UPDATE: Cuban shoots down the rumor. Today has been a big day for shot-down rumors. Well here’s a rumor that’s about to come true: I’m planning on making tacos for dinner.
Radar Online is reporting that Mark Cuban is set to offer the Tribune Company $625MM for the Cubs. That’s about 40% more than the recent Forbes estimate of the team’s worth. The Tribune refused to comment.
If Cuban were to successfully purchase the club, he’d be saddled with some painful backloaded contracts. Take the ’09 Cubs – they have four players under contract for $12-16MM (Lee, Ramirez, Soriano, Lilly). And Marquis, Blanco, and DeRosa locked in as well. That’s $71MM on the books for seven players. It won’t be fun to be the person digging out from Jim Hendry’s hole.
