I bumped into Craig Stein on the opening night of the trade show and asked if he had anything going at the Winter Meetings.

"We’ve always got something going on," Stein replied.

I thought he was talking about the BIRCO deal, but made a mental note to track him down again. I never did find him again in Vegas and, as a result, missed out on the story that he sold the majority share of Double-A Reading to the Phillies, as reported by the Reading Eagle.

The deal apparently has been cleared by MLB, MILB and the Eastern League. Though no figure was reported, it is believed that the ballclub, one of the best draws in the EL, was worth around $25 million. A nice return on Stein’s $1 million investment 22 years ago.

According to Chuck Domino, management of the Reading club will not change and that the Phillies’ involvement will be a transparent one.