Blog Moved!

If you're coming here for the first time, I've moved the blog over to MLBlogs via WordPress.

I'm hoping it's a permanent move, but knowing me, it might be temporary. Ha!

So enjoy the new blog...

Really, Frank?!

McCourt says he is in compliance with baseball guidelines regarding the finances.

And he doesn't understand Selig's actions.

So borrowing $30MM from the previous owner to make payroll is in compliance?

Alrighty then.

And new Vice Chairman Soboroff is defending the schmuck.

Great.

Meanwhile, the rumored list of potentials to take over the reigns is growing by the minute.

Torre's been mentioned. So has Lasorda.

Former Assistant GM Kim Ng and former owner Peter O'Malley have been mentioned too.

Other names mentioned in passing: Dennis Gilbert, Stan Kasten, John McHale and Corey Busch.

BREAKING: McCourt On His Way Out?

UPDATED (6:25 CT): Word now is the McCourts are being investigated by the IRS.

This story just keeps getting weirder and weirder.

And better!

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MLB has seized control of the team in light of it's financial situation.

Bud Selig announced he will appoint someone at MLB to oversee the mess.

Joe Torre anyone?!

Enjoy your life post-Dodgers, Frank, you poor schmuck...

And good riddance to you!

Glad I Missed the 9th Inning Last Night

Or maybe I wish I had seen it after watching the Kings debacle.

I've Settled the Debate

I'm keeping the blog here.

For now.

Again.

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Dodgers have hired local business leader Steve Soboroff as their Vice Chairman.

Read about his hire and what his job duties and goals will be here.

A Few Tidbits...

The Jerry Sands Era has begun. He was called up today and got his first start in LF and a double in his first Major League at-bat. For what it's worth, he's the first young prospect in recent years since Ned Colletti took over to ask about being a leader. And he's been compared to Matt Holliday with insane power and great plate discipline. That's good, right?

Meanwhile, Matt Kemp continues to tear the cover off the ball. After hitting a walk-off two-run home run yesterday while going 3 for 4, he started the day leading all Major League hitters with a whopping .474 avg. He got an RBI hit in his first at-bat tonight.

On the flip side, before his two-run single in his first at-bat tonight, James Loney was hitting a whopping .150 with an OPS of .391. No, that's not a typo. His OPS is that much lower than Kemp's avg. (Make that two hits tonight.)

And our old friend Manny Ramirez decided to suddenly retire last week. Why? Because he chickened out and refused to serve a 100-game suspension that was looming. Yep, that's right. He failed yet another drug test. Manny's Fertility Drug Supply is now open for business!

(Sands just hit a sac fly for his first Major League RBI. 4-0 Dodgers over the Braves in the third inning.)

And finally, you have to wonder how much longer Frank McCourt can tolerate the drama and negative publicity surrounding his franchise.

Back on Opening Day, two drunk Dodger fans decided to take matters into their own hands and beat the living bazookas out of an innocent Giant fan in the parking lot after the game. The fan is currently in critical condition in a medically-induced coma with head trauma at USC Medical Center. The suspects are still at-large. And the security at the stadium? Well, wherever it was that day, it has since been revamped with the hiring of former LAPD Chief William Bratton. Police presence and security has been beefed up. Will it be enough though?

McCourt also had to recently borrow $30M from FOX (yes, those guys again) just to be able to pay the players their first paycheck this year. You'd think Bud Selig and MLB would have stepped in by now and taken over this mess.

And it looks like the fans are now finally taking a stand too. They've finally had enough and they're showing their frustrations with the team's play, in particular the dreadful offense sans Kemp and Andre Ethier, and with McCourt by staying away from the park. Attendance has finally taken a hit at the Ravine.

One can only hope McCourt, Colletti and Selig all take notice.

Debating...

Keep the blog here at Blogger?

Or move it to the "revamped" MLBlogs site, now powered by WordPress?

Decisions, decisions...

Oh and I'll blog about baseball again here soon.

Hang tight!

That Time of Year Again!

Time for some fearless predictions for the 2011 season, so without further ado...

NL West: Giants, Rockies*, Dodgers, Padres, D-backs

NL Central: Reds, Brewers, Cardinals, Cubs, Pirates, Astros

NL East: Phillies, Braves, Marlins, Nationals, Mets

AL West: Rangers, A's, Angels, Mariners

AL Central: Twins, White Sox, Tigers, Royals, Indians

AL East: Red Sox, Rays*, Yankees, Blue Jays, Orioles

WS: Giants over Red Sox

* Wild Card

NL MVP: Troy Tulowitzki, Rockies

NL Cy Young: Roy Halladay, Phillies

NL Rookie: Freddie Freeman, Braves

AL MVP: Adrian Gonzalez, Red Sox

AL Cy Young: Felix Hernandez, Mariners

AL Rookie: Jeremy Hellickson, Rays

NL All-Stars: C - Buster Posey, Giants; 1B - Albert Pujols, Cardinals; Chase Utley, Phillies; SS - Troy Tulowitzki, Rockies; 3B - Ryan Zimmerman, Nationals; OF - Ryan Braun, Brewers; Matt Kemp, Dodgers; Carlos Gonzalez, Rockies; SP - Roy Halladay, Phillies

AL All-Stars: C - Joe Mauer; 1B - Adrian Gonzalez, Red Sox; 2B - Robinson Cano, Yankees; SS - Derek Jeter, Yankees; 3B - Adrian Beltre, Rangers; OF - Carl Crawford, Red Sox; Josh Hamilton, Rangers; Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners; SP - Felix Hernandez, Mariners

Catching Up, Again

Don't know about anyone else, but I'm ready for Opening Day on Thursday!

A lot has happened in past five or six weeks since Spring Training started.

So let's catch up, just a little.

Jon Garland, Vicente Padilla, Casey Blake and Dioner Navarro all appear to be DL-bound to start the season.

There goes the rotation depth, for now, anyway.

Clayton Kershaw, Chad Billingsley, Ted Lilly and Hiroki Kuroda are the starters.

Aaron Miles, Ivan De Jesus and Mike MacDougal are all but set to have made the team.

Lance Cormier (out of options) was asked to accept a Minor League assignment but refused.

Barring any last minute changes, Cormier will be granted his release before Opening Day, paving the way for Scott Elbert to make the team.

Jonathan Broxton, Hong-Chih Kuo, Matt Guerrier, Kenley Jansen and Blake Hawksworth are the other relievers.

Ron Mahay was granted his release yesterday.

De Jesus will get most of the playing time at second with Juan Uribe at third with Blake out.

James Loney and Rafael Furcal are the other infield starters with Jamey Carroll joining Miles as a utility infielder.

Still no word on who the everyday, or at the very least, Opening Day, left fielder will be.

Marcus Thames, Jay Gibbons, Tony Gwynn and Xavier Paul will all split time in the outfield with Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier holding down the center and right field gigs.

Hector Gimenez (out of options) will be the back-up catcher over A.J. Ellis with Navarro disabled.

Billingsley agreed to a three-year extension today, buying out the last of his arby years.

And last but not least, Dodger Hall-of-Fame great Duke Snider passed away last month. Snider played 16 of his 18 season with the Dodgers in Brooklyn and L.A. from 1947 to 1962. During that span, he belted a franchise-best 389 home runs with 1,271 RBI and was a member of the 1955 and 1959 championship teams. Snider was 84.

Stockpiling Players...

Who probably won't make the team to Minor League deals.

• Mike MacDougal
• Ron Mahay
• Aaron Miles

Hey, at least the Yankees beat them to Eric Chavez.

And Hong-Chih Kuo avoided arbitration. Only James Loney remains without a contract.

Meanwhile, Michael Young wants out of Texas, but he's never played for the Giants or Red Sox, so don't expect Colletti to find a way to trade for him.

Pitchers and catchers report in 10 days. Spring is in the air!

Well That Was Quick

Hope Mike Napoli never unpacked his bags once he got to Canada. Less than a week later, he's on the move again. This time to Texas, to the Rangers, for reliever Frank Francisco.

I assume he'll platoon at first base with lefty-hitting Mitch Moreland, so long as they don't re-sign Vlad Guerrero.

Together Again

In Tampa. Both get one-year dealies, Manny to DH and Damon to play left.

Now, if the Rays somehow sign Kevin Millar out of unofficial retirement, they'd nearly have an 'Idiots' reunion of sorts!

L.A.'s other team also made a splash, picking up 32-year old outfielder Vernon Wells and the four years and $86MM left on his contract from Toronto for catcher/first baseman/DH Mike Napoli and outfielder Juan Rivera.

Can you say D-E-S-P-E-R-A-T-I-O-N for the Angels? I can. Because that's what this deal reeks of from here.

I'm honestly glad the Blue weren't this desperate to fill their left field hole. Good riddance, Halos!

It's Pronounced "Tims"

But it's spelled Thames. And his first name is Marcus. And he's your new righty-hitting left-fielder to platoon with Jay Gibbons. Unless Tony Gwynn, Jr. hits in Spring Training. Then Gwynn is your center-fielder. And Matt Kemp is your right-fielder. And Andre Ethier is your left-fielder.

Still with me? Good, because neither am I.

Thames will get a one-year deal. And so will Gabe Kapler, of the minor league variety, with an invitation to Spring Training.

Sad State of Affairs for the Blue

When Fox and Frank McCourt have joined forces together, you know it spells trouble for the Dodgers.

T.J. Simers breaks it all down for us, and things don't look pretty.

Tragedy Strikes Dodger Family

Yesterday, a 22-year old lunatic in Tucson, AZ opened fire and attempted to gun down Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords during a "meet-and-greet" with constituents at a local grocery store. Giffords was shot point blank in the head, but survived, underwent surgery, and is in critical condition. The lunatic didn't stop there. He continued his shooting rampage and in the process killed six people and wounded more than a dozen others.

Among those who were killed were John Roll, a federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, and a nine-year old girl, Christina Green. She was the daughter of Dodger scout John Green, and granddaughter of former Major League pitcher and manager Dallas Green.

Her life started and ended both with tragedy. She was born on September 11, 2001.

My condolences, thoughts and prayers go out to all the families involved, and I pray for speedy recoveries for all those who survived this horrific incident.

As for the lunatic, may God have mercy on your soul.

Frank's Spreadin' the News... Again

Read about it here.

Someone Found a New Home

Former Dodger hot corner stud Adrian Beltre just landed an insane six-year deal (five guaranteed) with the Texas Rangers this week, dispatching incumbent third baseman Michael Young to a first base/DH role. Gotta give credit where credit is due. Super-agent Scott Boras has done it again.

The losers in all of this? Vladimir Guerrero, and the Angels. Guerrero was the Rangers DH last season. He will now have to look for a new team, though he shouldn't have any problems there. And the Angels lose out on yet another top free agent they coveted. Could there be a reunion of sorts in the making for Vladdy and the Angels?

As for the Dodgers, this has nothing to do with them. However, they are expected to give former A's third baseman Eric Chavez a chance to work out for them. If he proves he's healthy enough, he could get a minor league deal with that so-called spring training invite, and possibly work his way into a platoon role at third base with the Beard, Casey Blake.

The Dodgers Will Go As Far As...

Tim Redding takes them!

Another minor league contract with the infamous spring training invitation attached to it handed out today by The Great Colletti.

Wait a Minute... How Did I Miss This?

Chin-lung Hu was traded to the Mets on Monday for Minor League pitcher Michael Antonini.

This is huge! This changes the face of the franchise. This might very well put them over the top finally.

Or not.

Ok, you may return back to your regularly scheduled programming. As you were...

A Day Late But...

Zach Greinke was finally traded. And no, it wasn't to the Dodgers, though reports say they were deeply involved in talks with Kansas City to the point they apparently brought a third team into the mix... until they ran out of time. Greinke was eventually traded to Milwaukee in the middle of the night early Sunday morning.

The return wasn't as good as I would have imagined, but the Royals did fairly well in getting two solid young kids from the Brewers in Lorenzo Cain and Alicedes Escobar.

Back to the Dodgers. I'm not sure how exactly a trade for Greinke would have worked for them. First, they already have six starters. Four of them just signed on as free agents (three were with the team at the end of the season). Greinke is owed about $13M each of the next two seasons, and the Blue would have had to unload salary (hence getting a third team involved?) to be able to fit that contract within the payroll budget. (It stands at roughly $110M now for 2011.) Plus, of the other two starters, Chad Billingsley would be the one starter they probably would have had to move to free up a spot in the rotation for Greinke. But even then, the logistics wouldn't have really added up.

So, Greinke wound up in Milwaukee. And this after he refused to waive his no-trade clause to go to Washington, who had a deal in place with the Royals for the righty. The Yankees and Rangers, among others, were also said to be interested, but neither team was apparently in deep enough talks with KC for Greinke's services.

In the end, Greinke joins a rotation that already has Yovani Gallardo, recently-acquired Shaun Marcum and Randy Wolf. And there's talk they might even be in on free agent Carl Pavano, too. Either way, you could make the argument that the Brewers now boast one of the top four rotations in the National League, behind Philadelphia (Halladay, Lee, Oswalt, Hamels), San Francisco (Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez, Bumgarner, Zito) and the Dodgers (Kershaw, Billingsley, Lilly, Kuroda, Garland, Padilla). And with their lineup that includes Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, Cory Hart and Chris McGehee, the Brewers have quickly made themselves serious contenders in the N.L. Central again and could battle the Phillies for best overall team in the N.L.

Let the fun begin already!

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Meanwhile, the Dodgers continue to lose out on left field options as players they have interest in continue to find other homes. Bill Hall recently signed with Houston to play second base. Austin Kearns returned to Cleveland today. And now rumor has it the Angels covet Scott Podsednik. (Frankly, they can have him!) So where might that leave the Dodgers?

Well they've been linked in recent days to Marcus Thames, though he's not very good defensively, and the Hairston Brothers, Scott and Jerry, Jr. And for whatever it's worth, neither of them should be everyday players either.

So, dare I say or ask this? Why not just bring back Manny for another year?! Ha!