Two McCourt sons are on the payroll--do we care?

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Last week, amidst all that hubbub about silent partners and shady cash movement, it was noted that the two McCourt sons, Drew and Travis, were on the Dodgers' payroll to the tune of $600,000 per year combined. Drew is 28, Travis 27. As of last fall, Drew was attending business school at Stanford and Travis worked at Goldman Sachs in New York.

Jamie's divorce filings include the couple's budget for supporting the children, including a substantial amount allocated to Drew and Travis, both earning Dodgers paychecks. I'm reluctant to get into too much depth about the McCourt children's expenses and lifestyles, as that has little to do with the Dodgers. What's more, Frank and Jamie willingly invited a high level of scrutiny when they bought a baseball team. The McCourt kids didn't have the luxury of choice. But their positions with the club are certainly on topic.

To tell the truth, I'm just not that outraged about this $600,000 per year. Yes, that's a decent draft pick or a player earning the minimum salary. And it's true: every little bit counts. It's difficult to hear about the Dodgers' plans to keep payroll near or below current levels when these sorts of expenses persist. There's a strong urge to lash out at the roster construction when it's so abundantly clear that a moderate budget for players is a choice, not a necessity.

But like I said, I'm having a tough time drumming up the anger on this one. To me, the bigger problem isn't the $600,000 to Drew and Travis, but what it says about the team's attitude toward expenses generally. Jamie's filings allege that a great deal of the couple's luxurious lifestyle was funded directly by the Dodgers. Essentially, the line between Dodgers finances and McCourt finances was, at best, blurry. Having two of the McCourt children on the payroll despite full-time obligations to other callings is more of the same. The $600,000 annually won't be missed, but it raises questions about efficiency throughout the rest of the organization. And at a time when the club's owner pleads poverty and the payroll budget is shockingly low for a major market, those questions matter.
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