Making payroll may prevent MLB takeover

Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt says he will be able to pay the team’s player salaries next week, a newspaper reported Thursday.

McCourt has pledged to Major League Baseball he will make the team’s May 31 payroll, three people with knowledge of the situation told the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday.

By making that deadline, McCourt would ward off the possibility of MLB stepping in to make the payments and potentially seizing the team from him — at least temporarily, the Times reported.

Such a potential situation arose when the owner required a $30 million personal loan to make the team’s first three payrolls this season, most recently on May 15, according to the report.

A source told the Times that the Dodgers’ payroll on May 31 will be $9.8 million. A spokesman for McCourt declined to comment on whether the owner will be able to meet the May 31 payroll.

On April 25, baseball commissioner Bud Selig appointed Tom Schieffer, a former Texas Rangers president, to monitor the Dodgers. In his role, Schieffer must approve any expense of $5,000 or more.