Craig Calcaterra
May 5, 2011, 5:00 PM EDT
There’s an item over at Bloomberg this afternoon that caused a bunch of people to email me with “Hey! Can we get Matt Kemp??!” messages. Thusly:
Los Angeles Dodgers players could file for free agency if the team can’t make payroll, Major League Baseball players union spokesman Greg Bouris said in an e-mail.
That is technically true, per the uniform player contract. If the team can’t pay, sure, they’re free agents. But the team will never technically miss payroll because Major League Baseball would step in and pay the players. Of this there is 100% certainty, because the only thing the other owners would hate more than footing the bill for Frank McCourt is 25 brand new free agents on the market in the middle of May.
So: thanks for the brief scare, Bloomberg, but next time feel free to add a touch of commentary to your technically-true but in this case misleading news item.