Hindsights Vol. 4: Notes from The Auction
Mark Cuban is in this to win it, and he ain't no backstop to ensure the best interests of Texas Rangers fans, as he first suggested a few weeks ago.
The bailiff came into the courtroom at 1:25 pm to announce that Judge Nelms wanted everyone seated and that the proceedings would resume at 1:30 pm. If there weren't enough seats to accommodate everyone, people would have to leave. He specifically said that the folks who would have to choose which members of their respective crews would have to vacate were "the parties."
In this instance, the "parties" were creditors and their ginormous teams of lawyers (80% of which were completely unnecessary).
At 1:27 pm, Mark Cuban, Jim Crane and their legal team entered the room. It was jarring to see Cuban in a suit. Cuban seemed smug, spending a little too much time surveying the gallery. Winking at folks and flashing a cheshire cat grin all around before taking a seat at one of the tables in front of the bar along with Crane and the leaders of their legal team on the left side of the court.
Meanwhile, the the tables in front of the bar on the right side remained vacant.
The clock ticked: 1:35; 1:40; 1:45.... And then at about 1:50, two law clerks came into the court room and summoned Cuban, Crane and their legal team out, presumably to chambers.
The throngs of attorneys representing the creditors continued their lively, jovial, casual and happy banter (the pay-clock continued to tick for the mass of unnecessary associates and dramatically overpaid partners) until about 2:15 when the action moved to the hallway.
Chuck Greenberg -- sans suit coat -- had emerged. He looked relatively happy and relaxed under the circumstances. He said something about how Judge Nelms hoped this could get resolved by tomorrow and how he sort of wished he could go back to his day job...but that he didn't have a day job anymore.
Cuban, Crane and their team moved back into their breakout room. Greenberg vanished into Rangers Baseball Express's breakout room, and a few moments later, the bailiff advised that the proceedings were to recommence at 2:45 pm.
At 2:42 pm, Cuban, Crane and the Radical Pitch LLC legal team came back in to the court room looking very smug. Cuban did some gland-handing with the folks in the credtors box.
At 2:44 pm, the Rangers Baseball Express team moved back into their seats in front of the bar while, simultaneously, Nolan Ryan and Chuck Greenberg snuck into the courtroom through the back door, looking for seats that didn't exist.
Emily Jones offered her seat to Chuck Greenberg who declined, finally deciding to move up to the counsel tables in front of the bar where the players (including Cuban and Crane) normally take their seats.
Nolan Ryan, on the other hand, chose to squeeze his substantial frame into one of the seats in the over-filled gallery, directly in front of me.
To say that the look on Nolan Ryan's face was stultifyingly drained would be an understatement.
At 2:50, Judge Nelms made his way to the bench and he called for the outcome of the initial bid.
The answer: taking into account the stalking horse bid forfeit fee (about $13 million for Rangers Baseball Express) and various "discounts" for Radical Pitch (Cuban & Crane), the Radical Pitch bid was in the lead by $25 million.
The word "discount" clearly left the Greenberg-Ryan Rangers Baseball Express in a state of apoplexy (and, I am assuming, accounted for the drained look on Mr. Nolan Ryan's face as he entered the court room).
But the significance of "discount" was fairly clear: Cuban -- a creditor himself -- would have to pay far less to satisfy outstanding Rangers debt than the Greenberg-Ryan group (Rangers Baseball Express) would be paying under their initial bid.
The attorney for Rangers Baseball Express then addressed Judge Nelms. In effect, he claimed that his client had been blindsided. They had no idea what these "discounts" were all about. And while Judge Lynn's game plan called for responsive bids to come in at 30-minute intervals, they were in no position to do so given the secretive nature of what this "discount" business was all about. They needed 12 hours to formulate a responsive bid.
The attorney for Radical Pitch (Cuban & Crane) then addressed Judge Nelms and basically said that it was laughable that Rangers Baseball Express could accuse them of subterfuge, given their last-minute attempt to assuage the creditors with an enhanced bit of $40 million on the condition that the CRO call off the auction.
And then came a moment that probably defined the entire deal: the attorney representing the CRO stood up and sided with Radical Pitch: he wanted this thing to move along on the 30-minute bid schedule.
Judge Nelms made a short speech acknowledging how difficult the position is in situation such as this for the stalking horse bidder (Rangers Baseball Express / Ryan & Greenberg), but "it is what it is." His compromise? "Get back to me in an hour and let me know where you are."
Shortly thereafter, a very unusual occurrence happened: Extremely high-paid, ostensibly dignified and above-the-fray attorneys got into a quasi-violent cussing match in the hallway outside of the courtroom between the attorney for Rangers Baseball Express and the CRO.
The gist of it was this: Rangers Baseball Express felt they had been screwed. Th CRO attorney somewhat gleefully showed him who was boss. That was at 3:15 pm.
At that point, I believed that it would be 6:00 pm -- at the earliest -- before the proceedings would re-convene and I left, but it was clear at that point who was in charge.
Cuban appears to be in charge here: Ryan does not. There appears to be some bad blood. Don't count on some kind of reconciliation.
A note: the initial bid that Cuban made which is supposedly better than the Greenberg-Ryan bid seems to be conditioned on a final "unappealable order," which is NOT going to happen under any circumstances.
Rangers Basball Express has made it clear that they will appeal any decision that does not deliver them prompt ownership of the club, and the target of that threat is certainly what appears to be the "conditional" (and therefore invalid, according to Rangers Baseball Express) bid made by Cuban and Crane.
In the end, this is where I found things to stand: Cuban holds the cards in the courtrooom now, but he might be in trouble on appeal. Whether Rangers Baseball Express has the stomach / money to keep fighting this is questionable. Cuban, on the other hand, seems to be bucking for a fight he knows he can't lose.
And then -- assuming Cuban / Crane wins this "auction" (which I do assume at this point) -- it will be up to MLB to decide whether they want to allow their power to decide who joins their ownership club to be challenged in Federal Court.
Either way, you can almost certainly forget a clean and clear transfer of ownership of this club coming anytime soon unless Rangers Baseball Express (Greenberg - Ryan) decides to throw in the towel, because Cuban, Crain and the Creditors certainly seem to be driving this process right where they want it to end.
The alternative to that bleak scenario is that this ordeal becomes so contentions and complicated that there is no choice for either side but for them to cut a deal so that the ownership issue is resolved at some point before Elvis Andrus turns 30.
But unless that happens, get ready for a ballclub owned by Mark Cuban -- beholden to creditors -- and without Nolan Ryan.
26 Comments | in Analysis, Ownership, The Season
Reader Comments (26)
A very succinct account of the day's proceedings. Thank you.
"snuck" is not a word!
Cuban, you are an absolute JERK! What the HELL are you EVEN DOING IN THIS? Get your goofy butt back to Dallas and into the gym with Mavericks and leave baseball alone. If you HAVE THAT MUCH EXTRA CASH AND TIME, GO START A COMPLETELY NEW BUSINESS AND HIRE ALL OF THE UNEMPLOYED/LAIDED OFF PEOPLE THAT DESPERATELY NEED JOBS AND GIVE THE REST OF IT TO THE RED CROSS.
STOP STICKING YOUR NOSE WHERE IT DOESN'T BELONG. GO BACK TO CHICAGO OR WHEREVER YOU CAME FROM AND LEAVE TEXAS TO THE "REAL TEXAN", NOLAN RYAN.
Wow, great summary, Mike, thanks.
Somebody forgot caps lock.
I've been following the chat all day and all I had to do is read this article. Nice summation.
Yee haw, Dee.
Ryan and Greenberg are just stalling and holding up the team's move to much higher bidders. What a shame.
@Rangers100, maybe not.
Good guys win.
The good guys do win sometime!
Wellllllllllll.
R100 - Having a little trouble hearin ya, lil' fella! *cups hand to ear*
The moral of this story is to never let a smug, officious attorney try to "report" on a courtroom proceeding. Hindman's biases in the sale have been evident from the start by his condescending posts in the Newberg forum.
Well, counselor, your side didn't win, did it? Worse, you wasted people's time by letting your personal views influence your so-called reporting.
Channel 11 and Anthony Andro, in the end, did a better job Wednesday. And they didn't even have to pay for law school.
Have fun at the Mavericks games. There won't be anyone from Tarrant County there any more, we can be certain of that.
@lawyers: You've fundamentally misrepresented mjh's analyses, and what's more, framed your comments as an overt personal attack with little to no substance. You're more than welcome to share your viewpoint, but not this way. Understand?
@lawyerssuck Obviously you need to rephrase your argument because its largely adhominem. But you bring up an interesting point.
I feel like Mike Hindman is having a serious Ranger fan crisis. He thinks JD is leaving. He was convinced Cuban is "bucking for a fight he knows he can't lose." Well, Mr. Hindman, he did lose. Ryan/Greenberg, most likely with more backing from Simpson, ponied up more money than anyone from the outside thought they could.
Sometimes when the Rangers are in a close game that they are winning, I find myself preparing for them to lose, almost trying to expect it. This is because I'd rather be ready for it then be crushed if we give up the lead and lose. Maybe Mike was doing the equivalent with his fear of a front office exodus. Or, maybe, he just loves Mark Cuban.
Well put, Josh.
Reading this post this morning made me feel A LOT better about the future of Jon Daniels with this team.
@lawyerssuck,
1st off, love the name. But the ad hominem attack on Hindman was unfounded. He reported what he saw, and by reasonable analysis expressed his opinion at the probability of outcome.
In reading pretty much everything written, and in my view from afar, I had begun to come to the same conclusion. Cuban/Crane appeared to be on a mission. That mission being to mix it up with MLB if they won the bid and couldn't secure approval.
The difference in Hindman and me is that while I put my name on a minor comment post, he puts his name front and center on an opinion piece about an issue in which there are multiple layers of disagreement. The difference in you and the two of us is that you make personal attacks while hiding behind anonymity.
@lawyerssuck: I haven't posted anything on the Newberg forum. I have no idea what you are talking about. I wanted RBE to win.
Lawyerssuck: Give it a rest. If you were following the updates and tweets from other people late into the night, as I was, there was a pretty strong vibe from the people attending that Cuban was going to win. Cuban's kept bidding immediately after Greenberg and in larger increments, Greenberg's bids were in smaller increments and came after much longer delays. Greenberg's attorney was also complaining about the process more. It did come across as very bleak for the Greenberg/Ryan team. As has been written about elsewhere the change came about very dramatically and late and within seconds of the Young grand slam. It was a very stunning turn. By the way, Jamey is a lawyer. Does that mean he sucks? Greenberg is a lawyer. Does he suck?
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