Los Angeles Dodgers fans woke up Monday to a bit of nightmare fuel from the Los Angeles Times detailing how this reported federal probe into owner Mark Walter’s businesses could lead to the departure of Shohei Ohtani.
Columnist Bill Plaschke penned a piece under the headline “Dodgers fans should still fear a team sale by Mark Walter,” or alternatively titled “Beneath the Dodgers’ latest sweep, the scary rumblings of a team sale persist.”
Why is a Dodgers sale even being talked about?
Plaschke is, of course, referencing Dodgers owner Walter’s recent decision to sell the Los Angeles Lakers amid a federal probe into his businesses and his alleged need for billions in cash quickly.
Dodgers President Stan Kasten adamantly denied on Friday that the team is being sold.
“I wanted to make sure everyone understood one thing very clearly: The Dodgers are not being sold,” Kasten told reporters. “They’re not gonna be sold. They’re not for sale. There’s no process that has been started to sell it, period. We are planning only to win. That is what we are always doing. And we are still continuing to do that.”
That echoes what Walter has long said, even before the news of the probe became public.
“It’s a multi-generational thing my daughters’ granddaughters will own,” Walter told the Times in 2012, report Melody Gutierrez and Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic.
What could happen if the Dodgers are sold?
Despite Kasten’s comments and Walter’s previous assertions, Plaschke wrote on Monday that “nobody knows” if the Dodgers will be sold, “but a reasonable guess would be yes.”
Plaschke further stipulates that if Walter does sell, it will end the “seemingly endless flood of money approved by Walter,” which would then endanger Andrew Friedman’s desire to stay with LA and, by extension, could lead to superstar Shohei Ohtani departing for another team.
“Unless the new owners give Friedman a piece of the team, he could set off to build another dynasty elsewhere,” he wrote. “And Ohtani has a clause famously included in his contract that allows him to leave if Friedman or Walter leaves. If Walters goes, Ohtani could demand a new contract with terms that a new cash-strapped owner cannot afford.”
As indicated by the repeated use of “could” and “if,” this is all theoretical. There’s nothing concrete that says Walter is selling the Dodgers.
But if there’s one thing that would keep Dodgers fans up at night, it’s the possibility of losing Friedman and, by extension, Ohtani.
Are you worried about a potential sale of the Boys in Blue?
8 Responses
Did Bill Plaschke write an honest nightmare scenario because he obtained first hand information and facts, or is this article based only on projection just to be saying it first if such were to happen?
If he dug up the specific legal facts on this case that we don’t possess, then it’s great reporting, However, if it’s Chicken Little, then no thank you for the yellow journalism.
That’s all Plaschke ever writes. Maximum negativity filled drivel.
Bill Plaschke has been… Is… and always will be LA sports scenes Chicken Little. He has written articles like this hundreds of times and very rarely do they ever come true. Bill does not have firsthand information nor would anyone dealing with this imbecile let alone the federal officials that are involved with this case. Bill is just a big blow hard who loves to stir the pot. I witnessed this for so many years now…when he used to have dark hair and beard as opposed to now the balding Friar Tuck looking, typical fat reporter that you see on Dodger Sportsnet. Shohei already said that he was not going anywhere and why should he because he’s got a golden parachute waiting for him after about 6 more seasons. The valuation on the Dodgers is so ridiculously high that it will beat the Cowboys if it ever did sell…. which is why they will never be sold.
It seems like most big moves are preceded by unequivocal denials. That doesn’t mean that unequivocal denials are always followed by big moves. That aside, the Feds are all over Walter who has really f—d up. Insurance fraud is serious. Lying to the Feds in writing about who and how much your insurance companies “lent” money to is serious. So he lied about the amount twenty-fold. And he ‘forgot’ to mention the ‘arms length’ outside loan was to “himself” under the guise companies he controlled. This is not going to end well for anything he has touched. Walter’s sale of the Lakers will net him 1/3 of the money he needs. His sale of the L.A. Sparks and Chelsea football may get him another third. Walter has no good choices. Question is this to me. Can Walter divest his interest in the dodgers leaving Guggenheim intact but with a new face and still deep pockets. Is there a Larry Ellison type lurking who switch spots with Walter and keep the same steady hands on the wheel – rather than an outright sale and total rebuild?
Huge yawn for this nothing burger. As fans, our concern is the remaining 31 games, playoff seeding, and playing well in those games and a presenting a solid defense of their back-to-back titles while trying to pursue a never in the NL three in a row. What happens to billionaires, whether true or not, is a waste of time. Time and place for everything. This is neither the time nor the place for this unsubstantiated rubbish. How about a little tiny morsel of respect for the actual fans, not the people hyper ventilating over possible “nightmares”. Terrible worthless “reporting”.
Hopefully NOT a Larry Ellison type!! And Plaschke has always been a blowhard, negative Nancy.
With all the crying from other teams in MLB about spending, who is going to pick up Ohtani’s contract, especially with the much hated deferrals? With the apparent lockdown in 2027, Ohtani will be 34 in 2028 with 6 years remaining on the current contract. I don’t see any team spending that amount for a player heading for the down turn of his career, even if it is the best player in MLB.
As a Dodgers fan of over 50 years, I only hope this story is all just hypothetical “yellow” journalism. However, look what happened with previous owners Frank McCourt, and Fox before this. They were pretty shady, IMO, as well. Maybe Mark Walter can sell the team back to the O’ Malley family (or Mark Cuban), if it actually comes to that scenario. Just saying.
The focus right now should be on winning the world series again this year, no matter what, regardless of who actually owns the team. Being only one of 3 teams in MLB history with a WS three-peat would be awesome.
Also, this is going to “possibly” be the last chance for a “dynasty” in MLB, as the current CBA expires in December. When the smoke settles, there will definitely be a salary cap and possible base. In that case, it will not matter who owns the Dodgers, or any other MLB team for that matter, as the potential $240 million salary cap will prevent any more star player hoarding, as the Dodgers are currently doing. Not complaining, as a life-long Dodgers fan, just stating the facts.
After this season, Mark Walter “could” potentially sell the Dodgers, and it probably won’t have any effect on the overall status of the team, as they will have to shed salaries anyway, and many star players (Freeman, Muncy, etc.) are aging out anyway.
It will be interesting to see how this all plays out with Mark Walter, but in the whole scheme of things, it really won’t matter after this season, anyway. Go Dodgers!