Frank McCourt claims cash squeeze

Frank McCourt's latest court filing in the case of McCourt v. McCourt makes for interesting reading, judging by the stories from John R. Emshwiller in the Wall Street Journal and Bill Shaikin in the L.A. Times. Frank says, for instance, that he lives off the interest from his checking account and that the account has been down to $167,000 lately. Jamie McCourt is in a much better position in regard to financial liquidity, he says:

His filing said Mr. McCourt wouldn't see any significant income until next year -- possibly as late as March -- when he expected a quarterly payment of as much as $1.25 million from the partnership that owns the Dodgers. He said payments from the partnership were "my only source of personal cash flow" other than checking-account interest. Mr. McCourt said his liquid assets recently fell as low as $167,000, after paying about $700,000 in expenses for his wife, who filed for divorce last month. He said the Dodgers don't pay any of his personal expenses.
By contrast, Ms. McCourt has more than $3.5 million in liquid assets and an additional $1.8 million coming from an investment account, according to Mr. McCourt's filing.

Both stories lead with the thought that, despite team and lawyer denials, the McCourts' divorce fight and cash flow issues hinder the Dodgers' player moves this off-season. More tidbits:

Frank claims his credit rating is being damaged by Jamie being behind in house payments he co-signed on — "currently $230,000 in arrears," Frank says.

Frank's annual income from the team is capped at $5 million under a credit agreement with Bank of America.

He insists he receives the same health insurance and benefits as other team employees and that his only perk is "payment of certain minor expenses relating to [my] automobile."

Jamie McCourt's filings claim Frank's net worth is $835 million.

Meanwhile, across town: The Angels fired announcers Rex Hudler and Steve Physioc.