Sports Illustrated's Jon Heyman has the inside scoop on the Dodgers front office today, or what amounts to an inside scoop insofar as Ned Colletti, the GM, isn't blamed for any of the Dodgers' woes, and owner Frank McCourt and assistant GM Logan White get all the attention. Still: inside politics. Awesome.
The Dodgers are diving into the middle of a lot of trade talks, but skepticism remains steep about whether they'll actually pull anything off. "They're a mess,'' one NL executive says, flatly. Several baseball people say there was a deal for the Dodgers either "in place'' for CC Sabathia -- or close to it -- when they suddenly pulled the plug, apparently at the behest of over-involved owner Frank McCourt. [...]
Logan White, who drafted much of the young Dodgers talent, is said by some to have unusual say-so for a recently-promoted assistant GM. Meanwhile, McCourt is telling confidants that he is displeased by the team's attendance and revenues, calling into question whether he'd even OK player expenditures.
Aw. Somebody feels undermined. Could that somebody possibly be named Ned? Could his last name rhyme with spaghetti? Could he have signed Juan Pierre to a $44 million deal? OK, maybe that, but surely he wouldn't feed Heyman such tasty info at the risk of embarrassing his organization, though, would he? Never.