MLB denies TV deal to Dodgers. Law Suits to follow?

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The "Dodgers" are one of the most recognizable sports franchises in the world. From Brooklyn and the days of Jackie Robinson to Tommy Lasorda and the World Series of 1977 the Dodgers have been considered one of baseballs best franchises. The Dodgers kept this mystic through the 1994 strike, steroid era, and even the Manny days.

Jamie McCourt purchased the Dodgers from News Corp. in 2004 for 430 million dollars. Since McCourt's ownership the Dodgers have been the worlds first MLB shooting star. That is, they burned bright for a short period of time (2004-2009) only to burn out and fall further than was ever imaginable.

Yesterday, Bud Selig, the commissioner of Major League Baseball, vetoed a 17 year 2.1 billion dollar television deal between Fox Sports and Jaime McCourt's Dodgers. If your not aware of the back story, Jamie McCourt has been involved with a highly publicized divorce which through the proceedings as revealed that the McCourts borrowed heavily against the Dodgers to support a lavish lifestyle. Specifically, the McCourt's borrowed over 100 million dollars to purchase lavish homes in California. This discretion, in Major League Baseballs opinion, has led to the recent financial concerns and solvency of the LA Dodgers and led in the commissioners decision to veto any television deal that financial involves the McCourts personal life. Two months ago, MLB's commissioner Bud Selig, vetoed the Fox Sports deal as 100 million of the 385 million loan was allocated to the divorce settlement between himself and his wife. Mr. Selig followed the veto by seizing control of the day to day operations of the Dodger franchise.

For the past two months, McCourt has argued that MLB's takeover was "UnAmerican" and possibly against the law. Unfortunately for McCourt, Bud Selig is a Marquette Law alumnus and very astute in legal regulations and governing laws. Thereby, making it unlikely that Selig legally over stepped his bounds. Specifically, Bud Selig was able to seize control of the team in response to the Opening Day beating outside Dodger Stadium. It was found that Dodger Stadium security was less than adequate and the teams lack of financial solvency led to the decision to lower security standards which directly led to safety concerns for fans/customers and the overall image of MLB's ability to provide a family oriented product.

McCourt has continued to push for the Fox Sports deal and has argued that all financial concerns would be eliminated with the deal. So is this true? The Wall Street Journal reports, the deal with Fox would have given Mr. McCourt a 35% stake in the regional sports network Prime Ticket, which broadcasts the team's games. It included a $385 million loan to Mr. McCourt to be paid off with his share of future profits from sports network. So, yes. I believe McCourt would have had the capital injection needed to continue operating the team within the financial guidelines of MLB laws. McCourt also had the deal approved by the courts and supposedly met all standards required by MLB laws.

However, Bud Selig, again, vetoed the television deal yesterday stating, "Such a diversion of assets would have the effect of mortgaging the future of the franchise to the long-term detriment of the club and its fans. We owe it to the legion of loyal Dodger fans to ensure that this club is being operated properly now and will be guided appropriately in the future."

McCourt may take the issue to court. According to the Wall Street Journal, who is owned by News Corp. and who also owns Fox Sports, has reported that Jamie McCourt plans to vigorously fight MLB's decision. MLB and Bud Selig didn't comment on any pending suit.

McCourt's argument is that MLB can only seize control of the team itself and not the companies that support it. What does that mean? The Wall Street journal reports that when McCourt purchased the Dodgers in 2004, he did so with two purchases. First, 300 million for the team itself and secondly a 100 million dollar purchase of the stadium and the land surrounding it. Furthermore, the Wall Street Journal reports, the team was broken into several companies such as putting the team itself into a holding company known as The McCourt Broderick Limited Partnership. The stadium was then held by an entity known as LA Real Estate LLC. The land is held by Blue Landco LLC. Dodgers Tickets LLC controls the team's ticket-selling operations. The latter company made two deals in 2005 and 2007 to borrow a total of $367 million against future ticket sales. The first $10 million in ticket sales each year goes to pay down debt on the interest-only loans, with Mr. McCourt using the additional ticket revenues to pay for team expenses.

With the television deal dead, McCourt will most likely be unable to meet payroll obligations past June. At that time, Major League Baseball will seize control of the entire team (all assets included) and most likely auction them off to the highest bidder. Of course, that's if McCourt doesn't file suit against MLB before hand. Stay tuned.

Recap: Tampa Bay Rays vs. Florida Marlins

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Recap: Marlins Series

1) First, James Shield is quite possibly Superman himself. James continued his impressive 2011 season with his second consecutive complete game. Sunday, Shields dominated the Marlins by only allowing 1 run on 4 hits. Shields has rebounded quite well from a lackluster 2010 season. He is without a doubt the Rays ace this year.

2) Not to take away from Shield’s performance but the Marlins morale was most likely at an all time low on Sunday. Marlins Manager Edwin Rodriguez unexpectedly resigned prior to Sunday’s game. The Marlins currently have a record of 1-18 in the month of June.

3) Casey Kotchman has been on fire of late. Kotchman went 2-3 in Sunday’s game and could be a player of the month candidate. In June, Kotchman is hitting .309 and in the last seven days Kotchman has hit. 364. The St. Petersburg native seems to have found a groove. "When it rains, it pours," Choate said. "You can use every cliche in the book. I felt I had him beat. They get paid to hit, like I get paid to pitch. Somehow he kept it inside the line. I'm not even quite sure how, because if I put it any more inside, it would have hit him.

4) Alex Cobb impressed again with six innings work allowing only 1 run. Cobb now has a 2-0 record with a 2.55 ERA. Neimann is back on the 25 man roster but can he get it going? If not we know that Cobb is a more than capable replacement.

5) Tampa handled the Marlins with relative ease sweeping the “OTHER” Florida team. Tampa’s bats were sporadic throughout the series but the pitching was lights out as always.

Tampa Bay Rays vs. Boston Red Sox GAME 3 Recap

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WP- C. Buchholz (6-3)
LP- D. Price (7-6)
S- J. Papelbon (13)

The Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox have a history of playing hard against one another. Call it animosity. Call it little brother syndrome. Call it what you will. Every game between the two organizations is interesting and Thursday didn’t disappoint.

During the first inning, both benches were warned after David Price beamed Kevin Youkilis to load the bases. Price didn’t comment on the issue but speculation is that Price was returning the favor based on Tuesday night when Youkilis kicked the Rays Casey Kotchman in the left ankle, leaving a bruise. Though Price may have earned style points with his teammates he ultimately put himself and his team behind the eight ball for the remainder of the night.

By hitting Youkilis, Price loaded the bases, and eventually walked in the go ahead run. Also, the warning seemed to have affectively taken away Price’s ability and confidence to attack the inside of the plate. Even accidentally hitting a batter would result in a rejection and possible suspension and fines. The result was a rattled Price that never really settled down. He gave up a couple of runs in the second inning and was gone by the fifth.

Despite shaky pitching, the Rays fought back with Sam Fuld’s second inning double that scored Upton making the score 3-1. Buchholz wasn’t stellar but was affective in handling the Rays lineup through five innings. In the fifth Buchholz left the game with back soreness and Alfredo Aceves entered the game for the Red Sox’s. Tampa responded with a Casey Kotchman solo homerun that brought the Rays within one run.

The Rays kept the game close until the ninth when Adrian Gonzalez jacked a solo homerun of Kyle Farnsworth restoring Boston’s two-run lead. Despite giving up the additional run the Rays made it interesting in the bottom half of the inning. Kotchman led off with a double and BJ Upton reached base on an infield single. Unfortunately, Elliot Johnson responded with committing the ultimate sin. While attempting the sacrifice bunt he popped the ball up to record the first out without advancing any of the runners. Jonathan Papelbon followed by striking out Justin Ruggiano and Sean Rodriguez to end the game. Papelbon recorded his 13th save of the season. Boston took the series 2-1

Tampa Bay Rays vs. Boston Red Sox Series Preview

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Tuesday, 7:10 PM: Tim Wakefield (4.88 FIP) vs. James Shields (3.50 FIP)
Wednesday, 7:10 PM: Josh Beckett (3.13 FIP) vs. Jeremy Hellickson (4.03 FIP)
Thursday, 7:10 PM: Clay Buchholz (4.38 FIP) vs. David Price (2.92 FIP)

The Red Sox enter St. Petersburg with a nine game winning streak and a 4.5 game lead over the Rays in the AL East. The Red Sox have put their early season slump behind them and are playing the best ball in the majors. If the Rays have any hope they might need to get feisty!

The Red Sox’s offense is nothing short of spectacular right now. The Red Sox’s are sporting an incredible .353 wOBA and bring numerous hot hitters such as “The Greatest Ray of All Time”, Carl Crawford. On paper, the only advantage the Rays hold is their pitching. By chance or maybe Maddons design the Rays have their three best starters for the series. If the Rays are going to win the series they will heav

This series also marks the beginning of a dreadfully hard schedule. They will face the Soxs or Yankees 14 times in the next 33 games. The Rays are a competitive bunch but I’m not sure if any team would look forward to that schedule. If your looking at the glass half full, then the Rays will definitively find out if they are buyers or sellers well before the trade deadline (aka move Upton).

As mentioned earlier, Carl Crawford is returning to the “Trop” for the first time since free agency. The twitter world has many of the Rays players encouraging the fans to cheer Crawford when he approaches the plate. I’m sure they will but in my opinion you won’t here them over the cheers from Red Sox fans. ☹

Johnny Damon sets Tampa Bay Rays Franchise Record

Home | Tampa Bay Rays, Tropicana Field, Evan Longoria: The Heater | tampabay.com, St. Petersburg Times


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With a leadoff homer in Sunday's game, Rays DH Johnny Damon tied a club record for most consecutive games reaching base safely (37).

That matched a mark set by Ben Grieve in 2001 (April 18-May 30).

Damon's 37 games is a career high, breaking his previous mark of 31 (Aug 5-Sept 6, 2000 with Kansas City). It also ties Dodgers OF Andre Ethier (April 2-May 14) for the longest in the majors this season.

Damon has now reached safely in his first plate appearance in six of his last seven games.

Written by: Marc Topkin of TBO

Where is Desmond Jennings?

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June is the unofficial month for clubs to promote their top prospects and this years crop shouldn’t disappoint. Just last week, the Dodgers called up SS Dee Gordon aka “The Flash”. The Royals followed suit by promoting third baseman Mike Moustakas and the Athletics have promoted super star Jemile Weeks. So what about the Tampa Bay Rays? Who’s the next Evan Longoria? Unless, you’ve been under a rock or just attained consciousness from a two-year coma you know the prospect is Desmond Jennings. So where is our guy?

Welcome to Super Two Purgatory! If you’re not familiar with Super Two eligibility here’s a quick refresher course. Under MLB’s salary and arbitration laws, players meet “Super Two Status” when the player records more than 130-140 days of service time. This allows the player to file for arbitration after two years as opposed to the standard three. Obviously, avoiding super two status benefits the club as they save money by paying the league minimum salary for an additional year. Because players accumulate service time each day they are on the team's 25-man roster the Rays will financially benefit by holding Jennings in the minor leagues until they are certain he won’t accumulate 130 service days.

I know? The Rays need Jennings now and would greatly benefit from him being in the lineup. The Rays are currently a few games behind both the Yankees and Red Soxs and neither of those organizations would procrastinate to save a few bucks. I know? That’s why the Yankees and Red Sox’s typically win the pennant. The fact of the matter is that the Rays don’t or can’t operate this way. The Rays currently don’t generate enough revenue to support our lofty expectations. It follows, that we must mind our P’s and Q’s especially when it comes to payroll.

With that said, Desmond Jennings is on his way. Jennings started the year with 33 days of service time due to past September callups, so the Rays likely won't call him up until the July 4th weekend. Desmond is considered the 22nd best prospect in all of baseball (Baseball Review). He’s a 24 year old 5 tool center fielder. He plays excellent defense, is incredibly fast, has great plate discipline, and hits consistently for average. His only weakness is power and he’s slowly developing it via 9 home runs in 59 games in Triple A.

What is Jennings expected to bring to the MLB roster? Think software upgrade! Now think two upgrades over BJ Upton or (Upton version 3.0). If you really love Jennings, and I do, then you compare him to Carl Crawford. I know I'm getting ahead of myself but the kid will make our club better just sitting on the pine next to Joe Maddon. He is expected to eventually replace Upton but will most likely start in left field once called up giving the Rays one of the best outfields in baseball.

Obviously, having Jennings on the 25 man roster NOW would be great. However, being a Rays fan you must first learn the virtue of patience. Until our team builds higher revenue streams we are best suited to improve our club by using internal options from our MLB best farm system. Jennings is a better option than most clubs will find internally or externally and by keeping him in Triple A for another two weeks we are saving our club the money needed to compete with the dominating Yankees and Red Sox’s. Thank goodness for Andrew Friedman.

Rays vs. Orioles Preview

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The Rays will look to continue their winning ways against the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards this weekend. Tonight, they begin a three game series following their recent sweep of the Anaheim Angles. The Rays are currently a 1/2 game behind the AL East leading Boston Red Soxs. Jeremy Hellickson will take the mound tonight in the series opener. Hellickson is 7-3 with a 2.64 ERA on the season. Last time out he allowed 1 earned on 3 hits in 7.1 innings pitched against the Mariners.

The Rays bats have heated up lately and will look to continue the trend when the face the Orioles Jake Arrieta. Arrieta is 7-3 with a 4.93 ERA so far this season. Last time out he allowed 3 earned on 5 hits in 6 innings to the Blue Jays. The Fighting Showalters just swept the depleted Athletics and are also looking to build upon their recent wins.

First pitch @ 7:05 EST. Go RAYS!

Tampa Bay Rays Recap 6/8/2011

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WP: J Cruz (3-0)
LP: F Rodney (2-3)
SV: K Farnsworth (13)

The Rays should file for trademark rights on the phrase “Manufacturing the Win.” The team has become synonymous with winning via small ball and last night’s series clinching sweep was no different.

The powerless Brignac got the Rays' offense started in the 3rd with his first homer of the season. It was the 10th homer in 524 career at-bats for the Rays' No. 9 hitter, and his first since Sept. 18 2010. Tampa decided to get back to the basics and manufactured runs in both the 7th and 8th inning via clutch hits from Ruggiano and Zobrist. Justin drove in the Rays' second run with a two-out RBI double. In the 8th, Ben’s bomb was five feet short of clearing the Angles high right field fence but still managed to score a hustling Damon. It also managed to infuriate Weaver as he threw his glove to the ground after hearing the crack of Ben connecting with his weak sauce (aka 121st pitch).

Tampa was well on it’s way to sweeping the Angels (in Anaheim) with James Shields carrying a six hit shutout into the 8th inning. Then the game got interesting.
James let all three batters he faced in the 8th reach base which resulted in Maddon involving the bullpen. Ramos threw two pitches. Not three. Not four. Two pitches and promptly gave up a 3 run double to Bobby Abreu. In an instance Shield lost the win and Jared Weaver was off the hook for a very mediocre outing.

Great pitching in the ninth led the game to extra innings where Rays manager Joe Maddon started his magic by using two pinch hitters. Jaso pinch hit for Rodriguez and reached based via a walk and the flu-ridden Longoria reached on an infield hit past the mound. Next the bomber known as Brignac came to the plate. Jaso took off for third base and recorded his first stolen base of the year. Brignac followed with a perfect bunt and BAM!!!! Manufactured run.

Pinch Hit + Walk + Stolen Base + Squeeze Play = Trademark Rays Manufactured Run.

In the bottom of the 10th Bobby Abreu made another attempt at salvaging the game for the Angels. He slammed Farnsworths pitch to deep center where Upton made a outstanding defensive grab by jumping up and making the catch while hitting the wall. It wasn’t Griffey material but it got the job done.

"I didn't think it would carry that far," Upton said. "We were in a `no-doubles' situation out there. I kind of felt the warning track but I didn't know exactly where the wall was. So I just had to jump a little bit for it and came down against the wall."

The Rays swept a three-game series on the road for the third time this season and also gained another game on the Yankees in the AL East. Next up Friday June 10, 2011@ Baltimore Orioles.