Ouch ... this thread was pitching a shutout after 5 hours. Assuming Maury's reporting is correct, I'm curious what this means re: the rumored realignment.

joe

what it means is that bud and his gang are happy to repeat the frank mccourt debacle to show the bubble sale price of the astros to a cash-poor owner.

and bud will agree to this price and an owner who has no intention of spending money/winning as long as they will complete the selling down the (trinity) river and put the franchise in the DH league. that way there will be 6 games/year to fill the stadium with bandwagon redsox/yankee fans and they can pimp the non-existing rivalry with dallas rangers.

this is how bud will complete his destruction of both the AL and the NL in favor of "ML" as there will be stupid interleague games every day

A bunch of rumors and conspiracy theories herein:

Astros sale approval to go down to final days

http://www.foxsportshouston.com/08/03/11/Astros-sale-approval-to-go-down-to-final/landing_astros.html?blockID=543822&feedID=3714

Interesting note in Jayson Stark's "Rumblings ..." today. Tucked within some second-guessing of last winter's Wandy Rodriguez extension was this:

Initially, it looked as if the Astros were attempting to trim the payroll for next season from about $71 million to $60 million. But now, with the completion of the sale of the team only a week away, other clubs are hearing Crane might attempt to drive that number down to $50 million or even below. And they can't reach that figure without moving Wandy Rodriguez.

This isn't the end of the world for a team in rebuilding mode, but it's kind of odd for this type of info. to keep leaking out. A week before the trade deadline, word leaked that the new owner wanted payroll cut to $60 million, the news of which couldn't have helped Ed Wade in trade talks. And now, a week before the vote to approve Crane, the news of a further payroll cut is making the rounds.

Crane & Co. have been very disciplined in avoiding the media during the sale process. I wonder if the payroll news is really originating with them or if it's coming from elsewhere.