Kuzul

It’s that time of the year when baseball publications and blogs far and wide weigh in with their opinions as to which players deserve mentioning on their respective teams’ Top 10 prospects lists, and for the Los Angeles Dodgers, those number of listings are seemingly endless.

Periodicals such as Baseball America, Fangraphs, The Hardball Times, and a number of blogs from SB Nation are among only a few who have published prospect lists in the past week alone.

More than a month ago, Dodgers writers here at Bleacher Report compiled their own list of prospects based on their overall tools and readiness as to when their major league debuts will arrive. We’ve even gone as far as composing a slideshow which featured the Top 20 outfielders in the entire Dodgers organization who may make some type of impact in the near future.

In this latest installment, we’ve gone off the radar a bit and put together a list which features the Top 10 prospects in the farm system based on talent alone. While the overall speed, arm strength, power or superior glove work of a player may set them apart from others, sometimes the critical intangibles such as plate discipline, defensive range and overall savvy for the game take a number of years to develop.

Admittedly, most of the published lists themselves are nothing more than a random grouping of the top names on the farm, as each publication is subjective and has its own opinion. However, although entirely opinionated, the following list features a few statistical angles and facts about each player typically not known by the average fan.

Also, feel free to check back at Bleacher Report throughout the course of 2011 for periodical updates on how all of the Dodgers’ top prospects are progressing.

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Few divisions in baseball have benefited as much from top-level prospects over the past few seasons.

Just take a look at the World Series champion San Francisco Giants, who were led to the title on the bat of Buster Posey and the arm of Madison Bumgarner.

Drop one rung down in the standings, and you’ll find a team, the Padres, who were guided by a fantastic season by Mat Latos, who if healthy the entire 2010 season would have been worthy of some Cy Young attention.

Move on to the Rockies, and you’ll find Carlos Gonzalez, a former top prospect in three different organizations and star of the Rockies 2010 season. Car-Go warranted serious MVP consideration as the Rockies made a late push for the wild-card.

Move even further down, and you’ll find a Dodger’s effort boosted by rookie John Ely and the usual consistent efforts from homegrown players Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier.

And last but not least, the Diamondbacks, where former top prospects Daniel Hudson and Barry Enright emerged as major pieces in Arizona’s rebuilding effort.

2011 should be another banner year for the NL West in the prospect race. There are several top-notch talents ready to arrive on the scene and once again play major roles and potentially impact the pennant race.

Let’s meet them, the top 25 prospects in the National League West.

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Being a baseball general manager is a thankless job. Every move that you make is second-guessed, critiqued and analyzed to death before a new player even steps out onto the field. Then there’s the separate issue of what to do with your hometown players, some of whom have evolved into local legends or fan favorites.

Every player has to become a free agent eventually, but the gut-wrenching question facing every general manager is when is the right time to let those players go? In the case of these 15 players, their GM’s let them go too soon.

For the sake of this list we’ll eliminate players who had no chance of resigning with their former teams (Jayson Werth, Carl Crawford) and players that teams made an effort to sign but were outbid (Cliff Lee).

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Some might say it’s baseball blasphemy for a die-hard San Francisco Giants fanatic to give opinions about our hated enemies to the south, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In fact, I know quite a few who will say that.

But bear with me for a second.

The blood rivalry—that is unfortunately a literal term when it comes to this particular pairing—between the Gents and Bums is an example of major-league contempt in its purest form.

Granted, the saying goes familiarity breeds contempt, but you could argue the converse is just as true.

That is, contempt breeds familiarity.

Add the fact that the unbalanced schedule in Major League Baseball tosses these two in a cage 18 or 19 times a year, and I’d wager that both fan bases have a pretty good handle on the other side.

The trick, of course, is removing the obvious bias from the assessment.

That’s difficult, but not impossible.

Especially in the case of the topic at hand—the whispers from baseball’s offseason that los Doyers are considering several of their young studs as bargaining chips to bring in fresh, equally talented faces.

Rumor has it that LA is floating such names as James Loney, Matt Kemp and Jonathan Broxton on the open-market waters to see what the franchise might get in return.

It’s also true (as you can see in the links) that Ned Colletti and company have said they will NOT move those same names at any point during the winter.

What’s the bottom line?

Well, you don’t hear anything about Andre Ethier, Clayton Kershaw or Chad Billingsley on the trade winds these days.

By comparison, I’d say that means the Bums are at least considering the use of Loney, Kemp and/or Broxton as bait.

Consideration is fine; pulling the actual trigger on a deal would be monumentally stupid.

(So let’s hope it happens…)

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With their most recent acquisition of outfielder Marcus Thames, the Los Angeles Dodgers not only achieved an addition of power to the roster, but they also balanced the bats in the process. Thames will join a solid corps of outfielders who individually feature power, speed, and reliable defense.

Some fans across Dodgertown have very high hopes for 2011, yet many factors will come into play that determine the level of success during the upcoming campaign. Team chemistry, attitude, and coaching are just several aspects of the game which need polished in order for the Dodgers to be contenders.

Other fans are focusing their attention on the long haul, and based on the high level of talent on the farm, envision a bright future for the Boys in Blue during the years to come.

The outfield is just one of several areas that’s packed full of potential—both from the veterans and the future stars. Spring training will play a large role in determining who plays where and which players see the bulk of action this season. Depending on injuries and the level of production from certain players, a number of new faces may be making their Dodger debuts.

In no particular order, the following slides showcase the top 10 outfielders in the entire Los Angeles Dodgers organization and offer a bit of commentary on each player. Also included is a special bonus slide which features an additional 10 players in the system who range from Single-A farmhands up to several outfielders who have numerous years of MLB experience.

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Plenty of MLB teams have made moves this offseason to either enter or return to pennant races in 2011. Some of those moves made a lot of noise, such as the Red Sox trading for Adrian Gonzalez or Cliff Lee spurning the Yankees and Rangers to return to the Phillies.

Some other moves were made that got significantly less air time this offseason.

Many of those purportedly less buzzworthy moves will have similar impact as the the big moves that got everyone talking.

Here are the 15 most underrated offseason moves in MLB.

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The Mannywood era of Dodger baseball came to a close in 2010. Now that the slugger has moved on from the City of Angels, the hunt is on to replace him.

Dipping below 700 total runs scored in 2010 for the first time since 2005, the Dodgers need to improve their offense if they plan on climbing to the top of the National League West once again. Even with Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp, they were a team that was 27th in baseball in home runs at 120 and 24th in RBI at 621.

For the Dodgers to succeed in 2011, they will need some help from Ned Colletti to improve the offense. Can he lure Princewood to Los Angeles?

Here are 10 potential sluggers who can make Mannywood a thing of the past at Chavez Ravine in 2011.

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You can almost smell it, can’t you?

The warm breezes of spring air gently blowing across green grass.  The intoxicating aroma of dirt mixed with chalk.  You’re starting to hear the distant sounds of wood cracks and leather pops.

It’s sometimes difficult to think of baseball being just around the corner when you’re stuck in the doldrums of a cold, snowy January.  But the college football season is over.  The NFL Playoffs are in full swing and will be a memory before long.  That means that Spring Training will be here before we know it.

Before we get there, though, there are a number of things that still need to be addressed as we look towards the coming season.  Free Agents left to sign.  Trades left to make.  And Hot Stove news to evaluate.

Who’s done enough to hoist that trophy next October?  And who still has to do more?  Get all that information and more, right here, right now, while it’s piping hot.

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Few teams in the major leagues have had as rough an offseason as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The team once aspired, perhaps with stars in their eyes, to sign both Carl Crawford and Adrian Beltre this winter. After a flurry of moves during and shortly after the Winter Meetings left the Angels seemingly alone in the marketplace with Beltre, they seemed certain to get at least that consolation prize.

Not so. The Rangers swept in as the Angels dragged through negotiations, and Beltre signed on for five years and $80 million to play in Texas. It’s nearly impossible to imagine that the Angels can now enter the season as a favorite in the AL West.

Understanding that the team has some great pieces already in place, though, there is no reason the team cannot compete with the Rangers in 2011. Read on for 10 things the Angels need to do between now and Spring Training in order to shift the balance of power in their division back toward southern California.

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Make no mistake about it—there are still some Major League Baseball trades and free agent signings forthcoming, but the Hot Stove has ended. That means it is not too early to release the MLB 2011 offseason power rankings.

See which teams still have some moving and shaking to do to resurrect from the cellar, and see which ones can sit back and wait for something to fall into their lap, secure in the knowledge they have already had a successful offseason.

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