2004-2012: The McCourt Years

                                       In 2004, Frank McCourt purchased the Dodgers from Ruppert Murdoch’s News Corp for 430 million dollars. His purchase of the team was mostly funded by debt. His South Boston parking lot property was used as collateral for some of the funding needed to buy the Dodgers.  Later that property would be turned over to NewsCorp in exchange for cancelling acquisition debt. NewsCorp received approximately 200 million when they sold the property to Morgan Stanley and real estate investor, John B. Hynes III in 2006. McCourt had previously tried to buy the Boston Red Sox, but they were sold to John Henry, Tom Werner and Larry Luccino.

                                    The Dodgers assets acquired by McCourt included significant real estate assets related to the stadium in Chavez Ravine, including stadium parking lot land. Plans were announced for new real estate developments at Dodger Stadium, but those plans were never implemented. One discussed plan was to add an NFL stadium and adjacent retail complex. But after the Boston Herald reported details of the plan, political pressure forced the NFL and McCourt to deny that either party was pursuing the plan. 

                                  To offset the purchase, McCourt raised ticket and concession prices every year. By 2009, the team and its related assets, in which McCourt had invested heavily in improvements, had increased in value to 722 million according to Forbes. In 2010, the value had increased to 727 million. 

                                 Not long after purchasing the team, McCourt fired GM Dan Evans and replaced him with Paul DePodesta. DePodesta, along with Oakland GM, Billy Beane, were the main focus of the book, Moneyball. Both relied on sabermetrics to build a roster. In the middle of the 2004 season, DePodesta traded Paul LoDuca, the Dodgers starting catcher, set up man, Guillermo Mota, and outfielder, Juan Encarnacion, to the Marlins for high on-base player, He-Sop-Choi, power pitcher, Brad Penny, and prospect Bill Murphy. Murphy was then traded to the Diamondbacks with Koyie Hill and Reggie Abercrombie for Steve Finley and C, Brent Mayne. DePodesta said at the time, ” I believe we have acquired one of the better offensive players in the league. Wrong. 

                                 Finley hit 13 homers in his 2 months with the team. Choi hit .161 with no homers after the trade. In the playoff loss to the Cardinals, Penny did not pitch, Choi was 0-1, and the Dodger catchers went 3-10. The Dodgers won 93 games and the division. After the 2004 season, DePodesta declined to sign Adrian Beltre because of his high contract demands. So, they signed JD Drew for 5/55 million, Derek Lowe 4/36 and second baseman Jeff Kent. 

                                In 2005, the team finished 71-91, the second worst record since moving to Los Angeles. A large part of that was due to injuries. After the season, McCourt fired manager, Jim Tracy, and shortly thereafter, he fired DePodesta. Ned Colletti was hired to be the GM. Ned’s first move was hiring former Red Sox skipper, Grady Little. He then went out and signed several veteran players, Rafael Furcal, Nomar Garciaparra, Kenny Lofton and Bill Mueller. The Dodgers went 88-74 and were the NL wild card team. They were swept by the Mets in the playoffs. That winter, Colletti signed veterans, Juan Pierre, Jason Schmidt, (perhaps his worst free agent signing), and Luis Gonzalez. 

                               The 2007 team was barely over .500, 82-80. That October, Grady Little (resigned) as manager. I believe he was forced out when Joe Torre became available. Torre was hired to manage the 2008 team. Over the winter, Ned signed Andruw Jones, (his other big boo boo signing), Hiroki Kuroda and Chan Ho Park.  Also in 2007, Dr. Charles Steinberg was hired as executive vice president of marketing and sales. He was aligned with Jamie McCourt. By 2009, both he and Jamie were losing influence and were on their way out per an LA Times report. 

                            Around the trade deadline in 2008, it was obvious that the team needed a boost. On July 26th, they were at 51-52 a game back in the West. Colletti made his first move, he traded Jon Meloan and Carlos Santana to the Indians for 3rd baseman, Casey Blake. Five days later on the 31st, the Dodgers were part of a three-team trade that sent Andy LaRoche and Brian Morris to the Pirates, Manny Ramirez to the Dodgers, Craig Hansen and Brian Moss to the Pirates and sent Jason Bay to the Red Sox. 

                              The team hovered around .500, but left field at Dodger Stadium became Mannywood. Ramirez in his 53 games with the Dodgers had one of the best 2 month stretches any Dodger player has ever had. He went .396/17/53. His OPS was 1.232 and his OPS+ was 221. At the end of August, they were just under .500 at 67-70. But they went 17-8 in September and won the West by 2 games. Colletti also picked up Greg Maddux for the second time in three years in a deal in August. Maddux was 2-4 down the stretch.

                            Ramirez was 5-10 in the playoff series with the Cubs, 2 of those hits were homers. He bettered that by going 8-15 in the NLCS against the Phillies. But LA lost in 5 games. Meanwhile, behind the scenes all was not well on the domestic front for McCourt. 

                         In 2009, the Dodgers won the west again, and beat the Cardinals, 3-1 in the LDS. Then they dropped the LCS to the Phillies again, 4-1. They had traded for Jon Garland and Jim Thome at the end of August. In October, it was announced that McCourt and his wife, Jamie, were separating after 30 years of marriage. In early 2010, California Attorney General. Jerry Brown announced that they were opening an investigation into the Dodgers charitable foundation, Dodgers’ Dream Foundation. 

                         Tax returns showed that the charity’s chief executive, Howard Sunkin, received a salary of 400,000.00 a year. Almost one-fourth of the foundations entire budget for the year. Sunkin was a close associate of McCourt and worked with him during the divorce. The Courts decided that the funds be repaid. McCourt paid 100,000.00 personally.

                         After the Dodgers were eliminated from the playoffs in 2009, Jamie was fired from her position with the Dodgers as CEO. She filed for divorce shortly thereafter. McCourt said the divorce had no bearing on the team at all. By Dec 2010, it began to get ugly. A judge declared that the post-nuptial property agreement that McCourt had claimed provided him with sole ownership of the Dodgers was invalid. After that decision, McCourt’s lawyers said that they would use other legal avenues to establish sole ownership of the team. Jamies lawyers said that she would be a co-owner due to the community property laws. 

                    In June of 2011, they reached an agreement in a settlement of their divorce. The settlement was contingent on Major League Baseball approving a 17-year television deal with Fox Sports West and Prime ticket. That set aside a discussion on ownership until a one-day trial to be held in August. The agreement was that if the judge sided with Frank, he would keep the team and pay a settlement to Jamie. If he sided with Jamie, the team would be sold. But on June 20th, MLB rejected the deal and the agreement fell apart. So, on October 17th, 2011, they reached a settlement with McCourt paying Jamie 130 million dollars and she relinquished her claim on the team. One of the more expensive divorce settlements ever. 

                In 2010, the team finished under .500 and in fourth place. They had to muddle through the PED suspension of Ramirz in 2009. Then in 2010, Ramirez only played in 66 games before being placed on waivers. In 2011, Don Mattingly replaced Torre as manager. They got over .500 and finished 3rd.

              But by April of 2011, the team was in disarray. Commissioner, Bud Selig announced that as part of an investigation into McCourt’s stewardship of the Dodgers, he would be appointing a representative to oversee the day-to-day operations of the team. In effect, MLB took over the Dodgers. It was said he took the action because of deep concern for the finances and operations of the team. This happened shortly after the Times reported that McCourt had taken out a loan from Fox to cover the team’s payroll in April and May. McCourt disputed the actions vigorously, but Selig appointed Tom Schieffer, a former diplomat and Texas Ranger exec, to oversee the team’s operations. 

            On June 27, 2011, the Dodgers filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11. Now the haggling really began. Both MLB, and McCourt’s lawyers went back and forth before an agreement was made to sell the team. On March 12th, 2012, he reached an agreement with the Guggenheim Partners, Magic Johnson and Stan Kasten, to sell the team for a record 2 billion dollars. He separately sold the land around the stadium for an additional 150 million to the same group. 

           Although he has no control over the property, he will profit from any future development of the land. They also pay 14 million a year to rent the parking lots surrounding Dodger Stadium to an entity half-owned by McCourt. The deal was signed on May 1, 2012, officially ending McCourt’s turbulent ownership of the team. 

          In the aftermath, most fans were elated that he was no longer the owner. The constant raising of ticket and concession prices. What seemed to be the inability to attract and sign front line free agents. Also, the inability to win a World Series. Guggenheim wasted little time making their mark on the team. Improvements at the stadium, and a commitment to winning, and not just in season, but a World Championship. Colletti was given carte blanche and he used it. On August 25, 2012, he made a trade with the Red Sox that totally changed the face of the franchise.

                                                                                                 Minor League Scores

        OKC 13, Round Rock 1: OKC fell behind 1-0 then scored 13 unanswered runs for a 13-1 win at Round Rock. Andy Pages went 3-5, scored 3 runs and drove in 2. Dalton Rushing was 3-5, scoring 3 and driving in 5. He hit his 4th and 5th homers. Andre Lipcius drove in 3 and hit his 23rd homer, Cody Hoese had 3 hits including his 16th homer and drove in 3 runs. It was a bullpen game for OKC, Feyereisen went the first 2 and struck out 3. Dodson went 1 inning and gave up the run on no hits and 2 walks. Grove pitched 2 innings and got the win. Honeywell and Little went the last 4 innings just giving up 3 hits between them.  Rushing is now hitting, .343. Pages is hitting .360. 

         Corpus Christi 6 Tulsa 1: Tulsa was shut down on just 3 hits. Their lone run was unearned. Newell was the only Driller with more than 1 hit. 

         Great Lakes 12 South Bend 7. The Loons pounded out 14 hits, 12 of them singles, to beat the Cubs at South Bend. Five Loons had 2 hits apiece, Campbell, De Paula, Gelof, Nevin and Thompson. The Loon’s defense was not great, and they made 4 errors allowing 4 of the runs to be unearned. Bruns went 2.1 innings giving up 4 hits, 2 runs, 1 earned, 2 walks and striking out 4. Cabrera went 1.2 allowing 2 hits, 3 runs, all unearned, and striking out 3. Jo Rodriguez got a blown save and the win, his 2nd. He went 3 innings, striking out 2, walking 1 and giving up 2 hits and 3 runs. Game was called after the top of the 8th. 

         Rancho 5 San Jose 7: The Quakes jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first and did not score again until the top of the 8th and lost the first game of their series with San Jose. Quintero was 2-5 and Rojas was 2-4, they were the only Quakes with multiple hits. Yean took the loss.