Advertisement

Dodgers Web doings: If Frank McCourt doesn’t step up for Cliff Lee or Roy Oswalt, is it because he can’t or won’t?

Share via

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Buddy, you got a dime?

Or maybe a cool $26 mil?

There are two clear, bright stars expected to be made available before the trading deadline -- Cliff Lee and Roy Oswalt -- and one obvious destination for either.

And at the moment, zero chance of either landing with your very own tea-leaf reading, V-energy loving, vibe-feeling Los Angeles Dodgers.

That the Dodgers don’t almost desperately need either in their rotation isn’t even an issue. That the Dodgers will, or can, actually make a legitimate bid for either sadly doesn’t even appear on the radar.

Advertisement

With Seattle’s Lee, a deal probably would require several top prospects, which the Dodgers currently have a dearth of. With Houston’s Oswalt, it requires serious cash, which owner Frank McCourt has been a wee bit tight with of late.

I suppose going through a mega-divorce can do that to a guy, what with having to pay the soon-to-be ex-wife with $7.6 million a year in temporary spousal support.

Yet in the end, what club followers are most concerned about is the effort made into building the best possible team on the field. Particularly one in the second-largest and most lucrative market in the country.

SI.com’s Jon Heyman identifies the Dodgers as the No. 1 candidate for either Lee or Oswalt but concludes that it’s not believed that the Dodgers have enough high-level prospects to nab Lee, and ‘Oswalt seems completely out of their reach financially.’

Advertisement

McCourt denies that the divorce is affecting how the club is run, but then you know what they say about actions being louder than words.

In other Web doings concerning the Dodgers:

Manny Ramirez doesn’t return to Boston until Friday, but already the attention has many looking past the series at the Reds and at the Red Sox.

-- The Times’ Baxter Holmes talks to fans at Fenway Park, Ramirez’s former Red Sox teammates and even the mayor about Manny’s looming return. Safe to say, he shouldn’t expect love and kisses.

Advertisement

-- The Riverside Press-Enterprise’s David Lassen has Dodgers Manager Joe Torre talking about how different it could be for him to enter Fenway wearing something other than a Yankees uniform.

-- Dodgers.com’s Ken Gurnick offers an early Father’s Day feature with Chad Billingsley recounting the amazing health hardships his father has endured and how he pushed them aside to help his pitching career.

-- ESPNLosAngeles.com’s Tony Jackson reviews the Dodgers’ on-going troubles with interleague play. They haven’t had a winning record in interleague play since they went 10-8 in 2004.

-- CBSSports.com’s Scott Millerhas concluded that Frank and Jamie McCourt are crazier than you thought.

From the video files:

-- Andre Ethier has filmed a funny ad for ESPN’s 3-D network that can be viewed at ESPN.com.

-- A new low in self-promotion for an otherwise good cause, actually interfering with a game in progress, Eonline.com offers Ozzy Osbourne as he induces the Dodger Stadium crowd to set a Guinness World Record for loudest and longest scream.

His new CD, coincidentally, is titled ‘Scream.’

Poor Vin Scully introduces it as ‘interesting’ and gamely concludes, ‘Anything to help.’

-- Steve Dilbeck

Advertisement