Dodgers ask bankruptcy judge to reconsider limits on arguments

By Bill Shaikin and Dylan Hernandez

Oct. 3, 2011 12 AM PT

The Dodgers on Monday asked the judge in their bankruptcy case to reconsider limits he placed on their arguments.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross said he would hear arguments Wednesday.

Dodgers owner Frank McCourt has said Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig forced the team into bankruptcy by rejecting a proposed television contract. On Friday, Gross ruled that he would hear arguments on whether the contract would be good for the Dodgers and baseball and whether Selig had treated McCourt in good faith. Gross also ruled, however, that he would not authorize McCourt’s attorneys to obtain documents and conduct depositions related to other teams.

In a court filing Monday, the Dodgers’ attorneys tried a baseball analogy on Gross: “Just as it would be a challenge to show that an umpire was acting in bad faith merely because he called a pitch high that other umpires would call a strike — but easier to make that showing if the same umpire called the same pitch a ball for one team and a strike for the other — [the Dodgers] should be entitled to present evidence of the Commissioner’s dealings with other teams involving similar transactions to allow this Court to determine whether the Commissioner is using a different strike zone for [the Dodgers] than for other teams.”

The Dodgers also alleged that discovery “has been one-sided in favor of MLB” because Gross denied the Dodgers’ previous requests and because MLB has access to documents from the Dodgers and from McCourt personally because a league-appointed trustee oversaw the team from April through June.

Radio deal is official

The Dodgers officially announced that they have entered a three-year agreement with KLAC-AM (570) to be their flagship station. The deal goes into effect starting next season.

KLAC will broadcast the Dodgers’ 162 regular-season games, as well as seven spring-training games and any postseason games. The station will air a postgame call-in talk show during the regular season and a season countdown program from 7-8 p.m. from Monday through Saturday during spring training.

The deal ends the Dodgers’ four-year run with KABC-AM (790).

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