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Thursday, May 12, 2005 |
Pickoff Moves
McCourt Refinances, Borrows $250M, Parked In Chavez
Comments from the Pollyanna peanut gallery aside, the news that Frank McCourt has come up with $250M in new financing is possibly good news, though it should be noted he's doing so with the aim of retiring $221M in existing debt. The terms of the loan is 5.66% fixed for 25 years, a solid deal for McCourt, considering. Given that the U.S. Treasury recently dusted off its 30-year notes, can anyone not take this as a sign that interest rates are headed up, and for a long, long time? The only downside I can see to this -- and it isn't all that great -- is that McCourt will be borrowing slightly more, which means he'll have to increase prices of everything at the stadium yet again. His notes are triple-A rated, which is more than we can say for Ford or GM. However, in their defense, customers have legal recourse against the carmakers when the latter hand them a bad product; all we can do with the Dodgers is throw things at the TV set.In related news, dodgers.com reported that the Dodgers will stay in Chavez Ravine for 25 years. While the parking lots may not be safe over time, the possibility -- and it really is only a possibility, for as Jon points out, "agreements are made to be broken" -- is that the Dodgers aren't going to play their games anywhere else for a while. It's a pleasant thought.
Roster Notes
- Scott Rolen is on the 15-day DL, in fact, due to the sprained shoulder he acquired in Wednesday's game. Will Carroll says in today's UTK the Redbirds are pessimistic about his injury, saying "the possibilities are all negative". According to AP, Rolen could miss up to six weeks.
His replacement is 3B Scott Seabol.
- In that same UTK, Will Carroll says Jason Schmidt will be down for a while, but two weeks is expected and reasonable. More on Schmidt at Only Baseball Matters.
- Again from UTK, Jeff Bagwell is possibly done for. His rest regimen is a "last resort", and now the only question is, if this doesn't work, whether he'll retire or go on the DL for the remainder of the season. Throws Like A Girl mourns a little.
- From dodgers.com, Nakamura was outrighted and successfully cleared waivers (though it's a dubious kind of success),
- The Yankees released reliever Steve Karsay. Karsay was 1-0 with a 6.75 ERA in 2.2 IP against the Angels in the 2002 ALDS.
- Angels reserve OF Lou Merloni, already on the DL, had ankle surgery today, to repair torn ligaments. "Merloni is expected to remain in a cast for four weeks before being transferred to a boot to begin range of motion exercises."
- The Giants brought up Brad Hennessey, replacing former Angel reliever Al Levine, who went on the 15-day DL due to a strained neck.
- Don't Cut Your Feet: An I'm-not-kidding, scary-ass story from the UTK mentioned way above:
I have sources everywhere, even inside Johns Hopkins, where reader T.S.--his secret codename, of course--let me know that Sammy Sosa was hobbling about with a concerned entourage of Orioles, despite a happy face from the O's on the outside. T.S. knew before everyone else that Sosa's infected foot was more of a problem; in fact, sources tell UTK that the infection may be MRSA, a serious, drug-resistant infection. Sosa's condition will depend on the cause of the infection and his response to treatment. If the infection is contained, Sosa could be back at near-minimum. If not, well, let's not cross that bridge just yet. ....
- The Houston Astros released former Philly Brandon Duckworth (0-1, 11.40 ERA). Duckworth, last seen jumping into a dogpile he had nothing whatsoever to do with creating, was traded by the Phils in exchange for closer Billy Wagner.
Liars, Damn Liars, And Marketing Executives
Heh!My heart beats harder whenever I encounter another human being so obsessed with sports that it has taken over their daily lives .... Inspired, I tried to write a baseball-themed ad for one of my clients this afternoon. It was promptly killed by the rest of the creative team, who told me that most people just don’t care about baseball. I am glad to know that this is a lie.
Comments:
My point was actually that if you want a good rate, better to do it now, as rates are climbing; the fact that the treasury is issuing 30-year-notes at present means they think they can sucker some people into buying them while rates rise over the coming years, leaving them to hold the bag on a bad investment.
Bad show by UTK (whomever that is) for releasing Sosa's confidential medical info. I don't care to much about the leak per se, except that it places the hospital at liability under the stick HIPPA confidentiality guidelines established by the feds. Anyhow, MSRA is bad new but it is not untreatable. My brothers best friend just had a cut infected by it within the last month and now he is ship shape. The doctors just have to use a different antibiotic.
# posted by 
: 5/13/2005 09:08:00 PM
: 5/13/2005 09:08:00 PMNewer› ‹Older
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