We don't usually start the day with such newsy items, but the timing of this is particularly interesting. With the Dodgers set to play at Target Field in a three-game series starting tonight, they have reportedly filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this morning. We saw the news first on Biz of Baseball: After months of being able to cobble together payroll for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Frank McCourt's well has run dry. Unable to meet end-of-month payroll, and MLB on the verge of seizing the club, McCourt has filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The document shows that the Dodgers are worth between $500,000 to $1 billion with liabilities only shown to be between $0 and $50,000. Of the 40 unsecured creditors of the Dodgers listed, 28 are players. The top 5 players shown to be owed compensation are:
- Manny Ramirez: $20,992,086
- Andruw Jones: $11,075,000
- Hiroke Kuroda: $4,483,516
- Rafeal Furcal: $3,752,275
- Ted Lily: $3,423,077
You can take a look at the entire bankruptcy filing document right here. It's hard to believe that an organization mired in a bitter divorce and ownership struggle, and one which owes $21 million to a retired repeat offender of baseball's drug policy could ever be in any kind of financial trouble. But believe it, people.
The Dodgers are headed to Target Field -- their first series in Minnesota since 2006, when they were swept here at almost the exact same point in the season -- with problems even greater than those of the Twins. Now that's saying something.
