Chicago Cubs Sale Process Moving at Slow Pace

Looks as if the sale of the Chicago Cubs will drag on longer than first expected.

The Tribune Company selling of the baseball team before year's end or even before the start of next season is "highly unlikely," as Commissioner Bud Selig has "been unable to keep the process moving at that timetable,'' according to Phil Rogers in the Chicago Tribune.

It's amazing how Major League Baseball can rarely seem to move situations like this along at a proper pace. Sure there are distractions such the seemingly always growing steroids scandal, potential collusion among general managers on the Alex Rodriguez contract front and another just completed boring World Series with games practically extending into the wee hours.

One source apparently told the Tribune that Selig's office "has not even closed out the application process for prospective buyers."

Photo of Wrigley Field by Rob Tringali/SportsChrome

The five groups still believed in contention to buy the team are led by: Madison Dearborn Partners Chair & CEO John Canning Jr.; Dallas Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban; the partnership of Chicago attorney Thomas Mandler and A-Z Industries President Jim Anixter; the family of TD Ameritrade Founder Joseph Ricketts; and MVC Capital Chair Michael Tokarz.

An MLB source said the slow process "is not an alarming development. It's a speed bump, a slowdown, not anything else."

The snail's pace "doesn't appear to be causing any complications in the operations of the Cubs," and Cubs General Manager Jim Hendry said he "believes he will have the authority to fill the team's needs this winter, saying he has received assurances the payroll will increase."

Who knows, those rumors of ARod signing with Cubs to be reunited with his favorite manager Lou Piniella may gain steam. Imagine how many regular-season home runs Rodriguez could hit in the very friendly for right-handed hitter confines of Wrigley Field.?

The Cubs haven't been to the World Series since 1945. Maybe ARod (who has never played in the Fall Classic) would be that secret ingredient to get them back and give the Cubs a chance to capture a championship for the first time since 1908?

Maybe.