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Tonight, the football regular season ended for my biggest rooting interest, non-Dodger division: Stanford. Like the last time I pulled thus hard for a legitimate national title contender, the 2009 Dodgers, it began as a superb experience that ultimately turned frustrating, with a dose of thanks-for-the-memories perspective required to make sure I didn't lose the forest for the Trees.

The first half of the season was incredible. Stanford would make mistakes here and there that would leave you briefly questioning its adequacy, and then you'd look up and the Cardinal would be up by 40. You'd remember that you don't need to be perfect every play to be, essentially, perfect.

Then some injuries came, and some weaknesses were exposed, and Stanford spent the past month looking beatable, losing one critical game out of 12 when it could afford to lose none. Andrew Luck, the pole position 2011 Heisman Trophy candidate when the race began, suffered from having mediocre wide receivers but also was good for at least one really headscratchingly disastrous throw a game. Brent Musberger, who called several Cardinal games this season, would quickly minimize the interceptions to resume raising the roof of praise on Luck to Derek Jeter- like levels that -- taking nothing away from Luck's present and future greatness -- made me a little uncomfortable.

Stanford won't win the national title, and Luck might not win the Heisman. In the case of the former, it would have been fun and preferable to the BCS to see the Cardinal in a playoff, especially with some healed players, but the team would have been an underdog by the time it reached a semifinal (unlike a year ago, when Stanford was truly playing as well as any team in the nation at season's end). I don't feel cheated. As for Luck, he's great and still a worthy contender, but if he doesn't win the Heisman, I think I'd still feel worse that Toby Gerhart didn't win two years ago. Neither statistically nor subjectively does Luck strike me as an automatic.

Expectations are mean, and I'm better to be rid of them. Much more than the Dodgers, success has been rare for Stanford football in my lifetime (and at this level unprecedented), and the journey of this team from 1-11 five years ago, through the big victories over USC, to the nearly dominant team of today had been an exquisite joyride.

But right now, the disappointment with Stanford's close call this season still lingers, to the extent that it's easier for me to think right now about those '09 Dodgers and their season turned on an ill-fated Jonathan Broxton pitch than the '11 Cardinal. And though I don't think Stanford will return immediately to its losing ways, the Dodgers should smell a title before the Cardinal does again.

Without a doubt, I feel good about having had near-miss teams to root for, but it's no substitute for feeling great.

By the end of April, five months and four days from now, Frank McCourt must complete the sale of the Dodgers and also pay ex-wife Jamie McCourt a $131 million settlement.

This means, Dodger buyers, that you hold the cards.

Yes, at the end of it all, McCourt will be the one to select one winning ownership group (or combination of groups). But he can only pick from what's in front of him.

I assume you know not to do this, but here's a reminder: No one should present any offer that allows McCourt to retain any portion of Dodger operations, specifically the parking lots, much less future TV revenue. I can't imagine any buyer doesn't agree with this, but in case someone thinks it might provide an advantage in the bidding, put that shortsighted thought out of your mind. This is not the time for anything but a clean break.

Here's a picture of recovering Dodger Stadium beating victim Bryan Stow with his family at Thanksgiving. It's an absolutely wonderful sight that, at least if you see the picture as I do, also doesn't allow you to escape the harrowing road they have been sent down this long year. Given the reality, however, it's thrilling.

Thanksgiving seems to have come at the right time for Dodger fans, who have new things to be grateful for amid the ongoing reminder that you can't have it all.

A magnificent season by Clayton Kershaw brought home a major postseason award, a similar one by Matt Kemp did not. The two and their somewhat forgotten teammates provided memories we'll still be talking about years from now, but of course not the ultimate memory of a World Series title.

On the first day of the month came the announcement of the sale of the franchise -- the slow-cooking turkey in the oven that will be our feast when it is served, though we can only anticipate this morning how smoothly the cooking will go and how it will ultimately taste.

I had visions of a pretty major soul-bearing post today, but I have mixed feelings about it. We'll just say that for a long time now, I've been trying to cook a better turkey and instead have kept burning it. Sunday night, I decided to take a break from such culinary efforts and instead focus on other, smaller things that I can more easily accomplish, such as working extended metaphors beyond their capacity for effectiveness.

I've been afraid to look away from the big picture, afraid to take my eyes off the road. All that long-distance driving to nowhere made me bitter, really bitter. I still have real fears about what's going to happen if I don't get to where I think I need to be, but the fear hasn't helped. I thought it was driving me toward my goals, but instead, in the words of the Boss, it was just driving me down.

So I'm lowering the bar. It's shortsighted, but that's the point.

I won't lie to you -- there's a hope that if I do some little things right, big dreams will come true. But no promises. Right now, it will have to be enough to get some little things in the bank.

Some might say the bar has been too low for the Dodgers for quite some time now, but I'd say their past 23 years mirrors what I've been feeling inwardly. The goals are there; the execution has been lacking and the angst at times overwhelming. I honestly don't know when all will be right in the Dodger world, but I do know that I've never wanted to be pissed off that it isn't.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone, and all my best, wherever you are. And just one more thing: The other day, as God as my witness, my 7-year-old asked me if turkeys can fly.

I began my National League Most Valuable Player watch on Matt Kemp in August, and along with the NL Cy Young scope for Clayton Kershaw, it became the primary Dodger story over the season's final two months. That means a ton of words were spilled on the subject, and I'm reluctant, at this point, to spill any more (though for some fresh Kemp content, check out this ESPN.com roundtable on Kemp's future in which I took part).

Looking back, these are the four primary pieces, a combination of comparing Kemp to his closest rivals (which in the end boiled down to Milwaukee's Ryan Braun) as well as arguing emphatically that the voting rules do not call for the MVP to come from a pennant-winner.

August 15: Matt Kemp really can win the MVP award, but will he?

September 24: The myth and reality of 'valuable'

October 1: So when exactly were the Dodgers out of contention?

October 14: Remembering 2011: Matt Kemp

Once more, with feeling:

Dear Voter:

There is no clear-cut definition of what Most Valuable means. It is up to the individual voter to decide who was the Most Valuable Player in each league to his team. The MVP need not come from a division winner or other playoff qualifier.

The rules of the voting remain the same as they were written on the first ballot in 1931:

1. Actual value of a player to his team, that is, strength of offense and defense.

2. Number of games played.

3. General character, disposition, loyalty and effort.

4. Former winners are eligible.

5. Members of the committee may vote for more than one member of a team.

– Baseball Writers Association of America official site

The setup: After a 4.31 ERA with 5.6 strikeouts per nine innings in 2009, MacDougal all but pitched himself out of the majors in 2010 by allowing 15 runs in 18 2/3 innings for St. Louis. When the Dodgers signed him to a minor-league contract at the end of January, I set up his challenge thusly: "Since 2007, MacDougal has allowed more than 16 baserunners per nine innings in the majors. In trying to make the major league bullpen for the Dodgers, MacDougal will have competition from such righties as Jonathan Broxton, Kenley Jansen, Vicente Padilla, Matt Guerrier, Ronald Belisario, Blake Hawksworth and Ramon Troncoso."

The closeup: MacDougal not only ended up pitching more innings for the Dodgers than all but one of those names, he finished the year with the lowest ERA on the entire staff: 2.05. Now, if you were paying attention, you'll know that latter figure is tainted: He allowed 17 of 51 inherited runners to score. It was actually much worse before the All-Star break, when he allowed 13 of 33 inherited runners to come home – nearly 40 percent. His second-half numbers (4 of 18) were respectable. He struck out 6.5 batters per nine innings but allowed 13.1 baserunners. So, he was effective, but then again he wasn't, but considering his $500,000 salary, then again he was.

MacDougal got his only save of the year in the Russ Mitchell game. After the Dodgers took a 6-3 lead in the top of the 10th inning against the White Sox, Matt Guerrier allowed two leadoff singles. Two outs later, MacDougal entered the game with the tying run at the plate, threw three pitches and retired Paul Konerko on a grounder to second.

Coming attractions: Inherited runners or not, this was a rebound season for MacDougal, one that should modestly increase offseason interest in the free agent. From the Dodgers' standpoint, it's again a numbers game. Javy Guerra, Jansen, Guerrier, Hawksworth and Josh Lindblom are righties who should nail down spots on the roster, leaving at most one opening. But of course, things always get wacky in the bullpen. No doubt Ned Colletti would be interested in retaining MacDougal for depth, but price could be an object.

The setup: With a .363 on-base percentage and .535 slugging percentage at Albuquerque in 2010, Mitchell was promoted in September to the Dodgers, for whom he put up this unusual line: 43 plate appearances, 37 outs (including a sacrifice fly), no walks, four singles, two home runs. In fact, his first two major-league hits were homers.

The closeup: Mitchell started 2011 with the Isotopes but came to Los Angeles much more quickly, receiving an April 29 callup when Casey Blake went on the disabled list. Mitchell ended up with two separate one-month stints with the team, each except for walks mirroring what came before. In 58 plate appearances, he made 43 outs with seven walks, five singles, a double and two home runs. His career numbers now total a .208 on-base percentage and .290 slugging percentage with four home runs in 101 plate appearances.

His most dramatic game by far came May 20: Against Sergio Santos, who had a 0.00 ERA in 20 2/3 innings for the White Sox, Mitchell (batting .067) hit a two-out, ninth-inning, game-tying homer that opened the door for the Dodgers to win in extra innings.

When he wasn't with the Dodgers, Mitchell had a .372 on-base percentage and .503 slugging percentage in 392 plate appearances with Albuquerque. In general, his on-base skills showed improvement in 2011.

Mitchell's season ended with wrist surgery on September 27, to address torn cartilage he had been playing with since May. Expected recovery time, according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com, was up to eight weeks; currently we are at the 7 1/2-week mark. He signed up to play winter ball, with Tiburones de La Guaira in Venezuela, but he has not shown up in the stats yet as having appeared in a game.

Coming attractions: Right now, the Dodgers have seven infielders on their roster and figure to keep six. Mitchell and Justin Sellers would probably be the backups if the season started today, but you can expect increased competition by the time March arrives. There has been talk that Mitchell, who will turn 27 in February, would work on catching to increase his value as an all-purpose backup, but his wrist problem has at a minimum slowed those plans. He has options remaining with the Dodgers, so if he does not hold down a roster spot, he'll return to the Isotopes.

Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles hits on the conundrum of why it's okay for the Dodgers to spend big on Matt Kemp but not Prince Fielder and has a theory: that Frank McCourt is using Matt Kemp's lucrative eight-year contract as cover to keep the Dodger payroll low while selling the team.

It all relates to that question we keep coming back to: Does committing big bucks to a major free agent enhance or reduce the value of a franchise?

... Where this really gets interesting is when you listen closely to Kemp, Colletti and Stewart.

Stewart said Friday that Kemp told him he wanted to get this deal done as soon as possible so the team could make a run at the top free agents on the market, most notably Kemp's friend, Prince Fielder. Baseball's winter meetings are Dec. 3-5 in Dallas.

He also explained the Kemp agreed to take less in the first year of the deal to give the team more flexibility this winter.

"The ballclub needed flexiblity, Ned was clear in explaining that," Stewart said. "What was important really was the overall package for Matt.

"He's an unselfish kid. It's been his thought all along that he'd like to get somebody else there that they can put in the lineup that can help him, help the team win."

That all sounds wonderful until you listen again to Colletti, who said Friday that he "didn't know if it was going to be possible" to re-sign pitcher Hiroki Kuroda, and noted earlier in the week that the team wasn't likely to pursue free agents of Fielder's class and price range.

"Unless something changes, I think it looks less realistic," Colletti said. "I think we have to figure out other ways to produce runs."

There's no way Stewart and Kemp could have missed Colletti's previous comments or been unaware of the Dodgers financial issues as they go through this sale process. Remember, Colletti and Kemp are close now. They've repaired their relationship and talk often. Colletti and Stewart go back 30 years.

So you have to wonder whether something else is going on here.

Could Kemp and Stewart be ratcheting up the pressure on McCourt to give Colletti the chance to make a realistic run at Fielder? Or at least not be hamstrung with a budget smaller than last season's? ...

Read the whole piece here.

Ahead of the deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 draft, the Dodgers outrighted pitchers John Ely and Carlos Monasterios to Triple-A Albuquerque in order to make room for five first-timers on the 40-man roster.

Two came at the trading deadline: outfielder Alex Castellanos and pitcher Steven Fife.

• Alex Castellanos, the 25-year-old outfielder who came from the Cardinals in exchange for Rafael Furcal and had a combined .958 OPS in 534 plate appearances at Double-A.
• Stephen Fife, a 25-year-old righty who came from the Red Sox in the Trayvon Robinson trade and had a combined 3.74 ERA with 95 strikeouts in 137 innings at Double-A.
• Chris Withrow, a 2007 first-round draft choice who had a 4.20 ERA with 130 strikeouts in 128 2/3 innings as a starter at Double-A Chattanooga.
• Michael Antonini, a 26-year-old who came from the Mets organization last winter in exchange for Chin-Lung Hu and had a 4.01 ERA with 131 strikeouts in 148 innings as a starter at Chattanooga.
• Josh Wall, a 2005 second-round draft choice who had a 3.93 ERA with 57 strikeouts in 68 2/3 innings as a reliever at Double-A Chattanooga.

After spending all of 2010 with the Dodgers, Monasterios was injured most of 2011, pitching only four innings with the Isotopes. Ely never recovered his Elymania form of 2010, though he was mostly effective in very short spurts with the Dodgers in 2011.

Both players could easily remain in the organization for 2012, depending on the interest they receive elsewhere.

For more on the state of the 40-man roster, as well as some names that were left unprotected from the Rule 5 draft, check out this post and this post from True Blue L.A.

The breakdown of Matt Kemp's new Dodger contract, now officially running through 2019, comes from Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com and The Associated Press.

It's not exactly $20 million each year, but the difference in future years doesn't figure to be significant, unless you're the kind of guy or gal who frets over $22 million vs. $20 million.

• In 2012, Kemp will make $10 million, which includes a $2 million signing bonus due by April but not $2 million that will be deferred for a year.
• 2013: $22 million, including the $2 million deferred from 2012.
• 2014: $21 million
• 2015: $21 million
• 2016: $21.5 million
• 2017: $21.5 million
• 2018: $21.5 million
• 2019: $21.5 million

“As the winner of the first Cy Young Award, I am so very proud of Clayton Kershaw and his outstanding performances that led to his receiving the 2011 Cy Young Award. I am reminded of Sandy Koufax whenever I see Clayton pitch and feel that there is a deep comparison between the two. Clayton has an outstanding work ethic, as did Sandy, which will show itself through Clayton's baseball career.”

– Don Newcombe

• Cliff Corcoran of SI.com has a well-done piece looking at Clayton Kershaw's workload and how it could mean he's in for an early decline – or, conversely, that he's on a Hall of Fame path. Corcoran concludes by recommending the Dodgers not dally in signing Kershaw to a big contract extension.
• ESPN.com looks at the adjustments Kershaw made to become a Cy Young winner.

* * *

In case you missed it amid the Cy Young news, baseball has engineered a major realignment. The Houston Astros are moving to the American League West, there will be interleague play throughout the season, and biggest of all, there will be two wild-card teams in each league, who will face off in a one-game playoff. Jayson Stark of ESPN.com examines the changes from all angles, while DodgerTalk co-host Joe Block reacts to the realignment news and potential increase in interleague games by discussing whether NL teams should keep a designated-hitter type on their roster.

* * *

No, Matt Kemp, we haven't forgotten about you:

• David Golebiewski of Baseball Analytics has a deep examination of how Kemp is able to maintain a high batting average on balls in play.
• For a change of pace, here's Grant Brisbee at Baseball Nation with a history of ... Matt Kemp trade rumors!

Baseball is a team sport that honors individual accomplishments like no other, so much so that when I ask this question ...

Who is more revered in Los Angeles, the 1963 and 1965 world champion Dodgers, or Sandy Koufax?

... the answer, I believe, is surely Koufax.

It's a choice between heaven and nirvana, a hypothetical beyond the heretical, one you need not fret over. You never have to have one without the other. But while those Dodgers were angels, Koufax is a god.

So when Clayton Kershaw draws comparisons to Koufax, it is no small matter. It is a very large matter, larger in some ways than the Dodgers' passing another year without becoming world champions, and larger certainly than Kershaw's fate in the 2011 National League Cy Young Award balloting.

Don't misunderstand me -- Kershaw winning today's award is a big deal, a wonderful, rip-roaring accomplishment, and yet at the same time, the celebration of his victory is about 1/1,000,000,000th of how nuts Dodger fans will go the next time they're the last team to leave the field at the end of a season. But if Kershaw turns about to be another Koufax, a living, breathing Zeus throwing lightning bolts from his pitching Olympus, that's going to resonate through history even more.

Koufax is a Los Angeles Dodger who is honored like no other, so much so that when I ask this question ...

Is Kershaw going to be even better than Koufax?

... the answer, I believe, may cause heart palpitations across an entire Dodgers universe.

Through age 23, Kershaw has 716 1/3 innings, 745 strikeouts, a WHIP of 1.173 and a
park/era-adjusted ERA, according to Baseball-Reference.com, of 135.

Through age 23, Koufax had 516 2/3 innings, 486 strikeouts, a WHIP of 1.461 and a
park/era-adjusted ERA, according to Baseball-Reference.com, of 100.

At the age that Kershaw became a Cy Young Award winner, Koufax had a 4.05 ERA in 153 1/3 innings in which he walked 92. Koufax didn't have a significantly above-average season until he was 25 and wasn't ever mentioned on a Cy Young ballot until he won the award for the first time at age 27.

Comparisons are never perfect -- Jane Leavy's Koufax biography is one of several sources that describes manager Walter Alston's ambivalence about using the young Koufax, leaving open the possibility that Alston hampered Koufax's early development. And surely, there's no guarantee that even though Kershaw is better than Koufax was at age 23, he'll still be better from ages 26-30, when Koufax, at the height of his astonishment, pitched 1,377 innings, struck out 1,444 with an ERA+ of 167.

Who knows if Kershaw will ever reach a World Series, let alone pitch in four of them with a 0.95 ERA and 61 strikeouts in 57 innings, including back-to-back shutouts with 10 strikeouts apiece with only two days in between?

But in the race across time between Koufax and Kershaw, Koufax is the tortoise, and Kershaw is the hare, except that he's a hare with a head on his shoulders, not to mention better medical.

Scouts told Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com all the different ways Kershaw can still improve. "That change[up] is still a work in progress," one scout said. "The curveball has a chance to be really good. I had his fastball from 89 [mph] all the way up to 96. So I don't think he is where he is going to be yet, not anywhere near it."

Koufax won three Cy Young Awards and finished in third place for another. Already, Kershaw is more than a quarter of the way there. He's 23, and should remain a Dodger past Koufax's age of retirement, 30. Kershaw is the kind of pitcher who people will make pilgrimages to see for decades after he has left the playing field, who can carry a franchise's legacy even if the franchise itself is too weak to build upon its own.

It could all go haywire in an instant, so easily that when I ask this question ...

Can Kershaw do it over the long haul?

... the answer, I believe, is let's see. Yes, please, let's see.

* * *

We saw this coming. Looking ahead to the 2011 season in February, we could say the following:

... He's not a Fernando or a Sandy. Not even a Piazza or (for that brief, baggage-heavy moment) a Manny. He's not a "Bulldog" or a "Game Over."

He's still a plain old guy with two plain old names, with a humble personality to match -- a wolf in sheepish clothing.

If you say Clayton Kershaw is the best player on the Dodgers, you won’t necessarily get an argument, but you might get a shrug. With disappointment still dripping from the team's 2010 season, "best player on the Dodgers" won't earn you much more than a patronizing pat on the head, maybe an extra juice box after practice. For now, anyway.

Sometimes it happens practically overnight, the way it seemed to with Fernando Valenzuela and Mike Piazza. Other times -- more often, really -- it's years in the making, as with Sandy Koufax, Orel Hershiser and Eric Gagne.

Either way, there's an explosion within reach for Kershaw -- oh, you better believe there is. He turns 23 on March 19, and soon after, he might turn Dodger Stadium back into a place where fans are racing through the crowds for their seats, the way they did for those transcendent heroes of the recent or distant past, for no other reason than to drool over his next pitch or exult in his supremacy. ...

Kershaw's 2010 season had been very, very good -- a 2.91 ERA and 212 strikeouts in 204 1/3 innings -- so good that if he had regressed in 2011, he still could have had a very good season. Despite shutting out San Francisco over seven innings on Opening Day, Kershaw's first month of 2011 looked like it would fall into that groove. Even with 41 strikeouts in 38 1/3 innings, inconsistency left him holding a 3.52 ERA at the end of April.

May was our first sign that something really special was within reach. He started six games and allowed eight runs, pitching 40 2/3 innings with a 1.77 ERA and 46 strikeouts, finishing the month with a two-hit, 10-strikeout shutout of Florida in which neither hit was a hard one.

But June started with two absolutely carking games. (Note: "Carking" is both archaic and a bit inaccurate, but it sounds exactly like the word I want.) On June 4 at Cincinnati, Kershaw had faced the minimum number of batters in the sixth inning, only to have things slip away for six runs over the next two innings. Five days later, Kershaw virtually repeated himself in Colorado. His ERA zipped back up to 3.44, and "learning experience" again elbowed its way into the picture.

Now here's where things really get fun.

Over his final 19 starts of the year, Kershaw allowed only 24 earned runs. He pitched 141 2/3 innings with 146 strikeouts and a 1.52 ERA. Opponents had a .236 on-base percentage and .285 slugging percentage.

Over his final nine starts of the year, Kershaw allowed only seven earned runs. He pitched 65 2/3 innings with 64 strikeouts and a 0.96 ERA. Opponents had a .225 on-base percentage and .274 slugging percentage.

There were pitches he would have liked to have had back, but not many, not many at all.

He pitched another two-hit shutout June 20. He need only eight pitches for a perfect fifth inning with a strikeout in the All-Star Game. He struck out 12 in eight shutout innings on July 20 to beat Tim Lincecum for the second time in 2011, struck out nine in eight innings while allowing only an unearned run to beat Lincecum again Sept. 9, then earned his fourth win over Lincecum (and 20th of the season) on Sept. 20 by allowing one earned run in 7 1/3 innings.

With a triumphant final outing against San Diego on Sept. 25, Kershaw (21-50 ended his year with a league-leading 248 strikeouts, 0.977 WHIP and 2.28 ERA and an adjusted ERA of 163 that was a hair behind Roy Halladay's 164.

Should Halladay, who pitched home games in a more challenging park, have won the Cy Young? If you think so, I won't try to dissuade you. I'll just relax with this.

Halladay, 34, is a true Hall of Fame candidate, practically the gold standard for pitching over the past four seasons with by far the best adjusted ERA during that span. When Halladay was 23, he allowed 80 earned runs in 67 2/3 innings for a 10.64 ERA.

It was a close call for who should be called the best pitcher in the NL today. But one, just one, is so amazing at such a young age, that when I ask this question ...

What pitcher in baseball would you most like to have right now?

... only one answer should come to your mind: Clayton Edward Kershaw.

The setup: Oeltjen made his Dodger debut in September 2010, starting out 4 for 11 before ending up 5 for 23 with a double, triple and four walks (.705 OPS). He was re-signed in December to a minor-league contract and batted .421 in Spring Training, but he began the season, as most expected, in Triple-A.

The closeup: Before his June 9 promotion to Los Angeles, Oeltjen batted .339 in 56 games for Albuquerque, which is interesting because of another fellow who batted .339 in 55 games for Albuquerque until his promotion: Eugenio Velez. And while Oeltjen did not sink to the lows of Velez in a Dodger uniform this year, he didn't exactly have a whole lot of success, especially in the second half.

On June 27, Oeltjen had a career game with a walk, two singles, a triple and a home run in five plate appearances. When he singled as a pinch-hitter two days later, the 28-year-old had a .481 on-base percentage and .667 slugging percentage in 28 plate appearances as an '11 Dodger.

But from July 1 on, Oeltjen went 6 for 50 with one extra-base hit (a home run at Colorado) and eight walks for a .250 on-base percentage and .180 slugging in 63 plate appearances. In other words, during Velez's hitless tenure with the Dodgers that began July 4, Oeltjen had only five more hits. So while Velez was basically wasting one roster spot for July and August, Oeltjen was arguably wasting another.

Of course, thanks to what came before, Oeltjen's final 2011 numbers – 322 on-base percentage, .324 slugging - look wonderful compared to Velez's.

Coming attractions: Oeltjen remains on the 40-man roster for now, and will compete to stick as a backup outfielder in 2012. He is an incumbent, after all. But with a career .299 OBP and .384 slugging in 194 plate appearances, he'll be looking over his shoulder.

Ned Colletti said Tuesday that it's "unrealistic" that the Dodgers will sign Prince Fielder. Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com has more.

Amid reports such as this from Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FoxSports.com that Matt Kemp's soon-to-be-official eight-year contract will pay him just over $10 million next season, it would appear that the Dodgers are in for one more spring of budget tightening as the ownership transition takes place. The contract for new second baseman Mark Ellis pays $2.5 million in 2012 and $5.25 million in 2013, plus incentives, Jackson reports.

The Dodgers' main mystery right now is starting pitching, considering that the back end of their rotation is made up of Nathan Eovaldi and Dana Eveland and there's no guarantee yet that Hiroki Kuroda will return.

• Though as a Dodger fan you might find it moot, David Schoenfeld of ESPN.com explores how much the Kemp deal will affect Fielder's next contract.
• New stats-oriented director of contracts, research and operations Alex Tamin influenced the Ellis signing, general manager Ned Colletti told Ken Gurnick of MLB.com.
• The Ellis signing gets a mixed review from Chad Moriyama.
  

  ... For the money, Ellis should be a passable option considering the alternatives were not exactly appealing, nor were there strong internal candidates. However, while Ellis should be better going forward than he was in 2011, he still figures to be below the league average threshold, making him a fringy or mediocre starter. Additionally, there’s the real risk that he goes through a collapse in skill before the contract is up. So while the finances might pan out okay, this has to rate as an average deal at best.

• Here's a January 2008 ode to Ellis from my former Baseball Toaster compadre Ken Arneson.
• New Dodger trainer Sue Falsone, interviewed by the Huffington Post, says the song that reminds her most of Los Angeles is "Don't Stop Believin'," but we'll hold out hope for her success here anyway (link via Vin Scully Is My Homeboy).
• Former Dodger outfielder Xavier Paul unknowingly got caught up in an Australian Baseball League scam, reports Alexis Brudnicki of Baseball America and Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com.
• MLB.com also offered up its choices for top Dodger minor leaguers in 2011 by position. Compare them to the Dodger Thoughts Grain of Salt Midseason Minor-League All-Stars.
• River Ave. Blues passes along a piece that shows that the value of the batting average statistic was being questioned 96 years ago.
• In Tuesday's mail, I received to my surprise (as a Los Angeles-based Hall of Fame non-voter) a 12-page full-color campaign brochure for Juan "Igor" Gonzalez's Cooperstown candidacy. Matthew Pouliot of Hardball Talk rebuts the effort.
• I was a fan of the Baltimore Orioles' move in the 1990s to an ornithologically correct bird on its caps, in part because of the repeated use by sportswriters of the word "ornithologically." I also thought it looked cool, so I'm a little disappointed to see them go back to the cartoon bird.
• For your amusement/slash/horror: Life (the magazine, not the cereal) has chosen its 20 worst ever covers.

My favorite thing about the Dodgers signing catcher Matt Treanor, who will be paid $850,000 this season, is that he is clearly designed to be a backup, meaning that A.J. Ellis will finally get a chance to see what he can do with his on-base skills as a No. 1 (or No. 1.5) catcher.

My second-favorite thing is that Treanor himself walked 34 times in 242 plate appearances in 2011, though I'm not entirely sure how or why.

My third-favorite thing is that having lived through a litany of Dodger backup catchers, I don't intend to spend a lot of time thinking about how valuable Treanor is. And I suggest you don't either. Just know that he is joining the most hallowed list of hallowed lists: Dodger Catchers of the 2000s.