Welcome to L.A., Russ and Ramon Ortiz

[DirtyKash]

Minor-league deal for Brian Giles with the Dodgers.

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Minor-league deal for Brian Giles with the Dodgers.

He would have to blow coach Mark Sweeney to make the team. But judging from his advances, that might not be a tall order.

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GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP)—Dodgers star Manny Ramirez(notes) says this will be his final season in LA.

Ramirez says he knows he won’t be back with the Dodgers next year. But the quirky slugger isn’t saying why he’s so sure.

Ramirez is with the Dodgers at spring training in Arizona. Los Angeles general manager Ned Colletti said Monday he’s not looking into the future with Ramirez.

The Dodgers have reached the playoffs in both seasons Ramirez has been with them. Ramirez is 37 and coming off a year in which he served a 50-game drug suspension.

Thanks for letting us know you have an excuse to mail it in during your final season here. Asshole.

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Minor league deal for Garrett Anderson. Really one of the more overrated batters of his generation, even though he was touted as "underappreciated" during his prime. And now he'll be competing with Brian Giles, who in the same era was truly an underappreciated hitter (It's absurd Cleveland didn't use him as a regular outfielder or even as the DH.), until his power and then his bat speed died in Petco. Not that any of it matters anymore when Reed Johnson has a guaranteed contract while neither GA nor Giles does.

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Blanked today by f***ing Colorado, 12-0. The only hits came from Ethier and Xavier Paul, whose 2-for-3 would have made for a fine game if not for his fielding blunder of losing the ball in the sun and then slipping and falling on his back.

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Dodgers frustrated with Belisario's absence - MLB - Yahoo! Sports

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP)—The Los Angeles Dodgers are looking into contingency plans for their opening-day bullpen while Ronald Belisario tries to report to camp.

Belisario has been unable to secure a visa for the 2010 season and remains in his native Venezuela. The right-hander went 4-3 with a 2.04 ERA in 69 games as a rookie last year, helping Los Angeles win the NL West.

“You would think that the opportunity to make a living throwing a baseball, to pitch in the big leagues and support your family and build a career, you would pursue it to the fullest,” general manager Ned Colletti said. “Whether he has or he hasn’t, I don’t know.”

Stupid. Just stupid.

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Diamond Notes - 1993 Dodgers take on Taiwan

Familiar faces include Mike Piazza, the Straw, and that young Dominican hurler with jheri curls and uniform #45.

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James McDonald is no longer a candidate to be the fifth starter. He will work out of the bullpen and I presume he will be the spot starter when called upon.

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My mistake, I forgot Grampa Joe was still the manager. That didn't take long for McDonald to be further demoted, this time to minor league camp.

Per MemoriesofKevinMalone:

"James still had options left, so we will keep one of these old douches over him. James is a guy that had a 2.72 ERA out of the bullpen last year, but these 5.1 innings he had pitched in Spring Training 2010 obviously negated what he has accomplished when the games actually matter. On that note, the couple dozen innnings that Ramon and Russ Ortiz have hurled absolutely negates the last five years of fail that the two guys have had in professional baseball at almost every level."

[missionhockey21]

Ramon Ortiz is still around? Holy shit.

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Yeah, exactly. It seems only yesterday that the Gaylos was mulling over which pitcher between Jarrod Washburn and Ramon Ortiz to include along with Dallas McPherson in a deal with Kansas City for Carlos Beltran.

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Ramon Ortiz is all but a lock for a spot in the bullpen, no thanks to Kuo's elbow hurting yet again and Belisario still literally AWOL. Ramon Ortiz would be guaranteed $1 million, half of what Guillermo Mota got last year when we could have gotten Joe Beimel back instead!!

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Sell Stults for some extra divorce money or keep him as a lame cheap excuse of an anchor for the rotation. Decisions, decisions.

Lawyer fees won out. Stults will be huge in Hiroshima.

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Dodgers have become penny-wise on player development - latimes.com

Logan White, who oversees the team’s scouting, says the Dodgers’ tightfisted ways won’t prevent them from signing premium prospects and staying in pennant contention. But some see a decline in the team’s farm system talent.

We suck.

"I don't want people to think that because we're not spending the money the way some teams are, we're not getting players," he said. "That is so far from the truth."
...
"For Pittsburgh and Kansas City and all those teams that have outspent us, what do their fans have to be happy about?" White said. "They're still going to have 18 or 19 losing seasons in a row. We're not."

"We've made some mistakes on our own, but it's not been for lack of money. Since I've been here, I've always had the amount of money I need to spend," he said. "If I spent another $10 million, could I produce any more? It's near impossible. It's certainly not a money thing."

Translation: I'm so getting out of here to work for a real owner.

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The Dodger notes and miscellaneous moves thread has once again been renamed to give Ned Colletti's continuing legacy its overdue proper recognition.