Dodgers may be working on deal to unload Andruw Jones

Happy New Year -- indeed!

I'm hearing the Dodgers are working on a deal that will allow the team to cut ties with Andruw Jones, save $12 million and give last year's free-agent bust the opportunity to seek employment elsewhere.

The Dodgers still hold out hope they can save the money and trade Jones, but the end result will be Jones probably won't be swinging and missing in L.A. this season.

Dodgers GM Ned Colletti said, "We can't confirm that, and right now we don't have a comment," but if a deal is made with Jones' agent, it will give the Dodgers an additional $12 million to pursue Manny Ramirez or cover the cost of a new wardrobe for Mrs. Parking Lot this season.

Jones' agent, by the way, is Scott Boras, and freeing up $12 million helps Ramirez, who is also his client. Jones would accept the reduction in pay to get a fresh start elsewhere in the final year of his contract.

As for Ramirez, there was a one-sentence report in the Denver Post on Thursday suggesting the San Francisco Giants are now "quietly" and "aggressively" making a play for him, which suggests the Denver Post has been talking to Boras.

It figures Boras will need another suitor to get the Dodgers' attention, but should the rival Giants actually sign Ramirez, reports of Dodgers fans leaping from the Think Blue sign beyond the left-field pavilion will probably follow.

The Dodgers, suddenly relevant again because of Ramirez's arrival, have wiped a ton of money off the books, losing Brad Penny, Derek Lowe, Joe Beimel, Takashi Saito, Greg Maddux, Jeff Kent, Chan Ho Park, Nomar Garciaparra and now probably Jones.

They signed Rafael Furcal, but because much of the money will come at the end of his three-year deal, they will be paying the shortstop something like $6 million less this season than what he was making a year ago.

It appears the Dodgers have a bundle of money available, although it's known Jamie McCourt borrowed $27.9 million to buy two side-by-side homes in Malibu in her name for $46 million -- and just imagine that mortgage payment.

The way the housing market is going, maybe that's why the Mrs. doesn't want to tie up their money in Ramirez for any length of time. If so, then we know who is wearing the pants in the family.

The Giants, meanwhile, are entering new territory with a TV deal struck last year and are reportedly looking to make a splash. I wonder if they know Ramirez is right-handed, and there's no splash zone beyond the left-field wall in AT&T Park.