Boy, the hits just keep on coming for Jim Crane's bid to take over the Houston Astros. Maury Brown has been on a roll with his reports on Crane's problems getting approved.
Today, he reveals another possible reason for the delay. It seems that Crane's very large ownership group is starting to feel some pressure with their investments. With the volatility in the stock market, there has been some worry that the bid may break up before the approval process is completed.
That's one of a host of reasons included in the article above, including Crane's bitter divorce from 2000, which is the first I've heard about that. I know Major League Baseball is very afraid of the Frank McCourt situation, but that seems ridiculous. I wonder if this deal is just doomed to fail and we will never really know the reasons behind it.
I also wonder about the note on the Greenberg situation with the Rangers. If MLB pushes through Crane but makes him add someone like Kenny Friedman as the managing partner, how long before Crane gets pushed out just like Greenberg. It's a really bad situation that doesn't seem to get better any time soon, but there is still a chance that things get done. I won't be happier than when this thing has some resolution one way or the other.