Dodgers VS Giants are on! Barry Bonds is looking for his 714 homerun to tie Babe Ruth.

1st Inning – Dodgers went fast. Got to see Bonds get walked intentionally only to have Finley ground out behind him. Good stuff.

3rd Inning – Dodgers got something going. Aybar and Martin get on base, and Furcal who just recently remembered how to hit knocked a run in. Lofton also comes through and knocks in two. What the crap kind of strikezone is this guy calling? Bottom of the inning, and down goes Barry.

5th Inning – Dodgers score again. Walk, sacrifice, and infield single. That’s some good baseball.

Stacie wanted to watch American Inventor from last night. Dodgers win.

With spring training finally getting started and daily posts to dodgers.com returning, I thought I’d take some time to talk about a team who’s farm system was just ranked #1 in baseball.

The Dodgers have a lot of good prospects in their system…enough that you could put together half a team with them.

C – Russell Martin
3B – Andy LaRouche
2B – Delwyn Young
1B – James Loney
SS – Joel Guzman
OF – Andre Ethier
SP – Chad Billingsley
SP – Greg Miller
RP – Hong-Chih Kuo
RP – Johnathan Broxton

Which of these guys will turn out to be the real deal, I don’t know, but there sure is a lot to pick from. It should also be interesting to see where people finally land if they make it to the big show. Guzman and Young are both at positions that may not be free for several years and there is talk about moving them to the outfield. I think with Furcal, and hopefully a strong return by Izturis, some outfield work for these guys would be good. Especially considering Ethier is our only big prospect in the OF, unless I’m missing one.

While I’m looking forward to this year, I can’t wait to see how things shape up over the course of several years. As young guys start to make an impact, the Dodgers can turn around and spend some money on a REAL big bat (ie not JD Drew). Young players that are making less free you up to spend more on single positions. That is why the Yankees pay out the ear…they have no farm system and want a star at every position.

It’s always exciting to watch a homegrown talent come into their own. Here’s to a ROY in the next couple seasons!

Colletti. Little. Furcal. Mueller. Garciaparra. Lofton. The Dodgers have changed in a big way.

Surprisingly the signing of each of the above people has had a direct influence on the signing of those that followed. It is widely speculated that without the signing of Furcal, which seemed a little extravagant, that deal probably set the stage for the other signings. Mueller, Garciaparra, and Lofton all signed because the Dodgers appear to be putting together a winning team, and because of past relationships with Colletti and Little. While it seems the Dodgers have been spending like crazy, their committed payroll stands at 81 million for 2006, which is the same as 2005′s payroll. While we can expect the signing of another pitcher, I don’t expect the payroll to go over 100 million, and this being a much improved team.

My Take: Not only are the Dodgers a much better team now, but the road is being paved for the up and comers still in the Dodgers’ farm system. Shorter contracts and proven veterans will make for a perfect learning environment for these young Dodgers. I even edited Lofton’s picture because they haven’t put up a new mugshot with his Dodger gear.