ESPN: From Jonah Keri‘s book on the Tampa Bay Rays, “The Extra 2%“, which I should probably get around to reading.

Jennings said he and the other scouts in attendance — all except Arango — remained concerned about the kid’s thick build. They also focused on the negatives rather than the positives as Arango and Jennings both fell into a bit of confirmation bias. Jennings didn’t like the player going down on one knee more than once to field grounders at short. He was also concerned about the player’s performance at catcher: messy footwork and iffy throwing mechanics, despite a few good throws. At bat, he worried about the player’s approach more than the results. “He’s sitting very deep on his back leg, uppercut swing, back shoulder dipping pretty good,” Jennings said.

It’s an excerpt that’s both funny and sad at the same time, but I do like the insight it gives into the decision making process.

Also, Fernando Arango is far more mature than me. I’d be sending a postcard to Chuck LaMar and Vince Naimoli every year with Albert Pujols and me smiling widely.

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MLB Trade Rumors: Los Angeles Dodgers might be signing Amaury Sanit.

Sources close to Amaury Sanit tell Fernando Ballesteros at Puro Béisbol in Mexico that the Dodgers are interested in signing the 32-year-old Cuban reliever. Sanit logged just seven innings out of the Yankees’ pen last season before being released in June, but he has seen more action as the closer for the Culicán Tomateros in the Mexican League this winter, pitching to a 0.62 era in 36 appearances.

He has been rather unimpressive in the minors to this point and his stint in the majors was a disaster. Worse yet, he was suspended 50 games in 2010 for using performance enhancing drugs.

Nothing to get upset about, as it’ll be a minor league contract, but not noteworthy either.

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Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus relays on Twitter that the Dodgers have signed third baseman Josh Fields and pitcher Ryan Tucker.

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Beyond The Box Score: David Fung projects the Dodgers offense to be just as good in 2012 as it was in 2011…which is actually not good.

MLB Trade Rumors: Reliever John Grabow signed with the Dodgers on a minor league deal. Story was broken by John Scanlan of…Twitter. Oh hells yeah.

MLB: Dodgers will invite 15 players to a developmental mini-camp at Dodger Stadium in January.

Pitchers (8): Steven Ames, Michael Antonini, Rubby De La Rosa, Stephen Fife, Shawn Tolleson, Josh Wall, Allen Webster and Chris Withrow.

Position players (7): Alex Castellanos, Griff Erickson, Tim Federowicz, Tyler Henson, Alfredo Silverio, Scott Van Slyke and Matt Wallach.

If nothing else, a decent look at who they are considering.

MLB: Dodgers announced their minor league coaching staff for 2012.

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ESPN: Albert Pujols‘ wife explains the pain of having to question her faith over potentially making 25+ million dollars per year over 5 years instead of 10.

“When it all came down, I was mad. I was mad at God because I felt like all the signs that had been played out through the baseball field, our foundation, our restaurant, the Down Syndrome Center, my relationships, my home, my family close,” Deidre Pujols told the station. “I mean, we had no reason, not one reason, to want to leave. People were deceived by the numbers.”

…

“It’s just like God,” she said at the end of the interview, “to put us on a team called the Angels.”

Wow, I’m not religious but I feel offended for religious people.

Must be sickening to see a person use God to justify a choice made out of personal motivations…which were mainly based on money.

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Baseball Prospectus: Mike Fast with an outstanding read on the hit-and-run play. Way too long to recap here, so I hope you have a subscription.

Grantland: Rany Jazyreli asks if executives now overvalue prospects.

True Blue LA: Eric Stephen looks at how Jamey Carroll exceeded expectations.

While I don’t have the post anymore, I’m quite sure I didn’t like his signing at all. However, by mid-2010, it became quite apparent that he was going to be a valuable player for the Dodgers going forward. It wasn’t about grittiness or hustle or whatever storyline people want to feed you, it was about him taking walks, having positional versatility, and providing dependable defense over two years where the Dodgers didn’t have much of it at the 2B, 3B, and SS positions.

Never been happier to be so wrong about a player.

Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness: Will the Dodgers splurge on Albert Pujols or Prince Fielder? Should they?

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Los Angeles Times: Jonathan Broxton will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his elbow. He’ll be out for about six weeks, but he should be ready for Spring Training 2012.

I suppose the Dodgers could bring him back on the one year deal he allegedly desires, but he might benefit from a fresh start with a fresh fan base that doesn’t treat him like shit.

MLB: Tony Gwynn Jr. got an MRI that revealed a jammed shoulder, but we’re still waiting on the results.

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The Seattle Times: Trayvon Robinson’s journey to the big leagues.

The Seattle Times: His path to the majors in multimedia format.