Torre eyes Dodgers; Marlins add Zambrano to mix
Joe Torre resigned Wednesday as Major League Baseball’s executive vice-president for baseball operations to join a group trying to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Torre managed the Dodgers from 2008 to 2010, then retired and joined MLB last February as a top aide to commissioner Bud Selig. He is joining a group headed by real estate developer Rick Caruso.
The Dodgers were put up for sale by owner Frank Mccourt in November, five months after the team filed for bankruptcy. Following months of bickering and accusations of mismanagement, an agreement between Mccourt and MLB said the team is to be sold by April 30, which coincides with the deadline for Mccourt to pay former wife Jamie a $131 million U.S. divorce settlement.
Initial bids for the team are due by Jan. 23 with the Blackstone Group, Frank Mccourt’s investment banker. The price likely will break the record for a baseball franchise, topping the $845 million paid by the Ricketts family for the Chicago Cubs in 2009.
Other potential bidders for the team include groups that include former NBA star Magic Johnson, former CNN host Larry King, exDodgers ace Orel Hershiser and Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
ZAMBRANO JOINS GUILLEN: The Chicago Cubs traded pitcher Carlos Zambrano to Ozzie Guillen’s Miami Marlins for right-hander Chris Volstad, pending physicals and approval by Major League Baseball. Zambrano wore out his welcome in Chicago because of repeated meltdowns and tantrums. The most recent came when he cleaned out his locker and talked about retiring after giving up five homers and being ejected during a loss to Atlanta on Aug.12. He was suspended without pay and then it was decided he would sit out the rest of the season. In Miami he’ll be joining another former Chicagoan, Guillen, who expressed interest in acquiring Zambrano when he was hired as the Marlins’ manager in October. Zambrano joins a franchise on the upswing after a winter spending spree resulted in the signings of all-stars Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle and Heath Bell.
RODNEY SIGNS, APOLOGIZES: Freeagent reliever Fernando Rodney, who signed a one-year, $2 million contract with the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday, used the obligatory conference call to apologize for throwing a ball into the Tropicana Field pressbox after a 2009 game.
Rodney said he wanted to make clear he was acting purely out of frustration that night and not aiming for or intending to hit anyone when he hurled the ball from the field, an act that earned him a threegame suspension.
“I want to say sorry,” the Dominican Republic native said Wednesday.
After that, Rodney — who saved 37 games for the Tigers in 2009, then had two less successful seasons with the Angels — said he was looking forward to helping the Rays in any role. Kyle Farns worth figures to keep the closer’s job.