As more groups declare their intent to bid on the Dodgers, MLB and Commissioner Bud Selig "in this hour of critical need ... are in the ominous position of not being able to actually dictate" how the sale process goes, according to Mark Kreidler of ESPN.com. Dodgers Owner Frank McCourt is “going to be looking at the highest bidder,” something that Selig "must influence.” The Disney family is the latest group to express interest in the team, and the sale of the Dodgers “officially has become one of the most star-studded processes baseball has ever known.” The line of applicants outside MLB’s door “is testament to the truth that the Dodgers remain a potential crown jewel in the sport.” In the dream scenario, you would “see several of these competing entities find a way to coalesce into one superpower of an ownership group.” But that “is merely the dream.” Selig “must try desperately to influence the sale to the good of the Dodgers and their fans -- and, by extension, MLB itself.” Under normal circumstances, the idea of a seller “having such control is so commonplace it isn't worthy of mention.” But these “are not normal circumstances,” and Selig has to be “as sure as he possibly can that the Dodgers are being handed over to responsible, invested ownership” (ESPN.com, 1/9).
QUIET OFFSEASON: ESPN L.A.'s Ramon Shelburne reported the Dodgers "began the offseason thinking big" in terms of player transactions. However, GM Ned Colletti yesterday said that the team was "essentially done with its offseason acquisitions because 'we're at our payroll.'" Colletti "refused to lament the situation publicly." He noted the payroll is down from '11, but "sometimes it's not what you spend but how you spend it." While there has been "no direct link between the Dodgers' lowered-payroll this offseason to the sale, it's clear that the team has made very few expensive or long-term commitments since re-signing [CF Matt] Kemp to the largest contract in National League history this fall" (ESPNLA.com, 1/9).
YOU GOTTA SELL SOMETHING: In L.A., Steve Dilbeck asked, "How would you like to market the 2012 Dodgers?" With "no significant new players to trumpet, coming off a third-place finish, ownership still in flux," the team's solution is a "Dodger Stadium Greats Bobblehead Series." The Dodgers announced yesterday that their "final three bobblehead giveaways would be Vin Scully, Kirk Gibson and Eric Karros." Dilbeck wrote, "Not sure which is a bigger coup, getting the beloved Scully, who had resisted previous efforts to have a bobblehead night, or Gibson, whom I believe was so irritated the Frank McCourt Dodgers would not give him a managerial look that he auctioned off his 1988 World Series memorabilia" (LATIMES.com, 1/9).
