Frank on a hot tin roof

Steve Dilbeck is confirming that Frank McCourt will meet the Dodgers' payroll obligations that are due Wednesday.

So far, I haven't found any reports indicating how he came up with the money. If I had to guess, he probably drew cash advances from future sponsorship deals like he did May 31.

Nonetheless, it appears highly unlikely ("no chance") that McCourt will meet the team's June 30 payroll, as reported yesterday by Bill Shaikin. That's when several deferred salaries become due, ballooning the payroll amount to $30 million — that's roughly triple the normal amount.

McCourt has often been likened to a feline, due to his nine lives. Maybe it's time to try a new cat metaphor, and with that I give you two lines of dialogue from the playwright Tennessee Williams:

Brick Pollitt: What is the victory of a cat on a hot tin roof?

Maggie Pollitt: Just staying on it I guess, long as she can. 

It's not a matter of if he'll lose the team, but when he'll lose the team. McCourt can keep dancing, but at some point — post June 30? — Bud Selig will take action that will force the roof to cave in.

Source says McCourt has "no chance" of making June 30 payroll

Frank McCourt is expected to meet his payroll obligations Wednesday. But here's the good news: A source "familiar with McCourt's finances" is saying that he has "no chance" of making the team's June 30 payroll, according to Bill Shakin. The article goes on to say:

The Dodgers owe about $10 million in payroll Wednesday, according to one of the people, but that figure roughly triples for the June 30 payment as several deferred salaries come due, including more than $8 million to Manny Ramirez. 

If McCourt misses payroll, how long before Selig is forced to seize and sell the team? Hang on to your seats, folks. This is going to get bumpy.

Frank McCourt must pay $8.33 million to Manny Ramirez by June 30

You better cover your jewels, Frank. They'll come after those next.

Manny is still ramming it to Frank McCourt. Molly Knight of ESPN reports:

The cash-strapped Los Angeles Dodgers must pay Manny Ramirez $8.33 million by June 30....[Ramirez] is due the deferred money from the $42 million contract he signed with Los Angeles before the 2009 season.

I'm almost tempted to take back all the bad things I've said about Scott Boras. History, however, tells me not to pop the cork on the Champagne just yet. If McCourt has a strong suit, it's his cockroach-like resiliency. As the writer Knight noted earlier in a tweet, he's certainly not making it easy for Bud Selig to seize the team.

I'll add this last note: Blue Heaven blog makes a sobering observation about the collective glee Dodger fans feel whenever McCourt has a setback: "On a side note, how sad is it that I and many of my brethren seek this kind of ending, any kind of ending, for the current ownership of the team?"

When Frank McCourt tells MLB he can meet payroll next week, do you believe him?

According to the LA Times, Frank McCourt has told MLB that he expects to meet the Dodgers' payroll obligations next week. McCourt needs about $9.8 million to meet the May 31 payroll; however, the amount will increase in June when more than $6 million in deferred compensation to Manny Ramirez becomes due. He's back!

If McCourt can meet the May 31 payroll deadline, it will buy him approximately two weeks with MLB to accelerate efforts to settle his divorce and secure approval of the Fox television contract that's buried under dust and a pile of bratwurst casings on Bud Selig's desk. Sadly for McCourt, sources close to Selig seemingly have this little habit of issuing statements that run somewhat contrary to the team owner's ultimate ambition of retaining ownership. The Times reports:

Commissioner Bud Selig is "not anxious to get embroiled in a marital dispute," according to a person familiar with his thinking. The person also said that Fox's plan not to move forward with the contract unless Jamie McCourt agrees not to challenge it has left Selig with the belief he has no deal to consider. "As of right now, there's nothing for him to do," the person said. 

With all the cards stacked against him, McCourt pushes on.

Suspect identified in lineup:
In the Bryan Stow beating investigation, the Daily News reports that suspect Giovanni Ramirez was identified in a photo lineup and that LAPD says it was "satisfied with the results" of the live lineup.