Good lively chatter on the last thread. Glad everyone is getting geared up for the season to start. All I can say is that there should be absolutely no question that the driving force behind Camelback Ranch was, without any question, the fans. That’s not intended to be a slight to Vero Beach, which was an amazing home to us for six decades, but I’m here every day and you simply don’t hear people talking about how much revenue Camelback is going to generate. You hear them talk about the fans and the trips being planned to Glendale…honestly.

In any event, in case you missed the show announcing rosters on the MLB Network, provisional rosters for the WBC came out today and here are the Dodgers who could take part:

Russell Martin and Jonathan Broxton

Minor leaguers Brian Mazone, Val Pascucci, Kenley Jansen and Ivan DeJesus Jr.

Fernando Valenzuela (coaching for Mexico)

Charley Steiner (broadcasting for MLB)

…and I’m sure there are others I’m not remembering. The timing of the announcement was set to the first day of individual ticket sales, so if you are planning to come out to the stadium on March 21 or 23, you can purchase them now online.

In other Dodger news, Jason Repko signed today, leaving just Martin, Broxton and Andre Ethier as our arbitration eligible guys who haven’t signed. I caught up with Russ today on the phone and he sounds like he’s determined to have an even better season this year and coming off back-to-back All-Star campaigns, that would be enormous for the Dodgers.

Speaking of Andre, he posted his latest food review in Arizona over at Dining with ‘Dre.

And finally, on the eve of a very historic day for our nation, if you missed this article in the NY Times, you should definitely take a read. George Vescey wrote a great piece about Barack Obama and Martin Luther King Jr. through the eyes of our very own Don Newcombe. I believe that somehow Newk gets overlooked in the role he played in integrating the game of baseball and our nation and everyone at the Dodgers feels extremely fortunate that we have this living legend in our offices every week.

As the days tick off the calendar, it’s hard to fathom that we’ll be in Arizona in a little more than three weeks. The excitement is building (as is the workload) but we’re all getting ready around here and there’s definitely a buzz that accompanies having Spring Training so close to home.

I’ve worked here for about 15 years and I’ve never heard so many people planning their trips to come see the Dodgers during Spring Training. While the PR department and Baseball Ops all headed to Vero in the past, there were countless hard-working employees (and an enormous number of fans) who never saw Dodgertown. I keep hearing people up and down the halls talking about what weekend they’re coming to Camelback and that’s really cool.

For those of you planning to come out for some games, tomorrow is the day you can start buying tickets to single games so hopefully you’ll all be out there. And if you come, be sure to say hello. I’ll be there for the entire six-plus weeks (minus my time in LA for the World Baseball Classic) and everyone knows everyone, so just ask around and we can hopefully catch up on site.

Coincidentally, individual game tickets go on sale for the WBC on Monday and for any of you who saw the packed houses in San Diego last time around, hopefully you’ll be making your plans for then, too. Come out and support your country (even if you’re reading this from somewhere outside the US), as it should be a great time to come visit and back your hometown players).

On the baseball front, obviously we made news yesterday with the release of Andruw Jones. Clearly it was a disappointment for all of us and I know that everyone had high hopes when he arrived (including many of you at ITD). At this point, all you can really do is turn the page and focus on ’09 Adding another starting pitcher, which is a main focus of Ned and his crew right now, and hopefully bringing Manny back would make for a pretty nice offseason.

Enjoy the weekend and in case you haven’t been watching the MLB Network, tune in on Monday night at 9 p.m. for a special tribute to the Negro Leagues. 
MLB NETWORK TO AIR SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO NEGRO LEAGUES ON MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. DAY.pdf

At the end of this month (Jan. 26), the Southern California Sports Broadcasters will have their annual awards luncheon and we have a number of people who were nominated for top honors. It’s kind of like the Oscars for local sports broadcasting and a nice event they do each year.

Among those being nominated are:

Vin Scully – TV play-by-play

Jaime Jarrin – Foreign Language play-by-play

Rick Monday – Radio play-by-play

Jerry Reuss – Radio analysis

Fernando Valenzuela – Foreign Language analysis

Ken Levine – Talk show host

We certainly offer our congrats to all of them in advance of finding out whether they won, as they’re all among the best in their fields.

Of course, as you all have read, we’re in the process of seeking a play-by-play person to work alongside Steve Lyons for the 40 games that Vin doesn’t travel to East of Denver, so as always, your feedback is welcome and appreciated. Perhaps you live in a minor league town where there’s a hidden gem waiting to be discovered. Or maybe there’s someone you’ve heard elsewhere who you think fits the bill. I can assure you, we’re working quite hard to find someone that you will all love to listen to (and watch) in ’09 so feel free to post your comments.

And finally, it certainly appears that Trevor Hoffman is headed to the Brewers and I’ve never heard a bad word about the guy, so I certainly wish him well. He certainly would have been a nice addition to the bullpen and clubhouse, but rather than work from the ninth inning backward by adding a closer, I think that Broxton certainly showed glimpses that he can handle ninth inning pressure and I presume we’ll now look to add relievers that bridge the gap to him. I want to make sure you know that I’m not in baseball ops…I’m just going by what I have read and what my take is on the situation…plus, it’s good food for thought (or chatter).

You’ve been asking for it, so here’s a new thread for you all. I hope everyone had a great holiday season and New Year’s Eve and that you’re all ready for a great 2009. It was relatively quiet over the last 10 days to two weeks in the baseball world, but I imagine that will change in the coming month. Obviously there are still a number of free agents out there – Manny atop the list – so I’ll continue to keep my fingers crossed that he’s wearing Dodger blue this season.

A few things that I know for sure will be happening in ’09…

– An Inside the Dodgers tour of the stadium (don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten)

– Vin and Tommy’s 60th year with the organization

– The Opening of Camelback Ranch – Glendale

– The semis and finals of the World Baseball Classic

– The next “Under the Lights” event, part of DodgerLIFE, which is Jan. 17 (a chance to take BP at Dodger Stadium)

And a heck of a lot more.

I should be posting regularly now that we’re back in the new year, so check the site regularly … 

Sorry it’s been a few days since the last post. This one will be short, as we’re having our company holiday party this evening and I don’t have much new news to report.

Most of you probably saw the news on the front of the site about the changes we’re making to our TV/radio broadcast teams. This was driven solely by the need for more consistency on KABC 790 and Charley jumped at the chance to do all 162 games alongside Rick Monday next season. So, while this was not an easy decision to replace Jerry Reuss, we do think it’ll give the fans a lot more regular voices on radio. And Jerry will continue to work with the organization on various things, as he’s obviously a huge part of our history (and for anyone who has met him, a truly great person).

Now we start the process of looking for someone to do 40 games on play-by-play alongside Steve Lyons in 2009 so we welcome any feedback, as always.