Clayton Kershaw has an impingement of the right hip and threw off a mound on Friday prior to making the start Sunday. I’ve made my feelings on the topic known before: they should shut him down.

Don Mattingly, via Dylan Hernandez, said:

“The last thing I want to be involved with is pitching Clayton Kershaw hurt. If I knew something … I couldn’t sit here for it.”

And yet, that’s exactly what he and the organization did.

Though doctors said Kershaw couldn’t hurt his hip any worse, but he could have hurt his arm compensating for the injured hip, which Chad explained earlier and Orel Hershiser explained during the game.

We all should remember how well compensating for an injured body part worked for another dynamite hurler, Eric Gagne. I’ve said it a thousand times, but again, there is baseball beyond 2012.

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Hanley Ramirez left Sunday’s game after fouling a ball off of his leg. X-rays on his shin were negative.

Despite his struggles of late, the last thing the Dodgers needed was another serious injury at the end of the year.

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Chad Billingsley played catch with medical director Stan Conte on Friday. Ted Lilly underwent shoulder surgery Friday and can resume throwing in 6-to-8 weeks.

The Dodgers have to hope both will be healthy for 2013 or the rotation might be a bit of a mess, at least initially.

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Shane Victorino missed the series against Cincinnati with a sore wrist.

I suppose this is an indictment of both his performance and the offense of late (since Juan Rivera did nothing), but it was hard to say anybody even noticed much that he was gone.

Clayton Kershaw pitched and labored through five innings with an injured left hip, but he managed to limit the Reds to a lone run. Adrian Gonzalez homered twice to emphatically break out of his slump, and he helped power the offense to a win. But perhaps the biggest surprise goes to Juan Uribe, who managed to … uh … get a hit.

Still, despite the team’s best efforts, their playoff chances actually dropped because both the Cardinals and the Brewers were victorious, thus keeping the Dodgers three games back of the final Wild Card spot with nine games to play. Their chances now sit in the 5-7 percent range, depending on what methodology you choose to employ.

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Given Kershaw’s performance, I suppose one could look at as if pitching him was the right decision since the team ended up winning, but ten baserunners, including five walks over five innings against the B-lineup of the Reds, didn’t exactly strike me as normal, nor did it really change the fact that the Dodgers playoff hopes are still slim. Honestly, it was just fortunate that the sequencing of his struggles weren’t different, and that the results somehow managed to remain positive.

Simply put, the risk wasn’t worth the reward no matter what happened, because as even Orel Hershiser noted on the ESPN broadcast (Via Eric Stephen), Kershaw indeed struggled with his mechanics:

“We’re watching Clayton Kershaw throw a lot of balls to the right-handed batters box, or away to Votto, or inside to righties. That right hip, as it gets a little fatigued, his upper body is going to take over and it’s going to over-rotate over that hip and he’s going to start pulling pitches like he is. It’s just that little less bracing that makes the upper body go too far and…instead of that arm speed being braced against that front leg and having some direction, there is less bracing on that front side. The arm and the upper body take over, and you happen to pull the ball to your glove side. So if he’s not putting as much weight on it or using as much strength in that front leg for direction, his mechanics will make him start pulling the ball to his glove side.”

As I’ve said on this issue before, I just didn’t see the upside in starting him. This wasn’t a playoff game, it wasn’t a tiebreaker game, and, heck, it wasn’t even a particularly important regular season game.

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In news that I enjoyed the most, A.J. Ellis snapped an 0-for-30 skid with a double in the ninth. The Dodgers dugout made light of his streak by asking for the ball.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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…

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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.

As I covered yesterday, the Los Angeles Dodgers are going to be put up for auction in bankruptcy court, thus ending Frank McCourt‘s embarrassing reign as Dodgers owner. However, while we’re busy celebrating his demise, fans need to be aware of the next owner’s credentials, lest history repeat itself.

For their part, Major League Baseball has committed to facilitating the process quickly and approving potential bidders as owners before the auction starts.

Still, nobody knows exactly who will be in the Dodgers sweepstakes just yet, but there are a ton of rumors to go around.

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So who are the rumored potential owners of the Dodgers?

Bill Shaikin has already ruled out former Dodgers owner Fox (thank god) and Oakland Athletics owner Lew Wolff, but there are many others showing interest, so let’s take a closer look.

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The Frontrunners
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Mark Cuban, the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks, is often talked about as a potential buyer and is a popular choice with the fans. He has previously shown interest in purchasing an MLB franchise with the Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers, so there’s not only current interest, but precedent as well.

That said, Ken Rosenthal reports that Cuban is not willing to go over 1 billion dollars on the Dodgers, while Jon Heyman says 1 billion dollars is the lowest price the Dodgers are likely to go for.

While it would be simple enough to dismiss Cuban’s price talk as not wanting to show his hand, he’s unlikely to overpay just for the sake of getting to own a baseball franchise, as he proved when he finished in second place for the Rangers.

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Dennis Gilbert, the current Chicago White Sox executive who made a run at the Rangers ownership, is getting significant buzz from the press, as his name pops up in the top 3 of almost every article talking about potential Dodgers buyers. Fans seem content enough when his name pops up, which I assume is primarily because he’s a fan of the Dodgers himself. However, not much is known about his investment group, or if he even has one put together.

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The Declared
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Former Dodgers GM Fred Claire has already publicly declared his interest in the team and he seems to have support behind him.

While true that he was the GM at the time of the last Dodgers World Series victory, it should be noted that his major baseball moves were signing Daryl Strawberry, trading for Eric Davis, and trading for Delino DeShields.

His investment group includes Ben Hwang, a former Senior Director of Life Technologies Corporation, and Andy Dolich, a former high ranking executive for many teams in many professional leagues.

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Peter O’Malley, former owner of the Dodgers, has said that he’ll pursue the team.

While it’s nice that he talks about restoring the franchise, fans must remember that he sold it to Fox in 1998 to begin with, which started this whole downward spiral. I’m happy that he says he reads Dodger related blogs, but there are significant concerns with his potential ownership, especially considering part of the reason he sold the team in the first place was that he believed he didn’t have the money to be in baseball anymore.

I suppose there’s always the possibility that the rest of the group he puts together could be financially stacked, but we don’t know anything about them yet, so all we can judge is the frontman.

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Former Dodgers players Steve Garvey and Orel Hershiser are fronting an investment group that plans to bid on the team.

The investors are unknown as of now, so it’s obviously hard to judge their credentials, but while I love Hershiser, Garvey was once broke and his personal affairs have been well publicized, so I’m not sure about the decision making of the investors if that’s the primary face for the group.

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The Sleepers
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Ron Burkle, a California born billionaire and co-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins, lurks in the shadows a bit.

He has stated in regards to the Dodgers that he “would be proud to be part of its future“, but hasn’t said much else about the situation.

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Alan Casden, a real estate businessman, comes up in auction related articles primarily as a throw-in type of name, but he seems to have the means and had previously made a run at buying the team.

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The Unlikely
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Alec Gores, a billionaire businessman, keeps coming up in articles about the auction, but I can’t see any actual interest from him or reason for buying the team.

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Mark Attanasio, the owner of the Milwaukee Brewers, has been mentioned in articles, but I’m pretty sure the only reason is his ties to Los Angeles.

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Tom Werner, a businessman with stakes in the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool F.C. via New England Sports Ventures, is primarily mentioned due to his Los Angeles ties.

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Billionaire Eli Broad is included in the speculation of those who might bid on the Dodgers, but he has declined comment on the issue and the speculation seems hopeful at best.

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Billionaire businessman Larry Ellison has been included in the speculation as well, but he hasn’t commented either. Again, seems more hopeful than legitimate at this point.