Phillies P Curt Schilling said yesterday that team
ownership should sell the franchise if it isn't willing to
upgrade the talent of the club at midseason, according to
Jim Salisbury of the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER. Schilling, on
the 21-18 second-place team: "We're three games behind the
Braves. ... If ownership is not willing to make a trade or
spend in July, they need to sell the team and give the
Philadelphia fans what they deserve" (INQUIRER, 5/20).
Schilling: "If we're competitive and there's no upgrade, I
want to go." Schilling said he found Forbes' recent
valuation that the team made $4.5M in '98 accurate: "I
believe Forbes magazine. I sat in the room [during the '94
labor talks] and listened to the rhetoric they threw at us.
There are ways to manipulate the numbers and make [them]
look any way they want them to look" (DAILY NEWS, 5/20).
HE'S NOT A BELIEVER: MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, on
Forbes' franchise valuations: "The gentleman who wrote it
has no access to any of the clubs' financial information.
There is no way that he can get it. How he derives these
numbers, I don't know" (CBS SportsLine, 5/20).
