Mark Cuban talks about his interest in the Dodgers

Bill Shaikin of The Times talked to maverick sports owner Mark Cuban about his potential interest in the Dodgers — who aren't currently for sale, of course, but might be one of these days.

... He said his interest in the Dodgers would be conditional on the ability to buy a controlling share as part of an ownership group.

"I'm not a fan of debt-driven acquisitions," Cuban wrote. "If a unique situation came up where I could contribute capital to buy out a majority shareholder and gain control, with existing shareholders or note holders staying in place, I would consider it."

That situation is not currently available with the Dodgers. There are no shareholders outside the McCourt family, according to court documents. ...

Comments

[WBB]

Actually, it would be good for baseball if the Pirates got some serious ownership.

[DL]

I used to think Mark Cuban was a complete jackass. Now, I'm daydreaming of him as the billionaire savior who can rescue this team from McCourt hell.

[fanerman]

LAT'd. Probably for the best.

[PismoBruce]

Please God no. Can you imagine Cuban yelling at the umpires from the owners box wearing a DFF T-shirt? Giving the manager signals for pitches or defensive alignment? While the allure of an unlimited budget is enticing, I remember thinking the same thing when Fox took over. In hindsight they had no intention of spending big to win, they just wanted the sports networks before ESPN West could be started. Cuban would certainly spend the dough Fox did not, but would still be a circus sideshow.

[nsxtasy]

LAT'ed...

>> I thought I liked the idea of Molina if we traded Martin, but then I saw Molina's OBP last year. I would like to pass on that one please.

Which Molina brother?

[fanerman]

And it's not a circus sideshow right now?

[kinbote]

The circus called. They no longer want to be compared to the Dodgers organization.

[nsxtasy]

LAT'ed...

>> I agree with that assessment. I imagine the front office has not been happy with Martin's performance, but what other options do they have at this point for next year?

None. There really is no option other than trading for someone or signing a free agent. The only in-house options are A. J. Ellis, who is at best a major league backup, or Lucas May, who is not ready yet. And no, Carlos Santana wouldn't have been ready yet, either.

[nsxtasy]

LAT'ed...

>> The only Dodger front-line player who gets traded this year because the team doesn't want him anymore is Pierre. And it's not that they don't like Pierre. They just don't want to pay that much for a fourth outfielder

There's no reason to trade Pierre. The problem, as you note, is that his salary is way more than he's worth. No other team would accept him in a trade unless the Dodgers pay most of the remaining salary on his contract - and if we're going to do that, it's worth the difference to keep him on our bench.

[nsxtasy]

LAT'ed...

>> A.J. Ellis for Albert Pujols? Puh-leeze. That makes no sense.

>>It's James Loney for Pujols.

Actually, that makes some sense, since his salary is such a big part of the Cardinals payroll, and they will be under financial pressure to get something back for him before his contract expires (there's a club option for 2011). And also because they play the same position.

However, it will never happen. The only way a team can give up a superstar without turning off its fans is to let him become a free agent at the contract's end.

[Phenomenal Smith]

Maybe the Dodgers are more like Cirque du Soleil?

[nsxtasy]

LAT'ed...

>> Utterly unrelated query: I am driving from Oakland to LA Wednesday and staying at my elderly uncle's near Venice before flying to Chile on Thursday. Do any DTers have recommendations for dinner (probably by myself, as my uncle prefers not to eat out at night) and/or breakfast (he's loves going out for breakfast)? I will be close to the Abbot Kinney area.

Here's a place that does an interesting breakfast right in the Abbot Kinney area (their apple pancake is highly recommended):

3 Square Café + Bakery
1121 Abbot Kinney
Venice, CA 90291
310-399-6504
http://www.rockenwagner.com/cafe.html

I've also been recommended the orange pancakes at this place in Santa Monica:

Cora's Coffee Shop
1802 Ocean Ave
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 451-9562
http://www.corascoffee.com

[nsxtasy]

We all want an owner who will provide the team with an unlimited salary budget, but who won't make bone-headed decisions to interfere with the ability of the team to excel.

In other words, the good Steinbrenner characteristics, but not the bad Steinbrenner characteristics.

[DBrim]

I'm pretty sure that (insert Dodger player here) for Pujols makes absolutely zero sense for the Cardinals in every situation.

[PismoBruce]

Trading the bearded lady for the wolf boy is not an upgrade, IMHO. Great line kinbote.

[nsxtasy]

>> Maybe the Dodgers are more like Cirque du Soleil?

Our catcher certainly is!

[blue22]

Actually, Pierre was "worth" $8.2M last year, according to Fangraphs, in 405 PA. If someone traded for him with the intention of making him their fulltime CF/LF, he might be worth the 2 yrs/$18.5M left on his contract. Or at least that's how you could spin it to the inquiring club :)

It's my hope that Pierre does not get another 400 PA with LA, so I say trade him now while he has some perceived value.

[Humma Kavula]

I'm pretty sure that anybody except me writing a Dodger-player-for-Pujols post has one's tongue so firmly embedded in cheek that it has gone through said cheek and the poster is now scheduled for surgery.

But not me. I meant it. Loney for Pujols! Straight up! C'mon, Cardinals, what're you waiting for?!

[WBB]

I'd rather see the Dodgers hang on to all their arb-eligible players, barring some utterly irresistible trade.

Meanwhile, thanks for all the dinner and breakfast suggestions in and around Venice and Santa Mónica.

[GScott]

PLEEAAAASSEEEE BUY THE DODGERS!!!

[NYBlue]

Take it from someone who lives in Yankeetown, an owner like Cuban may come with certain side-show issues, but you can count on him putting together a winner.

Now, if someone would please find McCourt a decent financial advisor and/or attorney who can advise him whether his continued ownership is realistic. If it isn't, just let go, McCourts, just let go.

[Humma Kavula]

Remember, I know nothing about anything and least of all any other sport. So forgive my naivete when I ask this:

Are Mavs fans satisfied with Cuban?

[joe benko]

I would become a Giants fan if Cuban bought anything to do with the Dodgers

[nsxtasy]

If your uncle is willing to travel, two of L.A.'s most interesting breakfast-specialty restaurants are around 15-20 minutes from Venice (although L.A. traffic can make travel times difficult to predict). The Griddle Cafe at Sunset and Fairfax in West Hollywood ( www.thegriddlecafe.com ) has amazing, enormous pancakes and other dishes. Each pancake is as big as a large plate, but you can get partial portions if you want to try more than one dish. And Ocean Diner in Hermosa Beach, on the other side of LAX from Venice ( www.oceandiner.com ) has four different kinds of French toast.

[jasonungar]

I would become a Giants fan if Cuban bought anything to do with the Dodgers

Posted by: joe benko | November 09, 2009 at 03:25 PM

--

Why? I mean who cares who owns the team as long as they win? I mean if you can survive the McCourts or Bob Daley and Fox why is Cuban any worse? (and I am not saying he is better) but becoming a Giant fan based on who owns the team , I don't know Joe, be stronger than that!

[Humma Kavula]

Ocean Diner in Hermosa Beach, on the other side of LAX from Venice ( www.oceandiner.com ) has four different kinds of French toast

As long as we're talking about heading down the coast a bit...

Ocean Diner is certainly fine. I go there sometimes. It's good, sure. But for cheapish diner breakfast, I prefer CJ's Pantry in Redondo on Catalina. It's quite good.

If I'm spending just a little more, Manhattan Beach's North End Cafe is very, very good. And if you get there too late for brunch, the sandwiches are great, too. But I can't call it cheapish.

Manhattan Beach's supposed star is Uncle Bill's Pancake House. I say this: if you can get in without waiting, great, do it. If you have to wait more than a few minutes, well, it's good but not THAT good.

Those are my South Bay breakfast thoughts.

I still haven't found a breakfast place I like as much as Dish in La Canada. I don't make it there much anymore, but when I do, I am always satisfied. Also in Pasadena, Green Street has a nice breakfast.

[fanerman]

I agree with jasonungar. After Fox and the McCourts, could Cuban really be so awful that he'd make you switch allegiances?

[DodgerBlueJeff]

Would that mean there would be a Mark Cuban Bobblehead night?

[Rob McMillin]

I don't think Cuban would be a godsend, but he would at least be a breath of fresh air after the terminally mendacious, vain, and brittle McCourts.

At this point I figure the chances of the Dodgers being sold really does depend on the enforceability of the post-nup. I hope that means it's a 70% chance the team's sold, but what do I know?

[blue22]

To the contrary, Cuban would be a delightful thorn in the side of Bud Selig - who wouldn't enjoy that! (Well, Bud wouldn't, that's who, which is why this would be a real long shot to happen.)

[whodat807]

Wouldn't it be wonderful to have an owner whose dysfunction is rooted in a fanatical desire to win? As opposed to being rooted in breathtaking vanity or mind-bending incompetence?

If Mark Cuban turns your stomach, how have you survived Rupert Murdoch and the McCourts?

[fanerman]

I don't know much about Cuban, but he does seem to have a strong desire to win, an unlimited budget, and a willingness to embrace non-conventional methods of thinking. But he also seems to be very involved in the front office, so he might get in the way?

[Dark Horse]

"Terminally mendacious, vain and brittle." I don't think I've ever heard a description that more precisely nails the McCourts' flaws.

Nicely said, Rob. Mark Cuban--of whom I've never been a fan--would be a sea breeze, by contrast.

[Andrew Shimmin]

I'm opposed to the owner by definition, whoever he or she is.

[Marty Leadman]

What exactly has Cuban won in the NBA? I fail to see how people would assume a Cuban ownership would make the Dodgers winners. The Mavericks came close, but now they are average.

As for South Bay breakfast, I love the chicken fried steak and eggs at "Eat at Joes" on PCH in Redondo.

[Humma Kavula]

Again, because I don't follow basketball, I don't know if the product that Mark Cuban puts on the court is any good or needs to be improved or what.

All I can tell you is this: I don't follow basketball and I know who Mark Cuban is.

[fanerman]

Since Cuban became owner in 2000, the Mavs have won at least 50 out of 82 games every year and won more than 60 twice. In the previous decade, the Mavs never won anymore than 40 games. At the very least his team has been competitive his entire, er, reign.

[Marty Leadman]

You can say that about McCourt too though.

[Deuces are Wild]

Why stop at one Cuban? Let's go for both. Aroldis Chapman could strengthen our starting staff, while Mark Cuban pays his salary!

[fanerman]

But the Dodgers didn't make it into the playoffs in 2005 and 2007 and weren't really competitive in 2005. And Cuban's team has been competitive for a longer period of time. I wasn't trying to compare Cuban and McCourt, merely pointing out that Cuban has been behind a consistently good NBA team for a long time.

[David Young]

My concern with Mark Cuban is that he is accustomed to working in areas with things change faster and significant improvements can be made quickly: the computer/software business especially in the dot.com days, the NBA, television. He would certainly be an interesting owner and we would probably be reading and writing a lot about him, but I worry that he would get impatient and try to change the team too quickly with disastrous results; think Ned’s early moves to the nth power.

[Deuces are Wild]

Ah, that storied 2005 season.
Remember, thanks to our lousy record we were able to draft Clayton the Kid in 2006. Everything else was gravy (Hee-Seop vs. Phillips, Milton Bradley's racist rants, J.D. Drew's season ending injury, etc.)

[regfairfield]

Yeah, that was awful when Bradley said he wanted to kill whitey. What?

[Humma Kavula]

Don't all Dodgers and Dodger fans want to kill Whitey? Or have your wounds from 1985 healed?

[Eric Enders]

Milton Bradley said that Jeff Kent doesn't understand black people. He failed to point out the obvious, which is that Jeff Kent probably doesn't understand white people, either, or any other kind of people, or, for that matter, any living creature.

I'd love to see Mark Cuban as the owner of the Dodgers, but it's one of those situations where I don't think much is gained by talking about it because it'll never, ever, ever happen. The chances of MLB owners voting to allow Cuban into their little club are about the same as the chances of the Cardinals trading us Pujols for Loney.

[Humma Kavula]

any living creature

Sports headline I wish I'd seen:

BRADLEY: KENT DOESN'T UNDERSTAND WOODCHUCKS

[David Young]

Jeff Kent was apparently quite popular at Jamie McCourt's WIN events. Maybe Kent relationship problems are limited only to other men.

[Andrew Shimmin]

Hidden camera footage of 2005 Milton Bradley at an open mic night.

[nsxtasy]

The Dodgers just announced that Joe Torre's entire coaching staff will be back next season.

I guess that's because Jamie didn't hire them. :)

[fordprefect]

nxtasy: one word:

Cora's.

It's just much closer.

& the pancakes.

Mmmm.......

[bumsrap]

Cuban would be too much like O'Malley, been there done that.

Pujols for Pierre, put Blake in Left and Pujols back at third.

Everybody looked so fine with their tongue pushing out their cheek I thought I would join in.

[JimBilly4]

I don't recall the Mavs winning very much before Cuban took over, either. And of course it should probably be noted that baseball is a very different animal than basketball. Basketball has a salary cap. Baseball does not. If you spend money like the Yankees you greatly improve your chances of winning over spending money like the Pirates. Yes, you can spend money stupidly and do dumb things like blocking young talent with over-priced has-beens, but generally more money makes better baseball teams.

So if I have to get a new owner, you can put me in the Mark Cuban is all right with me camp.

[SeenItAll]

TO ME THE IDEAL OWNER WOULD BE :

1)LOCAL
2)A LIFELONG DODGER
3)HAVE THE MONEY TO BUY IN WITHOUT BORROWING
4)BE A COMPETITIVE SPORTSMAN WITH A HISTORY OF WINNING

THE ANSWER?

TIGER WOODS

[Maddz]

BRADLEY: KENT DOESN'T UNDERSTAND WOODCHUCKS

Comment of the month!

[356man]

Mark Cuban as potential owner? Nooooo!!! I'll take Disney over him. And the Cards trading Pujols for any single Dodger? You guys are hilarious.

[Package]

I hope if Cuban ever gets the chance to buy the Dodgers, he does. All he has ever wanted in basketball is to win. But having to deal with caps and such it has not happened . I promise you, that if Cuban owned the Dodgers, they would win, period. Also, the players would absolutely love him.

[Jon Weisman]

New post up top.

[artieboy]

>>Don't all Dodgers and Dodger fans want to kill Whitey? Or have your wounds from 1985 healed?<<

Mine haven't. I can still see Guerrero slamming his glove into the ground as the ball went into the stands. Personally I don't hate anyone, but Jack Clark comes close.

[artieboy]

At one time I watched basketball and the Mavericks were a very good team before Cuban showed up. They had a starting 5 of Derek Harper, Rolando Blackman, Sam Perkins, Mark Aguirre, and big James Donaldson clogging up the middle of the key. They also had Roy Tarpley who (before the drugs) won the 6th man of the year award. They even ran up a 40 point quarter against the Lakers in a playoff game.

That was when basketball was a team game and everyone moved and looked to pass. Now it seems everyone just stands around while one guy attempts to do everything all by himself. That's exciting!!!!

[Greg]

After the last 20 some years of comedy/charade of the Blew Crew, I would entertain the idea of caring about the Dodgers as a legitimate franchise again with Cuban as its owner. Dodger die-hards would be hard pressed to not admit this would be the best thing to happen to this shell of its former self franchise since 1988.

[DougS]

Mark Cuban seems fond of talking, so I think of this as, basically, Cuban thinking aloud. Cuban seems to have his good points and bad points as a team owner, but since I've always been a Lakers fan, all I can really see of Cuban is the annoying stuff.

From what I've seen of his blogging, it seems that his literacy skills are surprisingly weak for someone smart enough to have made so much money. But be that as it may.

Just a couple of comments on the rest of the thread:

If Cuban would be comparable to the O'Malleys as owner of the Dodgers, then I'd be for it. If you believe the analogy is correct, then I don't see how you could dismiss it with "been there, done that." The Dodgers were extremely stable and successful under O'Malley father and son. They've never won a World Series when owned by anyone else.

But I'm not sure I see the comparison. I'm too young to remember Walter O'Malley, and I guess he was a high-profile owner and would have been something of a lightning rod even if he hadn't moved the Dodgers west. But certainly, Peter O'Malley was very bland and preferred to remain away from the limelight. I remember Roger Angell very explicitly contrasted him against Steinbrenner in his New Yorker piece on the '81 World Series.

About breakfast in the South Bay: The UCC Aoyama Cafe in or near the Marukai in Gardena might be worth checking out. The one in Walnut has an interesting weekend breakfast menu, and I think Gardena is the same. Japanese-Euro fusion menu, with some scrumptious-looking French toast. Gourmet coffee options include sumiyaki, a smoky, dark roast Japanese equivalent of espresso that packs a pretty good punch.

[Joey]

I like the idea of Cuban taking over the Dodgers. Finally an Owner who isn't afraid to go and get players. And with no salary cap, I think it would be interesting.

I am also reading a lot of negative things about Cuban, but every player on the Mavericks love playing for him and a lot of people go there because of him.

I think it would be a win situation for the Boys in Blue!

[Brad Bennett]

Mark Cuban financed the Film, "Redacted" that was anti american, anti military, that showed U.S. Soldiers drunk and raping Iraquis!!! I'm sure the film is used to recruit terrorists!! If he buys the Dodgers I will never see another Dodger Game!!

[neoncactus]

Living in Dallas now, I'd be OK with Cuban as an owner. He definitely wants to win, and although I'm sure he takes home a big chunk of money like the McCourts did, there's never been a perception that money is more important to him than his players and team. He's very well liked by most fans and while they haven't won, he does have the salary cap.

My big concern with him as owner would be pushing a win now mentality over developing a strong farm system. But I can also see Cuban spending more on free agents in the short term while developing prospects and I think he would be the type that would focus on all levels of the organization.

As for the other owners voting him in, I have to think they'd be fine with him. He's enthusiastic and wants to win. He would be far more likely than McCourt to go toe to toe with the Yankees and Red Sox for top players. And the commissioner's office would love him because of all the money they'd be raking in from fining him for his comments.