MLB Not Expected To Let Dodgers Default On Team Payroll

MLB is not expected to let the Dodgers default on their payroll to players this month, according to industry sources. How precisely the cash shortfall, should it arise, will be addressed is unclear, as are the potential ramifications to embattled team owner Frank McCourt. But players would be eligible to become free agents 10 days after filing a default notice, something the league is insistent on avoiding at nearly any cost.

MLB loaned the Rangers money last year to meet payroll, though the Dodgers situation is different and more fractious between McCourt and Commissioner Bud Selig. "It would be absolute chaos," said a source of Dodgers players potentially becoming free agents in the midst of the season. "It's the last thing anybody needs."