Players Hope New Owner Isn’t All Talk
New Dodger owner Frank McCourt promised Thursday that he would keep the team’s payroll in the $100-million range, that he “won’t be afraid to spend as much as it takes to win a championship,” that he wants to return the “polish” and “luster” to the franchise, and that he is “going to sign a player who can hit” before the 2004 season.
To David M. Carter, a sports business consultant who teaches at USC, it all sounded strangely familiar.
“It seemed like it was the standard page out of the playbook when a new owner or coach takes over -- I heard Norv Turner say the same thing this week,” Carter said of the new Oakland Raider coach. “You’re going to return the team to prominence, you’re going to return the franchise to glory. [McCourt] is looking for a renaissance. Dodger fans are hoping it doesn’t become the Dark Ages.
“I know he has to say that kind of stuff, but my question is, is he in a position to back it up based on where we are in the baseball calendar? A lot of the guys [who might have been available through trades or the free-agent market] have moved on, whether it’s Vladimir Guerrero or Nomar Garciaparra. The time to be doing this has largely passed.”
The sale of the Dodgers, a yearlong saga that Carter said “had more twists and turns than a mystery novel,” is finally complete, but the plot could just be thickening.
McCourt and transition team head Corey Busch will spend the next few weeks meeting with Dodger senior executives and baseball operations personnel to decide who stays and who goes and whether General Manager Dan Evans and Manager Jim Tracy will remain to serve the final year of their contracts.
“He’s really in a bind either way,” Carter said. “If he makes changes soon, it looks like he’s cleaning house and is a reactionary. If he waits, he runs the risk of a year going by with a lame-duck management team and forgos a chance to get his own people up to speed.
“Again, he’s in a no-win situation for this year, and the only people who are psyched up about this are the other owners in the National League West. The timing of it favors the other teams, because the chances of the Dodgers’ making a meaningful move is really reduced this off-season.”
McCourt also moved Thursday to diffuse widespread speculation that because he has borrowed so much of the $430 million he needed to purchase the Dodgers, he won’t have enough money to maintain a payroll that will keep the team competitive.
“This organization hasn’t won a playoff game in 15 years, and my first objective is to end that drought,” McCourt said. “We’re going to commit the resources required to make this team a world champion.”
But many, like Carter, are wondering: Can McCourt back it up?
“You’d like to think he’s investing in the team because he wants to win a championship; you’d like to think he’d exhaust every resource he can to put a good product on the field,” Dodger center fielder Dave Roberts said. “You draw 3 million fans a year, you want to support that.
“We as players have heard both sides, that he’s going to cut costs, that we’re going to maintain where we’re at. It’s unfair of me to predict what he’s going to do. Let’s see what plays out the rest of the off-season. You sit back, you watch things happen with other organizations, and it can be frustrating. But we have to hope the people controlling things have the organization’s best interests in mind.”
Roberts was alluding to the Angels’ signing of Guerrero, the premier free agent on this winter’s market, to a five-year, $70-million contract. According to sources, Evans discussed a similar deal with Guerrero’s agent and thought the Dodgers had a good shot of landing the slugger if the ownership issue could have been resolved sooner.
Evans’ inability to acquire an impact player to bolster baseball’s weakest offense this winter left many with the impression the free-spending days of the Fox regime, which produced baseball’s first $100-million contract (Kevin Brown) and has maintained payrolls above $100 million for several years, are over.
“As of today, the indicators are that they’re not going to spend that much money, but you don’t know if that’s mandated from above,” San Diego Padre General Manager Kevin Towers said. “ ... Maybe that puts more of us [in the NL West] on more of an equal playing field. Their revenues are well above any of us. If there were some restrictions, maybe that brings a little more parity in the division.”
Which, according to some, is just how baseball wants it.
“I don’t think anyone perceives this guy [McCourt] as having deep pockets,” one prominent baseball agent said. “I think anything the commissioner’s office can do to take a premier spending franchise out of the mix, that will bring more salary restraint, it will do.”
Dodger right fielder Shawn Green, who is entering the fifth year of a six-year, $84-million contract, will take a wait-and-see attitude.
“It’s not fair to anyone to make assumptions until we see what transpires when the new owner takes over,” Green said.
“I give people the benefit of the doubt. History has shown the last few years that you don’t have to have a $110-million or $120-million payroll to win. If his approach is to cut back, as long as they do it the right way, we can still improve.”
Green has expressed his frustration with this winter’s front-office paralysis, saying earlier this month that “if opening day comes around and we haven’t improved from where we are now, I’m going to be very upset.” In a weakened division, Green says the Dodgers, who have solid pitching, are one middle-of-the-order bat away from playoff contention.
“It would be frustrating if we were in the same place as last year, without making at least a little leap forward on the offensive side,” Green said. “When you’re so close, and you’re literally one guy away from being the favorite in your division, it’s a shame to let it slip away. We’re all hoping for that one move, and if that doesn’t happen, we’re still going to be a very competitive team. But there’s a difference between being a contender and the team to beat.”
McCourt may need to make a bold move, and soon, if he is to convince skeptical Dodger fans he has the desire and the resources to produce a winner. Richard Brown, a Los Angeles attorney and former president of the Angels, said he has never seen an owner who has been more maligned than McCourt -- before he bought the team.
“I’ve thought about it from a fan’s perspective,” Brown said. “They’re saying, ‘Gosh, this guy can barely afford the team; what kind of team are they going to have?’ They’re fearful this guy is going to come in and maybe get out quickly. But who knows?”
Tom Lasorda, Dodger senior vice president and former manager, spent four hours with McCourt in Boston in December and came away with a simple message for fans: Give Frank a chance.
“He wants to build a team with a family-oriented attitude; he wants to really be a part of the Dodgers, and he’s going to do everything he can to give these fans a winner, which they deserve,” Lasorda said. “I was very impressed with him and his wife. He’s a tremendous guy. People are going to like this guy.”
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A look at the main roster that News Corp. inherited when it bought the Dodgers in 1998 and the Dodger roster today:
*--* 1998 2004 C Mike Piazza C Paul Lo Duca C Tom Prince C Todd Hundley 1B Eric Karros C David Ross 2B Eric Young 1B Robin Ventura 2B Wilton Guerrero 2B Alex Cora 3B Todd Zeile 3B Adrian Beltre SS Jose Vizcaino SS Cesar Izturis SS Juan Castro SS Jose Hernandez OF T. Hollandsworth OF Juan Encarnacion OF Roger Cedeno OF Dave Roberts OF Raul Mondesi OF Shawn Green OF Mike Devereaux OF Jason Romano OF Matt Luke OF Bubba Trammell OF Trenidad Hubbard OF Jolbert Cabrera OF Thomas Howard P Wilson Alvarez P Hideo Nomo P Hideo Nomo P Darren Dreifort P Darren Dreifort P Ismael Valdes P Odalis Perez P Ramon Martinez P Kazuhisa Ishii P Scott Radinsky P Eric Gagne P Antonio Osuna P Guillermo Mota P Frank Lankford P Paul Shuey P Mark Guthrie P Tom Martin P Jim Bruske P Jeff Weaver P Dennys Reyes P Edwin Jackson * Approximate 1998 payroll $50 million * Approximate 2004 payroll $95-$100 million
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