re: Astros sale to include $70M for move to American League

Agreed. Why weren't the Dbacks AL in the first place? Why did the Brewers ever switch?

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apparently I'm completely dense because this thread is the biggest overreaction since

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the dense comment was in reference to some one saying he thought they get more to move, which i take to means the sale price would go up to move to the AL. If the AL was such a desirable destination, they teams would be lining up, but no one wants to move. They are just strong arming Crane, making it a condition of him buying the team which is BS.

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Or how about the D-backs? Is that long 13 year history of being in the NL too much for them?

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Not to mention they are also close the the fricking AL West

As a Cubs fan in Houston, this makes me sad.

Screw the AL
Screw the DH
Screw Bud Selig
Screw the Brewers

This whole thing is bullshite and I'm now in the market for a new favorite NL team. FML

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This whole thing is bullshite and I'm now in the market for a new favorite NL team. FML

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Choose the Cubs...you'll fit right in.

Selig is such a fricking sleazeball. He held up the sale last summer because he needed to look into Jim Crane more closely. Granted, there is a hell of a lot to look at. His company, Eagle USA Airfreight, has been found guilty of racism, sexism, and profiteering from the Iraq war. Selig couldn't care less about racism, sexism, or war profiteering, and he never did. The delays were to push the sale up to the November 30 deadline so he could blackmail Crane into moving the team.

Oh, and here is a long piece that Forbes Magazine did on Jim Crane back in June. It's an interesting read to say the least.

Why Jim Crane Could Become Baseball's Most Controversial Owner

Here is some stuff on his EEOC troubles from page 2:

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In 1997, complaints were filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regarding Crane’s Eagle USA Airfreight and its position on hiring blacks and women of child-bearing age. The EEOC issued a scathing 104 page report (most EEOC reports are said to run 3-5 pages), found that to be true, and added that Crane’s company conducted a practice of paying “female and minority employees less than white men who do similar work; did not investigate employee complaints of sexual harassment; and destroyed evidence that the company was instructed to retain as part of the two-year EEOC investigation,” according to a Houston Chronicle article from 2000.

In the Chronicle report:

Crane told his subordinates not to hire blacks because “once you hire blacks, you can never fire them.” On other occasions, Crane explained the reason he wanted to keep blacks out of the company was that his top managers are bigoted and they would mistreat the minorities, “giving them no choice but to sue Eagle.”

Witnesses also said Crane did not permit the company to advertise job openings because he did not want to create a paper trail of unhired qualified minorities.

To discourage blacks and women from applying, Eagle managers refused to let female and minority applicants enter its secured facilities to fill out job applications. Eagle disagreed with that assessment.

Crane also warned managers not to hire women of child-bearing age because their productivity would be low. And top company officers told employees that women aren’t suitable for management positions because male managers won’t work with a woman.

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And here is some stuff on the war profiteering from page 3

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A further matter that will sure to raise eyebrows, Crane’s Eagle Global Logistics has settled war profiteering charges with the Justice Department. All told, EGL was sued four times by the Department of Justice.

In August 2006, Eagle paid $4 million to settle a civil lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice alleging that the company had inflated the costs of military shipments to Iraq. The company had allegedly added $0.50 for each kilogram of freight transported to Baghdad, war risk surcharges, on shipments from Dubai to Iraq from November 2003 to July 2004.

In June 2007, Eagle paid $300,000 to settle allegations of overcharging the government. Many details of the allegations are not available as civil records for the case prior to 2010 are sealed.

In November 2008, Eagle paid $750,000 to settle allegations of providing kickbacks in order to procure contracts. Many details of the allegations are not available as civil records for the case prior to 2010 are sealed.

The company was accused of conspiring with other shipping companies to price fix and overcharge the U.S. and British governments in the war effort. The Department of Justice ultimately agreed to stop pursuing the criminal charges against Eagle when Eagle fired its employees involved in the scheme, paid a $4,486,120.00 fine and agreed to cooperate in the government’s investigation. However, Chris Cahill, Eagle’s former regional VP in the Middle East and India, was jailed for 30 months beginning in August 2006, issued 2 years supervised release and a $10,000 fine (read the conviction).

In fairness to Crane, when you have a management team, likely in the thousands, you can’t mind every aspect of your business. However, the repeated nature of the war profiteering, and continued settlements – on top of the discrimination issue – bring a look to MLB’s ownership make-up not seen prior.

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frick YOU BUD SELIG!

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The Astros have been a serious contender one time in their entire existence, brah.

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Exactly, it's not like they have been tearing up the National League, who cares if they move? Hell, more chances to see the Yanks & Red Sox play in Houston...

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This whole thing is bullshite and I'm now in the market for a new favorite NL team. FML

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Yeah, me and a ton of my friends all grew up big Astros fans, and a good bit of them have been cheering for the Rangers the last few years too. Personally I started rooting for the Rays a few years back, because I hate everyone being a Red Sox or Yankees fan, and I've actually became a pretty big fan, I've probably watched more Rays games then Astros the last few years for the simple fact of them being competitive. shite I don't even know if I can root for them anymore after the Stros make the switch.