A Favorite Picked in the Sale of the Cubs

By Neil on January 21, 2009 12 Vote 2 Votes

According to a report from the Chicago Tribune, "Tribune Co. executives have chosen a favorite among three bids for the Chicago Cubs and have given that recommendation to the unsecured creditors committee in the company's bankruptcy case."

The Ricketts Family, Hersch Klaff and a group led by Marc Utay are the trio in the auction with many feeling The Ricketts Family remains the leader in the proverbial clubhouse. All three bidders have been assigned a number and their names have been removed from the bids.

From the Tribune:

"Once Tribune Co. chooses among them, it will begin an exclusive negotiating period with the winner to reach a final deal, which would have to pass muster with Major League Baseball."

Dave Kaplan reported during Sports Central on Tuesday night that his sources indicated a winning bidder could be announced by Thursday....and The Wall Street Journal reported last weekend the announcement was expected in the coming week.

From the Tribune:

"It wasn't certain if the committee would return its own verdict Thursday, but its blessing may be the final hurdle to picking a finalist."

The Tribune Co. must make their decision soon. The team is past due to have a new owner and in the current economy financing becomes more and more difficult on a daily basis.

From the Tribune:

"Sources among the bidders, who have been patiently waiting for a decision for many months, grumbled this week that every passing day makes it more and more difficult to lock down financing for a Cubs deal that has been complicated by the Chapter 11 filing."

Thursday could be a big day for the entire organization.

Wilbur

It will be nice when the uncertainty of the ownership, payroll limits, and candidly the future of the whole off the field management team is settled.

Like him or not, and I do, I think JH has been a balzy, risk taker trying to create a champion when others in the same situation would have been been much more conservative and delaying decisions until they knew who the owner was and exactly what the owner wanted done.

JimK

I wouldn't make much of the unsecured creditors' committee. They and their attornies only want to be comfortable that there is no "sweetheart deal" involved--which isn't much of a possibility in as public a case as the Trib's is. The unsecured's come last in the evetual payout chain, and they usualy aren't helped when the case gets drawn out.

The timing on the new owner and payroll liitations could go either way. The new owner and the Trib/Cubs will want to be very comfortable that the other owners will approve the new owner. Maybe the owners and Bud have the skids greased for a relatively quick approval decision (like 20 to 30 days). But that decision point could be when JH knows what he can do.

I like that JH has been nearly silent on any developments about Peavy. The Tampering Towers' way rarely works. JH has a tweak or two left for sure, and I still have Peavy in the "Can you believe it!!" category. It's tantallizing to think that some of the young arms obtained would be pleasing to Towers.

I just don't see any possible value added in JH's moves to bring the likes of Stanton, Kadokura and Fox to spring training camp.

Larry Boodry

Great news...I hope it will be the Ricketts family. And whoever it is, if they land Peavy, that'd be great, too, but careful who you trade away.

jerljr

Even though they would not be able to make moves till the sale is done. They would be able to give Hendry a budget to go by. Once its inevitible that they will be buying the team.

I will be happy if we get Peavy.

With the offense staying the same or, arguable, better and with the addition of Peavy and no drop offs of any of the starters we have. We will have a very dominant starting rotation as well. We should be improved.

The only question mark is the bullpen. Which isn't any new. Will everybody step up into their roll?

But we should be improved from a team that won 97 last year. not bad.

Ed

Hopefully its Ricketts family...They seem to be the truest cubs fan and have the most money to spend on the team.. Which should give hendry the go ahead to pull the trigger on Peavy deal....just another players name here that nobody seems to be paying much attention to..Joe Biemel, above average lefty in the pen, would love to see cubs sign him..any thoughts?

GaryLeeT

The sooner they get this done the more tweaking opportunities will be available to Hendry. However, my excitement on them picking a winning bid will be tempered by the fact that the time it could take to hammer out the language of a sales agreement could drag on to near the beginning of the season. I'm pretty sure no significant moves by the potential new owner can be made until he has legal possession of the club.