Magic, Stan and the Dodgers’ $2 Billion Plan

Originally posted May 18th at The Sports Fan Journal

 

What’s in place in LA is impressive, but what’s to come should be mind-blowing.

Now that the ink is dry on the Los Angeles Dodgers’ purchase, it really has set in that it’s a brand new day for one of baseball’s most iconic franchises. It feels like it’s been years since Manny Ramirez’s arrival supercharged baseball in Dodger Stadium and made it a focal point for the first time since the Hideo Nomo/Mike Piazza days. But it’s been a long time since there was some legit, annual winning baseball for them. In recent years, there have been some mediocre times in a tough division, which was finally capped by the financial freeze brought on by the ugly divorce of ex-owner Frank McCourt.

But the circus was run out of town when the team was sold off to two very uniquely successful figures, in two very different ways. When Magic Johnson and Stan Kasten headed up the group that paid an all-sports record of $2 billion to get the rights to the Dodgers in March, it shined a light on a dim area around a team that really should never be too far away from the spotlight. Magic’s Midas touch in life is undeniable; from reviving and raising the Lakers to a new standard on the court, to becoming one of the most enterprising businessmen in the LA area. Kasten is the architect of the 1990’s Atlanta Braves dynasty and set in motion the transition of the Montreal Expos into the Washington Nationals, which is now beginning to bloom in his leave. All things considered, could you really pick two better guys to rebuild a franchise reeling out of control?

However, idealism only goes so far, and the actual work of putting together not only a perennially competitive Dodger club is going to take some real focus….

 

For the rest of this piece, including not only how aggressive the new regime could be in free agency, but how many different ways it will go about it, head over to The Sports Fan Journal here: http://www.thesportsfanjournal.com/sports/baseball/los-angeles-dodgers-2-billion-plan-magic-and-stan/

 

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