Red Sox Expecting Record Price for Club

Boston Red Sox executives said they will sell the team to the highest bidder even if the new owner wants to move out of Fenway Park.

Justin Morreale, a lawyer for the Yawkey Trust, which owns a 53% controlling interest in the Red Sox, said Wednesday that he expects the club to fetch the highest price in baseball history.

While the current record is the $323 million sale of the Cleveland Indians last year, the New York Yankees were evaluated at about $650 million when they formed YankeeNets with the NBA’s New Jersey Nets in 1999.

Morreale would not say how many potential buyers have submitted bids, but claimed the Red Sox have received two to three times as many offers as any other team in modern baseball history.

“We have received an unprecedented number of expressions of interest,” Morreale said. “This sales process should be the most competitive bidding process in the history of baseball franchise sales.”

On Tuesday, the team sent out confidentiality agreements to bidders. Once the agreements are returned, bidders can look at the team’s financial records.

Potential buyers will then be asked to submit nonbinding bids. John Harrington, the Red Sox’s chief executive officer, will winnow down the offers. The surviving bidders will be given access to a “data room” with more financial information, including player contracts.

All final bids must be in cash and must be accompanied by a completed major league baseball ownership application. On the application, the bidder must say he has no intention of moving the team out of New England.

The Minnesota Twins took another Mauer in the amateur draft.

University of St. Thomas second baseman Jake Mauer, older brother of Joe Mauer, was selected by the Twins with the first pick of the 23rd round.

Joe Mauer, a catcher at Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St. Paul, Minn., was the first pick overall in the draft Tuesday.

Jake Mauer is a two-time Division III All-America who led the Tommies to the NCAA title this spring after consecutive second-place finishes.

Mike Radcliff, the Twins’ scouting director, downplayed the notion that Jake Mauer was picked in order to help sign his younger brother.

“I think Jake would’ve gotten drafted somewhere,” Radcliff said. “He deserved the selection. He had a good career at St. Thomas, and we think he has a good chance to hit for us.”