The 2010 Maple Street Press Dodgers Annual

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Take it away, Weisman...

The [2010 Maple Street Press Dodgers Annual, available here,] which will also be available on local newsstands at the start of March, offers 128 ad-free pages devoted to the Dodgers, including a review of the 2009 season, a thorough series of player profiles and articles previewing the coming year, a 25-page section on the farm system and another 25 pages of historical features. Here are some of the highlights: 

• Amid Turmoil, Hope (2010 season preview), by Chad Moriyama of Memories of Kevin Malone 

• So Close, Again (2009 season in review), by Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A. 

• Manny Be Good? (What to expect from Ramirez in 2010), by Jay Jaffe of Baseball Prospectus 

• Disorder In McCourt (an analysis of the impact of the McCourts' divorce) by Joshua Fisher of Dodger Divorce 

• State Of The Stadium, by Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A. 

• One Out Away (Jonathan Broxton looks to recover from another disappointing finish), by Mike Petriello of Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness 

• Critical Campaigns (James Loney and Russell Martin), by Mike Petriello of Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness 

• The Collected Colletti (a Q&A), by Josh Suchon of KABC AM 790 

• Aces Are Wild Cards (The last word on No. 1 starters), by Eric Enders, baseball historian 

• Prospect Park (Top 20 prospects in the Dodger farm system), by Dodger prospect expert Richard Bostan 

• Individually Packaged (how the Dodgers develop young arms), by Josh Suchon of KABC AM 790 

• No Minor Hopes (life in AAA), by Albuquerque Isotopes play-by-play announcer Robert Portnoy 

• One In A Trillion (a Vin Scully retrospective), by Dodger team historian Mark Langill 

• Unsung Heroes (key contributions from unexpected sources), by Bob Timmermann of The Griddle and One Through Forty-Two or Forty-Three 

• Sweep And Low (the end of the 1980 season), by Dodger Thoughts commenter BHSportsGuy 

• The Great Dividers (the 20 most controversial Dodgers of the 2000s), by Jon Weisman

Petriello also wrote the bulk of the player profiles, along with BHSportsGuy and another Dodger Thoughts commenter, CraigUnderdog.

If you enjoy this site (and maybe even if you don't), you won't want to be without this annual.

Jon's last sentence is meant for his Dodger Thoughts readers, but I think it applies here, too. You can pre-order the annual here, and at $12.99, you're paying barely more than a dime a page for material from your favorite Dodgers writers. Suffice it to say I feel honored to be in the group.

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Some assorted odds and ends...

• Via an e-mail from the Times' Bill Shaikin, I've learned that yesterday's $1.4 million payment wasn't a brand new development, but rather the same interim financial support the couple had amicably agreed upon in December. We're really crawling along, aren't we?
• Frank McCourt is no longer on speaking terms with T.J. Simers, as noted in Simers' Page 2 column here. I've spent many thousands of words here questioning the McCourt ownership, and I bet Frank would rather me interview him than Simers. (If you're reading, Frank, dodgerdivorce@gmail.com)
• Might as well get all the week's self-promotion out in one post. I'm developing quite the reputation at The Hardball Times for being very pro-greed. I discussed Evan Longoria's pitiful contract in this article, and addressed the Joe Mauer and Albert Pujols situations in blog posts here and here.

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