Union vows to monitor Dodgers’ off-season spending
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The Major League Baseball Players Assn. intends to monitor the Dodgers’ off-season spending “very carefully,” according to a memorandum sent to Dodgers players on Tuesday.
The memo, from MLBPA Executive Director Michael Weiner, offered current and former Dodgers players a look at the team’s bankruptcy case as the off-season dawns. The Dodgers conclude the season Wednesday.
Weiner noted that the Dodgers and Major League Baseball have agreed on $150 million in interim financing and that the Bankruptcy Court has authorized “payment of all amounts owed to current and former players.”
“To date, all Dodgers players have received all the monies they are owed,” Weiner wrote.
Weiner also noted that the Dodgers have asked for court permission to sell their television rights and MLB has countered by asking the judge to order the team sold.
“While it is not at all clear how these issues will ultimately be resolved, we expect that the Dodgers’ players will continue to be paid and we continue to receive assurances from MLB that that will be the case,” Weiner wrote. “Because the Dodgers received the $150 million in financing described above, the Dodgers should be able to operate normally during the off-season.
“We cannot say for sure, of course, how they will operate in the upcoming free agent market and salary arbitration season, but we will be watching the overall situation very carefully.”
The bankruptcy case should not prevent the Dodgers from offering big contracts this winter. Times columnist T.J. Simers reported Tuesday that Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti has been told by owner Frank McCourt that the team would have the money to sign Matt Kemp, Clayton Kershaw and Andre Ethier to long-term contracts and pursue major free agents as well.
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-- Bill Shaikin