Vicente Padilla

With spring training now at its peak and Cactus League play in full gear, the Los Angeles Dodgers find themselves in the national spotlight of the sports media in regards to a number of popular storylines.

Team ownership is obviously at the forefront, as Frank McCourt was anticipating a $200 million cash advance from Fox until the transaction was blocked by MLB commissioner Bud Selig late last week. It's unclear exactly where the overall finances of the club lie, but the fact that McCourt was involved in plotting such a deal doesn't sound encouraging.

After a very successful first four and a half years to start his major league career, Los Angeles Dodgers’ closer Jonathan Broxton had a miserable second half in 2010.

Broxton was an All-Star in 2010, putting up great first half numbers with an ERA of 2.11, as well as 19 saves in 21 chances.  

However, after the All-Star break Broxton proceeded to post an ERA of 7.13 with just three saves in eight opportunities, and Broxton had more walks than strikeouts.

According to the team website, the Dodgers declined to offer arbitration to veterans Vicente Padilla, Rod Barajas and Scott Podsednik, making them unrestricted free agents.

However, declining to offer a player arbitration is not a signal that the team is ready to move on. Multiple media outlets have reported the Dodgers remain in talks with all three players. General Manager Ned Colletti has mentioned several times that he is still very interested in resigning Padilla to fill out the remainder of the rotation.

Is anyone else a little skeptical of one of the latest releases on the Dodgers' website? According to General Manager Ned Colletti, the Dodgers are actually planning on increasing the $93 million payroll from 2010.

We have finally reached the payoff portion of the fantasy baseball season: the playoffs! It’s been a grueling 22-week season, but if you’re lucky enough to still be reading fantasy baseball articles, now is the time to really ramp it up.

This is the point in the year where one hot bat could decide your season—or a dead-armed pitcher could ruin it no matter how well his team has done thus far. Below are ten guys who are either destroying your championship dreams or carrying you to the promised land.

Here are two pitching lines from Tuesday night:

Pitcher A: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 8 K

Pitcher B: 5 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K

Guess which pitcher took a win last night and which pitcher took a loss? Pitcher A is Colorado Rockies ace Ubaldo Jimenez, who suffered a 1-0 loss to the New York Mets last night. Pitcher B is Los Angeles Dodgers righty Vicente Padilla, who got credit for the win last night in the Dodgers’ 15-9 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are fading fast, and are already eying the San Francisco Giants with a fleeting hope of making a remarkable comeback and a wild-card berth.

And we’re back. Hopefully the short week didn’t treat you too badly. Good to see the NL finally win an All-Star game, couldn’t believe it has been 14 years since their last win.

But now we get move to one of the most fun parts of the baseball season: the trade deadline.

The waiver wire suddenly gets a big boost in activity as people jump on players who suddenly have value due to the transactions of playoff hopefuls and surrender monkeys.

Los Angeles Dodgers right fielder Manny Ramirez is back on the disabled list, this time with a strained right calf.

Ramirez hasn't officially been on the DL since 2002, but the calf strain is just another injury in a string of complications experienced by the slugger over the past several seasons.

As the season moves in to full swing, the pace set by Manny seems to mimic last season's pre-suspension trend. Ramirez has now missed five of the Dodgers' 18 games, and when he is not in the lineup, the numbers certainly reflect his absence.

For every Phil Mickelson Masters moment that fuels our optimism and confirms that the sporting fates have a firm sense of morality, there are at least as many examples of the contrary. Episodes where Lady Luck jilts the White Knight, and instead shacks up with the leather-clad Lothario that plays by nobody's rules.

Not even his own.

(Bonus points if you recognize that bit of hybrid pilferage).

Case in point of this latter blight would be the San Francisco Giants' three-game series with the Los Angeles Dodgers that just concluded on Sunday.