Dodgers will have Coffey in the bullpen this season
--RHP Todd Coffey signed a one-year contract with the Dodgers worth $1.3 million on Feb. 3, adding a third veteran to a youthful bullpen. Coffey, who was 5-1 with a 3.62 in 60 innings for the Washington Nationals in 2011, will earn $1 million in 2012 and has a 2013 club option worth $2.5 million, with a buyout of $300,000.
--LHP Clayton Kershaw, who signed a two-year, $19 million contract on February 7, is the 11th Dodger to be under contract through at least 2013. Kershaw will be paid $6 million in 2012 and $13 million in 2013, continuing a recent trend of backloaded contracts for the Dodgers. The 11 players under contract for both seasons will be paid a total of $61.35 million in 2012 and $94.4 million in 2013, a 54 percdent increase from year to year.
--RHP Jamey Wright signed a minor league contract with the Dodgers with an invitation to spring training. Wright, 37, last started a major league game on Aug. 25, 2007 and has pitched exclusively in relief in the last four seasons. Wright was 2-3 with a 3.16 ERA in 60 games for the Seattle Mariners in 2011.
--RF Andre Ethier, 1B James Loney, SS Dee Gordon, and several Dodgers past and present took part in the club's annual community caravan throughout Los Angeles on Feb. 7-8. The Dodgers visited Children's Hospital, Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, MLB Urban Youth Academy in Compton, and Habitat for Humanity along with other stops at local schools.
--Seth Bluman, the Dodgers Senior Director of Ticket Operations, advanced to the second round of the MLB Network game show Baseball IQ, but lost to Colorado Rockies Director of Retail Operations Aaron Heinrich, unable to correctly name 12 of the 19 players with the most seasons of 30 or more home runs in baseball history. Bluman won $5,000 for Think Cure during his run on the baseball trivia game show.
BY THE NUMBERS
15 -- The number of Dodgers Cactus League games that will be televised in Los Angeles. The club will televise all 15 home games in spring training from Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Ariz., with 13 games on Prime Ticket and the other two games on KCAL. Vin Scully, entering his 63rd season announcing Dodgers games, will call two games from Arizona, on March 17 against the San Francisco Giants and March 18 against the Los Angeles Angels. The teams of Charley Steiner and Rick Monday, and Eric Collins and Steve Lyons, will call the remaining Cactus League games. In addition, all three Freeway Series games against the Angels in Anaheim and at Dodger Stadium from April 2-4 will be televised.
QUOTE TO NOTE
"The crack of the bat in baseball is a gorgeous sound. But you don't quite get the full effect unless you're very close to the field, because the roar of the crowd often gets to you before the crack of the bat does." -- Legendary Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully, entering his 63rd season calling Dodgers games, in the March issue of Golf Digest.
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