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Rangers lay off staff; is sale on the way?

The Texas Rangers laid off less than 10 percent of their 275-person staff, the latest sign that MLB teams are still struggling on the revenue front this season.

The Texas Rangers offered a severance package to an unspecified number of team employees , the last sign of revenue challenges facing MLB teams this season.

The reductions, which affect less than 10 percent of the team's 275-person payroll, come despite a nice uptick in attendance this season — some 10.9 percent.

Still, the layoffs fit into what's we've heard generally from MLB and MiLB owners this season: while fans are still attending baseball games, they're spending less at the ballpark. But we're guessing sponsorship dollars — the real lifeblood of an MLB team — are the issue here, as teams struggled to make numbers in the offseason despite some generally lowered expectations.

Complicating things in Texas: the team is on the market, as Tom Hicks says he'd like to see someone come in and buy a majority share of the team. While there's been little buzz about any active talks with potential owners, reducing payroll is a time-honored move to make a property more attractive to a buyer.

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