McCourt puts a convenient spin on story

Frank McCourt and the Dodgers seem to have redefined the concept of morality.

It no longer means what’s right or decent.

It’s what’s convenient and expedient.

In a statement issued hours after the Mitchell Report was released Thursday, the Dodgers’ owner placed himself firmly on the side of the angels -- with a small “a.”

As the self-described steward of the Dodgers, he said he was “steadfast in the belief that performance-enhancing drugs have no place in baseball” and said the club supported efforts by Commissioner Bud Selig to “rid the game of these substances.”

By Sunday, the sands had shifted beneath his feet and McCourt said he wouldn’t categorically avoid signing a player who had been named in the report.

“I think it depends on the individual and how the individual has dealt with the situation,” he said.

He’d be more inclined “to sign a player that may have been in the report but has explained his conduct and who we’re convinced isn’t doing anything right now than somebody who there’s a great deal of suspicion about but whose name wasn’t in the report.”

On Monday, McCourt’s Dodgers gave a one-year contract to backup catcher Gary Bennett, who acknowledged that the Mitchell Report had accurately detailed his purchase of two kits containing human growth hormone from Kirk Radomski, a prime source of Mitchell’s investigators.

The Dodgers, for decades in the forefront of so many social and strategic innovations in baseball, own another first:

They were the first team to sign a player who had been named in the Mitchell Report -- a player who outright admitted he had used a performance-enhancing substance, although he refused Monday to say how many times he had used HGH.

Bennett came relatively cheap, at $825,000. He hit .252 last season, which lifted his career average to .242, and he has thrown out 21.8% of would-be base stealers in his career..

The Dodgers couldn’t find a better alternative?

A clean alternative?

And to add to your holiday cheer, the signing came only a few days after the Dodgers increased the price of many seats for next season, including significant hikes for field-level seats.

McCourt told The Times’ Dylan Hernandez on Sunday the increases were part of the club’s commitment to field a competitive team, give fans an enjoyable experience and “be a model franchise as far as giving back to the community.”

Some model he gave the community Monday.

Baseball is a business. We know that. Before the Mitchell Report was released, while its contents were still being whispered about, several teams signed or acquired players whom they had to strongly suspect -- if not outright know -- would turn up in the 409-page document.

The New York Yankees re-signed pitcher Andy Pettitte. A day later, he turned up in the Mitchell Report for having gotten injections of HGH from Brian McNamee, a personal trainer.

Two days after that, Pettitte admitted he had used HGH but said he had tried it for only two days, not the two to four days specified in the report.

Bennett, in talking to reporters during a conference call Monday, refused to elaborate on his HGH use beyond saying he had tried it in 2003 to accelerate the recovery of his sprained right knee.

The “it helped me recover” excuse seems to be the line of choice now. Pettitte used it. So did former player F.P. Santangelo, who confessed his use of HGH on his Sacramento radio show and apologized to his teammates, fans, family and listeners.

Did Bennett break the rules once? Twice?

A dozen times?

He wouldn’t say.

“It was reported as accurate. I’m going to leave it at that,” he said of the initial Washington Post story in which he confirmed the information gathered by Mitchell’s investigation.

He said he was “relieved more than surprised” that the Dodgers were still interested in signing him after he verified his HGH use.

“It was a mistake. It was a stupid decision,” he said.

“If, in fact, I didn’t get a job because of that, I would have had no one to blame but myself. I’m thankful and relieved it wasn’t held against me.”

He also said he considered accepting an invitation from Mitchell’s investigators to discuss the information they had on him, but said he was “unsure of what I was walking into.”

In that, he had a lot of company. Only two players, Jason Giambi and Frank Thomas, cooperated with the investigation. Thomas wasn’t mentioned in the report.

In the grand scheme of things, maybe Bennett’s transgression isn’t very important.

As the backup to workhorse Russell Martin, who caught a major league-leading 1,254 innings last season, Bennett won’t play very much next season.

Nonetheless, what he did should matter.

It has to matter.

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Helene Elliott can be reached at helene.elliott@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Elliott, go to latimes.com/elliott.