Major League Baseball told Houston businessman Jim Crane it would not approve his purchase of the Houston Astros unless he agreed to move the team to the American League, The Associated Press has learned. Crane was forced to agree to move the sale along, a person familiar with the negotiations said Wednesday on condition of anonymity because no official announcement has been made by MLB or the Astros. Approval of the sale could be announced as early as Thursday at a meeting of baseball executives in Milwaukee. Crane will receive a $70 million discount off the $680 million purchase price in exchange for moving the Astros to the AL in 2013, with McLane and MLB contributing $35 million each to the discount, an MLB official with knowledge of the talks said, according to the Houston Chronicle. Read more: http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7...-astros-sale-conditional-move-american-league
