From the San Fransisco Chronicle.

The Dodgers don’t have any luck at the moment as it has been confirmed that Rubby De La Rosa will need to have Tommy John surgery. He had done well since he was called up to the Majors and looked set to be guaranteed a spot in the Dodgers rotation next season. I hope he fully recovers from the surgery but he will probably miss at least a year.

There is a strong rumour going around that Bill Burke has made an offer of $1.2 billion for the Dodgers. I’m sure more information will come out over the next few days about the offer and if it is likely to be accept. I think Frank McCourt will be very reluctant to sell the team.

It seems Bill Burke is just a front man for a Chinese, government owned company! Bill Burke has had dealings with the McCourts before, so there may be some fire behind the smoke. Not sure how the rest of the MLB owners would feel about the Chinese government indirectly owning the Dodgers though.

Frank McCourt has reached an agreement with Major League Baseball to sell the Dodgers, Dodger Stadium and the surrounding real estate. It will probably take several months for any sale to be completed and there has been no indication as to how this will affect the Dodgers payroll for next season.

Apparently up for sale for $1Billion

That is a big asking price and would be the most expensive purchase of any major league team in history

Think it will be a while yet before its resolved, Dodgers did okay the past season despite the struggles offield but how long will that last?

It is a big price but that price includes a lot of real estate as well so it’s difficult to know the exact valuation of the Dodgers. What interested me was the statement that said they would look to get the best deal for McCourt and for the Dodgers which could make it difficult for Selig to reject certain possible bidders like he has done in the past.

The Dodgers have agreed an eight-year, $160 million extension with Matt Kemp. It’s a positive move from the Dodgers but you have to wonder if they are in a position to also extend Kershaw.

Hey guys

Looking forward to seeing who takes over from Mc Court now over the next few weeks. I think we are gonna see the current candidates vetted at the moment & then we'll see who comes to the fore. From what I've read the new owners should be pretty much in place by April 30th as Frank has to sign over the money to his ex wife that day I think.

Ps. As a Dodger fan & my birthday is actually April 30th so hopefully I can get a nice present by giving us a good, solid owner who can bring the franchise back to October :)

Nice 9-0 win for us tonight over Texas with plenty of O production from all sides... If only we could keep this going through the summer & not have Kemp carrying all the load again.

Ethier is batting .625/1.500 SLG with 1HR and 4 RBIs. Please God let this year be his! We need him, Loney and Uribe to step up if we have any playoff aspirations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivKqcOpOCYI...868FUAAAAAAAAAA

Hope Ethier can keep it going like u say LA_Valiants. We really need him to stay healthy & keep producing. Good to see Jansen got the all clear after his heart difficulties. I reckon he could have a breakout year.
Love the video too :)

Battle of Los Angeles tonight. Looking forward to seeing Harang's outing & how he manages with the Angels lineup.

According to Forbes the group headed by Magic Johnson has submitted the highest bid for the Dodgers. I have read up a bit on this & Id be pretty happy if these guys were to take over. Obviously having Magic involved is a good PR move & would immediately give the new owners some brownie points with the home town fans but I also think he wouldn't support the bid unless he was fully trusting of these guys.

Looking forward to the process being completed now over the next couple of weeks & hopefully we can get solid owners & maybe make a mid season acquisition that would improve us. David Wright (if healthy) at 3rd base would be nice.
I still think the NL West is probably the most open division in baseball.

We begin our home schedule tonight against a competitive Pittsburgh team. I'm hoping we have a full house at Chavez Ravine as it's something I haven't seen in quite a long time. Haven't seen us in action this year yet as internet at home isn't quick enough for MLB.tv but thankfully tonight's game is on ESPN America.

Looking forward to seeing our bats have a good night, fingers crossed. With a bit of luck Kershaw will have recovered fully from his flu also. Would be nice to see us get a W in our first home game under the new owners.

Talklater on the gameday chat during it I'm sure!

Kid Cuddy

Dee Gordan, Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw. Three players who I could watch all day, everyday for completely different reasons!

Couldn't agree more! 3 great guys to watch. Hoping Jansen can throw some Ks now, I like the look of him especially what he started to do last year!

ANDRE!!!! BOOM! :)

6-1! We're off to our best start since 1981 when we captured the World Series. I'm not saying we're going to have the same fate this year though but a great start nonetheless. With great contributions from Kemp and a rejuvenated Ethier things have gotten off to a flying start.

Chad Billingsley & Javy Guerra have been the real standouts however. Billingsley has allowed only 8 hits in his opening 2 victory & Guerra is 100% in converting his save opportunities with 5 already.

We now welcome San Diego for a 3 game series so hopefully we can continue our hot start.

Welcome to the home run club Dee Gordon aka Skinny Swag. He launched a no doubter to right field tonight against the Rockies (In Choors Field nonetheless:) ) to record his first major league long ball.

Looks like we'll continue our good run with a win over the divisional rival Rockies, currently 7-2 up in the 7th. ESPN Fantasy predicts Dee would only get 1 homer this season, I wonder can he knock in a few more now he's gotten a taste for it, I hope so!

Urgh, Matt Kemp on the 15 day DL. Hopefully it's no longer and pitching, Andre and Ellis can see us through. Sucks that we have a pretty crucial couple of series' against the dbacks coming up. Take note new owners, we have literally zero hitting depth. Ever the pessimist I've been waiting for something to go wrong this season, I just assumed it would be our schedule getting tough, not our key man being out. (oh and please don't move Andre over to CF!) Get well soon Matt...really really soon!

Andre Ethier signs 5 year, $85 million deal with the Dodgers. How do Dodgers fans, and everyone else, feel about this deal?

For me the Dodgers overpaid but I can sort of understand why they felt they had to. He hasn’t been a great player over the course of his career but when you look at the hitters available in free agency this season and they may well have had to pay him more as it isn’t a good free agent class. The new ownership also wants to make a statement and letting him go via free agency probably wouldn’t send out the right message.

Seventeen million per year is a lot, but a career .291/.363/.481 slash line, with a career OPS of .845, don't come along every day. I certainly wish we hadn't traded him!

Hi guys,

Sorry my laptop has been out of action for the past while so I haven't really been able to get online too much. Yea I agree with you Tijani. He isn't really worth the full value of his contract but he is worth somewhere close enough to justify paying that money due to the thin hitting class available. His career year this year is helping him add a few more digits to it I'm sure too. Overall, I'm happy enough with the signing. It means we have Ethier & Kemp locked into long term deals.

I think the new owners will try & make a splash this winter also but won't be crazy. Cole Hamels is certainly a guy I think we'll make a good run at. Nice to still be going well as we approach the all star break now in a month. If Kemp can get off the DL soon we can keep the divisional lead safely.

Getting Kemp back will be big for the Dodgers. I do wonder if the Dodgers will take on a big contract at the trade deadline as they have a lot of money to spend. The problem is most teams look like they will be in the race and I’m not sure who will be available. I think Youkilis could be a good fit but I’m not sure the Red Sox will trade him.

It is a while away but I think the Dodgers will be in the bidding for most of the big free agents with Hamels and Greinke being the two big pitchers available. You really could do with adding a couple of bats to go along with Kemp and Ethier but the problem is there aren’t a lot available. I think you will get Napoli as a free agent and it will be interesting to see how aggressively you go after Hamilton.

They'll trade him at the drop of the hat if they can get a decent return for him, and there's the rub. Right now his trade value is minimal, they really need him to kick into top gear over the next month to make him at all appealing.

The Dodgers are looking to upgrade at first base, they are deeply disappointed in Loney's chronic lack of power, but right now replacing him with Youk would be a downgrade.

Another area the Dodgers must be looking to beef up offensively is short stop, Dee Gordon simply isn't cutting it with the bat. They could also do with a consistent third baseman, obviously Youk could plug that gap too, but not at his current state of productivity,

If Youkilis does start to perform then the Red Sox could look to keep him but I’m not sure that even a good month will boost his trade value enough to get them a decent return. I don’t see anyone giving up what the Red Sox would want at the moment and the Dodgers don’t have a great farm system.

The Dodgers would love to make a couple of upgrades to the offence but it is going to be difficult with so many teams still in the race for the playoffs. There aren’t many good offences in the NL so a few minor moves to help out Kemp and Ethier could be all that is needed.

It is being reported that the Dodgers have agreed on a seven-year, $42 million deal with Cuban outfielder Yasiel Puig. It does seem like a lot of money but only time will tell how good he is.

Carlos Lee of the Astros making up his mind on a move as well i gather?

A little worried about talk of Zach Lee being used as bait for Cole Hamels. Basically we need to consider what it would take to turn us into a serious playoff team and one pitcher will not plug the gaps that are being spoken of above. If the Dodgers want Hamels, I think they should hold fire.

In a strange way, the new ownership has come at a bad time. A time where we are pertaining to look like a challenging team, when I don't think we are one and with a lack of real talent in the FA market come the end of the season. I hope they don't try and force something to happen with new owner enthusiasm and make a mess of it all in the process.

Looking forward the Dodgers do need another starter, or even two, but you also need a first baseman, shortstop, third baseman and centre fielder, so I agree, throwing everything at Hamels would be a mistake. Better to wait for free agency and get him then. Of course you would be fighting for his services with the Yankees and Redsox, to name but two, so there is a real rick you wouldn't get him. Maybe the thinking is to sacrifice now to circumvent a bidding war, but you'd have to insist on having a window to negotiate an extension with him before signing off on a trade, and that would require you giving up maybe too much to get that.

It really comes down to if the Dodgers are able to get Hamels signed to an extension. If they can then I can see the logic in giving up Zach Lee as long as they don’t completely empty the farm system to get him. You don’t know what will happen in free agency and there are going to be a lot of teams going after him. They would then have Kershaw, Hamels, Kemp and Ethier which is a good core to build around.

They obviously have other areas of need but if they added Hamels then they only need to make a big upgrade at one of those positions and then can make minor tweaks at the other positions to be in contention on a regular basis. The NL West isn’t the most difficult division to win and there aren’t a lot of great line-ups in the NL and with Kershaw and Hamels they would have a top two in the rotation that can match up with anyone.

I agree with LA Valiants, it isn’t the best time for a new ownership which has money to spend but a poor free agent class and with the changes to draft which limit spending.

Another disappointing loss for us tonight. Capuano had his worst start of the year in this comprehensive defeat to the Cardinals. A huge series awaits us now as we travel to San Francisco to tackle divisional leaders the Giants in a 3 game series. We go into the triple header 3 games adrift the 2010 champs.
You really can't underestimate the importance of this series for us. What's your thoughts on it guys?

I hope you win at least two of them!

Won all 3! I mean, it's just one 3 game series so I don't know how much it actually means. I guess not being 6 games back is a pretty big deal but at the same time I don't think the diamondbacks are out of it by any stretch. Call me a pessimist but I just don't see us making the playoffs. Hanley has filled one of many holes out there but we still have issues at 1st, 3rd/SS and LF. I have little confidence in our rotation. I was down on Mattingly last season but to have this team looking likely to at least compete in Sept is a minor miracle!

$26 million sounds a lot to just talk to a player but when you consider the Rangers paid $50 million to speak to Darvish the fee isn't quite as bad

Can't remember him for the WBC but his record looks good, dosn't mean anything when it comes to facing major league hitters of course as we've seen.

Interestingly the Rangers were one of the teams chasing him as well as the Cubs

It seems like a lot of money but the Dodgers are basically now the Yankees. Who knows how high the payroll is eventually going to be.

Like a lot of these investments there is a lot of risk involved. He hasn’t been talked about as much as Darvish but he supposed to be good but only time will tell.

Kid_Cuddy and LA_Valiants how are you both feeling about the season ahead? DO you think htat the Dodgers will make the playoffs this season?

Hey Tijani, sorry for the delay in replying.

Let me begin by looking at some of our most notable personel changes for the 2013 season. The addition of Zach Greinke gives us a very strong top of the rotation. He should compliment Kershaw really well and along with Josh Beckett & our new man also, Hyun-Jin Ryu. Ryu is very much an unknown, I know very little about him but hope he can develop into an integral part of our rotation.

We've lost a few guys like Victorino, Abreu, Rivera & Blanton but you would put none of those guys down as season defining players so Im not too worried to see this turnover :)

"On paper" our batting lineup is fierce but a World Series is never won on paper :D
When you look at Matt Kemp, Hanley Ramierez, Adrian Gonzalez & Andre Ethier it's hard not to be excited. Then add to that, a fully rehabed Carl Crawford and it could be legitimate. I think Kemp will shine again this season and have very high hopes that Hanley can have a stellar season too. Ethier will probably be solid again too. That leaves us with the two Boston exes. I had strong reservations about the trade that brought these guys in & I must say I didn't really like it taking on such huge money.
Im hopeful for them his year but that's the word, "Hopeful" not confident and predicting they return to their former glories.

The emergence of Luis Cruz at 3rd base last year was a bright spark for us. He overtook the much touted Dee Gordon as the breakout player for us last year and I think he'll hold his place at 3rd base this term and continue to improve.

Im still hopeful for some of our younger infielders like the pacey Dee Gordon who managed to get 32 stolen bags in a season he missed a lot of time due to injury and also am still hoping Justin Sellers can develop in a Major League middle infielder.

If we can stay healthy I think we have a great chance of taking the divisional crown. The Giants are coming off the World Series but I think our team, if we can keep it together, combined with our hunger due to lack of success can get us that NL West crown.

Season Prediction: 93-69