Say what? Peter O'Malley one of three approved to pursue Padres

Say what? Peter O’Malley one of three approved to pursue Padres

By Steve Dilbeck

May 26, 2012 12 AM PT

So you’ve had some time now, getting used to the idea that Peter O’Malley wants to buy the Padres?

I thought not.

But O’Malley is apparently very serious about this Padres business. MLB’s Barry Bloom reported he is one of three potential ownership groups that have been approved to review the financial records of the Padres.

This, of course, was Frank McCourt’s gift to the Padres and the rest of baseball. He sold the Dodgers for an unheard of price of $2.15 billion, almost tripling the previous record for an MLB team.

Now the Padres have been caught in the upward tide, and even better, some of those who bid and lost out on the Dodgers have simply reset their sights down south.

Padres majority owner John Moores had sold the team for $530 million to partner Jeff Moorad in 2009. Moorad, however, could not get MLB approval and the team was put back on the market earlier this year. In the interim, the Padres signed a $1.2-billion broadcasting deal with Fox.

Now Moores is planning on getting plenty more than that $530 million.

“I have a [price] range in my head, but I don’t think I want to share that right now,” Moores told Bloom. “Let’s just say that with the new TV deal and the price that was paid for the Dodgers, it’s considerably north of where it once was.”

Roses can be sent to McCourt at the Montage Beverly Hills.

In addition to O’Malley, MLB has thus far approved Steve Cohen, the multibillionaire who was one of three finalists for the Dodgers, and motion picture mogul Thomas Tull.

Tull’s Legendary Pictures has produced such box-office successes as “Batman Begins,” “The Hangover,” “300,” “The Dark Night” and “Inception.” He has partnered up with Mr. Padre, Tony Gwynn.

Gwynn, of course, spent 20 years with the Padres and makes perfect sense. O’Malley lived and breathed the Dodgers his entire life until mistakenly selling them to News Corp. in 1998.

He was an early bidder for the Dodgers when the team was put up for sale while in bankruptcy, but withdrew, apparently -- and understandably -- convinced he could not win even if he had the highest offer. O’Malley had been publicly critical of McCourt’s stewardship.

And now as a consolation prize, the Padres? Really? Coming soon, Mitt Romney asks Hillary Clinton to be his running mate.

O’Malley is the Dodgers. If Tommy Lasorda bleeds Dodger Blue, O’Malley is the Dodger blood bank. The Dodgers have won six World Series, all under the O’Malley family banner. He’s lived in Los Angeles his entire adult life.

He’s L.A. and the Dodgers, and there’s no way I could ever get used to him owning the … Padres?

For a change of pace, Dodgers go quietly in 3-1 loss to Astros

Matt Kemp, Juan Rivera prepare for return as Dodger kids hold on

Say what? Peter O’Malley one of three approved to pursue Padres