November 8, 2009

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BOB: Carl Pohlad Passes Away

by Brian Borawski
January 07, 2009

Twins owner passes at age 93

Minnesota Twins owner Carl Pohlad passed away at the age of 93 earlier this week. Pohlad had owned the Twins since 1984, and he was there for the Twins' two World Series wins but over the past decade, he’s been one of the more polarizing owners in baseball. What’s unfortunate is, he’ll never get to see the stadium for which he fought so hard and so long.

One of the richest owners in baseball, Pohlad ran the Twins very well as a business, but this hasn’t helped the Twins field a team good enough to get past the first round of the playoffs since their last World Series win in 1991. The Twins were regularly kept on a tight budget, and over the past few years, the team has seen the departure of All Stars like Johan Santana and Torii Hunter. Pohlad was also criticized for putting the Twins out for contraction as well as not chipping in as much as hoped when it came to the Twins' prospective stadium.

Jeff Moorad to purchase Padres

Former super agent Jeff Moorad left his post as chief executive officer for the Arizona Diamondbacks to pursue the purchase of the San Diego Padres from John Moores. Moorad will have to divest himself of his general partnership interest in the Diamondbacks at some point to purchase the Padres from Moores, who essentially needs to cash out to get through his divorce.

Right now, Moorad has an agreement in principle and he resigned to take advantage of an exclusive negotiating window. While it appears that his move from the Diamondbacks to the Padres would be a lateral one, the fact that he’d be the managing partner of the Padres means he’ll be the one who calls the shots. Moorad is now pretty much an insider with his near five years with the Diamondbacks, so I don’t expect any resistance when the owners eventually vote on the sale.

Mets', Yankees' bond vote faces resistance

The New York Yankees are looking for another $370 million in funding while the New York Mets are out for another $83 million in public bonds to help finish off their stadiums. The matter has a planned voting date of January 16, but assembleyman Richard Brodsky has come out publicly that he’d like to see the vote delayed. Brodsky feels that the first round of public funding came without the proper input from the public; he wants the city to provide additional documentation before any more bonds are released.

Odds are good the attempt by Brodsky will be unsuccessful to slow down the additional funding for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, the new stadiums are close to completion and slowing them down will be a public relations disaster for just about everyone involved.

Yankees hold baseball clinic in Taiwan

The Yankees announced late last week that they’d hold their first-ever large-scale clinic in Taiwain. Five members of the Yankees' player development staff will lead a five-day on January 7-11 clinic that will focus on pitching and coaching fundamentals and philosophy. A tertiary purpose of the visit is that the Yankees hope to increase the brand recognition of their name in the Asian community.

Curve sale approved

The Altoona Curve changed hands last week as Curve Baseball LP sold the team to their former owners, the family of Robert F. Lozinak. The family owned the team when the club began play in 1999 and sold it in 2001.

Brian Borawski is a member of SABR's Business of Baseball Committee and writes about the Detroit Tigers at his own website, TigerBlog. He welcomes comments, questions and suggestions via e-mail.

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