Do we want to see Mark Cuban involved in MLB? (Merged: Greenburg & Ryan win auction for Rangers)

[DuWayne Steurer]

http://sports.espn.go.com...lb/news/story?id=5436579

 

I can't stand this tool. His "I made billions on the internet so I get to do what I want" act is old and tired.

[Fatter than Joey]

I think he would make a great owner.

[jjkoestler]

I think he'd make a great owner too. I was terrified when he was making a run at purchasing the Cubs because I think he would have turned the franchise around.

[RockCoCougars]

I looked him up in the World Book Encyclopedia once and it referred me to "Bag, Douche". No, I don't want him in baseball, he's a publicity 'hound', and would do a poor Charlie O. Finley impersonation.

[JohnBriggs12]

I looked him up in the World Book Encyclopedia once and it referred me to "Bag, Douche". No, I don't want him in baseball, he's a publicity 'hound', and would do a poor Charlie O. Finley impersonation.

 

Charlie O. Finley was a very shrewd hands on owner that despite a background in insurance, was an excellent evaluator of baseball talent. Don't kid yourself. The "swingin A's" that won 3 straight championships were put together by Finley. This headline appeared in The Sporting News either in 65 or 66: "Finley Dickering to move A's to Milwaukee". I immediately became an A's fan. Unfortunately, nothing came of it because city fathers in Milwaukee at the time wanted nothing to do with another "absentee owner" after the Chicago scoundrels had whisked the Braves south. It certainly didn't help that Finley was based in Chicago. Personally I think they made a mistake. The Chicagoans that moved the Braves out of town were then Cub owner Phil Wrigley stooges. Wrigley first had them buy into the White Sox initially to move the Sox out of town. When they couldn't get controlling interest, they set their sights on the Braves. Finley was a lot of things, but he was nobody's stooge. Imagine how the A's would have set the town on fire?

[homer]

Baseball could use some charisma and character. Enough of this old boys club routine. Get some new blood in there and liven things up.

[danzig6767]

I think he would make a great owner.

Yea i'd have loved it if he had bought the Brewers

[YoungGeezy]

Without a doubt I'd like to see him in baseball. He in my opinion is one of the best owners out there. Business wise and team wise he could do great things with Texas, he isn't scared to pull the trigger on big moves, he is a guy players love to play for, and he is just an exciting guy to be running a team with the energy he brings. Some people hate that he is not the Herb Kohl type of owner who just stays quit in the background and writes the checks or in the middle like Mark A but thats what I like about him. If I am a free agent I'd pick him as my owner over almost anyone else. He wants to win and he does it with passion. Nothing wrong with passion when you are spending 100's of millions of dollars a year on your sports franchise. He got rich good for him, can't hate, he used that money to buy a basketball team, turned them into a team that can contend every year, and now he wants to do the same with a baseball team....don't see the issue. Yes, he is outspoken and a def a typical fanatic (he is like most of us) but he does great at what he does.

[dlk9s]

He's one of the best owners in professional sports, so yes, it would be pretty cool to see him buy the Rangers.

 

Plus, it might mean that there would be five fewer minutes of Yankees/Red Sox talk on ESPN.

[jerichoholicninja]

Bring him on! Can't wait.

[snyttri]

JohnBriggs12 wrote:

This headline appeared in The Sporting News either in 65 or 66: "Finley Dickering to move A's to Milwaukee". I immediately became an A's fan. Unfortunately, nothing came of it because city fathers in Milwaukee at the time wanted nothing to do with another "absentee owner" after the Chicago scoundrels had whisked the Braves south.

Thanks for the info on Finley.

I would like to have Cuban as the Brewers owner because he would probably make sure they were competitive. His ego would likely grate on the nerves but his persona has entertainment value and it would be worth it to have a winning team. We could help the Yankees fight spending limits.

 

[Thundercat32]

well it went to Ryan/Greenburg. I can't help but think mlb jerrymandered with the bidding at the 11th hour. They had said they would reserve the right to award either of the bids with the franchise, which would of left Cuban in an anti trust appeal hearing. I think Cuban just gave up at the end. He certainly didn't run out of money. Rumor has it someone in the Ryan/Greenburg group pissed him off and thats why he got involved bidding against them. Originally he had been very public in his support for the Ryan/Greenburg group and even offered to be a backstop for them. So there's a reasonable chance he just wanted to drive the price up on them another $80 mil and then call it a day.

 

I'm actually a little disappointed. I think Cuban would of brought a holy war to mlb. I would fully expect their 2011 roster to look like this.

 

C Victor Martinez

1B Albert Pujols

2B Ian Kinsler

SS Elvis Andrus

3B Michael Young

LF Josh Hamilton

CF Carl Crawford

RF Jayson Werth

DH Nelson Cruz

 

P Cliff Lee

P Josh Beckett

P Matt Cain (they trade prospects obviously, b/c now that they're going to buy players every year who needs stinking prospects?)

P Colby Lewis

P CJ Wilson

 

P Darren O'Day

P Matt Harrison

P Neftali Feliz

P Frankie Francisco

P Derek Holland

 

etc, etc....

 

 

this is why Major League Baseball won't approve him to own a team. It sure would be fun, and ultimately good for the game, b/c I think it would force major league baseball to level the playing fields and institute revenue sharing (I know it currently exists, but I'm talking about equal revenue sharing). I think that somehow its okay for the Yankees/Sox to dominate spending and baseball, but Reinsdorf/Selig would have a major hissy fit if Cuban with buck wild with no salary cap. So I'm kinda sad to see Cuban passed over so this issue wasn't spotlighted.

[Invader3K]

Yeah, I agree. If I'm a Rangers fan, I'd be pretty disappointed right now.

[davego]

As long as he owns an AL team and not an NL team, I'd be fine with it.

[RockCoCougars]

So Cuban trying to make a splash initially and bidding up player salaries helps the Brewers how? I'm pretty sure that he would be against revenue sharing as well, even though I'm not convinced that he has still the assets that he once had. Despite the hype, how many NBA championships has Dallas won since he took ownership?

[owbc]

One issue is that he's a player's owner. The last thing the owners want is someone from the "other side" advocating against them. Yeah, he comes off as a jerk, and probably is to an extent, but he is very smart and passionate at the same time. Cuban has a very basic principle--treat your employees well. In baseball, the players have more power than any other major sport, so if star players decided that they wanted to play for Cuban, he could end up with a roster like Thundercat suggests without having to worry about a salary cap like the NBA. He would also be a strong proponent of change that would make the game more fan-friendly, which would clash directly with Selig's slow/methodical style. If he ever does get involved, it will also most likely be with a small/middle market team, so he will side with Attanasio and stand up for increased revenue sharing.

 

New ideas are always good for the game. It doesn't mean that they would be implemented, but for those of us that see baseball in a less favorable light than Selig, it would be welcoming to have him on our side. If you like MLB the way it is, with only minor tweaks (like most big market owners do), he is a serious threat and needs to be kept away.

[Invader3K]

I remember a couple years ago when he was supposedly trying to buy the Pittsburgh Pirates. While it would have made the Central Division a lot tougher, I think that would have been good for Milwaukee in the long run.

[TooLiveBrew]

Mark Cuban would be a great MLB owner.

 

 

I'm pretty sure that he would be against revenue sharing as well

 

He's a successful owner in a league with lots of economic parity, not sure why you would assume this.

[pete]

He's willing to swallow some huge fines for challenging the officiating. That would have been great.

[snyttri]

I'm pretty sure that he would be against revenue sharing as well[/i]

I wouldn't think that Cuban would be opposed to sharing revenue but as a big spender he would share interests with the owners who oppose revenue sharing such as payment of a luxury tax. Would he want to penalize himself as much for spending beyond the limit as the spending challenged teams would prefer?

[GAME05]

i don't get the impression that Cuban is any richer than the typical ML owner, so i'm not so positive that he would have created the next Yankees team of all superstars.

 

but whether he would have sided with big-market spending or an even playing field, he would have been outspoken, which would have raised more needed debate. certainly would have been a lot more refreshing than the Selig Administration's philosophy of "Ignore the Man Behind the Curtain--there are no problems in baseball."

[pete]

I'm pretty much with you GAME05, but remember that Selig is hired by the owners. They don't want a lot of noise about problems or controversies.

[cadillacjosh]

I would love Mark Cuban as an owner. If he could buy the Crew or the Pirates or Royals or some team along those lines that are never that great, it would be awesome. He's a smart guy and a great business man. He runs well operated teams. I'm all for it.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Wow, I'm definitely in the minority here. Heck, I appear to be a singularity!.

 

Now, a couple things. I'm not in favor of a continuation of the "good ol' boys club", and I do love to see change implemented when it makes the game better.

 

In those aspects, yeah, Cuban would be a refreshing change for the game.

 

I just would rather the focus be on the players, and Cuban definitely isn't that type of owner.

 

I sure as heck would not want to see him the owner of the Brewers, I don't care if he would increase the payroll by whatever he could afford.

[dlk9s]

I just would rather the focus be on the players, and Cuban definitely isn't that type of owner.

He focuses on his players more than most owners in any sport.