So a popular question lately has been: “What the hell happened to Shohei Otani?”

In short? Nothing, because despite whatever speculation there had been about MLB teams technically having no need to respect NPB exclusivity rights, like I said in a previous post about the situation, I see no upside for an MLB team to just barge in and violate the status quo.

Basically, the latest on the Otani front is that the Nippon Ham Fighters are meeting with his parents and what not, but not him, personally. There have been zero contract talks, so while the media is saying a bunch of stuff (and editorializing a bit), it doesn’t seem like there’s anything substantial going on that would be worth reporting if it wasn’t for the nature of this situation.

As I said, just wait.

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Speaking of potential signings out of Asia, Stan Kasten is saying that they might not sign Hyun Jin Ryu until after the Winter Meetings, which end only a few days before the deadline.

According to Kasten, the Dodgers might not determine whether to sign Ryu until after they see what pitchers they can acquire in trade or free agency by the time the winter meetings end Dec. 6.

“That’s a decision that doesn’t have to be made until after the winter meetings are over,” Kasten said.

Doubt this means anything since Scott Boras tends to drag situations like these out to the bitter end to extract every penny he can anyway.

I expect Ryu to sign and deserve to be in the rotation over Aaron Harang and Ted Lilly but start the year in AAA anyway because the former two are veterans or whatever garbage excuse they will use.

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Mark Saxon of ESPN Los Angeles reports that the Dodgers are out on Torii Hunter.

Source: Dodgers out on Torii Hunter

— Mark Saxon (@markasaxon) November 13, 2012

Good.

Did anybody really think he made sense?

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In what is probably the best news of the off-season, the Dodgers went on an international scout hiring spree.

Colletti said the hiring spree is probably over after essentially acquiring the international scouting staff of the Seattle Mariners. Two weeks ago the Dodgers hired Bob Engle as vice president of international scouting and Monday they brought on six of his Mariners staff — Pedro Avila, Gene Grimaldi, Patrick Guerrero, Pat Kelly, Jamey Storvick and Mike Tosar.

The Dodgers on Monday also announced the additions of Josh Bard as special assistant, player personnel and professional scouts Willie Fraser and Scott Groot. Former Dodgers third baseman Bill Mueller, who served as special assistant, player personnel, will become a full-time professional scout.

“The fact the Dodgers were dead last in international signings, that was hard to believe,” said Kasten. “For me, it’s a priority, and not just signing players as the end result, but getting the people to sign the players.”

“We’ve doubled the size of the [international] scouting operation,” said Colletti. “A couple years ago when we traded veterans, we looked at other organizations and saw a lot of the successful teams got a lot of players not born in the U.S. It was time for us to get back invested in it.”

For me, this is probably the best part about the new ownership thus far.

Ted Lilly‘s injury isn’t thought to be serious, but he’s enough behind schedule that he’ll be given extra time to recover by starting the season on the disabled list.

Ted Lilly threw off a mound on Friday for the first time in nine days, and reported improvement in his stiff neck. But the left-hander is too far behind schedule to be ready for opening day, and will begin the season on the disabled list.

“We just don’t feel like he’s going to be ready,” said manager Don Mattingly. “If it was an emergency or something and we had to push to get him ready for this start, he could take the ball. But that’s not really what we want for his first start.”

So who does that free a roster spot up for?

The Dodgers have an off day on April 9 that allows them to skip a fifth starter until April 14. Mattingly has said the Dodgers will definitely use the temporary extra roster spot on an eighth reliever, which will essentially be a choice between right-hander Josh Lindblom and non-roster invitee Scott Rice, a lefty.

Has to be Josh Lindblom, right?

Right?!

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The team trimmed the roster by two, releasing Josh Bard and Cory Sullivan.

The Dodgers trimmed their roster after Thursday’s 3-1 loss to the White Sox, releasing catcher Josh Bard and outfielder Cory Sullivan, both in camp as non-roster invitees.

The 29-year-old Bard, with eight years of Major League service, was essentially insurance should anything happen to starter A.J. Ellis and backup Matt Treanor and had an out in his contract. Tim Federowicz will start the season as the starting catcher at Triple-A.

The 32-year-old Sullivan, with four years of Major League service, was similarly insurance should anything happen to outfielders Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier or Juan Rivera.

Ramon Troncoso cleared waivers, which means he’ll be sticking around in the organization.

Right-handed reliever Ramon Troncoso cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Albuquerque by the Dodgers Friday.

Actually somewhat surprising, considering the amount of teams who have terrible pens. Troncoso remains a good depth option, so it’s a positive turn of events for the team.

As with most clubs, the Winter Meetings have been busy for the Dodgers, but while other teams are pursuing impact players, the Dodgers are busy trying to identify the clean garbage at the massive dump.

Ned Colletti revealed that he is looking to upgrade through trade with a position player and would be willing to listen on a reliever.

Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti said he met with a handful of clubs at the Winter Meetings on Tuesday looking for “an upgrade, a position player,” but that he would listen if a club offered a late-inning reliever.

Upgrading a position player makes sense, but given the payroll limitations, I doubt it’s anything good.

As far as listening on a late inning reliever, why? That’s honestly one area where the Dodgers seem to have an endless supply of solid arms and the price of relievers this off-season is insane.

In the first case, he still wants another bat. He wouldn’t say at which position, but it would most likely have to be an outfielder or first baseman. James Loney would seem to be a logical offering in return as he enters his final season before free agency and Colletti often has mentioned the capability of Juan Rivera, Jerry Sands and Adam Kennedy to play first base.

From all indications, it would not be a catcher (where the Dodgers will start A.J. Ellis with Matt Treanor the backup) and he’s seemingly committed at the other five positions with center fielder Matt Kemp, right fielder Andre Ethier, third baseman Juan Uribe, second baseman Mark Ellis and shortstop Dee Gordon.

Without offering a name, he said one player he is targeting has been a starter at his position and would be “payroll neutral,” indicating that either the player he would send would be of similar salary or the other club would pick up part of the incoming salary. Colletti said he didn’t expect a deal while at the Meetings, which end Thursday.

As people like Eric Stephen and Mike Petriello have been discussing on Twitter, it certainly would seem like this might involve a Delmon Young, Carlos Lee, or Alfonso Soriano type. Additionally, since the trade might be payroll neutral, some of the speculated names leaving were James Loney and Chad Billingsley.

Yikes. Let’s hope not.

As for the reliever, Colletti was expected to meet Tuesday night with the agent for Mike MacDougal, who bounced back with a fine season while under the radar after being picked off the scrap heap with a Minor League contract. Colletti said he has had two previous conversations with the agent, but “it might be time to get more serious about it.”

No. Just no.

Colletti did what he had to do last season and he got solid value for Mike MacDougal at a relatively cheap cost. Re-signing him for another year is just pressing your luck and hoping you don’t hit a whammy.

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As far as Josh Bard goes, there are conflicting reports.

Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated says it’s a done deal for 1 year and $750k, while Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times said a minor league deal was close but then clarified that Bard is not the only catcher the Dodgers are talking to.

I’ll easily take Dylan Hernandez’s report over Jon Heyman’s, so I’ll wait this deal out. However, if it goes through, I become more and more confused as to the direction of the team.

Is the goal of this league to stockpile as many replacement level players as possible or something? I don’t get it.