This spring at least one of these players will be touted as having figured everything out. Here is the list per Bill Shaikin but after a quick glimpse I don't see any possible Wilson Alveraz's here. Do you?

Review of Win shares by Rob Neyer.

My expectations were high that  in 2008 that James Loney could crack the top ten 1st baseman Win Share for a season list but it didn't happen. His 2007 16 win shares  was a great season in that his expected win shares given his at bats was only 10. Instead he regressed and collected only 15 win shares while garnering 150 more at bats. His expected win shares was 18 in 2008 so unlike 2007 where he over performed by 6 win shares, he underperformed in 2008 by 3 win shares. Here's to hoping he can crack the list below in 2009.

For the career totals and seasonal leaders click on read more.

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Winter League Report.

Click on the wide tab to the left to see the complete table. If you are viewing with narrow you will miss the last two columns.

Below is  a summary of how our prospects were rated this off season. Baseball America is missing because they have yet to publish their list. LA Dugout is doing an extensive countdown from 50 to 1 but right now they are only down to 33 so we have a ways to go before they will be finished. I'll update the table when they are both finished.  So far  we have the True Blue community vote which is how they are sorted. Baseball Intellect went 15 deep with a couple of Honorable Mentions(HM). Baseball Prospectus only went 11 deep with one additional sleeper. Dodger Canuck and myself both took it 20 deep. John Sickels gives letter grades instead of using a numerical ranking.  Baseball HQ weighed in this weekend with some good news as they are  still rating our system as very strong with the following grades. Organizational Grades: Hitting (B)…..Pitching (A)…..Top End Talent (A)…..Overall (A-)

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VIa kinescope the MLB Network station made it's debut last week and I'm still in awe of the first programming I saw. They picked the perfect game by journeyman Don Larsen to kick off the network and they hit a home run with me. While our Dodgers were going down to defeat via one of the more improbable performances in World Series play,  just seeing the Boys of Summer play a baseball game was a great way to usher in the new year.

Sure, I've seen snippets of these players before but they are always quick clips that show them completing an at bat, or a play. Never have I seen them for a complete at bat, much less a complete game. Campy was walking, running, swinging, and it was a sweet sight. Jackie was at the end of his game but still, it was Jackie.

Now that I've seen the perfect game I realized luck was on Larsen's side. An old Jackie almost beat out a line drive that caromed off of Max Carey's glove right to SS Gil McDonald who nipped him at 1st. Fair to say a younger Jackie probably beats that out, and of course if the ball doesn't carom right to McDonald no play could even have been made. Later Sandy Amoros and Duke Snider crushed balls that just went foul. The umpire estimated that Amoros only missed a home run by two feet. Then the best play of the game occurred with "fleet" Micky Mantle chased down a Gil Hodges drive deep into the LC gap. If you saw the play you might have noticed that left center field with 458 feet and while Mantle never reached the warning track the drive probably was over 400 feet and would have cleared just about every  other park.

A young Vin Scully finishes the game and it was hard to recognize his style until the end of the game. He never strayed from the action, used few words and told nary a story the whole time he was broadcasting the game. Jon Weisman catches Vinny style with the last few pitches of the game.

With an uncluttered booth and no instant replay the game went very fast. The hitters were not wearing helmets, they never strayed from the batting box, and thank God no closeups of them or the fans.

I've seen many of the World Series DVD's but I'm tired of the producers of these shows deciding what I want to see. It was great to finally watch a complete game showcasing the HOF talents of Campy, Jackie, Pee Wee, Snider, and Mickey.

Mickey Mantle's bio was probably one of the 1st books I read and I remember how he was supposed to have blazing speed along with the big time power. By the time I actually saw Mickey play on TV he could barely walk and I always wondered if the stories were true. Watching him flash into left field to chase down Hodges drive confirmed for me the stories of his speed.

These were the Boys of Summer and while they didn't have game on that day, I look forward to seeing them claim their World Championship in 1955 for the full nine innings.

[Extra Update]

Done deal according to MLB.COM

Payroll is dropping fast. Eric should be here with a payroll update any second. Are the McCourt's getting ready to splurge on Manny and a pitcher, or just Manny, or nobody and build 50 more fields, or buy another Malibu house, or simply count their money?

[Update]

SI is reporting that the refinance has been completed

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Reports are circulating that the Dodgers are trying to renegotiate the A Jones contract to free up some money to sign Manny. Boras is involved on both sides as he represents Jones and Manny.

A Jones is owed:
15 Million in Salary in 2009
2.1 Million as part of his bonus in 2009
5.0 Million in 2010 as part of his bonus

He also has a full no trade clause.

If this was basketball the Dodgers would simply buy out Jones and make him a free agent but I don't recall that ever happening in baseball. Why would Jones agree to modifiy his contract?

1. If the Dodgers sign Manny he's is going to be a 4th or 5th outfielder and he wants to play. With his current contract he is untradeble.

2. If he agrees to modify his contract so that the amount is the same but spread out over three years it would make it easier to trade him.

Stay tuned, this could get interesting.

Awesome Dodger Story

The Good Stuff

Not in any order of importance

1. Chad Billingsley's continued development into the ace of the Dodger staff.

2. Clayton Kershaw's rapid ascension into the rotation

3. Hong-Chih Kuo becoming the best setup man in baseball

4. Blake DeWitt's April/May and Sept

5. Mannywood

6. Hiroki Kuroda breaking Ned's bad streak of free agent busts

7. Matt Kemp proving he can play centerfield

8. Andre Ethier ripping 3.5 off his resume and becoming a real force

9. Russel Martin's all-star 1st half

10. Vin Scully

11. Winning our 1st playoff series in 20 years and doing it in fine style

12. Rafy Furcal's 1st four  weeks of dynamite baseball

13. Cory Wade's season from nowhere

14. Chan Ho Park's semi successful return

15. Nomar playing SS one last time and  giving us one last walk off home run

16. The Boston/Dodger Coliseum Game

17. Playing baseball in China

18. Carlos Santana breaking out in High A

The Bad Stuff

1. Andruw Jones

2. Rafael Furcal's Back

3. Blake DeWitt's June/July

4. Andy LaRoche's failure to impress

5. Carlos Santana getting traded

6. Chad Billingsley pitching horribly against the Phillies

7. Jeff Kent's body giving out

8. Russel Martin's powerless 2nd half

9. Loney's double plays

10. Berroa getting 200 at bats while putting up a 62 OPS+

12. Chin-Ling Hu making the Mendoza line looking good

13. To much bad Penny

14. Still no Schmidt

15. Mark Sweeney putting up one of the worse pinch hitting seasons in history

Feel free to add to the good and the bad.

for insurance.  Vargas  signed a one-year, $400,000 deal with the Dodgers which  includes up to $1.4 million in additional incentives. We will be in a world of hurt if he hits those incentives if they are based on innings pitched.  From my perch he is just filler at this point and replaces Jason Johnson as the guy who gets the call if no one else is left standing.  If Ned envisions him as part of the 25 man roster then we have a problem. In moving from the Brewers to the Mets last year his dominance dropped from 7.2 to 4.9 possibly due to the sore elbow that sidelined him at the end of the year.

Dodger fans may remember him from his days in the 2006 Arizona rotation when he won 12 games with a 4.83 ERA giving him a 98 ERA+. That was his high water mark.

At least one more time when you are a grumpy ole cuss.

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[Update]

Ken Gurnick of MLB.COM filed this report in which he claims the Dodgers are opening up discussions with Dunn and Abreu and are looking to move A Jones. So our choices at the moment are DH1(Manny), DH2 (Dunn), or DH3 (Abreu). Sounds like time to talk about bringing back Milton Bradley so we can have DH4 in the discussion. My preference in ranking would be Manny, Milton, Abreu, Dunn. My belief is that this is a warning shot over the bow to let Boras know that if he doesn't want to lose out on the one team that really wants Manny he better get flexible in his demands.

Dodger Thoughts finds a four part Blake DeWitt interview. The interviews are interesting and quite long. I really recommend giving them a listen.

John Sickels gives grades to 20 Dodger Prospects. Nothing noteworthy. Most of the lower level talent has to prove itself. Gordan picked up a B- grade which is aggressive and Elbert got a C+ because of his command issues. I expect Sickels will regret the C+ grade on Elbert very quickly this year. Baseball HQ will do the Dodgers next Friday, at that time I'll produce a table showing True Blue Community Vote, Dodger Canuck, Mine, Baseball Prospectus, John Sickels, Baseball Intellect, and Baseball HQ so we can get an idea of how they are being graded. Dodger Scout is doing a countdown starting with 50 and they are down to 36 at the moment. Baseball America won't be producing the Dodger list for a while so I'm not going to wait for them. I'll add them to the table when they are done.

MSTI breaks down his favorites to fill out the rotation. Cross Randy off his wish list.

Diamond Leung shows Dodger Holiday Spirit.