6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog

Bengie Molina's Retirement Party Announces His Retirement

2012-02-26T15:08:00.001-08:00

A tweet from Bill Plunkett passes on this CSN Bay Area report indicating that Bengie Molina has retired. Good luck to him, and hope to hear back from him in Angels gear soon.

A Field Guide To Ryan Braun Conspiracy Theories

2012-02-26T09:01:00.001-08:00

A fun little piece I found at Sportsthodoxy the other day. Excerpt:

Conspiracy theories are dumb. They are predicated on the simultaneous notion that A)there are vast, powerful groups of people exerting their reach invisibly to alter the course of world events on a scale vast and unimaginable and B)they're doing so in such a way that every dude named Shecky with dialup access can find the clues they're leaving behind. I mean, sure, the idea that someone out there is planning all this has to be comforting on some level - more comforting than the notion that there's no one in charge and thus, no one to magically save the day should events warrant it - but as a dedicated reader of conspiracy theory material for writing-related purposes, I can safely say that one conspiracy theory is generally dumber than the next. Doctor Rich recommends taking two Michael Shermer books, chasing them with Jon Ronson's excellent treatise Them, and taking a nap.
That being said, the Braun verdict has produced any number of hare-brained analyses, ranging from the insulting to the deeply insulting. Here's a quick rundown.
Braun Got Off Because Bud Selig Used To Own The Brewers
The key term in all this, of course, is "used to". As in, "he sold the team". As in "Some other dude named Mark Attanasio owns it now." Sure, the conspiracy theorists say, but it was his team, and it's in his hometown, and they've got a statue of him out front of their park! Surely that's enough reason for Bud to ham-fistedly rig the appeals process!

Brandon McCarthy's Bill James Moment

2012-02-25T20:47:00.001-08:00

I just fell in love with this piece on ESPN The Magazine when I got it in the mail (I'm a subscriber to the print edition via Insider) because of the cover alone and the included text:

After he discovered analytics, Brandon McCarthy changed his motion, saved his career, signed the big money deal, and married this model. Score one for the nerds!

As Helen observed, his wife (who makes her money in front of the camera, but in a different way) is clearly more relaxed than McCarthy (who is all about the "meh, you're looking at her, but it's all good). Fun piece.

Rick Caruso And Joe Torre Withdraw Their Bid And Why That's A Good Thing (Most Likely)

2012-02-23T19:42:00.004-08:00

Bill Shaikin fills in the blanks for the day's big Dodgers story (assuming you don't count Rubby de la Rosa starting the season on the 60-day DL with elbow trouble, or claiming Matt Angle off waivers, or Jose Ascanio failing his physical and thus voiding his contract, or Mike MacDougal "feeling something" in his back). I'll cut to the chase, because another Dodger bidder out of the offing is not necessarily a good thing; you want the team to fetch a good price at auction (something you may recall was a bit of controversy in the Red Sox bidding with the John Henry group).

This is a suspicion — and only that — but the $1.5 billion-plus bids the team is fielding now are at least in part contingent on the team being sold along with the parking lots. And if Frank is not selling the parking lots — as he has repeatedly said he won't — along with the team, then the price will come down accordingly. As it has been my considered opinion that overpaying for the Dodgers will lead to bad teams (to make up for the overpayment), this cannot help but be a good thing in the short and long terms. My hope, anyway, is that McCourt intransigence will eventually mean he cannot recoup enough to make good with his wife. That will force him to sell the parking lots.

Ryan Braun Cleared Of Doping Charges

2012-02-23T16:06:00.002-08:00

All over the Interwebz, so I'll use this Craig Calcaterra piece at NBC Sports' Hardball Talk as my jumping off point about Ryan Braun being cleared of doping charges; he will not serve any suspension time. MLB "vehemently disagrees" with the decision made by a three-man panel that chain of custody issues (which MLB itself set up!) tainted the test outcome. More from Calcaterra:

Ryan Braun got off on a technicality? Bull. Major League Baseball half-assed it and failed to adhere to the standards it set up for itself. In that case I have no problem considering Braun to be the less culpable party. Anyone who says otherwise is more interested in assumptions and the casting of aspersions than they are in a rigorous and legitimate drug testing regime.

Agreed 100%.

Angels Sign Jason Isringhausen To Minor-League Deal

2012-02-22T16:53:00.000-08:00

It's cute how they give a phonetic pronunciation guide after his name in this Angels press release. The former Oakland and St. Louis closer was last seen with the Mets in 2011, where he compiled a 3-3 record with a 4.05 ERA as a 38-year-old. He'll have his work cut out for him to make the team out of spring training.

Update: Isringhausen will become a free agent if he doesn't make the team, which is probably best for all parties concerned.

Manny Ramirez Signs With Oakland

2012-02-20T11:17:00.000-08:00

Kind of a crazy story, given Manny's multiple brushes with banned substances, but it looks like the A's get to find out what's left in the tank at one year and $500,000. He'll still have to sit out 50 games due to his prior suspension.

Padres On The Verge Of $1 Billion/20-Year TV Deal

2012-02-16T08:57:00.000-08:00

Per MLB.com's Barry Bloom, the Padres are about to sign a $1 billion/20-year TV deal with Fox that will create a regional sports network in San Diego. I have to wonder that, over time, these deals will instead become crippling hamstrings, especially if inflation heats up.

Fear That New York Would Corner The Free Agency Market — In 1912

2012-02-15T07:43:00.001-08:00

A great story by NBC Sports' Craig Calcaterra on the 1912 US Baseball League, which ultimately failed, but had the interesting feature that it allowed free agency and multiyear deals to its players.

Royals Sign Steve Physioc, Rex Hudler For Their TV Broadcasts

2012-02-10T13:24:00.000-08:00

Really kind of a big surprise (and thanks to a tweet by Victor Rojas for the heads up) to see that Steve Physioc and Rex Hudler will join Ryan Lefebvre in the Fox Sports Kansas City TV booth for the 2012 broadcast season. They both have multi-year deals, terms unknown at this time. Congratulations to both.

Mark Trumbo Cleared For All Baseball Activities

2012-02-08T19:59:00.000-08:00

Bullet dodged.

The crack in his foot is still there, but doctors told Trumbo it's very small and stable enough to resume activity. So recently, the Anaheim native has been getting some field work in with the help of bench coach Rob Picciolo and bullpen coach Steve Soliz, in preparation for a season in which the Angels hope he can at least be a part-time option at third base.

Oakland Extends GM Billy Beane Through 2019

2012-02-07T14:18:00.001-08:00

Good thing? Dunno; it seems like the move out of the Coliseum is inevitable, but on permanent hold, and a prerequisite to getting more money to spend on players and draftees.

Dodgers Sign Kershaw To 2-Year/$19M Deal

2012-02-07T13:57:00.001-08:00

Tweets from Bill Shaikin and Dylan Hernandez peg what is likely to be Ned Colletti's last significant act as Dodgers GM: the signing of Clayton Kershaw for 2 years and $19M. I would have preferred a longer-term deal, but you can't have everything.

Happy Birthday, Jackie Robinson

2012-01-31T07:18:00.000-08:00

Happy birthday to Jackie Robinson, who would have been 93 today. In celebration, here's an excerpt of a letter he wrote to President Dwight Eisenhower at the delightful blog, Letters Of Note:

I was sitting in the audience at the Summit Meeting of Negro Leaders yesterday when you said we must have patience. On hearing you say this, I felt like standing up and saying, 'Oh no! Not again.'
I respectfully remind you sir, that we have been the most patient of all people. When you said we must have self-respect, I wondered how we could have self-respect and remain patient considering the treatment accorded us through the years.
17 million Negroes cannot do as you suggest and wait for the hearts of men to change. We want to enjoy now the rights that we feel we are entitled to as Americans. This we cannot do unless we pursue aggressively goals which all other Americans achieved over 150 years ago.

Dodger Thoughts Moves Again

2012-01-30T21:58:00.001-08:00

Jon's leaving the ESPN LA umbrella to set up shop under his own domain. I'm presently blocked from seeing it, but expect it ought to be visible within an hour. Sidebar links to come.

Update: Hey, here's the maiden post at the new site.

Rangers Sign Yu Darvish To 6 Year/$60M Deal

2012-01-18T14:27:00.000-08:00

Per Buster Olney of ESPN, the Rangers signed Japanese import Yu Darvish to a 6-year/$60M deal. Favorite Twitter gag about this so far:

Props to Angels GM Dipoto. Angels sign Wilson for 75 mil, force the Rangers to spend 120 mil to back fill his spot in the rotation #genius

I'm not so sure about that; word so far is that Darvish may be the best Japanese pitcher to hit the US in approximately ever, and is quite a bit younger than the Angels' C.J. Wilson. On the other hand, Texas paid a "record" $51.7 million posting bid. That's a lot of money to have sunk into a guy nobody's ever seen pitch in the majors. We'll see how this plays out.

Update: Supposedly — and this is unconfirmed — Darvish has an opt out clause after five years.

Update 1/20: No, not on the weed.

Dodgers Ink Ethier, Loney, Still Working On Kershaw; Angels Sign Aybar

2012-01-18T07:24:00.000-08:00

The Dodgers have signed one important and one unimportant piece for 2012, signing Andre Ethier and James Loney for single-year deals at $10.95M and $6.375M, respectively. The team will go to arbitration with Clayton Kershaw, with the Cy Young Award winner asking for $10M in his first year of arbitration eligibility, and the Dodgers offering $6.5M.

Also, the Angels signed Erick Aybar for $5.075M, and the team will seek to long-term him.

OT: Stop PIPA/SOPA

2012-01-18T07:01:00.000-08:00

I have (too late!) made general policy around here that politics are offlimits (I talk about them enough on Facebook), but today I'm making an exception to stop PIPA/SOPA, a pair of horrible bills that would do untold damage to the Internet. Please visit the EFF for more information. Also, Gizmodo has a nice gallery of sites going dark in protest.

Bill James Predicts The Lansford/Burleson/Hobson Trade Outcome

2012-01-13T16:27:00.000-08:00

Back when I was doing the daily series about player birthdays in team history, I ran this for Rick Burleson which detailed the catastrophic trade by the Angels of Carney Lansford, Mark Clear, and Rick Miller to Boston for Rick Burleson and Butch Hobson. That deal turned out to be a catastrophe for the Angels — it was the second such horror in as many years, given the team let Nolan Ryan walk in free agency just the year prior.

But what brought this to mind was a Sports Illustrated article by Daniel Okrent (h/t Jay Jaffe on Twitter) introducing the then-unknown Bill James to a wider audience. In particular, check out this passage about that deal, freshly struck, and the far more even-handed deal that sent Fred Lynn to the Angels:

This season James relishes the textbook cases he expects will develop from the big Boston-California switches of the past winter, when players shuttled between the best hitters' park in the league (Fenway) and the third-worst (Anaheim). "One is tempted to say," he writes, "that when you put Carney Lansford in Fenway he will inherit Fred Lynn's statistics, and when you put Lynn in the Big A, he will pick up those left behind. That could very possibly happen, and I've hung myself on cruder scaffolds."
James then made the following bold declarations:

Lynn, over a period of years, will not even approach in California the offensive production he had in Fenway. If he hit .300 two-thirds of the time in Fenway, it might be one-third of the time in California. James admits that Lynn is unpredictable, but he estimates that in the long run he will be a .285 hitter in Anaheim, with 18 to 24 home runs a year. [In fact, he only once in four years with the Angels posted near a .300 average, in 1982 when he hit .299. — RLM]
Third Baseman Lansford, a .261 hitter in Anaheim with 15 homers last year, is pegged for a .310 season in Boston with 25 home runs, but, says James, "that doesn't represent the upper boundary of his ability." [Lansford went on to post two very good seasons with Boston, and then found himself traded to Angels' AL West division rival Oakland, where he finished his career.]
Rick Burleson, the ex-Boston short-Stop, never used Fenway to his particular advantage and should hit just as well in California. [He did — for one year — separated his shoulder in a spring training game in 1982, missed most of that year, posted solid numbers in 1983, but missed most of 1984 when he re-tore his rotator cuff lifting weights before the season.]
But Butch Hobson, the third baseman sent from Boston to California, is in for trouble. His home-run frequency will hold up, but his average will plummet so much that, in combination with his poor defensive play, it will make him a bad risk. The Angels will eventually bench him, since they already have an abundance of designated hitters and first basemen, and there's no other place to play Hobson. So he'll wind up hitting .230, with 15 to 22 home runs, in no more than 350 to 450 at bats. [Just so. He hit .235/.321/.336.]
Joe Rudi will drive in 100 runs in Boston if he's healthy and playing. "But," adds James, "if he'd been healthy, he would have done it in California." [I can't tell if Rudi was healthy, but judging from the 49 games he appeared in in 1982 for Boston, I take that as a "no".]

Pretty impressive, really.

The Birth Of SaberBoy

2012-01-12T10:08:00.000-08:00

The USA Today launchpad, and a nice followup post at The Platoon Advantage. An inspired act of genius; "the hero the BBWAA needs, not the one it particularly wants right now."

Angels Sign Kendrys Morales To One-Year, $3M Deal

2012-01-11T13:03:00.001-08:00

Per MLB.com, though I haven't been able to find dollars, the Times and Register both agree the amount is likely to be in the $3M range.

Dodgers, Fox Cease Hostilities

2012-01-10T20:42:00.001-08:00

Very interesting consequences from today's agreement, with both sides agreeing to cease legal actions against each other. The Dodgers will no longer pursue a TV rights sale, while leaving Frank on the hook to pay back a $30M loan Fox gave him personally to make payroll in April, 2011.

That loan is secured by McCourt's malpractice claim against Bingham McCutchen, the Boston-based law firm responsible for the faulty marital property agreement upon which McCourt relied to establish his sole ownership of the Dodgers. The agreement was invalidated, and ultimately McCourt agreed to settle his divorce by paying his ex-wife $131 million by April 30.
Fox retained the right to challenge any sale of the team, in part or in whole, to Time Warner Cable. The settlement also clarified that Time Warner Cable is bound by a provision of the TV contract that hampers the ability of ESPN, Comcast or Time Warner to hold a share of a Dodgers' cable channel.

Barry Larkin Ascends To Cooperstown

2012-01-10T20:35:00.000-08:00

... and none others (BBWAA). Congrats, Barry; one of these days, another Barry (coffBondscoff) should join you, but I won't be too surprised to find him excluded for strictly spurious reasons.

Belated: Angels Extend Howie Kendrick Through 2015

2012-01-09T13:12:00.000-08:00

The Angels signed second baseman Howie Kendrick for four years, buying out his last year of arbitration eligibility and the first three years of his free agency, and is said to be worth $33.5 million.

Mark Trumbo's Return Delayed Five Months

2012-01-04T17:51:00.001-08:00

The stress fracture in Trumbo's foot is healing slower than expected; he won't begin rehab until the beginning of spring training.

Time Warner "Interested" In Dodgers

2012-01-04T17:08:00.000-08:00

Time Warner is "interested" in buying the Dodgers; it makes sense from a fiscal standpoint (spend $4 billion for TV rights over 20 years, or own the team outright for less than half that?), but from a fan perspective, it looks for the world like a replay of the Fox years. DO. NOT. WANT.

Joe Torre To Resign Post At MLB Operations To Join A Group Pursuing The Dodgers

2012-01-04T07:11:00.001-08:00

Per tweets by Eric Fisher and Jon Heyman. Supposedly the group is headed by real estate baron Rick Caruso.

Post Boxing Day Bullety Stuff

2011-12-27T12:38:00.000-08:00

We know more about the district court's stay of the Dodgers TV rights auction:
Stark said lawyers for Fox have demonstrated a substantial likelihood they will succeed in January's hearing. That's because the bankruptcy judge who freed the Dodgers from the current contract arrangement with Fox improperly relied on a single case in making his decision, Stark said. In addition, Stark wrote that U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross likely made two factual mistakes: finding that the sale of the broadcasting rights was necessary to ensure creditors were paid and finding that the broadcasting rights needed to be sold to maximize the team's value.
Here's a fascinating New York Times article on the post-Moneyball A's, and how the period documented in that book actually represented a high-water mark for the franchise. Beane, apparently, has started to look beyond baseball for his intellectual and career challenges; it seems that with the team stalled in Oakland, he's not especially interested in it. After his deal ends in 2014, I expect he will resign.
The Angels signed Ryan Langerhans to a one-year minor league contract. Of course, the real reason to read this is that the Register's Sam Miller wrote it.

District Court Stays Dodgers TV Rights Sale

2011-12-23T10:32:00.000-08:00

A district court judge has ruled he is likely to find Fox's TV contract rights are enforceable even in bankruptcy, according to a tweet from Bill Shaikin. More details as they come in, but this is potentially huge for Fox, and devastating to McCourt's chances of escaping a forced sale of the team with any assets whatsoever. Yay.

Update: The LAT story.

Judge Gross Calls Fox Early TV Rights Sale Objections "Disingenuous"

2011-12-15T13:23:00.001-08:00

A scathing rebuttal:

Gross called Fox's damage claims "highly speculative and therefore unsubstantiated." Gross also cited as "never supported by evidence" the claim of former Fox Sports Networks President Robert Thompson that Fox would have discounted the Dodgers' contract by 25% without the negotiating rights now in dispute.

Fox has an exclusive negotiating window that lasts through January 19; thereafter, the rights can be auctioned.

More Changes From The New CBA

2011-12-14T13:02:00.000-08:00

An interesting long-form article at ESPN about the many changes coming due to the new CBA. Among them:

Allowing teams from the same division to meet in the playoffs before the league championship series.
A ban on all visible tattoos, and any tattoos of commercial logos.
Pace-of-game violations of up to $10,000 after the sixth violation. This means things like stepping out of the batter's box or taking too long to deliver a pitch.
Plays subject to instant replay will expand to include fair/foul calls, fan interference calls, and caught/trapped calls. These are still subject to approval from the umpire's union. (Why they haven't added another umpire to the crews yet I have no idea, but it seems to me to make sense.)
Bans team officials and players from contesting official scoring decisions, instead making it mandatory that this go through the league offices.

Much more at the link.

Angels Sign Kendrys Morales, $3M/1 Year, Other Transactions

2011-12-12T19:36:00.000-08:00

Per the Times, the Angels signed Kendrys Morales to a $3M/1 year deal.
The Brewers have signed former Cub Aramis Ramirez worth $36M over three years with a fourth year mutual option.
The Cards re-signed Rafael Furcal to a one year deal worth $14M.
The Dodgers non-tendered Hong-Chih Kuo, though the team is interested in re-signing him. The Dodgers did tender contracts to Andre Ethier, James Loney, and Clayton Kershaw.

Dodgers Sign Tony Gwynn, Jr. To 2-Year Deal

2011-12-12T16:35:00.000-08:00

Per a tweet from the Dodgers official Twitter account. Dylan Hernandez says the deal is worth $850,000 in 2012 and $1.15M in 2013. Fangraphs seems to think this isn't such a horrible idea, valuing his 2011 contributions at $7.1M.

Update: Earlier versions of this story said Jerry Hairston, Jr. Corrected.

Angels Sign Jerome Williams To One Year Deal

2011-12-12T13:28:00.000-08:00

Bill Plunkett tweets that the Angels have signed arbitration-eligible (!!) 30-year-old Jerome Williams to a one-year deal, dollars unknown.

Update: Mike DiGiovanna has the skinny: $820,000 for one year.

Deirdre Pujols: “The City Of St. Louis Has Absolutely Been Deceived”

2011-12-12T13:14:00.000-08:00

Several versions of this interview with Deidre Pujols, wife of slugger Albert, have appeared on the Interwebz, but I'm linking to the NBC Sports version because it contains all the key pieces you need to know. In particular:

“I understand you’re talking to us, then one TV station, and that’s about it,” is how Sandi Brown, morning show host at 99.1 Joy FM in St. Louis, opened her conversation Monday with Deidre Pujols, the wife of new Angels first baseman Albert Pujols.
“This is the moment of truth for us,” Deidre replied. “Four days have passed and most people are probably sick of hearing our name by now, but I’m ready to let people have our side of what has happened and be able to make better judgements.”
...
“When you have somebody say, ‘we want you to be a Cardinal for life,’ and then only offer you a five-year deal, it kind of confused us,” said Deidre, calling the offer an “insult.”

So, tainted by that "insult" offer, and a subsequent arrangement that would have deferred $30M of his salary (the Angels' deal is 100% current with no deferments), Pujols eventually decided to become an Angel. This annoys me to some degree, because Pujols' decline is already to some degree evident. I am not convinced the back half of his deal will be of any value to the team that likely just signed the final contract of his career. However you may feel about that, it's a business decision, and we'll see whether Pujols becomes synonymous with Mo Vaughn or some of the other expensive free agent disasters in Angels history.

Related: Scott Miller of CBS Sports tweets that Pujols is contracted to the Angels for the first decade past his presumptive retirement when this contract ends. Yow.

Angels Sign Albert Pujols To 10-Year Deal Worth At Least $250M; UPDATE: Wilson Signing Official

2011-12-08T07:54:00.000-08:00

Worth at least $250M; mind, blown. Albert Pujols hardly needs introduction, though I might add that his recent decline may make Angels fans recall the days when Mike Port was the team's GM. As my friend Philip Michaels quipped on Twitter,

I'm very excited for Angels fans who will have the chance to watch Albert Pujols, Vernon Wells, and Torii Hunter age rapidly together.

On the other hand: it's interesting to note that Kendrys Morales has never even been a 5 WAR player (his breakout year, 2009, was 3.8) and Mark Trumbo last year had a 2.1 WAR. Meantime, Pujols has never been less than a 5, though looking at his recent dropoff I do wonder just how steep that curve has been. Was Jerry Dipoto given marching orders to get Pujols at all costs? We'll probably find out in the coming hours and days. As with all such big signings, the front end isn't so bad; it's the back end that starts to smell, and it bears repeating that Pujols will be 42 by the time this deal is over.

Also, a little bit of snark from Molly Knight:

On a scale of 1 to Eeyore: how sad are Dodger fans going to be if the Angels sign Albert Pujols?

I honestly don't know the answer to that question. For me, I don't much care, because I know that this is Ned Colletti's last offseason as GM, which makes me happy, almost regardless of the players he signs. Because I view the Pujols signing as such a mixed bag, I can't get too excited for the Dodgers to miss out on him.

Update: The C.J. Wilson signing is official per New York Post writer Joel Sherman, via Craig Calcaterra at NBC Sports. I sure hope they have the money to pay for draft bonuses next year.

Update 2: Rev. Halofan reminds me that the Angels signed LaTroy Hawkins, Pujols, and Wilson in a span of 24 hours and didn't need to move anyone from the 40-man roster to do it. Nice.

Update 3: The thing fueling all this madness may well be the finishing touches being put on a new TV deal with Fox, to be announced later. The offer to the Dodgers for an extension last spring was $3 billion.

Update 4: Wilson signed for 5 years/$75M. Nice price.

Update 5: Bill Plunkett:

#Angels Moreno just committed $325m to 2 players today. Roughly twice what he paid for team in 2003. #Pujols.

Angels Sign LaTroy Hawkins

2011-12-07T19:10:00.000-08:00

For one year, dollars currently unknown, but I would expect it to be in the $3-4M range. Last year represented the final year of a two-year deal with the Brewers that was worth $4.25M, but free agent pitching has been bid up considerably with the deals the Dodgers did for Aaron Harang and Chris Capuano. Hawkins had a pretty good season last year, a 3-1 record with a 2.42 ERA, and a 1.9 BB/9 and 5.2 K/BB. He's not striking guys out much, but he also isn't giving up a lot of home runs, either (only one in 48.1 IP). It's hard to get excited about a guy who'll be playing out his age 39 season with the Angels, especially given his 2010 with Milwaukee (8.44 ERA, 0-3) that was shortened by early season shoulder trouble which sapped his normally mid-90's velocity.

Update: The Register's Sam Miller on the deal.

C.J. Wilson Is — Or Isn't — An Angel

2011-12-07T13:52:00.000-08:00

A stray tweet by the SB Nation blog Lone Star Ball claimed that C.J. Wilson had been converted to Angeldom, but multiple tweets from other pro bloggers and sportswriters (Mike DiGiovanna of the Times, Yahoo's Tim Brown, Sports Illustrated's Jon Heyman) indicate that bidding remains active, and that the Marlins have offered a sixth year. Jon Morosi claims Wilson has met with Nolan Ryan and Ryan does not think Wilson will return. Best tweet so far, from Jeff Passan:

Six years on C.J. Wilson, huh? The Marlins really are like the lottery winners who spend themselves back into poverty within a couple years.

Updates as they happen.

Update: Mark Buehrle to the Marlins, $58M/4 years. That sets a definite floor on Wilson's price. It also likely leaves the Marlins out of the Wilson bidding per Mike DiGiovanna.

Frank Must Sell Dodgers By April

2011-12-07T07:37:00.000-08:00

Expanding on the blog posts from yesterday is this late night Times story that explains that while Frank must sell the team by April, the parking lots are a different matter, and he has "sole authority" to decide whether to do that. I hope the new ownership group crushes him like a bug.

Dodgers Add Hairston, Jr., Frank Has "Absolute" Control Over Parking Lots, Josh Bard A New Dodger

2011-12-06T23:09:00.000-08:00

Belated: The Dodgers signed Jerry Hairston, Jr. to a 2-year/$6M deal. It's terrible. That is all.
The Dodgers have subpoenaed Chase Carey, the same Fox exec who once traded Mike Piazza to Florida, earning the eternal wrath of Dodger fans everywhere.
On Dec. 27, Fox will ask Gross to dismiss the Dodgers from bankruptcy, arguing that owner Frank McCourt can repay the Dodgers' creditors by selling the team and that further legal intervention constitutes an abuse of bankruptcy protection.
Die in a fire, Frank. Oh, but it gets better: Frank has "sole and absolute discretion" as to whether the parking lots should be sold with the rest of the team's assets.
Howard Cole of the Register reports that the Dodgers are about to sign Josh Bard as a reserve catcher. Bard hit .210/.256/.333 with Seattle last year as a 33-year-old while playing in 26 games.

Dodgers Sign Aaron Harang To 2-Year Deal

2011-12-05T15:28:00.000-08:00

Per Howard Cole of the Register, the Dodgers have signed Aaron Harang to a 2-year deal, dollars currently unknown. I remember Harang mainly from his start with the A's, but he spent most of the last decade in Cincinnati following a trade for Jose Guillen, of all players. Last year, he was with the Padres, where he earned a 3.64 ERA and a 14-7 record in Petco's cavernous confines. His 6.5 K/9 and 2.14 K/BB rates are acceptable-good, not great. He gave up 13 of his 20 home runs at home, which is really saying something, although that total represents his lowest since 2004. His 1.365 WHIP is likewise reasonable, and I expect Harang to act as a 3-4 rotation slot pitcher. As Cole put it,

... [I]t’s the deal Los Angeles should have made instead of signing Chris Capuano, not in addition to. But what’s done is done.

Ron Santo Elected To Baseball Hall Of Fame By Golden Era Committee

2011-12-05T12:49:00.000-08:00

Thus rectifying an appalling oversight by the BBWAA.

Santo becomes the 12th major league third baseman to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, the first elected at the position since Wade Boggs in 2005. Including three selections from the Negro leagues, there are now 15 third basemen in the Hall of Fame. In 15 major league seasons, Santo compiled a .277 lifetime batting average, with 2,254 hits in 2,243 games, while totaling 1,331 runs batted in and 365 doubles.

Santo died a December 3, 2010. This goes a long way toward rectifying the reputation of the Hall, which notoriously underrepresents third basemen.

SEC To Pursue Marlins Over Stadium

2011-12-03T12:45:00.000-08:00

Jeff Loria is a weasel:

The financing agreement to build the controversial new stadium in Little Havana left the county and city on the hook for almost 80 percent of the overall $634 million tab, which critics considered a giveaway to the Marlins. The deal was a contributing factor in the recall of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez, who championed it.
...
Due diligence by the county and city into the Marlins’ finances was a key component of auto magnate Norman Braman’s failed court fight two years ago to stop stadium construction. City and county leaders said they never required the Marlins to open their books, though the team often cried poor and argued it needed public funding to stay in South Florida.
But the team’s claim was rebuked in August 2010, when the sports website Deadspin.com revealed that the Marlins were in fact financially healthy, having received more money from baseball’s revenue-sharing system over 2008 and 2009 than anyone in baseball — and pocketing $92 million in revenue-sharing those two years, making a $33 million profit.

Here's Deadspin on the Marlins.

What If Frank Isn't Serious About Selling?

2011-12-03T12:01:00.000-08:00

Ross Newhan tries to answer that nightmare scenario:

--Although McCourt has a year to go under his current television contract with Fox, he has been seeking permission to negotiate with other media outlets. Fox has opposed that procedure, figuring it would ultimately negotiate a new contract wiith a new owner. The dispute has gone to mediation, a process that was supposed to end last week but was extended through the current week, suggesting that some form of progress is being made. Suppose McCourt emerges with an extension with Fox or the right to pursue a multi year, multi million dollar deal with another media outlet.
--Suppose, at that point, McCourt figures he has or will have enough to pay creditors, his $130 million divorce from Jamie and retain operation of the Dodgers. All of these suppositions fall under the authority of the bankruptcy court, and the biggest challenge then for McCourt would have to be suing Selig for coercion in forcing him to sign his sale agreement with MLB.

Much more there, but I won't believe it until the weasel is gone from our shores.

Mike Scioscia Weeps As Angels Jettison Jeff Mathis

2011-12-03T11:42:00.000-08:00

Things are moving along quite smartly this offseason, as the Angels unloaded Jeff Mathis for LHP Brad Mills to Toronto, which means the Halos have managed to trade both their 2010 receivers to the same team. Mills was actually fairly interesting in the lower minors, but he spent three years at AAA posting uninspiring numbers (4.32 ERA with a 21-23 record, 7.8 K/9, 2.63 K/BB). If he sticks with the Angels — and apparently, he has an option left — he'll be fighting for a role in the rotation, though Rotoworld seems to think he's better suited to relief.

Obviously, the upside of this deal is getting rid of Jeff Mathis, whose Angels career has been mainly a case of mistaken identity, i.e. Mike Scioscia took him for a starting catcher. The Napoli schism has tended to be overdone (even by me):

Angels Catchers Games Started At Catcher

Year	Jeff Mathis	Mike Napoli
2006	14	77
2007	52	68
2008	90	71
2009	78	84
2010	62	59

Only two of those years — 2008 and 2010 — did Scioscia start Mathis in more games than Napoli. Yet, as Bill Plaschke pointed out earlier, Napoli only got 57 starts at catcher for the Rangers this year, a surprise for people who defend him as a good defensive receiver. (For the record, my position isn't that he is or is not good, just that Mathis can't be shown to be superior by any metric I am aware of.)

Mathis' major league career may already be over; his days as a starting catcher are probably over, anyway, and if it turns out that the Jays jettison him, too, I won't be terribly surprised. All in all, a necessary trade to keep Scioscia from playing Mathis.

Update: Any time you can link to a Grant Brisbee piece about a trade involving a team you follow, you totally should, because he is teh awesome.

Update 2: Sam Miller is predictably great:

Brad Mills has an 8.57 ERA in 48 career Major League innings. That’s actually only the 29th worst ERA in history, minimum 25 innings. Stu Flythe had a 13.04 ERA in 1936. “Hey, Alex, what’ll you give me for Jeff Mathis,” Jerry Dipoto asked. “Hmmm,” Alex Anthopoulos said. “I’ll give you Stu Flythe.” “But he’s dead. He’s been dead for, like, forever. He’s not on your team. Your team didn’t even exist when Stu Flythe died.” “Sorry, Jerry. That’s the best I can do.”

Report: Dodgers Sign Chris Capuano

2011-12-02T10:07:00.000-08:00

So far, the only mention of this has been a Jayson Stark tweet claiming the deal is for 2 years/$10M. Capuano was most recently with the Mets, where he posted an 11-12 record with a 4.55 ERA in 31 games started and 186 innings pitched, with a 7.9 K/9 rate and a 2.44 K/BB rate. I actually don't hate this deal, considering, though I add he will be playing out his age 33 and 34 seasons with the Dodgers. I would call it Hiroki Kuroda insurance, mainly.

Update: Christina Kahrl despises the deal:

...Capuano has one thing going for him: He racked up strikeouts, racking batters up 21 percent of the time with a crafty lefty’s assortment, changing speeds and trying to pound the bottom of the strike zone to avoid cookies. The strikeouts help conjure up all sorts of statistical joy: A 4.04 FIP, 3.67 xFIP, and 3.60 SIERA.
Which is neat, and liable to encourage people to think that Capuano was just betrayed by ill fortune, and slow fielders, and maybe his ballparks and maybe a few black helicopters while we’re at it. You can see where this comes from, because rate metrics like xFIP run off aggregate numbers. Unfortunately, they’re blind to the fact of life that while Capuano’s effectiveness only goes so far into a ballgame. He might be effective once through the order, and more than a bit less so twice through the order. But a starting pitcher doesn’t give you six innings just going through the order twice in a game; he doesn’t even give you five innings all that often.

Honestly, at this point I'm more concerned that the Dodgers won't be able to field a 25-man team next year. If ownership weren't so screwed up, I'd be madder about this deal; but as it is, I really couldn't care less, because the men occupying the Dodger uniforms in 2012 will be mannequins to me, placeholders until the real work of rebuilding can start.

Kennedy Deal Worth 1 Year/$800k

2011-11-30T18:53:00.000-08:00

Per Dylan Hernandez. Pretty reasonable for a bench guy.

Angels To Acquire Chris Ianetta For Tyler Chatwood

2011-11-30T16:05:00.000-08:00

Per Sam Miller of the Register, who gets it from MLB Trade Rumors. Chatwood made his major league debut as a 21-year-old, and it's hard for me to conceive of how you unload a guy like that as a youngster. For the Rockies, Ianetta has been their starting catcher since 2008; his 2013 option is now voided thanks to the trade. In a sense, it looks like Tony Reagins continues to curse the team by making this deal (or one like it) necessary. Couldn't the Angels have signed the similarly meh Ramon Hernandez — as the Rockies are said to be doing — without taking the hit to their starting rotation? Why does Jerry Dipoto suddenly start to look a lot like Tony Reagins?

Update: A tweet from the Angels confirms the deal. Mark Saxon sounds an optimistic note by observing Ianetta's OBP is no less than .370 in each of the last three seasons. I can live with that.

Mike DiGiovanna of the Times also reminds us this makes it a certainty that Jeff Mathis won't be tendered a contract — another reason to be optimistic.

Update 2, Reasons To Be Pessimistic: Ianetta's career road splits sux0rz, ~~.172/.321/.266~~ .208/.338/.369. (Update 12/2/11: Corrected, per jjackflash in the comments below.) Contrast that with Jeff Mathis' career line of .194/.257/.301. Let's hope Ianetta doesn't suck as much as all that. At least his .321 OBP provides grounds for hope. Hat tip to Tim Brown on teh Twitter.

Update 3: Bill Plunkett's full report in the Register.

Dodgers Near Deal For Adam Kennedy

2011-11-29T14:15:00.001-08:00

Per Tony Jackson, the Dodgers are near to a deal for former Angel Adam Kennedy. It's only surprising because he's not a former Giant.

Kennedy hit .234/.277/.355 last season as a mostly-starting infielder at all four positions for Seattle. He's likely to be a bat off the bench for the 2012 Dodgers. An interesting sidebar is that Jackson thinks James Loney will be back, eliminating Kennedy from that position.

Belated: How McCourt Made A Hero Of Fox

2011-11-29T07:53:00.001-08:00

In case you missed it. I hope Frank loses.

Broxton Signs With The Royals

2011-11-29T07:25:00.000-08:00

The surprise to me is how little and for how short a time this is, one year and $4M, making this minimal risk. It's altogether possible he's done given the terrible performances from his June 27, 2010 meltdown game against the Yankees and going forward; Jay Jaffe did the math and reckoned he had a 7.02 ERA with a 35/32 K/BB, which sounds like injury unrecovered.

Broxton Will Be Elsewheresville, Dodgers Fans Yawn

2011-11-29T00:11:00.000-08:00

Whatever. "But just as memorable were his postseason failures." Uh, huh?

New MLB CBA Summary Posted

2011-11-22T14:44:00.000-08:00

MLB has released a PDF summary of their new CBA. Many of the points have been discussed elsewhere, including especially the creation of a second Wild Card per league, and the eventual migration of the Astros into the AL West in 2013. One thing that I found of particular interest to Dodger fans is this graf on page 4 (page 6 as printed) in section VI(a):

The Debt Service Rule will be maintained, but the default EBITDA multiplier has been lowered from ten to eight, and from fifteen to twelve for Clubs incurring stadium-related debt in the first ten years of a new or renovated stadium.

If I read this correctly, this implies that Frank McCourt's tumultuous ownership has left a lasting impression on the other owners. While they aren't willing to go whole hog and totally end heavily leveraged ownership regimes (recall that Jim Crane and his bid for the Astros is supposed to be one such), they have gotten substantially more conservative in what they consider a good owner.

MSTI has a much longer review of most of the rest of the moving parts of the contract, while Al Yellon at sbnbaseball reviews the changes to video replay, which I see as not yet far enough but a good step in the right direction.

Update: Deadspin explains why the changes designed to increase competitive balance actually work to kill it instead.

At first, you see a firm slotting system in which a player's position in the draft order almost entirely dictates his signing bonus, and you think this is good news for small-market teams: money won't run the draft anymore. But small-market teams, like the Pirates, Rays, Royals, and Indians, were some of the ones exploiting the old loose slotting setup, while the Mets and other lumbering leviathans stuck to the unenforced rules.
...
So MLB offered a gesture out of pity to small-market teams. Per Jeff Passan: "There will be six draft picks immediately after the first round given out via lottery to teams with 10 lowest revenues, 10 smallest markets." But how much can one pick each year in between picks #31-#40 really do? Unlike other years, where teams might find top-ten talents passed over for cash reasons in that window, now they'll find only the 31st through 40th most talented players in the nation. That's not much guarantee of success.

Matthew Pouliot at NBC Sports observes that the CBA will result in more money for mediocrities and less for amateur talent, further straining the idea that this will help competitive balance. This is a deal that helps the union but not the game.

Update 2: Scott Boras has come out squarely against the draft rules changes.

"This will hurt all of baseball," Boras told USA TODAY in a telephone interview. "This was not good for the game at all. There have to be some amendments to it because this dramatically impacts the game. It goes against the revenue sharing concept. This dramatically affects parity. That concept is gone. A teams' chance to dramatically improve has been dramatically reduced.

Update 3: SB Nation's Wendy Thurm chimes in. Behind the pay wall at ESPN, Keith Law opines that this is a bad deal for baseball.

Update 4: Jim Callis of Baseball America forwards a scenario wherein a drafting team doesn't sign a first-rounder, spends the money on lower-level draftees, and then gets back the first round pick and additional bonus space in the next year's draft. Sorta sneaky, but it doesn't help that much because it's only good for first-rounders.

Catching Up: Bullet Points On My Way Out The Door

2011-11-16T12:02:00.000-08:00

On a day when the day promises to be long —

The Angels have released Anthony Ortega. I was wondering when that was going to happen; he ended the season with a craptastic 9.24 ERA, and his 1.17 K/BB rate didn't promise much in the way of improvement, ditto his 5.0 K/9. A spare part the Angels did not need, who will ply his trade in someone else's minor league system.
Mike Trout can't take home Rookie of the Year honors in 2012 thanks to a weird fluke of the rules:
When Trout was called up in July, he was added to the Angels’ 40-man roster for the first time. When he was sent down, then, he was what they call optioned. When you’re optioned, you aren’t on the active roster, and you don’t accumulate service time, EXCEPT you must be optioned for at least 20 days in the season for that option to count. (An option lasts all season, no matter how many times you are sent down.) Since Trout wasn’t on the 40-man roster before he was called up, he hadn’t previously been optioned, so his time in Double-A before that didn’t count. He was then called back up after only 17 days, and spent the rest of the year with the Angels, so his option didn’t technically happen. “The service time has to go somewhere,” says the Angels’ Tim Mead, which means it counts as major league service time.
Boo.
Kirk Gibson and Joe Maddon won Manager of the Year awards in the NL and AL respectively. Both were good choices, Gibson especially so. It was Gibson's first, and Maddon's second.
Justin Verlander unanimously won the AL Cy Young Award, with Jered Weaver taking second place. The NL award will be announced Thursday.
In an era where most regional papers are doing everything they can to cut back on expenses — including covering the local teams — it might come as a surprise to learn the Register still has its own Dodgers blog. Indeed, I wanted to use this fine post by Howard Cole on the Matt Treanor signing as a jumping off point to discuss that particular dumb deal. It's not a very good signing, but it's also typical for Colletti.
The Angels hired Hal Morris as their new scouting director.

Dodgers Long-Term Kemp, Sign Ellis

2011-11-14T12:49:00.001-08:00

Only one of these deals is a good one, unfortunately, as the Dodgers lock up Matt Kemp in an 8 year/$160M deal supposed to be announced at the dedication of a Dodger Dream Field in Compton.

The other deal, unfortunately, looks like a real dud, with Mark Ellis getting badly overpaid to the tune of 2 years/$8.75M. There's really no justification for this level of compensation, especially for an essentially just-over-replacement level player. On the other hand, Fangraphs says his value last year was $6M combined to the A's and Rockies, which says something about teams willing to pony up for mediocre bats up the middle.

Angels Announce New Scouting Chief Hal Morris

2011-11-14T12:44:00.000-08:00

Kevin Baxter — a byline I haven't previously seen in the Times alerts us to the Angels' hiring of new scouting director Hal Morris. Morris was the Reds' first baseman when they won the World Series in 1990, and has had front office positions previously with the Pirates and Red Sox.

“Hal brings a very special set of skills to our organization," General Manager Jerry Dipoto said in a statement. “His abilities in the areas of player evaluation and qualitative analysis will play a major role in the program we are building here.”

Angels Fire Baseball Operations Chief Tony Hernandez

2011-11-10T17:04:00.000-08:00

Jerry Dipoto told him he won't be back for 2012. Circle of life and all that.

Gammons: Reagins Knew Blue Jays Would Trade Napoli To Texas

2011-11-10T07:40:00.001-08:00

Can we fire Tony Reagins again? It would really feel good.

Dennis Gilbert Introduces Billionaires Bruce Karsh And Josh Friedman To The Dodgerstakes

2011-11-08T13:16:00.000-08:00

Never heard of Karsh or Friedman? Don't worry, I hadn't either until Steve Dilbeck made mention of them today. They're billionaire money managers at Oaktree Capital Management and Canyon Capital Partners, respectively. Gilbert is an executive with the Chisox and was previously a player agent. Gilbert also was involved in building a youth diamond at Southwest College, but unlike the McCourts, his face wasn't on TV at the time it happened.

McCourt Wants To Sell The Dodgers And Future TV Rights — And Retain Parking Lots

2011-11-07T19:13:00.000-08:00

The delusional Frank McCourt strikes again, but that's not the worst of the bad news to come from this Bill Shaikin story:

Blackstone, the investment bank in charge of the Dodgers' sale, already has started soliciting prospective bidders. The sale price is expected to hit $1 billion or more, with the Dodgers and their stadium included in the deal. Under the agreement, McCourt and the new owner would negotiate whether the parking lots should be leased from McCourt or purchased outright.

Go. Away. Now.

Silly Season Starts, Mets Alleged To Want Peter Bourjos For David Wright

2011-11-06T06:10:00.000-08:00

I'm not so convinced that this New York Post article has any meaning other than that silly season has started; the "young, defensive-oriented center fielder they crave" would surely be Peter Bourjos. Honestly, I don't see the value that David Wright brings to the table, as it looks like his .254/.345/.427 line in 2011 is an early career collapse. As BPro pointed out in the wake of Fred Wilpon's semi-tirade against his players, Wright, while a very impressive player in some ways, is no longer a superstar. To give up young talent on the off chance that Wright might recover sounds like trial balloon aimed at a tyro general manager — i.e., Jerry Dipoto. Just say no, Jerry.

Via Rotoworld on Twitter.

Angels Acquire Scott Servais From Rangers, To Become New Farm Director Assistant General Manager

2011-11-04T14:51:00.001-07:00

Continuing the general changing of the guard in Anaheim, Rangers farm director Scott Servais will take over ~~in that same role in Anaheim~~ as the team's assistant general manager. No comment yet from the Rangers.

Updated to fix his new title, which indeed represents a step up.

New Blog: True Blue Auction

2011-11-04T13:32:00.000-07:00

A new blog from former coworker Darren Davis, who tries to figure out who will win the team in the upcoming auction for the Dodgers, True Blue Auction. Sidebar link coming presently.

A Video From Taiwan, More McCourt Madness, And Thoughts On The O'Malley Bid

2011-11-04T07:28:00.000-07:00

Bud Selig, cutting Frank McCourt's hand off with a kitchen knife? Frank McCourt, getting Jamie to swing and miss at a fastball over the plate? Frank getting clocked by a nightstick? Just too awesome.

In other news, Jamie will get all the homes, and Frank will live ... somewhere. (I hope on the east coast.) Jamie said she will live here forever, but I expect that sentiment will last not very much longer, really.

I'm not sure, but this may be the third time this year T.J. Simers has written something I agree with when he says Peter O'Malley is not the right man to take over the Dodgers. As I mentioned in the comments following that piece, there are several issues with this:

He is 72 years old. It will take time and energy to rebuild the team, something it is not clear he has.
The end of his last stint as owner didn't go so well. One of the principle knocks against O'Malley ownership — both fils and père — is that they never entirely grokked this newfangled free agency concept. While I'm not sure that would be as much of an issue now as it was then, it seems emblematic of how they did not change with the times. Marvin Miller, the great MLBPA attorney who gave us the free agency that colors the current game, said of Peter, "His father was unusual. And he is not." Returning to "usual" ownership, even if that means a victory lap for a storied franchise's scion, is not what Dodger fans want or need.
The estimated sale price will almost certainly demand O'Malley bring in additional investors, or taking on more debt than is prudent. The former case amplifies unknowns, while the latter increases the likelihood of a replay with bankruptcy. This could turn into a good thing if O'Malley brings in a younger man as his money man; but the name most often floated, Eli Broad, is actually 78, six years older than O'Malley. That, I think, is a non-starter.

I don't know who the team will be sold to, and I don't outright oppose O'Malley (re-)ownership, but I do believe it's more a sentimental choice than a sound one.

Bill Dwyre Reminds Us Again Why We Still Hold The LAT's Sports Section In Contempt

2011-11-03T12:58:00.001-07:00

I confess, the giddiness of the last few days still hasn't entirely worn off. It being this blog's raison d'être was originally to see the McCourts chased to the curb, and here we are now, at a sort of Mardi Gras for Dodgers fans, the noisome pest formerly vexing us agreeing to exit the city and the stage. Perhaps we are not entirely done with him; one could imagine him and Jamie retaining one each of their fabulous mansions in Malibu or Holmby Hills and still having cash left over if the billion-dollar-plus sale price fantasies do indeed bail out the pair of moneygrubbing carpetbaggers.

But what we are not done with, and probably won't be until the smoking hulk of the Times finally sinks into the Pacific, is that paper's absurdly bad sportswriting. When the guy who is was* running the section pens a thumbsucker that manages to get all the bits wrong about blogging ("this generation of sports critics who have a pair of pajamas, a laptop and a basement to type from"), as though the Times weren't repurposing paid columnists for that very same shopworn locution. Ditto his whitewashing years of Bill Plaschke columns that bag on the commish for exactly the same thing he complains about bloggers complaining about. I suppose this counts as a sort of signal flare to see if anyone is still reading the damned things, and if so, he made his mark; but you can equally see how Dwyre thought TJ Simers, and especially, Plaschke were worth bringing in.

Update: I should add that Mike Petriello of MSTI tweeted me that the LAT has no room to complain about filthy dirty ~~hippies~~ bloggers, as they share space with some of the least credible — okay, I'll say it — worst — in the business, Bleacher Report.

Strange, but on the same day, Times emeritus writer Ross Newhan stumped for a Pulitzer nomination for Bill Shaikin, who truly deserves it. At this point, it is vital to take a light saber and cut the Times' reporting — which is good and, in their coverage of the McCourt case, excellent — and slice it away from the offal that is their sports columnists.

*Apparently, no longer in charge there, per Jon.

High Comedy For A Wednesday Night

2011-11-02T21:12:00.001-07:00

The Orioles want to speak to Ned Colletti if he becomes available. It makes sense, after a fashion; the Dodgers have been to three more postseasons under Ned than the O's have in the last decade.

Hat tip to the ever-valuable Jay Jaffe on teh Twitter.

Mike Antonovich: "Frank's ... Pathetic Legacy"

2011-11-02T18:30:00.000-07:00

It's a rare day you'll hear me agree with almost any elected official, but it's hard to dispute LA County Supervisor Mike Antonovich:

"Frank McCourt's pathetic legacy from shirking responsibility in the Bryan Stow beating case was further soiled by the inference that Bryan had culpability in his own severe beating," he said.
"As a Dodger fan and an Angeleno, it has been a very, very tough season," said Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. "I can't describe the anguish we felt with the beating of Bryan Stow."
He called current owner Frank McCourt's decision to sell a "new chapter."
"I'm looking forward to local ownership," Villaraigosa said. "I want the owner to be from Los Angeles. I want someone who loves this town and believes in this city."

Peter O'Malley To Pursue Dodgers

2011-11-02T17:28:00.000-07:00

Hope you invested well, my friend.

"The health of the organization has deteriorated in the last 12 months," O'Malley said. "The standing of the organization in the community has deteriorated.
"I am confident I can restore it to respectability quicker, sooner and probably better than — or at least as well as — anyone else."

O'Malley is 73.

Dodgers Suitors, The Price, And Other Miscellany

2011-11-02T13:36:00.000-07:00

Steve Dilbeck takes a look at the potential list of suitors for the Dodgers. Just say no to Chinese tongs.
Maury Brown reckons the Dodgers could fetch up to $1.5 billion. Unfortunately, he doesn't explain how that happens, but argues that the minimum bid for the Dodgers would be at the Forbes valuation of $800M. Of course, that opens a significant question: why is it that the creditors have to be made whole? Presumably, that gets into how trustworthy MLB as an entity is, and they're not going to ever let that happen (especially with the hired help, doubly so with labor negotiations ongoing). Unfortunately, that sets a floor of about a billion dollars on the sale price, making me wonder what kind of ultra-rich guy (or guys) would have the scratch to buy, and what would the add-on effects be of spending so much money up front.
You may have heard that Tony LaRussa announced his retirement on the day after his Cardinals won the World Series. The hole in St. Louis' coaching situation may well be filled by an ex-Cub, Ryne Sandberg, who was the Phillies' AAA manager this last season. Sandberg was passed over for Quade two years ago.
the Cubs announced Theo Epstein, Jed Hoyer, and Jason McLeod are all coming to the Cubs, in the roles, respectively, of team President, general manager, and scouting director. Compensation to the Red Sox and Padres has yet to be established ...
The Dodgers named Sue Falsone head athletic trainer, the first woman so named in any major sport.
Three Dodgers and three Red Sox (and one Angel!) won Gold Gloves; the Dodgers were Clayton Kershaw, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier, and the Angel was Erick Aybar.
The Dodgers made their first signing of the offseason by giving Juan Rivera the starting left field job on a one-year deal with a team option for 2013, dollars unknown.
Bill Shaikin just tweeted that there will be no minimum price for the Dodgers, but potential buyers will be approved by MLB before bidding starts.
Update: Peter O'Malley-era GM Fred Claire is active in a group seeking to buy the team.

Probably to be updated as the day wears on ...

Frank McCourt Agrees To Sell The Dodgers At Auction

2011-11-01T22:01:00.001-07:00

Per Bill Shaikin on Twitter. It's hard, now, to come up with the right words to express what this means to me, but it's a happy day, tempered with the knowledge that once I was pleased to see Fox sell, too. It's every bit as important that the next owner of the Dodgers be fiscally sound and competitively minded.

Hallelujah and amen.

Update: Here's the longer-form story in the Times.

Update 2: Not exactly an update, really, but more like a coda: earlier, the Times reported that Mark Cuban wanted to buy the team but was dissuaded when Frank wanted one billion dollars for it.

Frank, MLB Near Accord To Sell The Team

2011-10-31T20:42:00.000-07:00

Bill Shaikin in the LAT:

After a two-year battle to keep the Dodgers through a bruising divorce and a bankruptcy filing, owner Frank McCourt appears close to agreement with Major League Baseball on a bankruptcy settlement in which he would agree to sell the team.
McCourt would get some control over the sale, people familiar with the negotiations said Monday. The purchase probably would include Dodger Stadium and the surrounding parking lots in a package that could command a record price of $1 billion or more.
The negotiations are fluid, and settlement talks could fall apart at any time, said the people, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the confidential discussions. McCourt has not reached any final decision to sell, another person cautioned.

Frank won't sell? Or what?

Words That Might Make Angels Fans Weep Tears Of Joy

2011-10-30T23:16:00.001-07:00

... or, they might make you shake your head with knowing scorn having heard contrary nonsense for much of the last decade. Mike DiGiovanna in the Times covered yesterday's press conference introducing Jerry Dipoto as the Angels' new GM. The most important paragraph out of all of it:

He's a firm believer in on-base percentage (OBP) and plate discipline. "If you're not OB, you're not going to win many games," he said. He thinks "count control," from the pitching and hitting sides, is important. He loves aggressive baserunning.

I cannot stress enough how vital it is to hear this after years of attachment to a statistic that does not correlate well with offenses that actually score runs. It may yet prove ephemeral or a case of glib public relations, but at this exact moment it represents a much needed return to sanity in an organization that has lacked that on offense for a very long time.

Jerry Dipoto Named Angels GM

2011-10-29T12:02:00.000-07:00

Announced yesterday in a story originally broken by Ken Rosenthal, the Angels have picked Diamondbacks Assistant General Manager Jerry Dipoto to be their new GM. From the official press release, we learn his bona fides:

Upon his selection in the leadership role, Dipoto was active prior to the trading deadline, making four trades for Arizona that would eventually play a key role in the success of the 2011 Western Division Champion Diamondbacks. He acquired All-Star left-hander Joe Saunders and three other pitchers from the Angels in exchange for right-hander Dan Haren on July 25th, then later exchanged right-hander Edwin Jackson to the Chicago White Sox for rookie pitcher Daniel Hudson along with another pitcher on July 30th. Hudson would go on to secure a spot in Arizona's rotation, posting a 7-1 record with a 1.69 ERA, while recording 70 strikeouts in 79.2 innings during his final 11 starts. He returned this season registering a 16-12 mark and a 3.49 ERA with a 169 strikeouts.
Also included in the transactions were left-handed pitching prospects Tyler Skaggs and Patrick Corbin, both top draft selections by the Angels in 2009, and left-hander David Holmberg, ranked by Baseball Americas as the eighth-best prospect in the White Sox organization. He also moved Chris Snyder to Pittsburgh in a five-player trade and Chad Qualls to Tampa Bay for minor-league pitcher Matt Gorgen on July 31.

The Haren trade, widely ridiculed for the Diamondbacks at the time, has turned out far more even. I'm cautiously optimistic, with the hope that Dipoto has the independence of mind needed to do his job.

Craptacular: Cardinals 10, Rangers 9

2011-10-27T23:43:00.000-07:00

A lot of other people are going to write about this game, and everything that was wrong with it; for starters, the five errors (three by the Cards, two by the Rangers) that, to my mind, set some kind of recent record for single game screwups. Then, Tony LaRussa's mangling of pinch hitters: getting Edwin Jackson announced but not used in the 10th was about as egregious a misuse of players as I have ever seen, save for the now-infamous screwup in Game 5 in which he used Lance Lynn to intentionally walk Ian Kinsler.

Forget all that.

Tonight might have been Texas' best shot at a title. The last team to win a World Series as an away team in Game 7 was the 1979 Pirates. And it slipped away from them, multiple times, with the Cards twice tying two-run deficits to force bonus baseball.

Damn, it's moments like this that I just love this game.

Update: Nice article at Yahoo's Big League Stew about the fan who grabbed Freese's walkoff homer.

ESPN Box

Frank's Attorneys Somehow Manage To Make Him Even Viler

2011-10-27T16:55:00.001-07:00

During civil proceedings against the two men who beat Bryan Stow (all emboldening mine):

"You're saying to the jury, 'They (the Stow family) are saying we're 100 percent liable. But does that mean (Marvin) Norwood and (Louis) Sanchez, who beat this guy up, have no liability? And, does it mean Mr. Stow himself has no liability?'"
...
"I've been doing these cases for 23 years and I have never seen one yet in which it didn't take at least two people to tango," he said, referring to the notion that jurors could decide Stow bears some liability in the attack. "So stay tuned and stand by."

And, Oh Yeah, Tonight's World Series Game Is Off

2011-10-26T13:16:00.000-07:00

Per multiple tweets some time ago (this LAT story will suffice), Game 6 of the World Series has been postponed until tomorrow, with Game 7 played Friday if necessary.

Angels Narrow GM Field, To Speak With Rangers AGM Thad Levine

2011-10-26T13:14:00.000-07:00

Per Mike DiGiovanna; Kim Ng is supposedly on the short list, as is Rays GM Andrew Friedman, who is expected to be a long shot. Billy Eppler, the Yankees' vice president of amateur scouting, has been called back for a second interview.

Mark Trumbo Named Sporting News AL Rookie Of The Year

2011-10-26T09:53:00.001-07:00

Per @EKayAngels on Twitter.

Update: Craig Kimbrel got the nod in the NL for his work as Atlanta's closer.

I should add this is the Sporting News award. The BBWAA award — the one that counts — is yet to be announced.

Dodgers Bankruptcy Case Postponed Until Nov. 29, Fans Haz A Sad

2011-10-26T09:46:00.000-07:00

The trial will have to wait until Nov. 29 through Dec 2, meaning it's almost guaranteed Frank will be in charge through the winter ownership meetings. (I'm trying to imagine how unpleasant that will be for Frank.) Supposedly this won't mean the Dodgers can't offer market value contracts to Prince Fielder or Albert Pujols, but that's just fantasy at this point. If I were the agent representing either player, I wouldn't even entertain Ned's call until this bankruptcy proceeding was finished.

Plaschke Interviews Scioscia On The Napoli Trade

2011-10-25T23:12:00.000-07:00

Sad, really:

"If you say our organization didn't value Mike Napoli, it's absolutely wrong," he said. "The hindsight of this trade is 20/20 vision, and right now, obviously in the playoffs, that vision carries lot of weight. But I still think there is a lot of upside of what our team can become with Vernon."

This is delusional. Vernon Wells, 2010 road slash line: .224/.299/.400. 2011 regular season: .218/.248/.412. Nobody could have predicted the levees would fail. Scioscia has learned nothing, and while I get that as an employee of the Angels he has to maintain a certain face about bad news, this becomes more and more obviously duplicitous. Yes, it is true that Scioscia actually played Napoli more than the Rangers did this year, but at the same time, it's hard to avoid the "bad hands" comment he made in an interview with the Dallas Morning News earlier this year:

"I always felt like I was looking over my shoulder to see if I was doing things right," Napoli said. "I had 'bad hands.' I was so worried about my setup and the mechanics all the time. I learned a lot. I learned a lot of what I do there, but playing there just wasn't much fun."

Scioscia has been thus far pleased to throw both Arte Moreno and Tony Reagins under the bus for the Napoli trade ("some decisions were made by Tony and Arte", as though he had nothing to do with them). I re-upped my season tickets, but I don't know if that was a good idea, still.

Dodgers (Read: Frank) Ask For More Time

2011-10-25T08:36:00.001-07:00

Some very good news buried in this fairly short Times story by Bill Shaikin on the Dodgers asking for an extension to the deadline to file a bankruptcy plan (to April 25):

Major League Baseball has asked Gross to terminate the Dodgers' exclusivity so the league can propose a reorganization plan of its own — that is, to get the team sold this winter. Gross wrote last month that he intended "a prompt disposition of the key issues" so that the Dodgers could "utilize the approaching off season to prepare for the 2012 season."

That does not sound like the judge favors an extension.

Shaikin's Twitter feed this morning is full of what appears to be an interesting story about today's hearing. In the meantime, he's got another piece up about how MLB calculated Frank "looting" $189M from the Dodgers. Bryan Stow's family are now listed as creditors of the team.

Gross has ruled that Dodger Stadium security is a valid issue in the bankruptcy proceedings, as he determines the condition of the Dodgers. Stow's attorney, Thomas Girardi, has said his client's medical bills could exceed $50 million.

It takes a special kind of self-absorbed arrogance to make this comment:

"[Selig] set about fabricating the public misimpression that security at Dodger Stadium was somehow inadequate," the Dodgers' filing read. "This is, by far, the most unforgivable action taken by the commissioner during this entire saga, and has caused enorrmous and irreparable harm to the Dodgers, Mr. McCourt and the game of baseball."

And, OMG, this:

The Dodgers also charge Selig with bad faith in declaring he would reject any television contract proposed by McCourt. The league claims any deal would necessarily require McCourt to divert some team revenue for personal use, including a $130-million divorce settlement.
That claim, the Dodgers said, is "simply make believe."

So Frank tells Jamie's attorney she gets $130M in the settlement, while the only possible way to get that money is by selling TV rights he is not entitled to auction until after the 2012 season is finished. Insane.

Creditors: TV Rights Sale Too Risky, We Want The Dodgers Sold

2011-10-24T13:16:00.000-07:00

Great news from Bill Shaikin:

From the day he took the Dodgers into bankruptcy, owner Frank McCourt has said that selling the team's television rights would enable him to put the Dodgers on solid financial ground, including full payment for all creditors.
On Monday, the creditors disagreed. The official creditors' committee asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross to deny the Dodgers their proposed television rights auction, arguing that the prospect of a lawsuit from Fox Sports and opposition from Major League Baseball could jeopardize the money available to repay creditors.
"The committee cannot gamble the 100% recoveries of its constituents on such a risky proposition," lawyers for the committee wrote in a court filing.

Angels Talking To Omar Minaya, Fans Consider Suicide

2011-10-23T07:03:00.000-07:00

Seriously? Was there something he did in Flushing that justifies a repeat performance anywhere? Just say no, Arte.

Mark Saxon: Angels, Hire Kim Ng

2011-10-20T12:51:00.000-07:00

Mark Saxon, whose work at ESPN LA I don't link to nearly enough, has a good piece on why the Angels should hire Kim Ng as their next GM:

Ng might be able to protect the Angels from themselves, to convince them not to make the one bad financial decision that could set the franchise back for years to come. If only they’d hired her earlier, maybe they wouldn’t have played last season under the crushing weight of more than $50 million in bad contract obligations.

It's my considered opinion that whoever ends up in the GM chair will have as their first order of business a staking of territory. Scioscia may have an umpty-year deal with the team, but he's not king, and a fresh set of eyes can only help. Ken Rosenthal tweeted earlier in the day that Andrew Friedman is the Angels' top choice, but one can hold out hope that Ng will make it in as a GM, if not for the Angels, then for another team.

Angels Pursuing Rays GM Andrew Friedman

2011-10-20T07:39:00.000-07:00

NBC Sports' Hardball Talk passes along a report from the Sports Blog Nation DRays Bay that Arte Moreno, Angels team president John Carpino, and Rays GM Andrew Friedman were seen having dinner in a St. Petersburg restaurant.

If that happens, it would be the third GM ganked this year from that chair and into another one, as Bleed Cubbie Blue reports Jed Hoyer will leave the Padres to become the Cubs' GM. How this happened I have no idea, but it seems ridiculous to me that the smaller market teams are letting bigger market teams just yank their GMs like that. (I assume the Rays gave the Angels permission to speak with Friedman. If not, it could be considered interference.)

Frank And Jamie McCourt Reportedly Reach Settlement

2011-10-17T07:22:00.000-07:00

For $130M, Jamie agrees to drop all claims to the Dodgers. This is really terrible news if true, because it means the divorce no longer looms over his head as a compelling reason to sell the team. Go, team bankruptcy!

Last week, Bill Shaikin wrote that Frank could be utterly ruined if MLB forced a Dodgers sale, mainly thanks to the debtor-in-possession financing lately acquired.

Update: Bill Shaikin again is on top of it, asking a question I saw posted on Facebook earlier today, namely, how will Frank pay Jamie if he's completely without cash? He has a deadline to achieve the $130M:

If the court orders the Dodgers sold, Jamie would get the first $130 million of net proceeds. The debt load and tax liability in such a sale could be so high that the net proceeds do not exceed $130 million. That could leave Frank with nothing from the sale.

Best Case Scenarios Dep't ...

Joe Posnanski On The Cubs And Theo Epstein

2011-10-12T12:54:00.000-07:00

Joe Posnanski can get severe logorrhea at times, but mostly he's the kind of guy I wish the Times would replace Bill Plaschke with: sensible, great writing chops, not afraid of number crunching, and honest. His piece on the Cubs' acquisition of Theo Epstein is typically understated and charming:

See, this is not about how the Cubs have not won a World Series since 1908. Everybody talks about that, but it’s deceiving. Between 1909 and 1945 the Cubs won seven pennants. They were a dominant team in the National League. It just so happened that they kept losing World Series. That was a different kind of pain.

No, the streak we’re talking about here is 66 years of not even reaching a World Series. It is the longest such streak in the history of baseball. Every single team except the Cubs that was in existence in 1946 has been to at least two World Series since — and the only team with only two pennants since World War II is the Chicago White Sox, who have probably had something rub off. The Pittsburgh Pirates have been to three. The Cleveland Indians have been to four. The Baltimore Orioles — formerly the St. Louis Browns — have been to six. Even before Theo’s so-called-jinxed Boston Red Sox had won in 2004 and 2007, they had been to four World Series since World War II. They just hadn’t won any of them.

A Review Of Bud Black As Padres Manager

2011-10-12T12:48:00.000-07:00

Padres blogger Woe, Doctor has a fascinating look at Buddy Black's tenure as Padres manager, as well as giving voice to a rumor I have heard elsewhere, that the Angels might be looking at him as a possible GM candidate. They could do worse, I imagine, but his prime asset is his stoicism:

“Bud Black can manage this club as long as he wants to,” Padres CEO Jeff Moorad said Wednesday. “He’s a perfect skipper for the Padres in the near term as well as the long term.”
And, while it might be speculation on his part, Tim Sullivan revealed what he believed is Black’s greatest strength – his silence:

With two years remaining on his Padres’ contract, and two more years of club options thereafter, Black already has more job security than most major league managers. Though his hiring predates both Moorad’s and Hoyer’s arrivals at PETCO Park, Black is not some holdover desperate to hang on, but a low-maintenance leader who never complains about payroll, ballpark dimensions or decisions made by his bosses.

Via Geoff Young on Twitter; some days ago, Geoff officially hung 'em up at Ducksnorts, one of the best-named blogs I know of. Geoff says he'll keep writing for BPro, and that's a good thing.

Linky, Link, Link

2011-10-12T09:46:00.000-07:00

Various and sundry on a Wednesday morn:

T.J. Simers unloads on the McCourts, which these days is shooting fish in a barrel, but they deserves it.
MLB withdrew a bid to have the McCourts' attorneys disqualified from bankruptcy proceedings.
The Dodgers and MLB traded charges at yesterday's bankruptcy proceedings, the Dodgers hauling out their "MLB forced us into bankruptcy, boo hoo" schtick again, while Fox threatened not to air the last two years of Dodgers games they were contractually required to do if the Dodgers rebid their TV rights including the final year of the contract and in advance of the negotiating window.
Under the MLB Constitution, the league cannot strip an owner of his team without providing him a list of charges in writing, extending an opportunity for a hearing and securing the vote of three-fourths of other owners.
"The commissioner does not have the authority to force an owner to sell," the Dodgers' filing read.
Instead, the team claims, Selig responded to the "enormous negative publicity" of last year's divorce trial by refusing to let the Dodgers sign a new television contract with Fox, take a loan from Fox or tap into the MLB credit line.
His lies are getting bigger and bolder over time:
The Dodgers said it was "unlikely that Fox Sports can assert any meaningful damages" for an early sale of the television rights. In turn, Fox threatened a damages claim so high it would threaten McCourt's promise to repay all creditors in full and "render meaningless" his financial projections.
Bryan Stow is out of the hospital for good now. Godspeed to him, and I hope Frank pays and pays for that man's misery.
In Boston and Cubs news, it appears that Theo Epstein has a 5-year/$15M deal with the Cubs, per a report from WEEI, the Red Sox' radio broadcaster.

Angels Fire Longtime Scout Rich Schlenker

2011-10-10T15:32:00.000-07:00

Per ESPN LA. He was 68, and was informed with three weeks to go on his existing contract.

Update: Bill Plunkett has more in the Register, mostly being an interview with Arte Moreno on background about the exit.

"I think you want a good baseball man – or I should say baseball person because there are some qualified women out there – because you want to be able to evaluate talent," Moreno said. "You also want him to be able to manage a (minor-league) system so you have to look at someone who can evaluate how we're drafting and developing players. And you also want someone with good communication skills.

Kim Ng?

Angels Fire Abe Flores

2011-10-08T19:39:00.000-07:00

He was the head of player development. He's the fourth key front office person to leave or be fired this month.

Tony Reagins Burn From Josh Hamilton

2011-10-05T14:49:00.001-07:00

”I think we’re going to look at who we can get from the Angels next year.”

Whoever is the Angels' GM needs to be his own man, by which I mean the Angels better not pick a flunky to ratify Mike Scioscia's frequently fatuous player assessments, something T.J. Simers wrote about yesterday. The ugly throw-the-front-office-under-the-bus quote about the Vernon Wells trade by Scioscia probably hasn't helped cohesiveness, or made that long-term deal any more comfortable:

"We needed to get better in the outfield," Scioscia told reporters, "so some decisions were made by Tony and Arte as to what the team would look like."
That quote stunned some people in the Angels' front office. A manager who takes great care not to publicly criticize his players appeared to be pointing a public finger at his bosses.

Judge Gross To Frank: No Discovery

2011-10-05T14:19:00.000-07:00

Bill Shaikin unwinds the day's proceedings in the bankruptcy court case:

No discovery of how MLB has treated the other 29 teams in the past. This is huge, not only because it reiterates the decision from last week (Frank's and Dodgers attorney Sid Levinson kept returning to ways to get discovery without actually using that word), but because it will speed matters along.
Judge Gross also set an Oct. 12 date to possibly disqualify Frank's legal team because they represent both Frank and the Dodgers. The judge was very skeptical about the merits of this move.
Finally, the big show will happen on Oct. 31 — yup, Halloween — in which the meat of the case will be considered.

Angels Continue Housecleaning, Fire AGM Ken Forsch, Gary Sutherland

2011-10-03T13:56:00.000-07:00

Sutherland was a special assistant to the GM, and had been in that position for 12 years, while Forsch had logged 14 years in the AGM role.

Bill Dwyre on Friday recapped the consequences of the Reagins ouster. My own feeling is that they're going to bring in someone from outside, though the popular choices are not likely, i.e. Pat Gillick.

Well, That Didn't Last Long: Dodgers Moving To 570 AM Fox Sports LA

2011-10-03T13:35:00.001-07:00

For the 2012-2014 seasons. I was very surprised to learn they were going to leave 790 again, but talk radio is a very ephemeral and superficial match for sports. We'll see if this survives the eventual sale of the team.

Tony Reagins Fired Resigns

2011-09-30T14:28:00.000-07:00

Per the Rays broadcast. Updates as I find them.

Update: Mike DiGiovanna reports he resigned. Arte Moreno:

#Angels Arte Moreno, in release: "We remained short of our objective in winning championship. In moving forward, we felt change was needed."

Reagins will remain with the team as a special assistant.

Update 2: LAT story.

Update 3: NBC Hardball Talk's Matthew Poulliot briefly reviews Reagins' tenure as GM, and reminds us of the expensive, ineffective bullpens he constructed (<cough> Brian Fuentes <cough>) in addition to the catastrophic Wells/Napoli trade.

More at the Register, whose Bill Plunkett reminds us of the name Scott Kazmir.

Update 4: Scott Miller at CBS Sports:

Moreno got years of great publicity after the first thing he did as owner was lower stadium beer prices, but his ownership clearly is at a crossroads right now. Though he talks the talk of winning championships, he's consistently failed in the free agent market over the past several winters: Mark Teixeira, CC Sabathia, Carl Crawford and Adrian Beltre, among others.
Bottom line, the Angels' actions jibe with their words less and less frequently. The organization has become soulless, and disingenuous.

I'm inclined to agree. Arte's public pronouncements before this last offseason were something of an embarrassment, and I wonder if that didn't drive the suicidal pursuit of Wells.

Update 5: Mike DiGiovanna's long-form piece includes a great deal of speculative analysis (no, Billy Beane isn't coming down here), and the following meatier bit:

John Carpino, the team's president, said he and Moreno were "a little bit surprised" by the resignation of Reagins, who will remain with the club as a special assistant to team Chairman Dennis Kuhl.
"Tony and I had a long conversation [Friday] morning, and for most part, yeah, this wasn't the plan," Carpino said. "It was a collective decision, and Tony was part of the decision-making process."
Carpino said a search for Reagins' successor will begin immediately and that the next GM would probably come from outside the organization. He would like to have someone in place in November, when players can file for free agency.

The Wheels Of Justice Grind Exceeding Fine

2011-09-27T15:28:00.000-07:00

... and slow. Proof of this latter precept came from Bill Shaikin, who informs us that the Dodgers (read: Frank McCourt) wants the bankruptcy court to delay until December 12 the disposition of a forced sale of the team. Earlier in the week, MLB asked the judge to force a sale of the team on the grounds that McCourt has one exit and one exit only from bankruptcy, and that path is through a pre-sale of television rights, one which MLB will never permit ("The only path to emergence [from bankruptcy] is through a sale of the Dodgers"). MLB also threatened the team with possible removal from the league if McCourt fails to hand the team over, a first.

Dodgers season ticket holders are now asking for representation before the bankruptcy court:

The motion asks the court to appoint a committee to represent the interests of the approximately 17,000 Dodgers season ticket holders, described as "the real stakeholders" in the case. The Dodgers and the official creditors' committee each have opposed the formation of a committee to represent season ticket holders, according to the filing, and so the U.S. trustee assigned to the case has denied the ticket holders standing "at this time."
The Dodgers have stifled "the basic desire of its most loyal and financially invested fans on whose goodwill they are dependent -- the season ticket holders -- to have a seat at the table in this reorganization," the filing reads.

It ain't over 'til it's over, but man ...

Update: Bill Shaikin, again doing yeoman's work, reports Fox is suing the Dodgers "seeking unspecified damages and order that any sale TV rights sale comply with current contract"; the net effect is "to try to stop #Dodgers proposed sale of TV rights, key to McCourt's strategy to emerge from bankruptcy as owner."

MLBPA will monitor "carefully" Dodgers spending. Presumably this is more about players getting their salaries. Supposedly the team has enough to pick up high-dollar free agents, but I remain unimpressed.

Update 2: The LAT story on the Fox suit.

Façade Of An Offense Diminishes To A Cruel Joke As Trumbo Shut Down For The Season

2011-09-26T17:28:00.000-07:00

Due to a foot injury; he has a broken bone on the top of his right foot. Trumbo leads the team with 29 home runs and 87 runs batted in.

Trumbo will be fitted with a boot, and has canceled plans to play winter ball.

John Lackey Divorces His Ailing Wife

2011-09-26T12:38:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I'm really glad the Angels didn't outbid the Red Sox for his services. Apparently she has breast cancer. Blecch.