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.
MLB Power Rankings:Where MLB FanHouse's editors, writers and bloggers team up to break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world.
It's a funny thing, sometimes, to see how Power Rankings shape up over the course of the season. Just like when we started the year, there are a number of teams from one particular division sitting atop the rankings. Of course, there are plenty of surprises -- WHERE DID THE FREAKING GIANTS AND ROCKIES COME FROM?? -- and some other interesting stuff, like the fact that the Mets and Cubs just haven't been that good, which we discussed on the inaugural BaseCast recently.
When the St. Louis Cardinals traded for Mark DeRosa over the weekend, it was basically the unofficial start of teams swapping players before the July 31 trade deadline. Traditionally teams wait for one big domino to fall before they start wheeling and dealing, so it's no surprise that the Yankees and Pirates have now worked out a deal amongst themselves.
FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Tampa Bay Rays.
Although they ended up falling short at the end, 2008 was the year of the Rays. After being the butt of jokes for the first 10 years of its existence, Tampa Bay turned an impressive collection of baseball talent into an impressive team, finally assembling a competent bullpen, and utilizing some position shifts to put a much improved defense on the field. With the pieces in place, everything came together, and the Rays increased their win total by 31 games on their way to winning both the AL East and AL pennant.
FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Pittsburgh Pirates.
For the better part of the last decade, the Pittsburgh Pirates aimlessly wandered through the wilderness of baseball with Kevin McClatchy and Dave Littlefield at the helm. Finally, they lost their jobs and Frank Coonelly and Neal Huntington took over. For more than a year, the new front office has been working on digging out of the hole dug by Littlefield during his reign of terror. There's only one real problem: The hole dug by Littlefield was so deep that it's going to take more than a year to dig out of it.
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 ... Pittsburgh Pirates. I mean, what else needs to be said? They haven't been able to rebuild themselves properly in the past decade and a half. The relatively new front office seems to be headed down the right path, but it's early in the process. Fantasy-wise, you won't find much here to like.
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.
As you may have heard, the Tampa Bay Rays burst onto the scene in 2008, finishing the regular season with 97 wins, 27 more than their previous franchise high of 70. They then breezed past the White Sox in the ALDS and survived Boston's furious comeback in the ALCS before falling to the Phillies in the World Series.
On its face, Tampa's story may seem similar to that of the 2007 Rockies, who were an afterthought in the pennant race in early September yet ended up still playing in late October. But in reality, the surprise teams of the last two years couldn't be more different. While Colorado was led by guys in their late-20s having career years, the Rays were a very young team that came into its own earlier than expected. Nearly all of their key parts will be back for '09 and beyond; if Tampa Bay makes the right offseason moves, it is set up quite nicely for a potentially dominant 3-5 year run.
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.
It's obvious that Billy Beane doesn't understand the concept of Footprints in the Snow. You see first, we tell major league GMs what they oughta do, then we predict what they will actually do. After that, the GMs go and do something nobody expects and they show us why they're running baseball teams and we're blogging about it.
Beane has the order wrong. He's not supposed to go and leave his footprints in the offseason snow before we write about it? What fun is that? But that's exactly what Billy did yesterday as he went and traded for Matt Holliday. So what you're about to read is a second draft done through the prism of the Holliday trade. Thanks a lot Billy. Next time, could you take better notes at our meetings?
Brad Lidge struck out Eric Hinske to record the final out in the World Series last night. Maybe he wasn't concentrating enough at the plate because he was worrying whether or not to start Ryan Grant this week. Grant did just finally have a productive fantasy game and is coming off a bye week, but they are facing the vaunted Tennessee run defense. Man, what should I - STRIKE THREE!
No, seriously -- CBS Sports is running a fantasy football league with with 13 major league players. B.J. Ryan is apparently dominating right now, running his record to a spotless 8-0 thus far. Hinske, who is said to be a "fantasy football addict", is facing off against Lidge this weekend, coincidentally. Both sport 3-5 records and need the win badly to stay relevant.
No word on if Maddux plays mind games with opponents, or if Hafner drafted a bunch of guys who ended up injured. I am sure Wright's 5-3 record is bound to get worse as the playoffs approach, though (zing!).
Brad Lidge struck out Eric Hinske to record the final out in the World Series last night. Maybe he wasn't concentrating enough at the plate because he was worrying whether or not to start Ryan Grant this week. Grant did just finally have a productive fantasy game and is coming off a bye week, but they are facing the vaunted Tennessee run defense. Man, what should I - STRIKE THREE!
No, seriously -- CBS Sports is running a fantasy football league with with 13 major league players. B.J. Ryan is apparently dominating right now, running his record to a spotless 8-0 thus far. Hinske, who is said to be a "fantasy football addict", is facing off against Lidge this weekend, coincidentally. Both sport 3-5 records and need the win badly to stay relevant.
No word on if Maddux plays mind games with opponents, or if Hafner drafted a bunch of guys who ended up injured. I am sure Wright's 5-3 record is bound to get worse as the playoffs approach, though (zing!).
Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.
When the St. Louis Cardinals traded for 
Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through 
