Dodgers file Chapter 11

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I guess this is no surprise, Selig pretty much forced it by not Okaying any other escape for the McCourts.

[Gwreck]

Anyone else read the bankruptcy petition (PDF)??

Manny Ramirez and others have listed "scott@borascorp.com" as a contact email. Have some thoughts you'd like to send his way? Now's your chance!

[Ceetar]

Anyone else read the bankruptcy petition (PDF)?? Manny Ramirez and others have listed "scott@borascorp.com" as a contact email. Have some thoughts you'd like to send his way? Now's your chance!

Ishii supposedly used his personal email.

figuring out emails is not hard though. I don't know if players check their work email, but I bet it's jreyes@nymets.com or jbreyes@nymets.com dwright@ cbeltran@ idavis@

can do the same for most of the WFAN hosts if you're into berating them too.

[MFS62]

They still owe Marquis Grissom money, even though he went to another ML team and has been out of the game for more than five years?
Gee, that kind of stuff sounds very familliar.

Couldn't happen to a nicer team.

Later

[Fman99]

Maybe Fred Wilpon can buy the team he's always dreamed of owning and stop shitting in our neighborhood.

[Edgy MD]

I don't think deferring payments necesarily indicate failure by a team.

[metirish]

Not sharing 62's view that this couldn't happen to a nicer team, not good for the game this. Reading in the Snooze that Selig blocked the proposed FOX TV deal that was worth 3billion over 17 years......."not in the best interest of the Dodgers franchise, the game of baseball and the millions of loyal fans of this historic club".

Why did he really block that deal?

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

It seems that it was because he wanted McCourt out. Which makes sense, when you consider that he's gotten the Dodgers into worse business shape than the Mets are in... and that he/Jamie did it minus the involvement of American history's biggest swindler.

[Frayed Knot]

metirish wrote: Not sharing 62's view that this couldn't happen to a nicer team, not good for the game this. Reading in the Snooze that Selig blocked the proposed FOX TV deal that was worth 3billion over 17 years......."not in the best interest of the Dodgers franchise, the game of baseball and the millions of loyal fans of this historic club". Why did he really block that deal?

Bud's feeling is that the McCourts are going to misuse the TV money (for divorce lawyers, for relatives on payroll in no-show jobs, etc.) something he's basing on the fact that they've been misusing Dodger money all along so there's no reason to think they'll stop now.

And, yeah, mainly he wants them out. They were over-leveraged in the first place to the point where they probably never should have been approved, and so now that their messy divorce - coupled with some, let's say, less than astute money management - has brought a flagship franchise to the brink of bankruptcy he sees his chance. The McCourt(s) (one or both since they're arguing over whether just he owns the team or if she still has half) need the money from TV so they cut a deal with FOX (perhaps not coincidentally the previous owners) which Bud claims was a bad deal born of desperation and one that isn't in the best interests of the team. Without that deal they can't make the June 30th payroll giving MLB the right/duty to step in. With the deal they could stay afloat but that might just delay the inevitable at which point the team would be further in the muck and even harder to rescue.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I wondering how much appetite for a fight McCourt has, because seems to me the whole Selig Cartel issue is the kinda thing that could get real messy when examined by clear-eyed judges.

[metirish]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I wondering how much appetite for a fight McCourt has, because seems to me the whole Selig Cartel issue is the kinda thing that could get real messy when examined by clear-eyed judges.

I'd love to see him fight Selig on this, not because I like McCourt but of what Bucket said , in open court a lot of eyes might get opened with the shenanigans.

[soupcan]

And I'm kind of surprised that McCourt hasn't pushed back much against Selig thus far. I would think that McCourt would be a lot more vocal about Selig vetoing the FOX deal but he simply seemed resigned to it.

I'm assuming that Selig and MLB then have the absolute right to do that and that an owner has no recourse once done.

Makes me wonder if McCourt does have the right to fight MLB taking the franchise away if he has filed bankruptcy. Perhaps that is an agreement an owner signs when purchasing a club.

[Edgy MD]

And agreements aren't valid if the law underpinning them isn't valid. But an educated guess says McCourt doesn't have the resources for a protracted fight.

[MFS62]

A possible answer to what Soupcan raised.
This may be a little off the wall (what else is new?), but I think Selig did McCourt a favor by blocking the deal. I mean, if you dislike a spouse enough that you want to divorce her, you want to limit what she gets. And under California divorce laws, she would get half of what he has. So, out of spite, why would he want to give her $1.5 billion?

Later

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Edgy DC wrote: But an educated guess says McCourt doesn't have the resources for a protracted fight.

Ding. Ding.

[Willets Point]

[smg58]

Selig vetoed the Fox deal because a lot of that money was designated to go to the McCourts, and not to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The long and short of it is that the McCourts have been spending more money than they actually had, and used the Dodgers' revenues to pay for their debts.

[Frayed Knot]

smg58 wrote: Selig vetoed the Fox deal because a lot of that money was designated to go to the McCourts, and not to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

- Specifically a chunk of it was earmarked to go to Mrs. McCourt from Mr. McCourt as part of their divorce settlement, meaning that Bud has, in one thumbs down on the deal, not only put the Dodger payroll in danger but also slid the divorce agreement on ice.
It's got to be hard enough to get both spouses and all their lawyers and the judge to agree to splitting terms but now you need an overseer from Milwaukee to approve it also. They now have to tromp back to court and say; "sorry judge, we can no longer meet the terms we agreed to earlier, the commissioner of baseball doesn't approve."

[Edgy MD]

McCourt agrees to sell the Dodgers.

Potentially the first billion dollar baseball transfer. i know the most valuable sports franchises are appraised near $2 billion but have any clubs actually sold for that much? Eurofootball?

[Lefty Specialist]

MFS62 wrote: Couldn't happen to a nicer team. Later

Someone's still bitter about that whole Walter O'Malley thing.

[seawolf17]

Maybe the Wilpons will buy the Dodgers; they already built a stadium for them.

[metirish]

"@SI_JonHeyman: kemp & dodgers are in agreement, pending physical. @Ken_Rosenthal reported $160M for 8 yrs. good deal for all"

[Edgy MD]

That's going to move Reyes' needle. It's just gotta.

[seawolf17]

Edgy DC wrote: That's going to move Reyes' needle. It's just gotta.

Not necessarily. Kemp is younger and plays a different position. I think the $20M/yr figure helps us rather than hurts us. (Us being Mets Fans Who Want Jose To Stay.)

[Vic Sage]

Kemp is younger, healthier, better all-around 5-tool player. Kemp's career numbers, as well as his peak numbers, are all way better than Reyes, and he's likely to win the MVP this year, to boot. I'd give him that deal too. I just don't know what it has to do with Reyes.

[metirish]

I was in a Dominican restaurant over the weekend and the talk was of Reyes "getting his money", he wants the biggest contract ever awarded to a player from the DR.


of course I may have misunderstood the conversation, but feel free to quote me.

[metirish]

Vic Sage wrote: Kemp is younger, healthier, better all-around 5-tool player. Kemp's career numbers, as well as his peak numbers, are all way better than Reyes, and he's likely to win the MVP this year, to boot. I'd give him that deal too. I just don't know what it has to do with Reyes.

in case anyone missed this post


Anyway, chapter 11 looks ok

"@SI_JonHeyman: #dodgers are signing mark ellis for $8.75M, 2 yrs, as espn reported. Busy day in dodgerland."

[Edgy MD]

All contracts have something to do with one another. High contracts set standards for contracts to follow and move negotiations along. Marketplaces gather momentum. That's all.

[Frayed Knot]

metirish wrote: I was in a Dominican restaurant over the weekend and the talk was of Reyes "getting his money", he wants the biggest contract ever awarded to a player from the DR. of course I may have misunderstood the conversation, but feel free to quote me.

Considering that Pujols, also a native of the DR, is a FA this year it seems doubtful that Jose-Jose is going to get his 'biggest contract ever' wish.

[metirish]

The Kemp contract is the biggest in NL history Twitter tells me, seventh biggest overall.