Bottom of the 9th for Dodgers owner

The fate of Frank McCourt, the beleaguered owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, got bleaker Monday when Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig rejected a proposed $1-billion-plus deal between Fox and the Dodgers for television rights.

McCourt, who has struggled to make his last five Dodgers payrolls, saw that deal as manna from heaven — a way to assure future payrolls and the club’s financial health for a while, as well as solving his personal money problems. The deal was worth an estimated $1.7 billion to $3 billion over 17 years. McCourt was counting on a $385-million upfront advance against the agreement, which wouldn’t even take effect for two years. Out of that money, McCourt and his ex-wife, Jamie, had agreed Friday to put $235 million into the Dodgers. The remainder would have covered lawyers’ fees, the debts on various McCourt companies — and themselves.

This comes two months after the commissioner took day-to-day control of the team out of McCourt’s hands while the MLB conducts an investigation into its finances and operations. That investigation has yet to conclude. But, in a devastating rebuke, Selig dismissed the Fox deal as “structured to facilitate the further diversion of Dodgers assets for the personal needs of Mr. McCourt” at the expense of the ball club and its fans.

MLB officials also worried that McCourt, needing cash quickly, was not in a position to get the best TV deal available. Among the concerns was the lengthy term of the contract.

Once again, with Frank McCourt, it’s not just about the financial trouble — several other teams have problems — it’s about how he and his ex-wife appear to put their own needs above the health of the team. Divorce documents indicate the couple took more than $100 million from team revenues for personal use. (McCourt insists they took out only $23 million from 2004 to 2009.)

McCourt has long said that the commissioner has it out for him and is unfairly taking away his right to make a deal on behalf of a team he owns. But the fact is that the commissioner has tremendous authority to take steps that he believes are in the best interests of baseball, and McCourt understood that when he bought the team. If Selig is concerned that the McCourts’ personal travails are harming the Dodgers’ future, he has an obligation to take action to protect the franchise.

What we’d like to see is a speedy resolution. The MLB should conclude its investigation as quickly as possible. And McCourt should do all he can — painful as it might be — to cooperate so this can be wrapped up and the commissioner can answer definitively: Should McCourt stay or should he go? That’s the only way to move the drama out of the Dodgers’ front office and back onto the field.