The Dodgers announced their full coaching staff for 2013:

Don Mattingly – Manager (3rd Season)
Chuck Crim – Bullpen Coach (1st Season)
Trey Hillman – Bench Coach (3rd Season)
Rick Honeycutt – Pitching Coach (8th Season)
Davey Lopes – First Base Coach (3rd Season)
Mark McGwire – Hitting Coach (1st Season)
Tim Wallach – Third Base Coach (3rd Season)
Ken Howell – Assistant Pitching Coach (1st Season, 6th On Staff)
John Valentin – Assistant Hitting Coach (1st Season)
Manny Mota – Coach (34th Season)
Steve Yeager – Coach (2nd Season)

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As Chad noted, the Dodgers recently hired a slew of international scouts. Credit to the new ownership group for their renewed emphasis on building a farm system that includes international players.

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Matt Magill and Steven Ames were added to the 40-man roster, bringing the total for the club to 38.

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The Dodgers signed former Mets first/third baseman Nick Evans to a minor-league contract with an invitation to Spring Training, as reported first by Chris Jackson. Evans will likely be stationed in AAA, as Jackson notes, but could feasibly find himself at the back of the bench with a monster Spring or if an injury arises.

Additionally, the Dodgers added RHP Juan Abreu, RHP Hector Correa, RHP Greg Infante, LHP Kelvin De La Cruz, LHP Thomas Melgarejo, C Wilkin Castillo, and SS Miguel Rojas on minor-league deals. Also, 3B C.J. Retherford was re-signed.

The Dodgers are facing an interesting situation heading into the 2013 season — at least, the Albuquerque Isotopes and Chattanooga Lookouts are.

Following a Twitter exchange with Chris Jackson (@TopesWriter) and Evan Chavez (@newmexicofan), it occurred to me: The Isotopes and Lookouts are going to have some awfully crowded outfields — especially the ‘Topes.

The following outfielders are, at this point, slated to begin the 2013 season in Albuquerque:

Alex Castellanos: Could play second or third base.
Brian Cavazos-Galvez: Left fielder with some experience at first base.
Scott Van Slyke: Corner outfielder who the Dodgers don’t view as a 1B anymore (h/t to Jackson).
Kyle Russell: Corner outfielder who could fill in at center field in a pinch.
Blake Smith: Same as Russell, but better defensively.

Those guys are all but certain to be ‘Topes in 2013. Castellanos and Van Slyke have a chance to be on the Dodgers bench, but I’ll believe that when I see it. Nick Buss, who spent the entire 2012 season in Chattanooga, is another guy, and if things fall his way he could actually be the Isotopes starting center fielder. Of the guys listed above, Buss is the only true center fielder.

Then there are the players who aren’t even members of the Dodgers yet. Perennially, those are the likes of Trent Oeltjen and Matt Angle. Hell, Tony Gywnn Jr. is still under contract and could find himself back in New Mexico as well.

Bottom line is, the Isotopes are going to be jam-packed in the outfield.

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Including all of the guys above doesn’t even take into account players who could be promoted during the season based on performance — mainly, Bobby Coyle, Joc Pederson, and Yasiel Puig.

Coyle was a late-season call-up to Chattanooga and I think he’d have the best chance of playing in Albuquerque in 2013. Pederson is only 20 and should be with the Lookouts for the entire season (save perhaps a playoff call-up, as he was this past season for Chattanooga).

The wild card though is Puig. There’s no telling where he’ll begin, but it won’t be any lower than High-A Rancho Cucamonga. If he makes it to Double-A and flourishes, I could see him don an Isotopes uniform before the conclusion of the 2013 season.

Any of the trio being promoted quickly would make for even more of a mess than it already appears to be.

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Heading into last season, the Dodgers minor-league depth came in the form of right-handed pitchers and outfielders. They’ve already traded away a lot of the RHP depth and now it looks like the OF surplus could be next.

Too much of one position isn’t usually a bad thing, but the concern is that it could stunt the development of a few players, so it’ll be interesting to monitor the situation and see how it plays out.

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Dustin Nosler is the founder of the site Feelin’ Kinda Blue. He also co-hosts the weekly podcast Dugout Blues. Follow him on Twitter @FeelinKindaBlue or like his site on Facebook.

Chris Jackson of the Albuquerque Examiner tweeted to me and said that Dodgers left-hander Onelki Garcia hasn’t appeared yet in the Arizona Fall League because of an oblique injury, but he was unable to confirm it. If true, I wouldn’t expect to see Garcia play at all in the AFL, though he could still pitch in another winter league.

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Arizona Fall League

Gorman Erickson – C
11 G, .276/.432/.345/.777, 2 2B, 8 BB

Erickson is having a decent AFL campaign in his second year in the league. The power he displayed in his 2011 campaign (.204 ISO) is all but gone, as hi ISO at Chattanooga was .095 and it’s just .069 in the AFL.

Joc Pederson – OF
9 G, .094/.171/.094/.265, 3 RBI, 2 SB

Pederson had been out of action since Oct. 23, but he returned to the Solar Sox‘s lineup yesterday and promptly went 0-for-3. His AFL season has been atrocious, but he still got an invite to the Rising Stars game, which was held on Saturday.

Someone mentioned that Pederson could be fatigued and I buy it. He played 110 games this season, then played in the World Baseball Classic qualifying tournament with Israel before heading to Arizona. I don’t think the jump in competition had this much negative impact on Pederson.

Rafael Ynoa – 2B
18 G, .338/.365/.529/.893, 7 XBH, 7 SB

Ynoa has been a stud for Mesa so far. He leads the club in hitting and is tied with Cubs prospect Matt Szczur in stolen bases. He’s also popped two home runs in the league — two more than he did in 421 Southern League at-bats. Ah, the rarefied air of Arizona.

Eric Eadington – LHP
8.2 IP, 7.27 ERA, 2.19 WHIP, 11.4 K/9

Eadington was doing fairly well a couple weeks ago, but he ran into some trouble, as his high ERA and WHIP show. The positive: he’s striking guys out at an elite rate.

Red Patterson – RHP
8.0 IP. 7.88 ERA, 2.25 WHIP, 3.4 K/9

Patterson started off the AFL great but has been awful in his last five innings. The positive: not much. But it’s just fall ball, so I wouldn’t be overly concerned about him at this point.

Chris Reed – LHP
6.1 IP, 9.95 ERA, 2.68 WHIP, 8.5 K/9

Reed’s ERA is finally in the triple-digits, so that’s progress, I suppose. He’s also improved his strikeout rate. Not too hard to improve on zero, though.

Andres Santiago – RHP
15.0 IP, 3.60 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 8.4 K/9

Finally, a good pitcher! Santiago has held his own in the AFL and, despite the higher-than-desired WHIP, he hasn’t allowed a home run in his 15 innings. I’m eager to see what he does in 2013.

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Dominican Winter League

Brian Cavazos-Galvez is 3-for-17 (.176). Looks like his Southern League numbers.

Tim Federowicz is 2-for-20 (.100) with 11 strikeouts. Ouch.

Dee Gordon is 14-for-43 (.326) with three triples in his first 10 DWL games. He’s only drawn two walks in 43 at-bats, though.

Luis Vazquez has walked four batters in three innings.

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Venezuelan Winter League

Alex Castellanos is 9-for-31 (.290) with two home runs and eight RBI.

Luis Nunez is 18-for-72 (.250) with four doubles and nine runs scored.

C.J. Retherford is 22-for-73 (.301) with three home runs and five doubles.

Scott Van Slyke is 16-for-62 (.258) with seven home runs and 13 RBI.

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Mexican Winter League

J.T. Wise is 4-for-17 (.235) with a home run.

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Dustin Nosler is the founder of the site Feelin’ Kinda Blue. He also co-hosts the weekly podcast Dugout Blues. Follow him on Twitter @FeelinKindaBlue or like his site on Facebook.

When Elian Herrera was recalled to the Dodgers more than a week ago, I’m sure almost no one, besides maybe Chris Jackson of the Albuquerque Examiner, knew who he was.

Now, after eight games, he’s making his mark on an injury-riddled team and he might not be the one taking the first flight back to Albuquerque when the rest of the infield gets healthy (starting potentially with Jerry Hairston, Jr. this weekend). He has a .346/.393/.462 line in those eight games, and while there’s absolutely no way he keeps that kind of production up, he’s off to a nice start in the majors.

If I had to guess, I’d say Tuesday night’s hero, Ivan De Jesus, would be the odd man out when Hairston returns Friday.

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When I watch Herrera play, I see his vast versatility and I think of old friend Jolbert Cabrera.

Cabrera was the Dodgers utility player extraordinaire during the 2003 season. He posted a .282/.332/.438 line with six home runs, 37 RBI, 32 doubles, and 43 runs scored in 380 plate appearances. Not great, but certainly really good for a utility guy, as Cabrera was a key bench piece for those Dodger teams.

To me, there’s a lot of Cabrera in Herrera (sorry for the pun).

In fact, Herrera has even better on-base and base-stealing ability (based on minor league numbers) than Cabrera, so his impact potential seems greater — if he can keep it up.

Both Cabrera and Herrera possess the defensive flexibility that teams covet in utility men. Cabrera played every position except pitcher and catcher in his one season with the Dodgers, while Herrera has already played second base, third base, and center field for the team. In the minors, he’s played every position except catcher, so he has those same versatile qualities. And yes, he has even appeared in one game as a pitcher.

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Now, it could be a case of the league not knowing a lick about Herrera yet, thus he’s producing (albeit in a small sample size) only for now. But the point is that Herrera, 27, could be someone to keep an eye on, not somebody to flippantly dismiss, which is the outlook most seem to have.

We don’t know what the future holds for him, but he has already gone from unknown lifetime minor leaguer to surprisingly effective bench player for the MLB’s best team, so counting him out has usually been a bad bet.