Los Angeles

Clayton Kershaw is not only quickly becoming the face of the Los Angeles Dodgers franchise, but he's also arguably on the fast track to being one of the premiere starters in all of baseball.

Among the larger criticisms of the Dodgers pitching staff is the lack of a true ace, however Kershaw's performance during his first full two years of service indicates that it's only a matter of time before he fills that void.

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.

Fenway and Wrigley are the two most iconic baseball parks in Major League Baseball today. They are so iconic that just saying their first name, you automatically know which stadiums they are and who plays in them, unlike Minute Maid or Petco Park, which could have you guessing, even for just a second.

Ranking Major League Managers can be a tricky business. Managing can be, like standing on a razor edge; one wrong move and you'll get cut. 

It seems that no matter, what the city, or team, managers are always on the hot seat.  Security in this job, is never guaranteed, so it comes as no surprise that, entering the 2011 season we have twelve teams sporting new managers. 

Shut out from signing Cliff Lee, Carl Crawford and Adrian Beltre (Ouch!), the Angels overreacted and made a trade for Vernon Wells. Guess there really is one born every minute.

Wells' seven-year, $126 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays, which has been one of the worst deals in baseball since it was signed in 2006, is now the Angels' problem, or at least $86 million of it is.

But money is just one reason for Angels fans to hate this deal.

Let's take a look at some other reasons...

First base is a funny position.  

Often, the first baseman is the team's best hitter, but one of its worst fielders.  Many first baseman are both indispensable (to the batting order) and replaceable (in the field).  

There are some athletes in today’s world of sports that will seemingly never play for a team other than their current club.

Certain players are synonymous with their teams, and wrapping one’s head around the notion that they may play for a different team is just not plausible.

The likes of Tom Brady, Kobe Bryant, Derek Jeter, Peyton Manning and Albert Pujols could each be placed in this category.  

However, there was once a time when seeing Brett Favre, Michael Jordan, or Joe Montana in a different uniform was thought to be ludicrous.

Dice-K, Jay Bruce, Matt Wieters, Jayson Heyward, and now you can add Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout to the elite list of top prospects in all of Major League Baseball as MLB.com made the announcement Monday in their annual listing of the Top 50 Prospects in Baseball.

It's that time of the year when baseball publications and blogs far and wide weigh in with their opinions as to which players deserve mentioning on their respective teams' Top 10 prospects lists, and for the Los Angeles Dodgers, those number of listings are seemingly endless.

Periodicals such as Baseball America, Fangraphs, The Hardball Times, and a number of blogs from SB Nation are among only a few who have published prospect lists in the past week alone.

Earlier this offseason, the statistical community rejoiced when the Hall of Fame finally voted Bert Blyleven into the Hall of Fame after 14 years on the ballot.  Blyleven's case is notable because, in his first few years on the ballot, he received less than 20% of the vote.  

Only after a thorough reevaluation of Blyleven's career — and a spirited internet campaign led by blogger Rich Lederer — did Blyleven finally garner the support needed to be inducted.