MLB Franchise Notes: Part Of Rangers Loan Could Pay A-Rod

Rangers Still Owe Rodriguez $22.5M

SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL’s Dan Kaplan cites financial sources as saying that the Rangers still owe Alex Rodriguez $22.5M over the next three years, “in addition to about $10M the team owes two other players who have left.” The figures emerged “as part of a recent” $75M loan Southwest Sports Group, which owns the Rangers, borrowed on June 30. The loan “was not explicitly to pay off Rodriguez,” though one financial source said that there “was a good chance some of the money would be used for this purpose” (SBJ, 7/17 issue).

PACK THE PARK: In St. Louis, Derrick Goold reported the Cardinals are MLB’s “third team to surpass two million in attendance this season, joining the Yankees and the Dodgers.” Through Sunday, the Cardinals’ average attendance of 42,534 ranked third in MLB, behind the Yankees and Dodgers. The Cardinals, who sold out their first 48 games, played the first month of the season “without a section of seats opened” at the new Busch Stadium (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 7/17)....The Red Sox reached the 1.5 million attendance mark in their 42nd game, “their fastest yet.” It took 43 games last year (BOSTON HERALD, 7/18).

JAM SESSION: SI.com’s Jon Heyman cited a friend of A’s P Barry Zito, who becomes a free agent after this season, as saying that he “wants to go to a big market ‘so he could sell his music,’ and believes he would prefer one of three teams: 1) Dodgers (his parents live in the Los Angeles area), 2) Mets, 3) Yankees” (SI.com, 7/17).