Somehow, after all of Frank McCourt's mistakes and missteps, it looks like he's going to make out OK. The property he bought in 2004 -- baseball's blue diamond -- is so durable that it can withstand any type of mishandling.
There are billionaires lining up to buy the
Los Angeles Dodgers in a couple of weeks, after the team is put up for auction, because no matter how ugly the McCourts' divorce became, or what an embarrassment it was when the franchise went into bankruptcy, or that the organization faces a lawsuit stemming from the brutal beating of
San Francisco Giants fan Bryan Stow last spring, the team remains a model brand.
The Dodgers are to baseball what the beaches are to California. Despite the cracks and chips, this is and always will be the franchise of Jackie Robinson and Sandy Koufax and Vin Scully; it is what Walter O'Malley wanted it to become when he moved the club out of Brooklyn and dropped it onto a hill above Los Angeles. The next owners will ride into Chavez Ravine and be viewed as conquering heroes who will restore the franchise, and somebody is going to pay McCourt a staggering sum for that privilege -- maybe a little more than a billion, maybe a lot more than a billion.
As I wrote here last week: The folks who are bidding for the team are incredibly successful and wealthy and not accustomed to losing. They will go into this process knowing they have to beat other successful billionaires, and it's going to be competitive. Think of the Dodgers as a lone tuna in the midst of a dozen great white sharks; one of them is going to outmuscle the others and hit it hard.
There's one more thing McCourt can do to add to the feeding frenzy, however. He should go out and sign
Prince Fielder. Right now.
McCourt did the right thing in signing
Matt Kemp to a long-term deal earlier in the offseason, locking up the guy who finished
second in the MVP voting; he's a foundation piece. But now McCourt has an opportunity to make the team even more attractive, by jumping on the guy who finished
third in the MVP voting -- a slugger who mashed 38 homers and drove in 120 runs
last season.
Fielder's talent makes this a unique situation, of course; there aren't a lot of players like him in this era of drug-testing. An NL general manager noted recently that the most coveted commodity in the sport now is not necessarily pitching -- it might be big-time power. "You can't win without pitching," he said. "But it's a lot easier to find pitching these days than someone who can hit 40 homers."
And somehow, on Jan. 11, Fielder is still without a job, because the market forces have worked against him. The
New York Yankees normally covet left-handed sluggers like Fielder, but they have
Mark Teixeira locked up. The
Boston Red Sox traded for
Adrian Gonzalez 13 months ago and locked him up to a long-term deal. The
Los Angeles Angels gave their $240 million to
Albert Pujols. The
Miami Marlins were interested in Pujols but continue to say they don't want Fielder; the presumption in the organization is that this is because Pujols is more marketable in the Miami community than Fielder.
Some of the teams linked to Fielder in this offseason seem lukewarm in their interest, for various reasons. The
Chicago Cubs are rebuilding, and they have seemed interested in Fielder only at their price -- maybe a five-year or six-year deal. The same goes for the
Texas Rangers, who are still haunted by the experience they had investing heavily in one player,
Alex Rodriguez; they might like Fielder, but only on their terms. For Texas, he's not a must-have item.
Within the industry, the expectation has been that the
Washington Nationals would jump in, but some highly ranked Washington executives are telling others: We are not in the Fielder market. The first year of their seven-year, $126 million investment in
Jayson Werth went very badly, and some in the organization are scared by the idea of owing two players $40-45 million. "What if it goes badly?" one official asked rhetorically. "With our budget, it'd wreck us for years."
Similarly, the
Seattle Mariners are telling other folks that their reported interest in Fielder has been overstated. The
Milwaukee Brewers are interested in keeping him, but Fielder himself has already indicated that he expects to leave. Only Scott Boras, Fielder's agent, truly knows what offers he has, but it would appear that the market affords him little leverage at the moment.
Where, then? Well, if the Dodgers or the
New York Mets were on strong footing, either team could be a natural fit. The Mets are still digging out from the Bernie Madoff scandal, prying nickels out from underneath couch cushions to sign the likes of
Miguel Batista.
The Dodgers, however, are not that far away from being in an extraordinarily strong position. The next owner may well be in place by the All-Star break, and after some group spends between $1-2 billion for this franchise, the new owner won't suddenly pull back the reins. Instead, the new owner is going to be aggressive. A few weeks ago, Magic Johnson -- part of one of the
powerful teams fighting for ownership of the Dodgers -- mused over the phone, with some regret, that this winter's free-agent period is passing by.
Next fall, if he were a Dodgers owner, he said, "At 12:01 a.m., I'd be on the phone" calling the next players the Dodgers would want to target. "This is going to be fun."
And while McCourt has debt -- the franchise has debt -- there are almost no long-term contract obligations besides Kemp.
Ted Lilly is signed for a couple of more years, and so is
Matt Guerrier. But the Dodgers' budget for 2012 is
$90 million, in the same range as the
Cincinnati Reds and Milwaukee Brewers.
The Dodgers' next owners are going to get an enormous injection of television revenue after the team's next contract is negotiated, and it figures that the club's payroll will rocket into the same range as that of the Angels, who will be close to $160 million.
If McCourt signed Fielder now, the expenditure wouldn't be beyond the means of the franchise. And while a $25 million annual salary for a first baseman might seem like a lot of money to the average person, remember who is bidding for the team. A $25 million annual expenditure to someone with access to $100 billion is equivalent to five ATM charges for someone making $50,000.
You could call the signing of Fielder a financial pimple, in the big picture, if not for the fact that it could actually make the Dodgers more attractive, more valuable.
The Dodgers might be able to get Fielder for seven years and $175 million, or maybe eight for $192 million. Add Fielder to their lineup, and they could contend for the NL West championship in 2012. They would sell more tickets, draw higher ratings and give the next owners a little more leverage in negotiating that next television contract. Fielder would be to the Dodgers what Shaquille O'Neal was to the Lakers.
McCourt probably flinches reflexively at the idea of spending money these days given the amount of debt he has and considering how many lawsuits he's been involved in. But signing Fielder now would be a smart investment, some gasoline to throw onto what should already be an extremely hot bidding war for the Dodgers.
It's a great opportunity. McCourt should jump on it. Right now.
McCourt
settled his dispute with Fox Sports, writes Bill Shaikin. This clears the decks for the auctioning of the team. Tom Barrack is the
latest billionaire to join the bidding process.
[h3]Notables[/h3]
• Bud Selig is
staying on, which isn't a surprise to the executives for whom he works. "He was never leaving," said an AL owner. "He loves it."
It's fair to say that Selig has exercised a commissioner's prerogative to change his mind. From Josh Kritz of ESPN Stats & Information:
- As head of search committee for new commissioner:
- December 1983: "I don't want to be commissioner." (NY Times)
- November 1993: "This is all very flattering, but I have no interest in becoming permanent commissioner." (USA Today)
- January 1994: "I have no permanent interest in this job. I have many other things I want to do." (LA Times)
- December 1997: "I am not and have never been a candidate. I don't know what more I can say about that." (LA Times)
- July 1998: "Many had said to me they wanted me to stay in some capacity. We argued. The rest is history." (LA Times)
- November 2001: "[The contract extension] wasn't my idea. I hadn't even thought about it, but [the owners] felt the timing was right." (LA Times)
- April 2003: "There are other things I really would like to do. I told my wife that I was going to be doing this for two to three months, but it turned into 14 years. I've had a great run." (Orlando Sentinel)
- August 2004 (at time of second extension): "In September 1992 [when he became acting commissioner], my wife asked how long it would be, and I said, 'Two to four months.' It's the longest two to four months in history." (AP)
- December 2006: "I plan to retire. My contract runs for the next three-plus years. I'll be 75 years of age and I want to teach and write a book and do some other things." (Reuters)
- January 2008: "This is clearly it. I could say this without equivocation. ... When this is over, I'm going to be 78 years old." (AP)
• The Mets are close to
raising $100 million in minority shares, writes Andy Martino.
• If you weren't convinced by the
Sean Marshall trade that the Reds were loading up for 2012, well, maybe the signing of
Ryan Madson -- for $8.5 million, as
Jerry Crasnick reports -- puts it over the top for you; Cincinnati has a chance to have an excellent bullpen.
[h4]Top closer's of 2011[/h4]
The closers with the best save percentages in MLB last season
| | |
Jose Valverde
|
100.0
|
49-49
|
John Axford
|
95.8
|
46-48
|
Ryan Madson
|
94.1
|
32-34
|
Andrew Bailey
|
92.3
|
24-26
|
J.J. Putz
|
91.8
|
45-49
|
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Pitcher
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Sv-Opps
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From ESPN Stats & Info: In his first season as a full-time closer, Madson had the second-best save percentage in the NL (32-of-34, 94.1 percent), just behind
John Axford (46-of-48, 95.
.
The Reds were tied for 10th in blown saves last season with 22. The
Philadelphia Phillies, who Madson closed for last season, had eight blown saves, the fewest in the majors.
[h3]Moves, deals and decisions[/h3]
1.
Howard Kendrick says s
taying with the Angels was his priority, as Lance Pugmire writes.
2. The Phillies cut
John Bowker, so he could
pursue other opportunities.
3. Scott Boras says the
Tampa Bay Rays remain
in play for
Carlos Pena and
Johnny Damon.
4. The
Toronto Blue Jays are still
looking for help, writes Richard Griffin.
5. The
Kansas City Royals named their
minor league coaches.
6. Miguel Batista
signed with the Mets.
7. The Rangers raised their
ticket prices.
8. The Rangers are going to give some of their prospects a
shot in spring training.
9. A top
Detroit Tigers prospect has been
invited to spring training.
10. The Tigers shouldn't
trade top prospects, writes Lynn Henning, who notes that Dave Dombrowski has told Theo Epstein no when the Cubs GM has discussed
Matt Garza.
11.
Juan Nicasio is already
facing hitters, and is on track for spring training -- a great development for him, of course, but also for the
Colorado Rockies.
12. The Mariners
signed Aaron Heilman, as Larry Stone writes.
13.
Carlos Gomez agreed to
terms, writes Adam McCalvy.
14. It's time for the Red Sox to step up and
get a starting pitcher, writes Michael Silverman.
15. Dan Duquette talked about
some of the changes the
Baltimore Orioles have made.
![0]](/styles/default/xenforo/NTemojis/alien.gif "Alien 0]")
at home.' The rest of that series, he got his hits, he hit singles and doubles, but no homers. When we got home, he said, 'OK, I'm going to tie Willie today.' And the first at-bat, boom, he went deep. The next day, he came to the park and said, 'Today, I'm going pass Willie.' First at-bat, he hit another homer. I've never seen anything like it."
yields a much larger difference, seven wins per 162 games, which strongly suggests that the NL's improvement in interleague play is no fluke.
