John Henry attempted to lure Beane to the Red Sox after the '02 seasonGETTY IMAGES
A's Exec VP/Baseball Operations Billy Beane is "prepared to step away from his job" with the the club should the merger between his new investment venture and Red Sox Owner John Henry's Fenway Sports Group go through, according to a source cited by Susan Slusser of the S.F. CHRONICLE. The hope is to complete a deal "by the end of the year." Sources said that Beane has a tiny minority ownership of the A's as he "sold the bulk of his ownership share several years ago and now holds just a 1% stake," but if conflict-of-interest issues arise, he easily could sell his holdings. More complicated is the fact that MLB has rules against public ownership, and by merging Fenway Sports Group, RedBall Acquisition Corp. "would purchase less than 25% of the company and take it public." Sources said that Beane "would not have any part of running the Red Sox," but he would "focus on other potential investments, particularly in Europe." Beane "long has had numerous interests and business concerns outside of baseball," including an official adviser role with the Dutch soccer team AZ Alkmaar and a minority ownership stake in English second-tier club Barnsley. Should Beane step away, his longtime second-in-command -- A's GM David Forst -- "would become the top baseball executive in the organization" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 10/13).
LONG GAME: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Diamond, Robinson & Gottfried note Henry has "long coveted" Beane. Following the '02 season, Henry attempted to make Beane the "highest-paid general manger ever." He "wanted to take Moneyball and infuse it with actual money, offering Beane $12.5 million to flee the East Bay for New England." Beane turned Henry down, "remaining in Oakland to this day and ushering in the data revolution that has forever changed the industry." But Henry "wasn't done wooing Beane." Shortly after his "contentious acquisition of Liverpool, settled in a British courtroom" for $487M in '10, Henry was "in touch with the man he believed could revolutionize player recruitment" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 10/13).
CHANGE OF SCENERY? THE ATHLETIC's Tim Kawakami noted Beane has remained with the A's since the early '90s, but there have been "increasing whispers about his restlessness and the situation he finds himself in with the A's over and over again -- build up the talent through shrewd and often unconventional ways, watch the team bloom and get into the playoffs, and then inevitably the team has to be broken up when the time comes to pay the talented players their market value. And start it all over again." Kawakami: "I'm surprised, frankly, that Beane didn't find a new platform and another venture long before joining the RedBall special-purpose acquisition company earlier this year and the subsequent potential Fenway Sports acquisition, with all the possible new adventures it sets up for him" (THEATHLETIC.com, 10/12).
