A Partnership Not Made in Heaven

A proposed partnership between former MLB player agent Dennis Gilbert and Rangers Owner Tom Hicks as part of Gilbert's effort to purchase the team "fell apart ... at some point Thursday," according to Randy Galloway of the FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM. Hicks "had an agreement with Gilbert," under which Hicks would retain a "chairman-of-the-board type role and also represent the Rangers at all MLB meetings." But sources said that Rangers President Nolan Ryan "would have resigned his position" if Gilbert had been approved by MLB as Rangers Owner, and Hicks knew it "would be PR suicide if Ryan leaves."

Gilbert now will "go it alone and Hicks will apparently attempt to join forces" with Ryan. Ryan's "problem was not with Hicks," but rather with Gilbert, who "would be in charge of the team's entire operation, business and baseball," if he acquired the club. Sources said that Gilbert's "ultimate goal would be a combined team president-general manager situation," and that Ryan "would absolutely not have taken the role Hicks wanted in his partnership with Gilbert."

Galloway notes Gilbert is "not considered capable of carrying the financial load" on his own, as he and Hicks "needed money from elsewhere." Sources said that the two "had Chicago money pledged, but the latest word is that's no longer the case." There also "might have been a Dallas backer involved" (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 12/4).

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