Mike Scioscia‘s job with the Angels is in jeopardy due to their slow start, much like people seem to think Don Mattingly‘s job is. Ken Rosenthal throws gas on both fires by suggesting that the Angels deal Scioscia to the Dodgers.

Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com believes Angels manager Mike Scioscia needs a fresh start and proposes the Dodgers as the most obvious possibility. Rosenthal notes owner Artie Moreno would recoil at the idea of Scioscia managing the crosstown rivals, but the Angels would be better for it if they could obtain a significant player or two in a John Farrell-style trade.

As a standalone rumor, this wouldn’t bother me that much, but this idea of somehow getting Scioscia to the Dodgers is gaining momentum for whatever reason, and I can’t express enough how much I hate the idea.

Why? I think he’s a downgrade.

——

My thoughts on this are certainly not out of any fanboyism over Mattingly, either.

If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I frequently critique Mattingly’s game management style. His frequency of bunting, the odd personnel choices, and poor bullpen management are all things that I recognize as problematic from time to time.

That is to say that I’m not exactly calling him the best manager in the MLB, far from it. But as I’ve said before, I watch a lot of baseball around the league and follow a lot of other team’s bloggers, and I see similar issues/complaints about almost every manager, sans a few.

So while Don might not be ideal, I certainly think he’s average.

Furthermore, game management is a small part of what managers exist for. As this article points out, the universal standard for what comprises a quality manager is basically a jumble of intangibles. Therefore, their true value is keeping players happy, getting out of their way, and letting them play, which, hate him or not, Mattingly and his staff have been able to do with the core of the Dodgers team, unlike his predecessors Joe Torre and Grady Little.

That’s why, despite all my complaints, I still defend Mattingly’s position.

—–

But besides that, why don’t I like Scioscia, right? Former Dodgers catcher, supposedly the future Dodgers manager before he was passed over, and supported by Dodger fans.

Well, for starters, all of those things Dodger fans bash Mattingly for? Scioscia does them more often … much more often.

Credit to Jay Jaffe for both that chart and for coining #BuntFucked.

So do you hate when the Dodgers get #BuntFucked by Mattingly? Well, boy oh boy, are you in for a treat if Scioscia strolls into town.

Scioscia is the biggest proponent of small-ball in the MLB, and it’s not only bunting, as this extends to leading the league in hit-and-run attempts and placing in the top five in stolen base attempt rate. So if giving up free outs aren’t your thing, then Scioscia is a downgrade*.

*And we all remember the Mike Napoli/Jeff Mathis debate, yes? Yes.

Furthermore, at the start of his career, Scioscia seemed to have this aura surrounding his teams — primarily built through the media — because they seemed to outperform their expected wins year after year. Yet, without Joe Maddon on his bench, his teams have increasingly become less and less adept at outperforming their expectancies, which I doubt is a coincidence given what we now know about Maddon’s defensive shifts and managerial aptitude.

—–

So by all indications, trading for Scioscia over Mattingly would:

1) Put question marks in a clubhouse without them.

2) Exacerbate all of the game management flaws people already dislike in Mattingly.

3) Expose fans to a manager with a longer history of questionable personnel decisions.

But most importantly, the team would have to apparently give up “one or two” valuable assets for the joy of all of the above.

Nightmares, this scenario gives me them.

A.J. Ellis

After toiling in the minors for parts of nine seasons with just a couple cups of coffee to show for it, all the while watching the Dodgers treat the catcher position like it was wholly unimportant (trading Carlos Santana, allowing Joe Torre to run Russell Martin into the ground, and Rod Barajas not only being on the team but starting games as the primary backstop), A.J. Ellis finally got his shot in 2012 to be the man behind the dish.

Given the opportunity, he certainly did not disappoint, posting a 4.1 fWAR and putting forth the most productive season of any Dodger catcher since Martin’s 5.2 fWAR campaign back in 2008. In 133 games and just over 500 plate appearances, A.J. hit .270/.373/.414/.787 with a .341 wOBA. He walked in 13% of his plate appearances while whiffing just over 21% of the time, and he impressively clubbed 13 homers after never hitting more than eight in any professional season, including stops in minor-league launching pads like Albuquerque.

Two important notes though: first, Ellis did have a 12.5 % HR/FB mark, and I expect some regression in that area in 2013, probably between that mark and his 2011 mark of 8.3%. Second, A.J. did backslide with the bat in the second half (.285/.404/.425/.830 pre-break & .252/.336/.401/.737 post-break), which is not all that surprising for a guy in his first full season in the MLB who was never been known as a great hitter.

—–

Generally speaking, defense is difficult to quantify when looking at advanced statistics, and it’s most difficult to quantify for catchers. FanGraphs had Ellis as a slight positive behind the dish, and if you go the route of more traditional numbers, A.J. caught 32.7% of would-be baserunners and allowed eleven passed balls. He struck me as a guy who calls a good game and has a good rapport with the staff, but it’s definitely his offensive production that makes him the best option in an organization and one of the best in the NL.

As he heads into his age-32 season — and in need of a new contract that will see him on the receiving end of a nice raise — if Ellis can improve a bit with the glove, continue to draw walks and get on-base, and keep the power anywhere within range of where it was in 2012, he will once again be a boon for the club.

Matt Treanor

He’s married to an attractive and talented woman and he told off T.J. Simers. So … win.

He hit .175/.281/.282/.563 with a .251 wOBA in 2012 (with a negative fWAR) and will be replaced in 2013 by Tim Federowicz.

Well … I hope.

=====

Greg Zakwin is the founder of the site Plaschke Thy Sweater Is Argyle. Follow him on Twitter @ArgyledPlaschke.

Eric Stephen of True Blue LA reports that the MLB has suspended Don Mattingly two games for “excessive arguing”, but Matt Kemp escaped unharmed.

Don Mattingly got what he expected on Saturday, as the Dodgers manager was suspended for two games for his argument with umpires and subsequent ejection on Thursday in Pittsburgh. But more importantly Matt Kemp, who was also ejected Thursday, will not miss any games.

The official reason for the suspension is “excessive arguing.” He was also fined an undisclosed amount.

Mattingly on Friday spoke with Joe Torre, MLB czar of discipline, and said he expected a one or two game suspension for in part, failing to keep Kemp in line. But Kemp, who reportedly got the heave ho after saying, “Let’s go Dre” during Andre Ethier’s at-bat (after prior chirping about the strike zone of home plate umpire Angel Campos), avoided suspension, possibly because his eight innings off was effectively time served.

Despite Mattingly’s earlier optimism, I thought Kemp would get at least a game. Fortunately though, Joe Torre seems to have gone a bit lenient on the Dodgers for once.

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly spoke with former Dodgers manager Joe Torre by phone today and came away from it expecting to be suspended for his role in Thursday’s dustup. However, he’s hoping that Matt Kemp will escape with just a fine, despite his prominent role in the mess.

After a Friday phone call with Major League official Joe Torre, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said he expects to be suspended one or two games but was hopeful outfielder Matt Kemp would only be fined after their Thursday ejections.

Kemp had been warned by Campos to stop complaining about a strike call from his at-bat the previous inning. When Kemp then cheered on teammate Andre Ethier, Campos ejected him. Mattingly rushed the umpire and also was ejected. Kemp had to be restrained by teammates and other umpires but said Friday he did not make contact, which would result in an automatic suspension.

“I still think [disciplinary action] is going to happen, just not tonight,” Mattingly said. “I would say a game or two, it looks like. With Matt, I don’t [expect a suspension], really, but I guess you never know.

“Joe told me I’m responsible for keeping Matt away from the umpire once he’s out of the dugout, to make sure he’s under control. I accept that.”

As I said yesterday, Kemp definitely made contact with an umpire on two occasions, so I’m not sure how Mattingly can say otherwise. As such, I’m not sure I agree with Mattingly’s optimistic speculation that Kemp will get off with a fine.

Hell, if it’s solely up to Torre, then I wouldn’t be surprised if Kemp’s banned for life.

People are always asking me on Twitter whether Dee Gordon will be demoted. Demoted? Please. Don Mattingly won’t even budge on dropping him from the top spot in the lineup.

For whatever reason, Mattingly absolutely refuses to consider dropping Gordon from the top, and judging by what he said to AJ Cassavell yesterday, it doesn’t seem like he’ll be changing that stance any time soon.

“Dropping Dee in the order sounds really easy,” said Mattingly, who rested Gordon for Sunday’s series finale against Colorado. “But then who do you want me to hit there?”

Mark Ellis? A.J. Ellis? Bobby Abreu? Juan Rivera‘s ruptured hamstring? Davey Lopes?

Basically anybody or anything with an OBP higher than .250.

Newly acquired outfielder Bobby Abreu could lead off, Mattingly said, but that would take a potent bat out of the middle of the order.

But Abreu doesn’t even have power anymore, so hypothetically, all he’s good for is walking (hollow OBP, as Beyond The Boxscore put it).

It’s not like he’s being asked to put Matt Kemp in the lead-off spot.

Second baseman Mark Ellis could bat first, but Mattingly likes him in the two-hole, hitting ahead of Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier, and doesn’t want Ellis’ role changing on a day-to-day basis.

Ellis’ spot in the lineup has nothing to do with his success though. Even if it did, unless he drops over 100 points in OBP, it’s not exactly going to kill the team any more than Gordon already is.

“He kind of needs to be that guy,” Mattingly said of Gordon. “I know we can’t force a square peg into a round hole, but we have been able to sustain so far without Dee kind of getting going.”

“I know we can’t force a square peg in a round hole … BUT I’M GONNA DO IT ANYWAY! TROLOLOLOLOLOLOL!” – Don Trollingly

Left fielder Tony Gwynn Jr. got the start on Sunday afternoon in the leadoff spot, but as a platoon player, Gwynn won’t be in the lineup with Gordon very often. When Gwynn does play on the same day as Gordon, Mattingly said he’d be fully comfortable moving Gordon down because of the speed and on-base ability Gwynn brings to the table.

This reveals the exact reason Mattingly refuses to demote Gordon. It’s basically because he can’t come to grips with the idea of using somebody without plus speed in the lead-off spot.

It’s why he’s comfortable with Tony Gwynn Jr. leading off despite his career .320 OBP, yet he makes excuses as to why the Ellis twins and Abreu can’t do it.

It’s like Mattingly’s decision making was imported from Dusty Baker and his dugout dice.

Mattingly dismissed that notion, saying he is content with leaving Ellis lower in the lineup, where he can drive in runs and turn the order over.

“You try to have a balanced lineup where you have a chance to score in all parts of the game,” Mattingly said. “Obviously the more guys you’ve got that are productive, the easier that is.”

Besides the fact that the lineup gets turned over regardless of batting order position, you know what else helps? Being productive in front of other productive players instead of walking, having the pitcher come up to create an automatic out, and setting it all up for … Gordon.

I love prospects, and I understand that Mattingly has to defend his guys, but moving a rookie shortstop down in the order so that there’s less pressure on him isn’t exactly some world ending move. In fact, it’s pretty standard, isn’t it? Joe Torre bat Kemp eighth for an eternity, so I think Gordon can stand a few plate appearances down there without imploding.

—–

In other news (maybe related), Elian Herrera is on his way to Los Angeles, and he’ll be activated if Kemp gets put on the disabled list.

His .282/.363/.388/.751 career line in the minors basically sums up his skills. He can take a walk, but offers little else.

So why does he get chosen? I don’t know. He’s a utility player, basically. He has played 2B/3B/SS/CF/LF, so Ned Colletti is inching closer to his dream of having an entire starting lineup of utility players.

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.

—–

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.

—–

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.

Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times reports that the joint bid of Joe Torre and Rick Caruso has withdrawn from the Los Angeles Dodgers ownership sweepstakes.

Los Angeles developer Rick Caruso and former Dodgers manager Joe Torre have withdrawn a joint bid to buy the Dodgers.

Which is fine, as I didn’t want Torre involved as owner to begin with, but the reason for the withdrawal was the potentially disturbing part.

Caruso and Torre cited owner Frank McCourt’s refusal to include the Dodger Stadium parking lots in the sale, according to a letter, dated last Friday, that the men sent to Major League Baseball. The Times obtained a copy of the letter Thursday.

Caruso and Torre would reenter the bidding if McCourt would agree to sell the parking lots, people familiar with the sale process but not authorized to publicly speak about it said. McCourt has told people he has at least one bid in which the buyer would let him retain ownership of the parking lots.

Caruso and other bidders thought the purchase of the lots would be negotiable. However, in a recent meeting with Caruso, McCourt said he intends to keep the lots and develop them, according to the people familiar with the sale process.

McCourt and his advisors think the Dodgers can sell for at least $1.5 billion, even without the land. But at least one bid group discounted its offer by more than $300 million to account for the exclusion of the land, according to a person familiar with the process.

Sucks, right? Frank McCourt will still be hovering over the Dodgers even when he’s not the owner.

My initial reaction was probably the same as yours: “Oh what the fuck?”

However, it might not be all that bad. Mike Petriello explains that the source of the news is questionable to begin with:

But I’ll offer this: we just witnessed the winter of the “mystery team”. Who saw Prince Fielder going to the Tigers? Albert Pujols to the Angels? Yoenis Cespedes to the Athletics? You’ll notice that in the Shaikin story, the line that indicates McCourt has an offer that would allow him to keep the lots starts with the line, “McCourt has told people…” Well, I trust Bill Shaikin unconditionally, but that sentence might as well end with “…that Justin Bieber will be playing left field” or “…that he’s building parking lots on the moon.” Until we hear from a far more reputable source than Frank McCourt, we have no idea if there really is a bidder who is willing to let Frank stay involved. And if there’s not, then McCourt’s going to have no choice but to sell the team and the lots, if that’s the best he can do in the next few weeks.

To be clear, neither of us are questioning Shaikin, just the fact that it’s McCourt running his mouth about what he does and does not have in terms of bids at the moment. Take it with an ocean of salt.

Moreover, Rob McMillin explains that the lowered financial terms might force McCourt to sell the parking lots anyway:

This is a suspicion — and only that — but the $1.5 billion-plus bids the team is fielding now are at least in part contingent on the team being sold along with the parking lots. And if Frank is not selling the parking lots — as he has repeatedly said he won’t — along with the team, then the price will come down accordingly. As it has been my considered opinion that overpaying for the Dodgers will lead to bad teams (to make up for the overpayment), this cannot help but be a good thing in the short and long terms. My hope, anyway, is that McCourt intransigence will eventually mean he cannot recoup enough to make good with his wife. That will force him to sell the parking lots.

Rob was the first person I read to have a detailed account of why McCourt would be a terrible owner (back in like 2004), and I think the thought process here is logical enough. After all, I question how much bidders will be willing to pay if their ownership starts with the ghost of McCourt looming over it and with fans skeptical.

Either way, it’s not reason to panic … yet.

According to the Los Angeles Times, at least eight bidders were selected to move on to the second round of the Los Angeles Dodgers ownership sweepstakes.

Two groups who will not be included in that round are Mark Cuban and Dennis Gilbert.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and local baseball executive Dennis Gilbert did not advance to the second round of the Dodgers’ ownership bidding, according to two people familiar with the process but not authorized to discuss it publicly.

So who is confirmed to have made it?

Bill Shaikin reports that groups led by Magic Johnson, Joe Torre, and Steven Cohen were in.

#Dodgers ownership finalists include Magic’s group, Caruso/Torre, Steven Cohen. Not sure who else.

Later he updated to include groups led by Stanley Gold, Peter O’Malley, and Stan Kroenke.

Gold/Disney, O’Malley, Kroenke also into second round. Gold and O’Malley have NOT merged. #dodgers

So that’s six out of eight, but who’s left?

According to the Wall Street Journal, Leo Hindrey and Marc Utay are through as well.

So that leaves one candidate left, and underdog bidder Josh Macciello left this not so cryptic message on his Twitter earlier.

love That Pearl Jam song “I’m still alive”

That makes eight interesting candidates with Magic Johnson and Steven Cohen probably at the head of the pack.

I wrote up all the mentioned names here, so go check it out if you like.

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Correction: There are not only eight bidders who passed, there are at least eight bidders who passed. Story amended.

With the Los Angeles Dodgers in the news for the impending bidding war over the ownership of the team, I thought this would be as appropriate a time as ever to run through the publicly declared bidders, as the deadline for submission has come and gone.

Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times breaks down the specifics of the bidding process in nice and tidy parts.

If McCourt has the final say on the new owner, what role does Major League Baseball play in the process?

MLB has agreed to approve up to 10 bidders. Yet Blackstone is unlikely to clear even that many bidders for MLB consideration, given the time needed for the league to investigate the structure and financing of each potential ownership group. To cover the costs of the investigation, MLB will charge $25,000 to each bidder cleared by Blackstone.

If MLB rejects a prospective bidder cleared by Blackstone, does McCourt have any recourse?

Yes. He can appeal to the mediator who brokered his settlement with MLB.

Do the other MLB owners have a say?

Yes. They can approve or reject any bidder that passes the MLB investigation. However, once the league informs Blackstone of which prospective buyers have been approved by MLB owners, McCourt conducts the final round of bidding and determines the winner. If the winning bidder’s final offer is dramatically higher than the initial offer, MLB reserves the right to review the financing.

When will this happen?

There is no set date, but the calendar suggests the end of March. McCourt has agreed to select the winning bidder by April 1 and disclose the winner to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court by April 6.

Outstanding stuff, as always.

Regarding the bidders themselves though, who are the groups and what good or bad traits do they bring to the table?

Let’s find out.

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Mark Cuban

The Good: A charismatic fan favorite of an owner, basically the exact opposite of Frank McCourt. His tenure as the Dallas Mavericks owner has obviously been a successful one, as he turned a joke of a franchise into a perennial contender. While his money has often been cited as the reason for the change, he has proven that he will explore any avenue that could potentially give his franchise an advantage. As such, he is unlikely to be as sabermetrics averse as the current Dodgers front office, as evidenced by his implementation of analytics in basketball to score his first NBA Championship.

The Bad: I’m not convinced he’s that legit of a threat to win. He’s not an idiot and he’s unlikely to go over whatever he has the Dodgers valued at, as he showed in the bidding for the Texas Rangers. While I’m confident he would find quality baseball men to run the franchise, he’s not going into the process with anybody in place.

My Take: I would love for him to be owner, as his history suggests he would make winning a priority and would explore the most efficient ways to do so. Unfortunately, I think it’s a long shot.

—–

Magic Johnson/Stan Kasten/Mark Walters

The Good: Magic Johnson instantly becomes the face of the ownership and it should go over extremely well with fans. Stan Kasten employs his experience with the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals to run the baseball operations. Mark Walters could use his eleventy trillion dollars to supplement the payroll and buy elite players. Seriously, Guggenheim Partners has over $100 billion in assets and he’s the CEO.

The Bad: Uh…none?

My Take: My current preference to win the bidding. I can’t see a better combination.

—–

Steven Cohen/Steve Greenberg/Arn Tellem

The Good: Founder of SAC Capital Advisors and a hedge fund manager, Steven Cohen is worth over $8 billion. The group’s baseball experience will come from Steve Greenberg, who served as a deputy commissioner of baseball, and Arn Tellem, who is a player agent for the Wasserman Media Group. Get to use puns on Arn Tellem’s name.

The Bad: In today’s political environment, it’s not exactly ideal in the public relations department to have a hedge fund manager as an owner, and especially not one whose company is under investigation by the SEC. Went through an ugly divorce that led to lawsuits. Sound familiar?

My Take: Do. Not. Want. I don’t want to deal with yet another owner with baggage. Haven’t Bud Selig and the other owners learned their lesson yet? Yes, other ownership groups could have drama, but this one has already been confirmed to have been involved in messes before, so why bother? My fear is that the Blackstone Group, which is in control of the sale, is a significant investor in SAC Capital Advisors, and that could give the latter a gigantic advantage.

—–

Rick Caruso/Joe Torre/Byron Trott

The Good: Joe Torre becomes the face of the franchise and has a ton of baseball experience. Despite his tenure with the Dodgers, I get the feeling that fans love him, and given that he just left a position with the MLB, he and Bud Selig should have a solid working relationship. Byron Trott, named by Warren Buffett as the only banker he trusts, heads BDT Capital Partners and was previously the vice chairman for Goldman Sachs. I would have the same concerns with him as I do with Steven Cohen, but he has no legal issues with his comapny and Buffett’s word carries weight. Rick Caruso is a local developer who is worth around $1.7 billion and has tons of local popularity.

The Bad: Honestly? Torre as the baseball man frightens me. A lot. He’s not progressive with his thinking at all and he never seemed to have a problem with Ned Colletti, leading me to believe he just might keep him around. Disastrous.

My Take: I don’t necessarily have a problem with the group, but the risk that Torre could regress the Dodgers to decades old thinking and retain Colletti is too much for me to bear. Out.

—–

Dennis Gilbert/Larry King/Jason Reese/Randy Wooster

The Good: Both Larry King and Dennis Gilbert are Dodgers fans, which is always a plus. King’s name carries weight, though I’m not sure he has any name value as a sports personality. Gilbert has extensive baseball experience as a former player agent, former player, and current special assistant to Jerry Reinsdorf, who owns the Chicago White Sox. Jason Reese and Randy Wooster are Chairman/CEO and President of Imperial Capital, a Los Angeles area investment bank, and the two will be providing the financial thump in the group.

The Bad: Not much public motivation, honestly. No idea if they actually have the money to compete.

My Take: If they have the money to spend competitively, then I have no issue with the group, but as of now, that’s a big unknown. There are rumors that they might have to hook up with Fox or Time Warner to get the finances to work. Ugh.

—–

Leo Hindery/Marc Utay

The Good: Leo Hindery is a Managing Partner at private equity fund InterMedia Partners, and he founded the YES Network for the New York Yankees and served as Chairman & CEO until 2004. Marc Utay is a Managing Partner at private equity firm Clarion Capital Partners. The pair of them tried to buy the Chicago Cubs back in 2009, so there’s a history there.

The Bad: They’ve been under the radar, and as a result not much has been revealed as to their finances or plans, so the biggest downside right now is the uncertainty.

My Take: Hard to judge what you know little about, so I can’t provide much positive or negative feedback until more is revealed.

—–

Steve Garvey/Orel Hershiser

The Good: Their resume in baseball speaks for itself, though little is known about their actual qualifications as executives. They certainly figure to have local support and can become the faces of the franchise.

The Bad: They don’t seem to have funding. Last time they spoke on the Dodgers, they were still looking for investors and it’s unknown who they found.

My Take: Not enough information to endorse two former players with unknown finances and unknown executive experience.

—–

Josh Macciello

The Good: He’s not a hedge fund manager or a banker or an executive, he’s a regular guy like you or me. He’s the CEO of ArmItal Sports and plans to use the gold mines he owns, which are valued in the tens of billions, as collateral for the purchase, so he says he has the financial backing.

The Bad: He’s a regular guy like you or me. The lack of baseball connections, the lack of executive experience, the lack of community support, and the legitimate questions about whether he would even be taken seriously by the commissioner and fellow owners. All of those are negatives.

My Take: I understand why fans might want to side with him, but I just can’t. It has little to do with his looks or his spelling or whatever else. It has more to do with the lack of experience in everything that I think an owner should be about.

—–

Stan Kroenke

The Good: Stan Kroenke is the largest shareholder in Arsenal F.C., owns the St. Louis Rams, Colorado Mammoth, and Colorado Rapids, and he formerly owned the Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, and Colorado Crush, all of which he transferred to his son to comply with NFL ownership rules. Needless to say, he has experience with this sort of thing and his teams have generally performed well under his tenure in charge.

The Bad: Perhaps his money will be spread a bit thin and I’m wondering if this has more to do with trying to move the Rams to Los Angeles than actually caring about the Dodgers. No idea about the baseball side of things.

My Take: I’m okay with this in theory, but I’m going to hold off on endorsing the move until more is revealed. We know a lot about him as an owner, but not a lot about his interest in the Dodgers.

—–

Potential Mergers And/Or Group Joiners

Peter O’Malley: Submitted an ownership bid himself, but has been rumored to be in discussions to link up with the bid of Stanley Gold & Roy Disney’s Family and/or Tony Ressler. A throwback to the good old days of Dodgers family ownership, but it’s probably not gonna help that he was talking about how terrible McCourt was as an owner considering McCourt will hold the ultimate decision.

Stanley Gold/Roy Disney’s Family: Submitted an ownership bid as their own group, but have been rumored to be linking up with Peter O’Malley and/or Tony Ressler. Gold is the President & CEO of Shamrock Holdings and has local popularity, but his financial clout is not known. Not much is known about what Roy Disney’s Family brings to the table either, I assume it’s money but nobody knows. Group is short on baseball experience.

Tony Ressler: Rumored to be linking up with either Stanley Gold & Roy Disney’s Family or Peter O’Malley or either or both. Co-founder of local investment firm Ares Capital, which has in excess of $40 billion in assets.

Tom Barrack: Chairman & CEO of investment firm Colony Capital has a net worth over $1 billion. Has been rumored to join several groups, but no specifics have popped up yet.

Fox: Seriously? No. Please no.

Time Warner Cable: They haven’t actually done anything wrong, but why get involved in this type of ownership situation again? Fool me once…

—–

Rumored Bidders

Alan Casden: A real estate developer worth over $1 billion, he might have more interest in the property the Dodgers own more than the team itself, which is disconcerting. Remember, this is the guy who tried to buy the team last time around and had plans to move Dodger Stadium to a different location. MLB didn’t want him last time because of an investigation into illegal campaign contributions to local politicians. Why deal with the headache?

Ron Burkle: Worth over $3 billion dollars, he is the current co-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins. While no baseball people are rumored to be on board yet, he seems to carry a lot of weight locally. Divorce was…uh…messy.

Fred Claire/Andy Dolich/Ben Hwang: Fred Claire has experience as an executive with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Andy Dolich has experience as an executive with the Oakland Athletics. Ben Hwang, former executive at Life Technologies, will provide the finances for the group. The question mark revolves around money and whether they have enough of it.

Tom Golisano: Founder of Paychex is worth $1.4 billion and is the former owner of the Buffalo Sabres. Was preparing a bid, but it’s unknown whether he followed through or not. Worth noting is that Sabres fans criticized his lack of spending, and he’s on record as saying that the biggest payroll doesn’t lead to championships, which is correct in theory, but seems like code for not wanting to spend much.

Joe Torre, former manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees, resigned as executive vice president for baseball operations of Major League Baseball in order to submit a bid on the Dodgers with Los Angeles based developer Rick Caruso.

Torre will join prominent Los Angeles shopping center developer Rick Caruso, the president and CEO of Caruso Affiliated. A possible Caruso/Torre partnership was first reported by The New York Times in November.

“I have great confidence in Rick Caruso’s unique qualifications and his ability to lead a successful bid for the Los Angeles Dodgers,” Torre said in a statement. “In Rick I found a partner who understands consumers and fully appreciates that the Dodgers are a treasured L.A. institution. Since moving to Los Angeles, I have seen firsthand Rick’s dedication to business and people in Los Angeles. I am very excited about this new opportunity.”

I wasn’t fond of him as manager, for what I believe was good reason, but nobody honestly knows what he’d do as owner. It’s unfair to judge him based on his history as a manager, both good and bad, but the comparisons are inevitable because it’s all we know about him. Hell, I already see fans who are absolutely elated at this news because they think of him as a wonderful baseball mind. Seriously.

The main concern that I have revolves around him serving as a reminder of the past related to Frank McCourt and Ned Colletti, something I would like to forget in every way possible. Within that fear lies the lurking possibility that Colletti would actually be retained, thus killing basically all hope that the Dodgers would be able to move forward from a player personnel standpoint.

As such, my preference is still for the Magic Johnson group. If nothing else, than for the clean break from everything about the past decade or so.

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In related news, the Dodgers extended the deadline to bid on the team by ten days.

Mike Petriello had the same concerns I did, but was a bit gentler.

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.

Can I take this moment to toot my own horn?  Or maybe at least show you that I’m not just randomly making stuff up?

After Chad Billingsley made his last start, I posted a rather well publicized (surprisingly) analysis of what I thought might have been wrong with him.  Well, after yesterday’s start, I thought Billingsley, Joe Torre, and Rick Honeycutt had a few interesting comments.

Billingsley

“I pretty much went out and kept it simple,” said Billingsley, “instead of trying to be too fine out there. Instead of attacking hitters [previously], I was worried too much about the situation or the count, doing that stuff. Just attack with the four-seam and hammer, and go after them.”

The objective evidence seems to back up the point that an adjustment of some sort was indeed made.

The amount of four seam fastballs he threw should jump at you.  He did indeed attack hitters with it, and he threw it almost a mile and a half faster than he had been over the course of this season.  Personally, I’m still not sure if he should be throwing so many cutters and sliders, but at least he went away from the heavy diet of two seamers.

Torre

“He was throwing the ball well, and his pitch count [of 86] was good for six innings. He wasn’t trying to guide the ball, just letting it go and trusting it.”

This was a rather obvious difference if you were watching the game.  Billingsley was noticeably letting loose, especially later in the game.

Honeycutt

“He was able to examine some things”, said Honeycutt. “He was a little bit better able to make adjustments. His approach was better, he kept it simple. He got back to who he was — fastball and curve, mix pitches, attack the batters. He stayed taller and was more consistent with his release point. It was very encouraging.”

Hooray for making the correct diagnosis!

In all seriousness though, this confirms that Billingsley did indeed make adjustments, both mentally and mechanically.  In a perfect world, the adjustments would continue to progress on a linear path and power him directly to a return to greatness, but as we all know, progress often doesn’t work that way.

The important thing though, in my opinion, is that they correctly identified Billingsley’s problems, and now he can move forward to address them.

So everybody knows about Joe Torre’s propensity to single out certain relievers that he likes and then pitch them until their arm falls off, right? If not, recent examples include the Dodgers own Scott Proctor and Tanyon Sturtze.

Well, Proctor got hurt this season, and Sturtze was never available, so Torre was on a mission to find a new whipping boy to abuse, and I fear that pitcher is now Cory Wade.

In the early going, Torre showed very little confidence in the rookie, and I can’t blame him. Wade came out of almost nowhere and didn’t have much of a minor league track record, much less MLB experience. However, as the year went on, Wade continued to turn in excellent performances in his lesser roles and slowly earned Torre’s confidence. Around this time, Proctor was completely losing effectiveness and then went down to injury.

Since Torre no longer had a guy to abuse in every situation, he choose Wade to fill that void in his life. Starting in June, Wade began to be used in almost every other game for a good two months, all while averaging over an inning an appearance. He ended up throwing 17 1/3 innings in June, and then 15 1/3 innings in July, before finally succuming to a tired arm in August.

To put that into perspective, when Torre abused Proctor as a Yankee to the tune of a ridiculous 83 games and 102 1/3 innings in 2006, Proctor averaged ~17 innings a month. So while it’s great that Torre’s showing immense confidence in Wade, it might actually end up being not so great for Wade’s career. I just cringe to see how he’ll be used in 2009 if Proctor isn’t around. I think he’ll be hard pressed to push the 102 1/3 innings of Proctor, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a huge spike. Well, assuming Wade doesn’t go down with an injury again.

Overall, Wade is a very promising bullpen arm that anybody would love to have as a 6th or 7th inning option. However, the way Torre falls in love with certain pitchers, it’s not a stretch to say Wade’s career could be in jeopardy sooner than later. I really hope Torre eases off the kid eventually, but with the way he continues to handle Proctor even now, Torre seems unfazed by the injury risk. Considering that Wade has already succumbed during a two month trial run as a Proctor replacement, I don’t see the situation getting much better for him.