From the invaluable Ballpark Digest, we find that Mandalay Baseball Properties - the conglomerate who owns the Oklahoma City RedHawks - has been put on the block by Seaport Capital.
In addition to owning the RedHawks, Mandalay owns the:
Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre
Double-A Frisco RoughRiders
Double-A Erie SeaWolves
Low-A Dayton Dragons
This is obviously a fluid situation, and it doesn't seem as though Seaport Capital is interested in selling them off piece-by-piece, so who knows if Crane could buy the team outright.
Meanwhile, Jim Crane told the Austin American-Statesman's Kirk Bohls that he'd be interested in buying the Round Rock Express, given that Nolan Ryan may be selling the team due to his recent demotion from the front office.
Crane:
“That’s a great spot for us. It’s a great market. It’d be
something we’d be happy to look at. If my phone rang, we’d definitely be
interested.”
This seems, to me, to be the ideal scenario for the Astros. I'm still working through my thoughts on the whole New Orleans thing, but the Astros could re-establish a presence in central Texas while owning their own Triple-A franchise.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
