But before the season started at all, all of the talk surrounding Dodger land was the impending sale of the team. Former owner Frank McCourt had finally agreed to sell the team last winter. After McCourt had dragged the team through the mud, and sent them into bankruptcy, the announcement of the sale of the Dodgers was met with jubilance from all fans. When you think of a sale the first thing you think of is dollars, and in this case there was plenty of that involved.
In order to understand the beginning of 2012 for the Dodgers, you have to go back to 2011. Frank McCourt had failed to make payroll last summer, and as a result, had to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy. MLB and commissioner Bud Selig had to step in and take over control of the team’s finances. Finally after a lot of posturing between McCourt and Selig, McCourt agreed to put the team up for sale via bankruptcy auction. As a result of this, the team was unable to spend money on top-notch free agents last year, and there was no money being spent to improve the team. As a result the product on the field suffered. The Dodgers languished in last place for most of last summer. Technically lame duck McCourt still owned the team when spring training started. The bidding process for the sale of the team began in January, and carried on through spring training.
General manager Ned Colletti was hamstrung by the team’s financial issues, and was unable to spend money freely. Because of this the Dodgers spent money on mid-level type free agents while the team was being sold. Chris Capuano, and Aaron Harang were added to fill holes in the starting rotation. Todd Coffey was signed to solidify middle relief. Juan Rivera returned to man left field, and Matt Treanor was inked to provide back-up catcher responsibilities to starting catcher A.J. Ellis. Veteran Mark Ellis was signed to play second base. Gone were free agents Hiroki Kuroda, catcher Rod Barajas, infielder Jamey Carroll, and former closer Jonathon Broxton.
May 15, 2012; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers owner Magic Johnson laughs before the game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE
The Bidding was getting crazy. Naturally everyone wanted to buy the Dodgers. The list of potential bidders included a billionaire hedge-fund manager, the Disney family, Former Dodger owner Peter O’Malley, NFL Rams owner Stan Kreonke, and a group led by Magic Johnson. There were different rounds of bidding, as the Blackstone group managed and brokered the deal. The bidding process dragged on through March, and into early April. Finally on April 1st, the announcement came. The group led by Magic Johnson, and the Guggenheim partners had won the bid to buy the Dodgers. The announced deal was for 2.15 billion dollars. It was the largest sale of any professional sports franchise in the history of sports. McCourt had purchased the team for just over 400 million dollars back in 2004. It was astounding.
When the specifics were announced, we had learned that Johnson would be a part time owner, the Guggenheim people would control the team, and Johnson had hired former MLB executive Stan Kasten to run the Baseball operations. The division of Guggenheim that would control the Dodgers would be called the GBM, or the Guggenheim Baseball Management. There were other factors involved with the sale as well. The Dodgers needed someone who was going to preserve and protect Dodger tradition, preserve Dodger Stadium, and put a winning team on the field. We felt this group was the perfect fit for the Dodgers. The news of the sale to Magic Johnson and the GBM was met with a massive waive of relief and joy by Dodger fans all across the Dodger blogosphere. As Dodger fans celebrated all over the world, Vin Scully said it best at the press conference to introduce the new ownership……
“This is the last time I will ever attend one of these again”~ Vin Scully
Other than the sale, the Dodger’s spring training was fairly quiet. Only a few roster spots were up for grabs. Before spring training even started, we learned that reliever Blake Hawksworth would miss the entire season, while still recovering from arm surgery. This would be the first of many injuries for the Dodgers in 2012. We’ll get to that in a second.