--INF Juan Castro, whom the Dodgers originally signed out of Mexico in 1991, has returned to the organization on a minor league contract. Castro will have a strong chance of making the club out of spring training as a utility man. He bounced back and forth between Los Angeles and Class AAA several times from 1995-99 before finally being traded to Cincinnati in 2000.
--RHP Chad Billingsley is on track to be fully recovered from a broken leg by the start of spring training. Billingsley suffered a spiral fracture of his fibula when he slipped on ice outside his Pennsylvania home in November. The injury was repaired surgically. --C A.J. Ellis, who was added to the 40-man roster so he could be called up in September, has a decent shot at nailing down the backup job in spring training. To do so, he would have to beat out incumbent Danny Ardoin, who also remains on the 40-man. Ellis is a mid-level prospect and has long been projected as a big-league backup.
--LHP Hong-Chih Kuo shouldn't be counted out as a potential closer. Although the Dodgers are holding out some hope of re-signing RHP Takashi Saito and although RHP Jonathan Broxton had the role for most of the second half last year, Kuo has prototypical closer stuff, and club officials quietly say he could compete with Broxton for the job. Also, Broxton has in the past been more reliable and consistent as a setup man than as a closer.
--RHP Claudio Vargas, a free agent, has agreed to a one-year contract with the Dodgers that would pay him a base salary of $400,000, according to the Los Angeles Times. The deal reportedly includes incentives that could bring the total value to $1.8 million. Vargas would be a candidate for the fifth spot in the rotation.
--SS Rafael Furcal has a clause in his new three-year, $30 million contract requiring him to donate $100,000 each year to the Dodgers Dream Foundation, one of the club's two in-house charities. Furcal becomes the second current Dodgers players to have such a clause. Andruw Jones' two-year, $36.2 million deal calls for him to donate $150,000 each year.
BY THE NUMBERS: 2,977 -- Total games lost to the disabled list by Dodgers players over the past three seasons, including 1,197 in 2008 alone. Included on that list are RHP Jason Schmidt and INF Tony Abreu, each of whom spent every day of the 2008 season on the shelf. Club officials are cautiously optimistic that both players will be physically sound enough to resume normal activities by the start of spring training.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "I don't mean to be a self-promoter, and that wasn't why I was talking to any reporter. But, really, why not me? Why not now? Especially with this franchise that is known for breaking down barriers. It's not brain surgery." -- Sportscaster Jeanne Zelasko, making her case to the Los Angeles Times for why she should be considered for the current opening on the Dodgers' radio team. If she landed the job, she would be the first female play-by-play voice in big-league history.
