Congratulations Don, Now Let Us Kick You In The Nuts

I know I'm late on posting about this, but it is truly hilarious that the same month that they announce Don Mattingly will be the 2011 Dodgers manager, the organization flips his son to Ohio:

A little more than a week after promoting Don Mattingly to be their next manager, the Los Angeles Dodgers traded his son.

Los Angeles sent Preston Mattingly to the Cleveland Indians Sunday for Roman Pena in a swap of minor league outfielders.

Don Mattingly, the Dodgers' current hitting coach, will replace Joe Torre as manager next year in a move announced Sept. 17.

Preston Mattingly, the Dodgers' No. 1 draft pick in 2006, batted .218 with two homers and 17 RBIs at the Class A level this season. He struck out 51 times in 165 at-bats. Mattingly, 23, bats and throws right-handed. His best season as a pro came in 2006, when he hit .290 with a home run and 29 RBIs for the Dodgers' rookie-level team in the Gulf Coast League.

(I also love quoting the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Even if they are just picking up the AP feed.)

Preston, we hardly knew ye!

STGT: @ Angels, 7p

James Loney and Manny Ramirez greet old friend Guillermo Mota.

Donnie and Preston Baseball.

From Dodgers.com:

The Dodgers will travel down the 5 Freeway to Anaheim to play the Angels in an exhibition game at Angel Stadium on Friday at 7:05 p.m. PT. Left-hander Clayton Kershaw will make his final Spring Training tuneup before he's scheduled to start in the second game of the regular season against the Pirates on Wednesday in Pittsburgh.

photos by Jon SooHoo/Dodgers

Baseball America Ranks Dodgers Prospects

This is a two-part post, so pay attention.

First, Baseball America listed the top prospects in the Dodgers' organization. Given the prospects we traded last year to get players like Julio Lugo, Mark Hendrickson, and Danys Baez (to be fair, we also got Marlon Anderson and Wilson "Jury's Still Out" Betemit), as well as the fact that we've graduated Russell Martin, Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp, James Loney, Jonathan Broxton, Takashi Saito, Chad Billingsley, and Hong-Chih Kuo, one would think that we don't have anything left in the system. On the contrary, though, we still have some great prospects in the fold. Behold Baseball America's top 10 Dodgers prospects:

1. Andy LaRoche, 3b
2. Clayton Kershaw, lhp
3. Scott Elbert, lhp
4. James Loney, 1b/of
5. Etanislao Abreu, 2b
6. Ivan DeJesus Jr., ss
7. Jonathan Meloan, rhp
8. Blake DeWitt, 2b/3b
9. Josh Bell, 3b
10. Preston Mattingly, ss

I don't fully understand why Loney is on here but Kemp isn't, but whatever.

Okay, so then comes part 2: today, Jim Callis of Baseball America chatted on ESPN about a number of topics, including the Dodgers prospects. Callis thinks [Kershaw > Elbert] and [Kemp > Ethier]. That's the good news. The bad news is, elsewhere in the chat, he espouses that [Tim Linecum (SF) > Kershaw] and [Chris Young (AZ) > Kemp].

Those of you using the transitive property can figure out that Callis believes other NL West clubs have players which could be better than either top Dodger prospect. Those of you using the associative property may have ended up with [Chris (Young) AZ > Kemp], which is technically correct though more confusing nomenclature to read.

In the chat, Callis also goes on to say that the Dodgers are "making a mistake for blocking Kemp and Loney." Other quips from Callis included Pedro > Koufax; Preston Mattingly = ask again later; and, in the Pie category, Pecan > Felix > Rhubarb (seriously).

Gammons Mentions Dodger Youngsters

ESPN.com's Peter Gammons blogged on a number of future stars on which to keep one's eye, and the Dodgers were well represented. No link since it's insider only, here's the skinny:

That is the curse young players live with each spring. Oh, the first few weeks are great, filled with promises, get-me-over fastballs, guys out of A ball and 4-A players. But in the end the hopes of being the next Albert Pujols shooting past the minor leagues is fraught with complications.

But the kids are the enduring siren's song of spring training. We watch lines of pitchers throw from bullpen mounds, study infield drills and listen for the sounds that differentiate bat speeds....Here are the young players most will be watching this spring.

["Most Significant Young Pitchers"]: Jonathan Meloan, Dodgers. Just look at the strikeouts -- 91 in 53 innings. Here is L.A.'s bullpen sleeper.

["Young Players We May See Come August"]: Andy LaRoche, 3B, Dodgers. His time could be April. He's hit 30 and 19 homers the last two years, greatly improved his approach and discipline to the point where he had more walks than strikeouts and made five errors in 54 Triple-A games. He walks on the field and looks like a major leaguer.

Shee-oot, if all it takes to get Gammons' admiration is just walking onto the field, I can handle that. Sign me up!

At the end of the article, Gammons also mentions Preston Mattingly and Scott Elbert of the Dodgers. Granted, he mentioned four Red Sox as well in the same article--but given all the Dodgers newbies who aren't considered as new anymore (Martin, Kemp, Ethier, Loney, Broxton, etc.), that showing isn't too bad.