Dodgers owner Peter Guber encouraged fans to keep the optimism because the trade with the Red Sox was for more than just this season, which is indeed the rational thing to recognize. However, what the hell did he mean by saying they did it to “send signals”?

“It’s not fair to judge anything for almost a season,” said Guber. “The objectives of both groups were completely different. [Dodgers president] Stan Kasten, [general manager] Ned Colletti and [manager] Don Mattingly had an objective and the Red Sox had an objective to rebuild.

Right, that’s fine. While it’s ridiculous that the Dodgers are as close to finishing third in the NL West as they are to winning it, the trade was made with a long-term idea in mind, as every single player involved in the trade will be with the team beyond 2012. Besides, they’re only a game back of the Cardinals, and as the Cardinals showed last year, anything can happen once you get into the postseason.

It did, however, irk me a bit how he basically reinforced the notion that the trade was done as a public relations stunt.

“You can’t tell nine days later. Look at it for a season. Not over three weeks. We did it to send signals, to the fans, to the media. You have to recognize that it’s a business proposition. The biggest risk in business is taking no risk.”

Hopefully I’m reading too much into his words here, but he took on a quarter billion dollars to “send signals” to the fans and media? He did it as a “business proposition”?

Ugh.

It’d be a whole lot more comforting to think they did it because they thought Josh Beckett had correctable flaws, A-Gon would thrive once back in the NL West, and Carl Crawford showed enough improvement that they thought he could be an All-Star again. Not because they wanted to make a P.R. statement to the media and fans. I mean, honestly, who gives a shit what the media and fans think if the product on the field can’t win? At the end of the day, nothing will change attitudes quicker than winning, and nothing speaks to that fact more than the current state of the Dodger fandom.

The unbridled joyous optimism of the trade is no more, and if anything it has turned negative due to increased expectations. No longer am I getting angry Twitter messages for basically writing “we’ll see how it turns out”, rather, all the buzz has worn off and I’m fielding more inquiries about how screwed the team is down the road. Why? Because they’re losing and people hate it, especially when they’ve just been given the baseball version of blue balls after such a mega-trade.

Look, I’m sure they did the deal because they believed it would help the team win as well, but if it really was a secondary concern to doing the equivalent of renting a Ferrari for your high school reunion, then it’s more than a bit worrying to me. As I’ve said before, their willingness to invest in the product is a great sign, but not if they’re going to be making baseball decisions from the perspective of winning back popular opinion.

Matthew Futterman (tee hee) of the Wall Street Journal has details on Magic Johnson‘s group’s winning bid on the Los Angeles Dodgers.

With a bid of $2.15 billion, including the surrounding land, Mr. Johnson, controlling partner Mark Walter and partners Peter Guber, Stan Kasten, Bobby Patton and Todd Boehly beat out a group of some of the wealthiest businessmen in the country to land a team that is one of Major League Baseball’s flagship franchises. The sales figure shatters the previous record sales price for a U.S. sports franchise, Steve Ross’s purchase of the Miami Dolphins for $1.1 billion three years ago.

But buying the Dodgers now comes with a unique opportunity to launch a potentially lucrative regional sports network in the country’s second-largest market, or sign a new local broadcast deal with the current broadcaster, News Corp.’s Fox unit, which has already offered the team a 17-year extension valued at nearly $3 billion. (News Corp. also owns The Wall Street Journal).

$3 billion is a ton, but David Wharton of the Los Angeles Times speculates that the price could be even higher, as much as $4 billion.

With Time Warner, Fox and others expected to show interest, estimates for the total value of the deal have risen as high as $4 billion.

“None of this is lost on the new owners of the Dodgers,” said Neal Pilson, former president of CBS Sports. “They have an opportunity to create a bidding war.”

So along with that surprisingly high $2 billion bid that had some people concerned are individuals who apparently knew what they were doing … unsurprisingly.

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The story of how Magic Johnson’s group won is rather amusing, as it basically amounts to making it rain cash on Frank McCourt.

According to a person involved with the process, the auction had been expected to take place Wednesday. Blackstone had asked the parties to submit sale contracts last week and deliver their initial offers by Tuesday morning, since approval of the bidders from Major League Baseball was expected to come easily on Tuesday afternoon. When the offers arrived, the bid from the Johnson-Walter group was so much higher than the competing offers, it essentially took the franchise off the block almost instantly.

The person said the other offers, which were perceived as opening bids, were in the range of $1.5 billion, some 25% less than the Johnson-Walter bid. As a result, the other bidders were never given a chance to match, and the deal was wrapped up by Tuesday evening.

The bid was described as a “100% cash offer.” Mr. Walter is making a significant personal contribution to the purchase price, with Guggenheim Partners, of which he is chief executive, playing a substantial role in financial contribution.

The deal is preliminary and still has to go through a complicated closing process and receive approval from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. However, Mr. McCourt is under pressure to complete the deal by April 30, one day before he owes his ex-wife a $131 million payment as part of their divorce settlement.

Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times confirms that it was indeed a 100% cash bid and adds that it should not run into any difficulty, specifically because of the cash nature of the bid.

In my mind, I’m going to imagine that the group walked up to Frank McCourt and said, “Straight cash, homie.”

“What’s two billion dollars? To me?“

As if there weren’t already enough reasons to not want Steven Cohen to win the Los Angeles Dodgers franchise, Tony La Russa might now be involved with his bid.

Tony La Russa could play a major role in revitalizing the Dodgers if Steven Cohen buys the team.

La Russa met with Cohen last weekend in Arizona, according to two people familiar with the sale process but not authorized to comment. The two men discussed how La Russa might fit with the Dodgers, the people said, but no agreement was reached and La Russa has made no commitment.

Cohen, the hedge-fund billionaire, has aligned with longtime agent Arn Tellem. If Cohen wins the Dodgers, he is expected to appoint Tellem as team president.

La Russa, who retired after managing the St. Louis Cardinals to the World Series championship last fall, could consider overseeing the Dodgers’ baseball operations, much as former manager Joe Torre could have done had his bid with Los Angeles developer Rick Caruso been successful.

Do. Not. Want.

Of course, I expect casual fan to stump for this, probably under the guise that TLR is a winner or some crap like that.

Great.

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In happier news, Peter Guber, who is currently the co-owner of the NBA‘s Golden State Warriors, has joined Magic Johnson‘s bidding group for the team.

Guber would be a minority investor in the group. Johnson is an investor in the Dayton Dragons, one of several minor league baseball franchises owned and operated by Guber’s Mandalay Sports. The Dragons have sold out 844 consecutive games, an ongoing record for a North American professional sports franchise.

Guber and Johnson also have been partners in the entertainment business. When he was chief executive at Sony Entertainment, Guber helped Johnson launch his chain of movie theaters.

Guber declined to comment. His decision to join the Johnson bid group was confirmed by two people familiar with the Dodgers sale process but not authorized to comment publicly.

I hope this puts Magic’s group over the top, because TLR … ugh.

In related news, the best thing I read all of yesterday was Buster Olney reporting that the feeling among some executives is that Magic is the front-runner.

With miles to go before the end of the process, some baseball execs believe Magic Johnson’s group is the current front-runner to buy LAD.

I seriously hope I’m not getting my hopes up for nothing.