BLUE SKIES AHEAD
Longtime exec in heaven with Dodgers
TAMPA — The ever-garrulous Stan Kasten was on the other end of the phone, feeling a little like “Hercules Unchained” after nearly two years of being under a gag order from MLB and a bankruptcy judge in Virginia. And after a whirlwind few days of cross-country flights, he said he wasn’t quite sure where he was. Listening to him passionately expound about the stunning turn of events that had just put him back in the saddle again as a major league team chief executive, however, was quite apparent. Blue Heaven. Late Wednesday night, the 60-year-old Kasten — who carved his niche as president of the Atlanta Braves from 1986-2003 when they won more games than any other team in baseball, and then as the first president of the Washington Nationals from 2006-10 — celebrated his return to the game when his group, Guggenheim Partners, led by L.A. icon Magic Johnson, bought the Dodgers for a record $2.15 billion. It was a deal that not only blew away all the likewise billionaire competition, but all of baseball and most economists as well.
Some economists have said the Guggenheim group, whose winning bid was more than $400 million higher than that of the runner-up, New York hedge fund titan Steven Cohen, paid almost twice what the Dodgers are really worth, likening it to former Texas Rangers owner Tom Hicks’ $252 million contract for Alex Rodriguez in 2000, which was $100 million more than any other team had offered him. That contract effectively constrained Hicks from spending money on other players to improve the team and ultimately set the wheels in motion for his financial demise. Other economists, noting the some $400 million of debt left by previous owner Frank Mccourt that was part of the deal, as well as the estimated $300 million it’s going to take to upgrade and modernize Dodger Stadium, wonder how the new owners can ever expect to make a profit — especially if they maintain a payroll of $130 million -$140 million one would expect for a large market team. Not to worry, Kasten says. “Do you think they gave away every last penny in their bank accounts to come up with the $2 billion?” Kasten said. “That really makes us laugh.”
Even so, one would think Kasten is in for a bit of a culture shock running a $2 billion operation. In all his previous years as a chief executive in baseball, he was commissioner Bud Selig’s pit bull against the union in the various labor wars, as well as being an outspoken critic of wild spending owners, particularly the Yankees, as being the ruin of baseball. And, in fact, the Braves were — and still are — a model of financial prudency and responsibility while maintaining winning teams year after year. It has also been duly noted that not long after Kasten had resigned as president of the Nationals, their owner, Ted Lerner, was bamboozled by Scott ( Avenging Agent) Boras into giving Jayson Werth that $126 million.
“Deep into my core, I’m a scouting and player development guy and we will emphasize that even more here,” Kasten said. “You’ve got to have homegrown talent, and I’m very proud of the fact that Washington got voted the No. 1 farm system by Baseball America this year. When we started out there, it was at the bottom. At the same time, we understand the expectations and that our resources (in L.A.) are more than a lot of teams. We’re not gonna wait eight years to build a champion. It’s what (Dodger fans) expect and demand.”
Translation: Expect the Dodgers to be un-kasten-like aggressive players in the free agent market.
“We know what the Dodgers are,” Kasten said. “No one who works in the office has a more special sense of pride for that uniform. The first person I called was Vin Scully because that’s what the Dodgers are. He was surprised I took the time to call him, but I’ve got to get used to this whole Dodger thing.”
The next two people Kasten called were GM Ned Colletti and manager Don Mattingly, both of whom have to be greatly relieved to be finally out from under the financially-ravaged Mccourt regime. It’s only natural that when new owners take over a team they want to bring their own people in, but as the new Dodgers president, Kasten is keeping an open mind.
“It’s a . 500 team right now,” he said, “but we aim to make it better quickly. The one good thing about t a king over a team in March is that
we’ll have a whole season to evaluate everything and see what things work.”
Especially Dodger Stadium, which needs major renovations.
“We’ve already had a team of engineers in there looking over everything, and what has to be done in the short term and over a longer period of time,” Kasten said.
That said, there are no plans to build a new stadium or sell the naming rights to help finance the estimated $300 million it’s going to take to get Dodger Stadium up to par with all the new stadiums that have been built over the last 20 years.
“Where Dodger Stadium is situated, with its view of the San Gabriel Mountains, no amount of money can buy you that,” Kasten said. “We respect that and we want to enhance that. It’s Dodger Stadium and it should remain being ca lled that for as long as we own the ballclub.”
Just the same, the events of last Thursday only further validated how far the Dodgers now are f rom Ebbets Field.