Franchise Notes

The WALL STREET JOURNAL’s Daniel Barbarisi writes while the Angels and Red Sox are “undergoing regime change, the Yankees, for once, are a model of stability,” renewing contracts with Senior VP & GM Brian Cashman and P CC Sabathia. As the ’11 season “wore on, and it became clear that the Yankee GM had another great offseason, Yankee ownership became more and more vocal about their desire to keep him on.” It is “fair to say he has more control than ever, but with the Yankees, no one has total say, save” Yankees Managing General Partner & co-Chair Hal Steinbrenner (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 11/2). MLB Network's Chris Rose on Cashman returning to the Yankees, “This was a marriage that was supposed to continue. It would have been weird seeing Brian Cashman run the show somewhere else” (“Intentional Talk,” MLB Network, 11/1).

THEOCRACY: In Chicago, Rick Morrissey notes since the hiring of new Cubs President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein, there already are “Theology’’ T-shirts for sale. Epstein yesterday introduced Jed Hoyer as the club’s Exec VP & GM and Jason McLeod as Senior VP/Scouting & Player Development. The Cubs’ three new execs “are adamant that their work will be a collegial endeavor,” but this “clearly is a Theocracy.” All three “might talk, but Epstein’s word is gospel.” Epstein, rather than Hoyer, during the news conference yesterday “answered questions about the status of Carlos Zambrano (unresolved) and Aramis Ramirez (likely gone).” He said that he “intercepted those questions because Hoyer had been on the job for only a day.” Morrissey: “As opposed to Epstein’s seven days on the job” (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 11/2).

BIG APPLE HOCKEY: In N.Y., Daniel Massey noted the NHL Rangers last week launched a new marketing campaign, “This is New York Hockey,” during their first game at the renovated MSG. The multimedia effort, via The Brooklyn Brothers, N.Y., features key players, including G Henrik Lundqvist and RW Ryan Callahan, and “sports buzzwords like heart, passion and grit.” A “large chunk of the campaign will roll out via Facebook and Twitter and social media sites.” Sources estimated that the ad buy “exceeds $1 million” (CRAIN'S NEW YORK, 10/30 issue).

DEBT COLLECTION: In London, Oliver Butler reports EPL club Bolton Wanderers announced “losses of more than” $42M (all figures U.S.) last season. Despite a run to the FA Cup semifinals and a “boost in television income that took income to more” than $96M, Burnden Leisure, the club’s parent company, “still made a pre-tax loss” of $41.8M for the year ending June 30, 2011. The loss “took the club’s debt to more than” $176M. The majority of the $176M is “owed to Eddie Davies, who became owner eight years ago and whose support, Phil Gartside, the Bolton chairman, said has been vital to the club remaining in the Premier League for more than ten years.” Gartside said, “As the report shows, our debt is to Eddie, and as a result of that support, we have no dangerous levels of bank debt which is a major plus fact for our club” (LONDON TIMES, 11/2).