Baseball Time in Arlington rounds up reports on the Rangers financial woes, and it appears MLB is calling the shots now. That makes Kevin Millwood’s status very interesting:

The decision to allow Kevin Millwood’s 2010 option — worth $12 million, as reported many times over — to vest could be taken out of the Rangers’ hands in a manner similar to the Purke situation, with Ryan stating that he “[doesn’t] think MLB is really that in tune with all the details of what’s going on here” (J.R.)

[What sounded virtually unfathomable just 24 hours ago seems to be gaining more traction; nevertheless, one has to figure that the commissioner’s office doesn’t have the cojones to force a playoff-contending team to bench one of its core pitchers during the stretch run, since doing so would reflect terribly on the game itself and bring a hailstorm of national criticism crashing down upon Selig’s terrible combover. On a tangentially related note, Ryan’s commentary greatly bothers me.]

One could argue that Feliz should be starting instead of Millwood based on how they’ve pitched since August 1st. It’s one of those situations where Millwood pitched poorly enough to be benched, but it is only 34 innings, so it could just be a slump. This is just another example of why vesting options aren’t really a good idea. Combine that with a league office that knows they’ll get better ratings with the Red Sox in the playoffs, and you have a giant conflict of interest.

Update: Sorry, forgot the link earlier.