Report: Nolan Ryan's Resignation Delayed By Hicks/Gilbert Feud
Texas Rangers team president Nolan Ryan speaks to the media on Tuesday, October 6th.Those of you longing for a new, exciting twist in the still-developing Texas Rangers power struggle will find yourselves in luck this morning, as Randy Galloway of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that a late-in-the-game falling out between incumbent majority owner Tom Hicks and prospective owner Dennis Gilbert may have prevented team president Nolan Ryan's departure from the organization.
Confused? You're hardly alone.
According to sources close to the situation (via the Star-Telegram), Ryan was fully prepared to submit his resignation if the hastily assembled ownership group comprising Hicks and Gilbert had prevailed over Chuck Greenberg in the competition to purchase the Rangers, and evidently might have done so in the near future if not for the Gilbert-Hicks relationship "[falling] apart" on Thursday, temporarily assuaging fears that Ryan -- one of the few good things the Rangers currently have going P.R.-wise -- is on his way out.
While SI.com's Jon Heyman reported on Wednesday morning that Gilbert was expected to preserve the baseball operations department and had no intention of uprooting the leadership structure, these latest reports suggest that Gilbert envisions himself as the harbinger of change -- a Jerry Jones-esque supreme overlord, if you will, in the sense that he reportedly craves total autonomy over both baseball and business operations to the extent that "his ultimate goal would be a combined team president-general manager situation."
Looking beyond the potential downside of Ryan's resignation, general manager Jon Daniels and much of the baseball operations department being victimized in an involuntary mass front office exodus, one must also consider that Gilbert's primary focus in recent years has been the Dodgers, whom he and his business partners attempted to purchase in 2003, followed by a failed bid to become Dan Evans' successor as general manager in 2004.
This gives birth to an enormously unsettling thought: if the Hicks-Gilbert ownership group were to prevail and then a more attractive opportunity with the Dodgers were to present itself to Gilbert, would this position Hicks to buy out Gilbert's stake in the Rangers and reclaim majority interest down the line? Put another way, would Gilbert really and truly be in it for the long haul, and if not, would the necessary safeguards be put into place to guarantee that Hicks could never pull these sorts of stunts with a major league franchise again?
The big problem with dismissively ruling Gilbert out of the chase in light of these newest revelations is that he's closely linked to White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf -- one of baseball's most powerful owners -- and commissioner Bud Selig, both of whom could conceivably have a vested interest in helping Gilbert achieve his goal of owning the Rangers; on the other hand, Gilbert has reportedly failed to secure the requisite financing, and the loss of Hicks' financial backing could prove catastrophic to his chances of remaining in the hunt, but the mere fact that he has friends in high places automatically keeps him in play.
Regardless of whether you worship the ground Ryan walks on or perceive his importance to be overstated, my overriding concern is that his less-than-amicable departure from the organization would send the disgruntled faction of the fan base over the edge and/or, at the very least, inflict even more damage upon the franchise's already fractured public image. Winning might be the cure-all in that regard, but Texas isn't exactly in the sort of position where fan goodwill is flowing in abundance, and they'd be well-served to hold onto whatever scraps of that commodity they might have left for dear life.
24 Comments | in Analysis, NEWSFLASH, Rumors, The Off-Season
Reader Comments (24)
I pray MLB finds a way to push this sale through and get rid of Tom Hicks. I also hope Nolan will stay on board. I feel like he's brought some real leadership to this thing and losing him would be a big blow to a young on the verge of something great.
If the Gilbert Group get ownership I for one may very well have to totally rethink my continued support of the Rangers and my season ticket status......Dennis Gilbert will ruin this franchise even worse than the ownership of Eddie Chiles did!! He is an egotistical ex-sports agent and a pawn to Jerry Reinsdorf! We do not want you Mr. Gilbert....listen to that.....it is loud and clear....do not come to Texas period!!! Tom Hicks continues to screw this franchise every which way.........disappear Mr. Hicks....just go away...........the Greenberg Group is our only salvation as of now. Dennis Gilbet will the be the worst thing to happen to the Texas Rangers that can be imagineable and it will shatter an alread fragile fan base.........if he gets the club fans will leave by the thousands.
Is Ryan part of the Greenberg ownership group? If so, then it would make sense for him to step down if Gilbert wins out. Something else to consider if Gilbert cleansout the FO, players may choose to be traded/not resign with the Rangers.
Just when you think Hicks couldn't be more out of touch with the damage he continues to inflict on this franchise, he ups the ante. He appears to be operating strictly by his ego now with absolutely no sign of common sense and integrity to the process. Disgusting, and painful to watch.
So another White Sox "player" charges the mound, and Nolan puts him in an even stronger head-lock and bloodies HIS nose even better than the last!
WAHHHHHOOOOO!
Thank you, Nolan!
(He's good for baseball, Bud)
http://www.cylive.com/content/22548/Nolan_Ryan_Teaches_Robin_Ventura_How_Not_To_Fight_a_Baseball_Brawl
Joey, can you help me fix that link? It gets clipped, but the missing words are: "(_To)_Fight_A_Baseball_Brawl"
Maybe someone can photoshop "Gilbert" onto Ventura's jersey...
WAHHH-HOOOO!
if RYAN is out...Im out as a fan too....PLAIN AND SIMPLE!
I'm with you Rusty...If Nolan goes so does my support for this team. Finally a good baseball man is put in charge of this thing and you see things starting to turn around and now all this crap happens. Mr. Hicks if you have any love for this franchise do everything within your power to make sure Greenberg and Nolan own this team so it will keep going in the right direction.
I have to agree with Craig M.. if Ryan leaves this team I will seriously consider withdrawing my support for the Rangers as a fan. Although I don't hold season tickets I do try to go to several games a year and watch nearly every game on TV. Guess I'll just have to look at minor leagues, independent ball for my baseball entertainment now or maybe revert to college like I have done with football.
Please Mr. Hicks, show some b***s and step aside. Let Greenberg take over so this team can move forward and not be destroyed.
This has put me 100% behind Greenberg getting ownership of our Rangers. I thought that Gilbert wouldn't be stupid enough to clean house. It appears I was wrong. The last thing we need for any Texas sports franchise is another owner in the Jerry Jones vein. I now have zero interest in seeing Gilbert win out over Greenberg. Maybe Ryan and Staubach should throw all their money in with Chuck Greenberg to push Gilbert out of the way.
I'm much less concerned about the PR fallout should Nolan leave than the breaking apart of the continuity and shared long-term vision of the current JD-Nolan-development staff.
I'm not at all impressed with Gilbert's desire to come in and be hands-on. It won't keep me from being a Rangers fan, for some unknowable reason to me, but I fear dark days of untapped prospect potential and FA signings that harken of Chan Ho if Gilbert takes control.
So with this development, I wonder if Selig would be less likely to approve Gilbert...
WTF man...
Nonetheless, JD keeps on diggin'! It looks like he just made a very smart waiver claim, getting Joe Inglett as our 5th OF, UIF... as someone pointed out on LSB, his .350 OBP would have been good for 2nd best on last year's Rangers.
I that is true then count me gone as a Ranger fan.
mm, When you say "If that is true,"
I assume, by "that" you mean Ryan's exit, and not JD's & Nolan's brilliant acquisition of the day:
Voodoo Joe Inglett, ... This guy saves us a roster spot and changes our 4th OF from Murphy alone (.795 OPS) to a platoon (of Murphy & Inglett) with an .840 OPS!
Now bring up Moreland and Max, and we could be done for the off-season!
Oh yeah... and a new owner who doesn't blow the whole thing up...
why does this always happen to the Rangers? JD is the Key to the whole thing I could care less if the great Nolan Ryan Stays or not, Jd is the one who has gotten us to were we are and were we will be. It wold just tbe the anotherRangers fans nightmare to see JD go and be Picked up byt the Yankees.
"So with this development, I wonder if Selig would be less likely to approve Gilbert..."
Probably, but only in the sense that Gilbert has now lost a highly valuable source of financing. Doesn't mean that Selig/Reinsdorf aren't still powerful lobbyists who could materially impact the final outcome of this sale by pushing for Gilbert's approval.
PRESS RELEASE
EXXONMOBIL IRVING TX
**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**
The ExxonMobil/Nolan Ryan/Chuck Greenberg purchase offer will be announced as the winning bid for the Texas Rangers at the MLB Winter Meetings on Monday December 7th 2009 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
--30--
I'll keep hoping as much in the meantime, but...Are you trying to start a rumor, making a prediction or reporting a newsleak?
I thought about removing bigoil's comment, but I'll leave it up on the off chance that he or she actually knows what they're talking about. FWIW, no contact information was provided and the comment was posted through an anonymous proxy, so take that for what it's worth; all that said, I find it hard to imagine that this isn't apocryphal.
Nolan needs to get Tom Hicks in a headlock and swing at hima few times in front of a packed stadium of rangers fans to get Tom's attention. What Tom doesn't realize is he's ruining himself in the process. That he doesn't care is indicative of who he is at heart.
Until Hicks is GONE from this team/franchise it will be a franchise with no real goal of winning. Hicks MUST sell this team and he must be out of the loop completely.