General Manager Ned Colletti

In response to widespread speculation that financial troubles could significantly compromise the quality of the Dodgers' on-field product next season, General Manager Ned Colletti said on the opening day of baseball's winter meetings that the club intends to spend at least as much on players as it did last season. Asked whether the Dodgers' payroll could decrease, Colletti said, "Not at the moment." Colletti didn't rule out that the payroll could increase, and downplayed concerns that have been raised about owner Frank McCourt's divorce proceedings and the club's decision not to offer any of its free agents salary arbitration.

The Dodgers' controlling owner said Tuesday that he will not be the person who decides whether to retain or fire Manager Don Mattingly. That call, as well as any other major personnel decisions, will be made by President Stan Kasten and General Manager Ned Colletti, according to Mark Walter. "These guys are in charge," Walter said before the Dodgers' 3-0 victory over the Angels. "Nobody wants me running this team. If they do, that's a huge mistake. I'm not qualified to run a baseball team.

Record-breaking major league contracts were the order of the day, but baseball's newest financial power may yet be heard from. People familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity said Friday that the Dodgers were having contract conversations with former National League Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw . The cost of securing Kershaw long term rose earlier Friday when right-hander Justin Verlander agreed to a $180-million,...

MILWAUKEE - Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti was evasive when asked Monday about Don Mattingly's job status, refusing to say whether the last-place team could fire its manager this week. Against this backdrop of uncertainty, Clayton Kershaw pitched his second complete game of the season, a 107-pitch masterpiece in a 3-1 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park that ended the Dodgers' three-game losing streak. "Every time I get in trouble, Kersh saves me for one more day," Mattingly said jokingly.

NEW YORK - Chad Billingsley will sit out the remainder of this season, as well as part of the next, as he is scheduled to undergo surgery Wednesday for a partially torn ligament in his throwing elbow. The Dodgers expect Billingsley to return to competition in 12 months. "Obviously, we're disappointed, knowing it's not a start, it's the year," Manager Don Mattingly said. BOX SCORE: Dodgers 7, New York Mets 2 Before the Dodgers' 7-2 victory over the New York Mets on Tuesday at Citi Field, the 28-year-old right-hander was examined by team physician Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles.

Eric Gagne's longshot bid to return to the major leagues with the Dodgers just got longer. The former ace reliever was sent to the minors Monday mainly because he needs more work than would be available with the big league club, General Manager Ned Colletti said. "For the most part he needs to pitch, he needs to build up his arm strength especially for his off-speed stuff," Colletti said of Gagne, 34, a former Cy Young Award winner with the Dodgers who later was identified in the Mitchell Report as a user of performance-enhancing drugs.

Before the next owner is in place and starts promising to restore the team to its former glory, it looks as though the Dodgers will have to endure another barren winter. The Dodgers have plenty of needs. But with departing owner Frank McCourt preparing to sell, they have even less cash than usual to spend on players. The combined 2012 salaries of the players on their opening-day roster are expected to be less than $90 million. Ideally, the Dodgers would be looking to add a middle-of-the-lineup bat, a couple of middle-of-the-rotation starting pitchers and a veteran catcher at baseball's winter meetings.

In a week highlighted by a court ruling that eventually could force their sale, the Dodgers departed from the winter meetings Thursday without Carl Crawford in their lineup or Cliff Lee in their rotation. But General Manager Ned Colletti sounded pleased with what they did here over the last four days, as they agreed to one-year deals with pitcher Vicente Padilla , outfielder Tony Gwynn Jr. and catcher Dioner Navarro . "We got nothing that's eye-opening," Colletti said, "but it does help us put the team together and give us some depth.

The notion that the Dodgers had entered a new big-money era was dispelled Tuesday when General Manager Ned Colletti acknowledged the team was unlikely to make a run at top-line free agents such as Prince Fielder or Albert Pujols. Asked of the possibility of adding a big bat, Colletti said, "As of today, it looks less realistic. " The concession was made only a day after the Dodgers finalized an eight-year, $160-million contract with Matt Kemp and departing owner Frank McCourt said Colletti was free to pursue the likes of Fielder and Pujols.

PHOENIX — Andre Ethier said Tuesday he does not plan to impose a deadline on negotiations on the contract extension that could keep him out of free agency. Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti has said he would like to re-sign Ethier and has discussed the idea with Dodgers President Stan Kasten , who took office three weeks ago. Ethier said Tuesday he and his agent have not received a formal contract proposal from the Dodgers. Ethier also said he did not anticipate a point where free agency could be so close that he would put any contract talks on hold before he could test the market.

This smelled of a huge gamble. Looked like a reach. You had to wondered if it wasn't largely a publicity exercise, if the Dodgers had really spent a total of $61.7 million to sign Hyun-Jin Ryu. Yet nearly a fourth of the way into the season, it's time to give the Dodgers and their scouts great credit for the signing. Ryu, scheduled to start Friday night in Atlanta, has been fairly phenomenal. He has gone directly from the Korean Baseball Organization to the major leagues with relative ease -- like it happens all the time, not like he's the first.

Don Mattingly knows he's been a hot topic in recent days. A pair of stories in the Los Angeles Times ( by Bill Shaikin and Bill Plaschke ), in ESPN.com and multiple blogs, all wondering whether the slumping Dodgers would be better served by a new manager. “I know everybody was writing about it,” Mattingly said. People have told him about the stories. Mattingly said he has not, however, read any of it. Not that he didn't predict in the off-season whispers would start during the team's first serious losing streak.

Shortstop Hanley Ramirez was reinstated from the disabled list Monday, more than two weeks before he was initially projected to return from thumb surgery. Ramirez was moved into the Dodgers roster spot that previously belonged to Clayton Kershaw , who was put on the bereavement list because of a death in his family. Kershaw has left the team but is expected to take his scheduled turn in the rotation Friday in San Francisco. Kershaw has to be out a minimum of three games and a maximum of seven.

NEW YORK - Chad Billingsley will sit out the remainder of this season, as well as part of the next, as he is scheduled to undergo surgery Wednesday for a partially torn ligament in his throwing elbow. The Dodgers expect Billingsley to return to competition in 12 months. "Obviously, we're disappointed, knowing it's not a start, it's the year," Manager Don Mattingly said. BOX SCORE: Dodgers 7, New York Mets 2 Before the Dodgers' 7-2 victory over the New York Mets on Tuesday at Citi Field, the 28-year-old right-hander was examined by team physician Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles.

PHOENIX - Chris Capuano or Ted Lilly will replace sidelined Zack Greinke in the Dodgers' rotation, according to General Manager Ned Colletti. Capuano was 12-12 with a 3.72 earned-run average as a starting pitcher last season. But the additions of Greinke and Hyun-Jin Ryu forced him into a bullpen role. Capuano, who has made two relief appearances, was on a starter's throwing program for all of spring training. Lilly, who won 12 games as recently as 2011, is currently inactive.

By defecting from his superstar agent last week, Robinson Cano made the Dodgers look pretty smart. It's not all about the money, even for the local team that has an apparently endless amount of it. Cano ditched Scott Boras to ally with Jay-Z, the rap mogul who sang his "Empire State of Mind" hit at the New York Yankees' World Series parade in 2009. The song includes this line: "I made the Yankee hat more famous than a Yankee can. " Cano could be the marquee name in free agency this fall, but the agent switch makes it far more likely he stays with the Yankees.

Reporting from Philadelphia Dee Gordon might have benefited from playing out the remainder of the triple-A season and waiting until September for his first major league call-up, General Manager Ned Colletti conceded. But the Dodgers couldn't wait, not with Rafael Furcal on the disabled list. So, the Dodgers called up their top position player prospect Monday, the same day they activated infielder Juan Uribe , outfielder Marcus Thames and reliever Blake Hawksworth . The Dodgers cleared room on their active roster by sending John Ely and Ivan De Jesus Jr. to triple-A Albuquerque and designating Juan Castro and Jay Gibbons for assignment.

By now this was all supposed to have been resolved, yet the season is underway and the Dodgers' extra starters remain an unsolved issue. All five starters the Dodgers began with last season with are back. During the course of last season they added starter Josh Beckett, and then in the off-season Zack Greinke and Hyun-Jin Ryu. The pieces put together into a rotation left Chris Capuano, Ted Lilly and Aaron Harang uncomfortably on the outside. A trade of at least one seemed logical, but spring began and all eight were still in tow. Most figured a deal would be made at the end of spring training, but the season started Monday and all eight remained.

Record-breaking major league contracts were the order of the day, but baseball's newest financial power may yet be heard from. People familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity said Friday that the Dodgers were having contract conversations with former National League Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw . The cost of securing Kershaw long term rose earlier Friday when right-hander Justin Verlander agreed to a $180-million,...