Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.
Yes, the Dodgers' solar system revolves around Manny Ramirez. He's their star on the field and their main attraction.
But they wouldn't have Ramirez, nor many of the players who carried the team in his absence, were it not for a farm system that has been remarkably productive.
"It's nice that management kept us all here," ace Chad Billingsley told FanHouse. "There's some teams that maybe just start trading guys away. And believing in us, that's a huge thing."
In the 2002-03 drafts, Los Angeles took Russell Martin, James Loney, Jonathan Broxton, Matt Kemp and Billingsley. Those five players made their big league debuts within an 11-month span, from July 2005 to June 2006.
LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers were enjoying a magical start to the season. Best record in baseball. Longest season-opening home winning streak of the modern era.
And then "it was like somebody punched a hole in the balloon," manager Joe Torre said.
In the hours between Wednesday night's victory and Thursday morning, word got around the Dodger organization that Manny Ramirez, who had defined the franchise since he was acquired last July, had been suspended for 50 games for violating baseball's drug policy.
Hundreds of media members converged on Dodger Stadium on Thursday, caring little about the team's hot start or its winning streak. They were there to see how the Dodgers were handling the stunning loss of Ramirez.
Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through every major player on each team. Fantasy FanHouse is here to help with a quick once-over.
Meet the ... Eventual landing spot for Manny Ramirez. Seriously, it's going to happen sooner or later, so we'll just assume it's already happened for the purposes of this post. Obviously, if he either signs elsewhere (unlikely) or sits out this season (as unlikely as the holier than thou media embracing A-Rod), we'll have to re-fantasy-spin the entire offense. He's that important to the lineup.
FanHouse positional rankings were compiled by averaging the individual rankings of each member of the Fantasy FanHouse staff.
The easiest thing in my job is to fill in that "number one" spot in fantasy baseball's first basemen rankings. Regardless of whether Albert Pujols finishes with the best numbers at the position, he's always in the top three and he will never, ever let you down. This year won't be any different. You can expect .330 with 40 homers, 120 RBI and over 100 runs. He may even steal close to 10 bases for you. Don't think too hard about the decision, just pick him if you get the chance.
Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2009.
The funny thing about the Dodgers is that it's really, really easy to forget that before Manny Ramirez rode in on his dreadlocked donkey like a free-swinging Don Quixote, well, they were basically just your run of the mill mediocre baseball team.
Ned Colletti was, justifiably, on the hot seat, Andruw Jones and Juan Pierre were gathering larddustballs on the bench, and despite some pretty good pitching, there wasn't enough offense to limp the team towards a .500 National League West-winning record and OMG JOE TORRE FAIL.
But Manny did show up, and he did play the role of hero. The Dodgers streaked into the playoffs, the fans started flocking back to Chavez Ravine in their imitation 'locks and then Los Angeles shocked the world by sweeping the Cubs in the NLDS. Nowhere to go up but, right? Um, actually, no.
With just over 24 hours to go before the first pitch of the National League Championship Series, the writers of the MLB FanHouse gathered for a discussion of the Phillies and Dodgers. It didn't take long for the discussion to veer away from who will win and onto the ever fascinating and potentially otherworldly Manny Ramirez.
Josh Alper: Is it just me or is it really hard to find a clear edge in this series? The Dodgers and Phillies each have strong rotations, bullpens and offenses. The biggest difference, to me, is that the addition/return of Manny Ramirez and Rafael Furcal give the Dodgers a stronger 1-8 lineup than the Phillies. Not by a lot but by enough to give them a slight edge over seven games.
Tom Fornelli: Both these teams are incredibly hot right now. The Dodgers are 20-8 (including playoffs) in their last 28 games, and over that same time period the Phillies are 20-9. A strong series from Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, or Pat Burrell can easily propel the Phillies past the Dodgers. Which is why I'm leaning more towards the Phillies because I think they have more options on offense, whereas the Dodgers are basically centered on Manny.
Stop that, Cubs fans. You know what I mean -- the repeated mumblings of "That's why they call it a series" followed by the "Something-something ... don't mind if I do!" Homer Simpson-like behavior. Seriously, stop. It's totally okay to freak out.
After all, you are down 1-0 in the National League Division Series to the Dodgers, and as TBS was kind enough to squeeze in between "I Love This Town" soundbites, the team that wins the first game of such a series has gone on to win said series 24 of 28 times.
Of course, it didn't have to be this way. There were a lot of things going in your favor. On paper (in theory) you had the better team. You also had a hefty wind (17 mph at last check) blowing into Wrigley. And Joe Torre made the mistake of using ground ball pitcher Derek Lowe tonight instead of saving him for a change in weather.
With the trade deadline right around the corner, our MLB editor brings you the top five rumors every day until July 31.
- The elephant in the room four days from the trade deadline is Manny Ramirez, who once again is on shaky ground in Boston. In a perfect world, the Red Sox would love to rid themselves of the near-constant headache that Ramirez provides. In practice, they are still very much in the hunt for their third World Series in five years and would need to replace his production in step with any deal. That makes the completion of any trade unlikely in the next few days.
Joel Sherman and Mike Puma of the New York Post run down the potential list of suitors for Ramirez, and because of Boston's desire to ship him out of the American League, it is a very short one. The Dodgers, Diamondbacks, Mets and Phillies are the teams with both the need and the financial wherewithal to pick up the tab for Ramirez's $20 million deal. Because the left fielder has 10-5 rights (10 years in the league, five with the same team) he can veto any deal the Red Sox put together. That leads Sherman and Puma to conclude that Ramirez would only accept a deal to Philadelphia, where he would be reunited with manager Charlie Manuel, who was his hitting coach in Cleveland.
It is July. The trade deadline approaches. Which GMs are poised to destroy the near future of their franchise for a quick fix? Quis custodiet ipsos Collettus? The Colletti Watch, that's who.
The general manager: Lest you misunderstand the title, the Colletti Watch will be looking at GMs from all across the league as the trade deadline approaches. Today, we start with Ned Colletti for the same reason that the feature is named after him; he values "grit" over talent, his owner is desperate to win, and the Dodgers are are tied for first place in the NL West, despite a losing record. This scenario is tailor-made for bad things to happen.
The key rumor: Colletti wants Jack Wilson. He obviously wants a shortstop and there's all kinds of evidence to imply that he's targeting Wilson. The thing is, both Colletti and McCourt are talking about trading their young talent, which is defined by most as Matt Kemp, James Loney, and Andy LaRoche. Would Colletti really trade a good, under-25-year-old talent for a 30-year-old shortstop with a career OPS below .700? The answer kinda seems like it might be yes.
The Doomsday Clock: Two minutes to midnight. Colletti is both a bad GM and a desperate one, which is generally a recipe for trade deadline disaster. He has some good assistants (Kim Ng, Logan White) who might be able to talk him out of hitting the big red button, but with McCourt pushing him, I wouldn't count on it.
There have been a lot of surprising revolutions at the first base position early in the 2008 season. Prince Fielder, when not eating meat, kind of stinks. Albert Pujols appears to be healthy. Carlos Pena? Not so much a fluke. Ryan Garko is just starting to heat up and should be all kinds of bought low on. Same goes for Mark Teixeira, who was mentioned last week.
Other surprises include Aubrey Huff, Mike Jacobs, James Loney and Conor Jackson. Not that the latter three (or even Huff) don't have talent, I just didn't expect to see them all come out so warm this year. I won't draft Huff for some reason, much less own him, but feel free to if you want to. Loney is legit and Jackson will be steady if not full of power. Jacobs just seems streaky, but injuries last year could have contributed to that. I'd start all of them this week.
Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.
LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers were enjoying a magical start to the season. Best record in baseball. Longest season-opening home winning streak of the modern era.
Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through 
FanHouse positional rankings were compiled by averaging the individual rankings of each member of the Fantasy FanHouse staff. 
With the trade deadline right around the corner, our MLB editor brings you the top five rumors every day until July 31.
It is July. The trade deadline approaches. Which GMs are poised to destroy the near future of their franchise for a quick fix? Quis custodiet ipsos Collettus? The 
There have been a lot of surprising revolutions at the first base position early in the 2008 season. 
