McLane announces Astros will be sold for $680 million

Astros owner Drayton McLane announced Monday he had agreed to sell the team to a group led by Houston businessman Jim Crane for $680 million -- the second-highest price in major league history if it is approved.

For Crane, it will be his first successful bid in four attempts to buy a team. He had previously tried to acquire the Rangers and the Cubs, and he also tried to buy the Astros from McLane three years ago.

"Each time we tried it was a little difficult," said Crane, a pitcher at Central Missouri State in thte 1970s. "I'm accustomed to winning. So we set our sights on winning and we never gave up."

The sale is subject to approval by Major League Baseball, a process officials said could take at least one to two months. Upon approval, his group will become the fifth ownership group in charge of a team founded in 1962.

The sale price trails only the $845 million purchase of the Cubs by Tom Ricketts and his family two years ago. The $660 million sale of the Boston Red Sox in 2002 currently is second.

Royals' Splittorff treated for cancerPaul Splittorff, the winningest pitcher in Kansas City Royals history and a popular television announcer for the team, is being treated for oral cancer and melanoma, his family said Monday.

Splittorff, 64, worked the Royals' last homestand the first week in May. He had kept working Royals games the past two seasons even though he sometimes had difficulty speaking distinctly.

• Cincinnati lefthander Aroldis Chapman was put on the 15-day disabled list after the hard-throwing reliever had a magnetic resonance imaging exam that found inflammation in his pitching shoulder. The 23-year-old Cuban walked 12 batters and retired only four in his past four outings.

• Mets third baseman David Wright has a stress fracture in his lower back that is expected to keep him out a couple weeks, though the team is awaiting a second opinion before deciding whether to put the All-Star on the disabled list.

• Boston put righthander John Lackey on the 15-day DL because of a strained right elbow. He is 2-5 with an 8.01 ERA in his second season with the Red Sox after signing a five-year, $82.5 million contract.