Can you hear me now? Commissioner Bud Selig slaps down Frank McCourt’s latest rescue plan

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

Ah, nothing like baseball’s squeeze play.

Particularly when it’s coming from the commissioner on your struggling Dodgers owner.

Frank McCourt, as you may have heard, needs money. Whether it’s to pay off the ex-wife, start his dream network or simply cover operating expenses.

He apparently needs lots of money. The kind that most of us cannot truly fathom. And needs it now.

His latest scheme to come up with it, as The Times’ Bill Shaikin reports, was for Fox to loan him approximately $200 million. As collateral, McCourt was putting up his cable TV rights, which someone apparently thinks is a tad more impressive than my Accord.

Only, Commissioner Bud Selig rejected the proposal.

And therein lies hope for all who see a change of ownership is the only way the Dodgers will again be the Dodgers, and not a financing mechanism for McCourt Estates.

It’s been frequently reported that Selig is unhappy with the McCourt stewardship, though always without direct attribution. Instead, it’s ‘people’ or ‘sources’ saying that Selig has finally had enough.

Probably the best thing Selig had done was to say nothing. As in, not a single syllable of support. Sometimes silence really does speak volumes.

But by not allowing Fox to float McCourt the $200 million, Selig has spoken. Whether McCourt actually heard him is another matter.

Still, this is a positive move. For one, it slapped down the Evil Empire (Fox), preventing the media giant from coming to McCourt’s rescue yet again. Remember, Fox does not care about the Dodgers or their fans, other than how the team can boost ratings and profit margin.

And for another, it leaves McCourt again without a ready player to help him stave off his divorce settlement and overcome past financial mistakes. The team was over $430 million in debt back in November 2009.

It’s puts the squeeze on, and, at some point, McCourt will -- you hope -- run out of financial options. There are only so many banks, infomercial dudes and commissioners a guy can go to.

The simple thing from a fan’s standpoint would be for Selig to declare the ‘best interest of baseball’ clause and take the team from McCourt. But Selig has always been big on precedent, and there’s not much there. Plus, he seems to live for the love of the owners -- who are now purely his employers -- and wouldn’t be excited about leaving them wondering who could be next if one of them ticks off Selig.

Selig used a similar approach with the Texas Rangers last year, rejecting a deal between Fox and then-owner Tom Hicks. The Rangers ended up in bankruptcy court and were sold.

So there is hope, and if painfully vague, still more real now than before Selig turned away McCourt’s financing scheme.

The squeeze does indeed appear to be on, and growing tighter.

-- Steve Dilbeck