The Right Public Relations Moves

The new Dodgers ownership- being referred to in the media as the Guggenheim Ownership group- is making all of the right PR moves to bring the Dodgers fan base back into the fold. They spent the money on payroll to bring in a top notch lineup and pitching staff and the latest is signing Sandy Koufax to a one year consulting contract. That one is huge for me. Koufax has been very private almost to the point of being reclusive, since his retirement from baseball in the mid-1960's and that was mostly due to his dislike of dealing with the media. Koufax has worked with various pitchers in the past and they didn't even have to play for the Dodgers. He just did it out of the love of the sport of baseball. He has made appearances at both the Dodgers and the New York Mets camps before out of friendship of various people within those organizations. He immediately jumped into the fray today with pitching coach Rick Honeycutt working on pickoff moves. Sandy Koufax has a way of getting young pitchers' attention based solely on his reputation as one of the greatest pitchers ever to play the game. Koufax career was cut much too short by injury but his whole career was spent with the Dodgers and I love to see that "once a Dodger, always a Dodger" being applied in the case of veterans like this.

Let The Analysis and Over Analysis Begin

South Korean free agent left-handed starting pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu had his first bullpen session with the Dodgers yesterday and the bigger story seemed to be that he couldn't keep up in the running drills. I really don't remember Fernando Valenzuela being a Mexican Track star when he began with the Dodgers but he could pitch, field his position, and hit a little bit and I think he had a pretty decent career in spite of the fact no one knew how old he really was.

Spring Training

Spring Training. There is something so magical about those two words. Every team starts out with a chance to be a World Series contender. A couple of veterans will emerge to have one more standout season in the sun. A couple of rookies that have not been on anyone's radar will emerge as serious contenders for a roster spot or to be this years Spring Training "phenom." It can also go the other way. Several veterans will decide they don't have what it takes any more and retire on their terms. Some veterans will have it decided for them by getting cut and not being picked up by anyone else. There are also usually rookies that are supposed to set the world on fire will not be able to cross that bridge between minor league All-Star to productive major leaguer. Watching it all develop is what makes Spring Training so exciting. That is the beauty of baseball.

The Dodgers Off Season

The Dodgers big splash this off season was the signing of two starting pitchers. Zack Greinke, the prize of the free agent pitching class and $147 million in salary, and Hyun-Jin Ryu, a left-handed starting pitcher from South Korea and a $61 million investment. They also signed infielder Skip Schumaker away from the St. Louis Cardinals. He is a left-handed bat and will compete for playing time at Second Base with incumbent Mark Ellis. The Dodgers off season was prefaced during 2012 by several big trades that set the team up for this year. Outfielder and reclamation project Carl Crawford never stepped onto the field last year for the Dodgers, Hanley Ramirez will be moved back to his natural position of Shortstop, Adrian Gonzalez will look to regain his power stroke after only hitting 3 Homeruns after his trade to the Dodgers, and right-handed starting pitcher Josh Beckett who had a 2-3 record with a sub-3.00 Era after the trade. The Dodgers have 8 starting pitchers on their roster right now and if Chad Billingsley and his elbow are healthy, it looks like Chris Capuano, Aaron Harang, and oft-injured Ted Lilly are the odd men out and depending on what happens over the course of Spring Training, might be traded before the beginning of the season. Shane Victorino and left-handed reliever Randy Choate were the big free agent losses for the Dodgers but they were quickly replaced. Victorino did not relish the thought of being a part-time player and if Scott Elbert cannot make it back from his second elbow surgery of the off season, Choate may be a bigger loss than the fans might think.