Mark Berman first broke the news that Drayton has retained a New York City-based investment firm to help him sell the Astros, for an asking price of $800m.
Zach Levine:
In partnering with Allen & Company and specifically industry giant Steve Greenberg — the son of Baseball Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg and a partner in the firm — McLane has secured the services of one of the foremost brokers of deals in sports and entertainment business. It is a much more aggressive approach than he has taken in the past when he has simply said he would consider selling if the right offer came along.
This is pretty damn ballsy, as Forbes recently valued the Astros at $453m in 2009, and I can't imagine that number increased significantly over the last season, amirite?
So of course everyone is all over Cuban's junk, but 1560 Radio Host David Nuno says he can confirm that Mark Cuban isn't interested in the Astros.
And let's be honest, this has been building for quite some time - previous For Sale signs notwithstanding. From the trimming of payroll, shedding of high contracts (except one...), upgrades to the stadium, and the new RSN, Drayton has been detailing his franchise getting it ready to sell.
Craig Calcaterra sums it up pretty well:
Bonus: no one is bankrupt this time, so any sale would likely take less than nine months and multiple rounds of litigation. Which means this won’t be much fun at all, sadly.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
