Former Dodgers star Steve Garvey on Friday said that he has teamed with Penguins co-Owner Ron Burkle "in an investment group that would like to buy" the club from Frank McCourt, according to Bill Shaikin of the L.A. TIMES. Garvey said, "We want to bring the Dodgers back to their glory. There was a Dodger way, but that way has drifted by the wayside." Garvey said he has "six to eight" other investors in his group. Garvey previously revealed that he "had assembled an investment group that twice last year offered what he called a 'cash infusion' to McCourt," but the Dodgers owner declined. Burkle earlier this month said that he might be willing to buy the Kings in support of Sacramento's "frantic effort to keep the team from moving to Anaheim." Shaikin noted in addition to Burkle, "at least two other local billionaires also have been reported to be preparing bids for the Dodgers: developer Alan Casden, who pursued the team when it was last up for sale, and financier Alec Gores," whose brother Tom bought the Pistons earlier this month. Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban, who "previously expressed interest in the Dodgers," declined on Friday "to say whether he would be interested" in buying the team. Brewers Owner Mark Attanasio, Red Sox Chair Tom Werner and White Sox consultant Dennis Gilbert, all L.A. residents, are "expected to consider bidding should the Dodgers go up for sale" (L.A. TIMES, 4/23). ESPN.com's Buster Olney reported several MLB team execs believe that Attanasio "would be the most likely candidate to move from one team to the Dodgers -- if Major League Baseball fends off the expected legal challenges of Frank McCourt, if MLB decides to have an established owner take over the Dodgers, and if Attanasio actually were to take the opportunity, if presented." It will take "months for all of this to play out" (ESPN.com, 4/24).
MAKING ADJUSTMENTS: Dodgers GM Ned Colletti on Friday said that he "has been in communication" with McCourt since Selig's announcement last Wednesday that MLB planned to "appoint someone to oversee the club's financial operations." But Colletti said that he and McCourt "still haven't spoken face to face and still haven't discussed that particular issue." Colletti also said that there are "no immediate plans for him and McCourt to discuss Selig's decision," adding that he "still considers McCourt to be his boss." Colletti also revealed that he "has addressed the Dodgers' baseball-operations staff in the wake of Selig's announcement." He told the staff, "Focus on your job. You can't worry about things that are out of your control, so do the best job you can" (ESPNLA.com, 4/22). Colletti said that an MLB official told him that the Dodgers "would be under the same budgetary guidelines set in place" by McCourt at the start of the season (L.A. TIMES, 4/23). New Dodgers Vice Chair Steve Soboroff said that he "would not have accepted the job had he known Selig was about to take the team." Soboroff: "I'm not stupid." He did note, however, that he "had reconsidered his attacks on Selig" last week. Soboroff: "The commissioner is an accomplished and good man. He has the right to be wrong on the way that this is happening now. We respect him, his office, other owners, fans and the institution of baseball" (L.A. TIMES, 4/23).
