From what I can gather from recent filings, they're certainly paying everyone else...so I'm not sure if there's some exception for missing scheduled payments to insiders.
Not sure what you consider decent money, but the way baseball contracts are structured, most of these guys won't be due for hefty pay raises for a number of years.
Castro is probably gone in a year or two. We have too many good catching prospects to count on one hand.
Which catchers would those be? Max Stassi is our best catching prospect, and he isn't setting the world on fire. Beyond him are mostly guys viewed as backup catchers.
Decent money as compared to what budget is set for payroll. It is pretty evident we're not getting the money that Crane said the Astros had to be competitive. If we don't sign any good free agents and just roll with this crop of kids maybe we hang to most of them (provided they pan out) until they get their next contract.
Back on the subject. Isn't it a good thing that there are potential buyers for the Network? Why toss this out of bankruptcy court when their are still options?
If it were tossed out of bankruptcy court, the Rockets and Astros would own their own media rights and be be able to deal with whatever networks they wished...without any wait on court approval or the machinations of that process.
If there wasn't an obligation to look out for Comcast's interests in the partnership too, that might be the logical thing to do. What is your answer to the first question? Isn't it a good thing that there are potential buyers? Also there is no guarantee that either team is going to accept the offers on the table now which DTV said the media rights are losing more value as time goes by.
It just doesn't seem as if reorganization is a real possibility here. And that seems affirmed by the idea that all these suitors are interested in purchasing media rights, and not the station, itself, as I understand it. It was a bad business deal for everyone...teams didn't get paid and Comcast didn't get much of a return on their investment either. I just don't get the idea of why it's a good idea to keep pretending there's something to reorganize when all the parties seem to agree there's not at this point.
One of the potential suitors purchasing the Network or one of them winning the bankruptcy auction are both still possibilities.
If the media rights are even re-assignable under those circumstances (which they currently aren't)... which would/could lead to another slew of lawsuits, and delay things further. The bottom line is that the bankruptcy delay has significantly delayed things more than resolved things.
It's going to be an all out holy war if a bankruptcy trustee gets appointed and tries to assign media rights of a pro sports team. That's going to be a nightmare. I really really really hope it doesn't go there.
It's been an all out Holy War for some time now. As far as waiting this out, the Astros are garbage these days and I can pay for Ballstreams.com again for the Rockets games. I would guess if the Network gets auctioned off, the media rights come with the team unless there is some contractual language prohibiting it. It's my opinion, that if there were language like that in the contract that Jimmy C would have been crying from the roof of MMP about it. Crane certainly wasn't bashful about erroneously spouting off about transferring the rights that CSN H purchased from his team to MLB TV without the approval of his partners in the Network or compensating his partners for doing so. On that subject.... I'm surprised that those fretting over the transference of media rights weren't joining me in shooting down that fairy tale. I agree if the Trustee cuts deals, without full consent of the partners, with providers or makes a deal to sell the Network issues could arise. If the Judge liquidates the Network, that's a different deal, yes or no?
If a trustee tries to assign the media rights, the NBA and MLB attorneys will get involved. It's really the nuclear option. If you think it has been a holy war to this point, you ain't seen nothing yet. If the judge liquidates the network, there would likely be a conversion to Chapter 7 and the hard assets would be auctioned off. An order could be entered allowing the teams to sell their rights elsewhere while the auction occurs out of the empty shell.
I think Comcast's initial pleadings contemplated the idea of a trustee being appointed assigning away everything, presumably...and the response immediately from the Astros was that the proceeding was a "road to nowhere" because they say broadcast rights plus intellectual property rights bundled with those are not assignable. That issue is a big one for pro sports...and I think Refman is absolutely right. The Rockets, Astros and their respective leagues will go bat crap crazy trying to make sure that never happens, because they do not want that precedent.
