Texas Rangers President Nolan Ryan learned Wednesday that he could turn to a bankruptcy judge to help him add more expensive players to the baseball team’s roster.

While testifying during a hearing at the Fort Worth, Texas, bankruptcy court, Ryan said budget restrictions that Major League Baseball placed on the club have made it difficult to add players. (MLB has been placing budget restrictions on the team since it started providing financial assistance to the Rangers last year.)

Judge D. Michael Lynn informed Ryan that now that the team has filed for bankruptcy, he has additional options to increase his budget.

As the team’s bankruptcy lender, the budget MLB sets for the Rangers is subject to court approval.

“MLB has right to review your budget, but you have the opportunity to have MLB overruled,” Lynn said.  He said he would try to reduce the level of “pain” the team must endure during bankruptcy.

Ryan said he didn’t realize how the budget restrictions had changed in the context of the bankruptcy case.

“I hadn’t thought about if Major League Baseball had turned down (the request), I can go to the court,” the Hall of Fame pitcher said.

Ryan said he did not request to stray from the league-approved budget in order to acquire star pitcher Cliff Lee and other players through recent trades. Instead, he traded talented Rangers prospects for cash considerations to make the deals work financially. Ryan, who is also part of a group attempting to buy the team out of bankruptcy, said in court that continued financial restrictions because of ownership uncertainty could be costly for the Rangers.

The Rangers may not be able to afford to pay slugger Josh Hamilton next season under the team’s current budget, Ryan said. Hamilton, among the league’s best home-run hitters, could demand a significant raise for next season, he said.

“With the year he is having…I’d think his salary could go from” $3.2 million to as much as $10 million, he said.

At that salary, the Rangers might have to choose between keeping Hamilton or several other key players. Ryan said he wouldn’t want to make that choice for the team or its fans.

“I won’t be here if Josh Hamilton doesn’t come back next year,” he said.