Also someone reported today (I think in the Chicago papers) that Epstein was in fact NOT the only candidate that Ricketts interviewed, quoting an unnamed current executive who Ricketts interviewed prior to Epstein.

Maybe it was Friedman and maybe it wasn’t. We may never know. But also we shouldn’t assume other teams haven’t reached out.

How many Twins fans, I wonder, could pick Bill Smith out of a lineup, let alone at The Spaghetti Factory or wherever?

Friedman ran the numbers and proposed the structure of how the Rays should operate when Sternberg was buying the team, right? Despite being an at-will employee, perhaps there is a promise of something bigger down the road from Sternberg to Friedman (i.e. ownership stake, if and when a new stadium becomes a reality and a new TV deal is finally signed after 2016).

OR, perhaps Friedman is compensated far better than any of us could know, and his employment as an at-will employee is by design so that the full extent of his compensation isn’t formally disclosed.

Just guesses, but there has to be something more to the ‘no contract’ aspect of his deal with Sternberg because he has certainly earned the leverage to ask for more security. If Moreno or Crane goes hard after Friedman and Friedman stays in Tampa, then my curiosity only grows.