My Take on the Dodgers

MLB public enemy #1

I decided today I would express my belief of what's going to happen to LA. As we know, the MLB recently appointed a financial supervisor to take over the books for the Dodgers. During the offseason it came out that Frank McCourt (owner of the dodgers) was trying to accept a $1.6 billion dollar loan from Fox using the team's media as colaterol. The MLB axed that deal, which became the beginning of vicious chain of events. In April McCourt would receive a personal loan from Fox to cover his April/May payrolls; later, it would be released that both the McCourt's were being investigated by the IRS for not paying taxes on money taken out from the team.

It was released earlier this week that the Dodgers are currently lacking  funds to pay their May payroll (despite McCourts personal loan). Yeah, things have gotten that bad. Last September people were wondering how the McCourt divorce was going to affect the Dodgers offseason. However, they tried to prove they could still spend when Ned Colleti went out and signed Ted Lilly and Jon Garland. Now, it looks like those deals are catching back up to LA. What happens now?

First, I think McCourt is out. He vowed he would fight to keep his team and that the MLB could not kick him out; however, I think he lost all face when it came out that he can't even pay his May payroll. Second, I think the LA Dodgers will end up declaring bankruptcy. It seems ridiculous, since they are one of the MLB's hottest markets, but if they can't pay their payroll then the team is obviously in financial turmoil. Finally, I think we'll see the same process in LA that we saw in Texas. After the MLB takes over and declares bankruptcy the team will go up for "auction" and be sold to a new owner. This doesn't mean the Dodgers will become irrelevant. The MLB did a great job in Texas, while allowing the team to have flexibility and be a relevant competitor. 

These are just predictions. I don't know where the situation will go from here, but one thing I am pretty sure of is that Frank McCourt is not going to stay the owner of the Dodgers for much longer. He wasn't qualified to buy the team; he failed to purchase the Red Sox, Angels, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers before getting the Dodgers, and he financed the purchase almost solely on debt. His tenure as owner was mired by a divorce that destroyed the organization as well as multiple investigations into the Dodger's charities and taxes. Now he's finally getting the boot that he deserves.

It seems so ridiculous. Right now the biggest Dodgers news should be Matt Kemp's return to dominance and Andre Ethier's 29-game hitting streak. That's pretty impressive. It's no 54-game (yet), but if he hits 30 that will be as long as Ryan Zimmerman's streak in 2009 (which had been the longest since 2006), and the 7th such streak to hit 30-games in the last 10 years. Pretty cool stuff. Let's all hope Ethier keeps it going so the Dodgers can have some positive media for a bit.