LAist: In what I had not seen reported anywhere else, oddly enough, Dodger Stadium is scheduled for renovations.

ESPN Los Angeles: Jamie McCourt is suing Frank McCourt for fraud. I’m sure we could fill the Grand Canyon with the amount of shits you all give.

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Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness: Mike Petriello says that the people already declaring the Adrian Gonzalez trade a failure are off-base. He’s right, of course, since this was always a long-term deal.

MLB.com: John Ely and Joc Pederson were named the Dodgers minor league players of the year.

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The Wall Street Journal: Now we have scientific proof that Vin Scully is awesome.

The amount of bidders in the Los Angeles Dodgers ownership saga was recently cut to three, setting up a showdown that is set to be resolved on April 1st.

The three finalists: a group led by hedge-fund billionaire Steven Cohen and Los Angeles billionaire and philanthropist Patrick Soon-Shiong; a group led by Magic Johnson and veteran baseball executive Stan Kasten; and St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke.

The parties eliminated: a partnership between Memphis Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley and Los Angeles investor Tony Ressler; and a bid by Stanley Gold and the family of the late Roy Disney.

Major league owners are set to vote on the three remaining bidders early next week. Final negotiations will then take place with McCourt and Blackstone Advisory Partners, the investment bank brokering the sale.

So what was that? Three days after they were reinstated in the bidding, the two groups were eliminated yet again.

Of course, that news doesn’t change much, as now we’re left with the same trio everybody pegged as favorites long ago, but the owners voting on candidates could reveal a lot about how the potential groups are viewed.

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While the fact that this mess is finally coming to a close is a relief to almost every observer, Major League Baseball, Fox Sports, and Jamie McCourt aren’t so thrilled with the way things are going.

With the sale of the Dodgers in its final stages, three key parties lodged objections Friday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

Major League Baseball, Fox Sports and Jamie McCourt each raised concerns that they asked the court to consider on or before April 13, the day of the scheduled hearing to approve the Dodgers’ sale. The concerns appear unlikely to derail the sale.

Frank McCourt, the Dodgers’ outgoing owner, has agreed to provide the court with a sale agreement by April 6.

In its filing, MLB claimed that the Dodgers used overly broad and legally inconsistent language in phrasing how the league and the team would release each other from future liability.

Fox Sports, which waged a successful legal battle to prevent Frank McCourt from marketing the Dodgers’ television rights as part of the sale, asserted the right to review the sale documents through April 28.

Jamie McCourt, the ex-wife of Frank McCourt, asked for assurances that the $131 million she is owed in a divorce settlement would be promptly disbursed from the sale proceeds. The Dodgers on Thursday asked the court to dismiss Jamie McCourt’s bankruptcy claim, saying she would be paid not by the Dodgers but by Frank McCourt personally.

As long as it doesn’t affect the sale, they could take every penny from Frank McCourt and I couldn’t care less.

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Joe Torre got his job back from Bud Selig after his failed attempt at buying the team.

Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig restored Torre as executive vice president of baseball operations, the position Torre vacated Jan. 4 to join Los Angeles developer Rick Caruso in bidding for the Dodgers.

As long as he’s away from the Dodgers.

Credit: The LFP

ESPN: Josh Fisher of Dodger Divorce broke down the settlement between Frank and Jamie McCourt.

What makes this settlement different from the last one?

Nearly four months ago, the couple reached a settlement agreement only to have it fall apart days later. The principal difference between this settlement and the one announced in June is that this time, the settlement is not contingent on baseball’s approval of a future media rights deal. The previous settlement vanished when Frank could not secure a long-term rights agreement with Fox. Here, the deal is done, and Frank now has an affirmative obligation to pay Jamie $130 million by a specific date.

That’s basically the gist of the settlement, but what’s going on soon is the actual court session.

What’s at stake for Frank and the Dodgers in bankruptcy court?

Beginning Oct. 31, the parties will converge for a week of hearings in the club’s bankruptcy case. Frank seeks a determination that he can go against Fox and baseball to sell the club’s television rights. League attorneys argue that such a sale would breach the Dodgers’ existing contract with Fox Sports, leaving the team subject to substantial legal claims, while also providing grounds for termination from the league for failure to abide by its covenants.

It’s clear Frank’s ownership cannot survive if the court blocks his attempt to sell the club’s future broadcast rights. It is the key to his plan of reorganization, and for now, it is the only plan on the table. Baseball seeks to propose its own plan, under which the club would be sold. The league claims those television rights are the last major source of untapped revenue available to the Dodgers and that potential bidders would be much less interested in purchasing the team if an unfavorable media rights deal is in place.

Please get him the fuck out. Please.

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Los Angeles Times: Bill Shaikin reports that MLB has accused Frank McCourt of taking 189.16 million from the Dodgers.

In the filing, the league claimed McCourt funneled $73 million in parking revenue through Blue Land Co., a non-team related entity; used $61.16 million in team revenue to pay off personal debts; and took $55 million from team revenue for personal distributions.

The Dodgers claim Selig approved the business structures about which he now complains, including the Blue Land mechanism by which the Dodgers pay $14 million in annual rent to play in their own stadium. The league claims McCourt misled Selig about some of those structures and concealed others.

The Dodgers also charge Selig with bad faith in declaring he would reject any television contract proposed by McCourt. The league claims any deal would necessarily require McCourt to divert some team revenue for personal use, including a $130-million divorce settlement.

That claim, the Dodgers said, is “simply make believe.”

Disgusting.

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Dodger Divorce: Josh Fisher with a link to the differences between the MLB’s plan and the Dodgers’ plan, according to the MLB.

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Los Angeles Times Blog: Hong Chih Kuo‘s elbow is barking. Guy can’t catch a break.

Los Angeles Times: As many expected, this nightmare with the McCourts will continue into 2012.

Frank and Jamie McCourt expect to settle their divorce — and with it the question of who owns the Dodgers — in a trial during the 2012 baseball season.

The trial is expected to start next spring or summer and last 30 to 45 days, a timetable set forth by attorneys on both sides after a hearing Wednesday at Los Angeles Superior Court.

Barf.

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Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness: Was going to write something like this about Jonathan Broxton, but Mike Petriello basically summmed up every point I would have made. Same tone too.

The Yankee Analysts: As you can imagine, Yankees fans know about Joe Torre’s bullpen abuse as well.

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MLB: Andre Ethier underwent successful knee surgery and will be out 6-8 weeks.

MLB: 2012 Dodgers schedule was released. Means little to me, to be honest.

True Blue LA: Phil Gurnee with a nice piece on the departing Josh Rawitch.

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Dodger Thoughts: Jon Weisman talks about Dee Gordon’s patience problems.

Dodger Thoughts: Jon Weisman gave quite a thorough review of “Moneyball”. I’m actually excited to see it, which is a change, since I wasn’t when the trailer was released.

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Joe Block: Joe Block suggests that Clayton Kershaw could win 300 games.

Initial reaction? Crazy. The more I think about it though, he may be the next best shot, but it depends heavily on the quality of team the Dodgers can put out for him going forward.

Additionally, I’m not saying he’s going to get hurt, but a lot of young pitchers with his type of strikeout rate end up in the operating room, so it may be a bit premature anyway.