 20, 2008
Agreed.
Al Yellon - November 20, 2008
BTW
He’s signed thru 2010 with a club option for 2011. Timing would be perfect for Tyler Colvin if the TJ surgery turns out OK. Just sayin…
Bierkieser - November 20, 2008
Sorry Al,
I know that about a year ago you had a post regarding all the prospective owners, but I wasn’t sure where that was. Anyways, I really just wanted your take or the general view of the Ricketts group. Obviously, its impossible to predict what kind of an owner someone will be but is there anything that is predicted about the Ricketts group or what they said they would do. Just wondering if theres any information. I have nightmares that someone like Robert Nutting of the Pirates turning the cubs into something like that.
KButler - November 20, 2008
well, my two cents on Ricketts
I won’t go as far as to say he’d be the “perfect” owner for the Cubs because I’m sure we all have our own idea of what perfect means, but I will say he seems to have all the positive attributes of the other potential owners and none of their baggage.
He has the money, the passion, the local connection, the business savvy, and there’s nothing to indicate he wouldn’t pass muster with MLB and the other owners. Frankly, I’m not aware of any negatives to his bid at all.
I still wish things somehow could have worked out for Cuban, but I’d be more than happy with Ricketts as owner.
ballhawk - November 20, 2008
My first choice was Don Levin, owner of the Wolves.
However, he dropped out after the first round.
I agree with ballhawk’s analysis. He seems like a guy who would spend money — maybe not completely freely — and step aside and let his baseball people run the operation.
Sounds like a win-win for us.
Al Yellon - November 20, 2008
Something's different
this time. The latest unofficial Official offer to sell was announced by MLB. In the past I believe everything came from the Trib or Zell directly. This would seem to me to indicate Zell hit a brick wall trying to squeeze every last penny out of the bidders while the economy fell into recession. I’d guess the owners have promised some assistance to Zell in their quest to keep Selig’s band of merry men happy and in control.
tharr - November 20, 2008
If that means Canning,
I’d rather wait…I have an eerie feeling if one of Bud’s ass clowns (a.k.a. Reinsdorf Jr) gets in. Everything I’ve heard about Ricketts tells me the Cubs (and our collective sanity) would be much better off with them than Canning and Co.
blackhawk24 - November 20, 2008
I don't understand why everyone thinks Canning has such an in...
… especially when others have been indicated as front-runners.
It’ll be the Ricketts.
Al Yellon - November 20, 2008
I hope you're right Al
but c’mon – you’ve been around long enough to know how MLB operates, and specifically Bud, Jerry, and the rest of the Old Guard. And given the shenanigans around the Red Sox sale a few years ago, you can’t blame the folks who think Bud will pull whatever strings are necessary to get his guy in.
ballhawk - November 20, 2008
Just because of the buddy system Al
Hearing so much how Canning has had the inside track and how MLB handles these things makes me think that way. Hey, I don’t want him any more than you or others here do. We both wanted Don Levin, I was OK with Cuban and am OK with Ricketts. I just hope I’m wrong and it is Ricketts.
blackhawk24 - November 22, 2008
I think we'll both be fine when Ricketts is announced as the new owner.
And frankly, I’d take Cuban over Canning — any day.
Al Yellon - November 22, 2008
If the Tribune Co. is in such dire straits financially...
why don’t they just go to the fed and ask for a
bailoutsmall capital donation? Seems like it’s working for everyone else.santoswoodenlegs - November 20, 2008
Hmmm.
Any conspiracy to the push for final bids coinciding with the release of Cuban’s insider trading allegations. Anyone have a call in to Oliver Stone?
N Oakley - November 20, 2008
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