Wolf looks headed to Milwaukee

***UPDATE***

According to Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports, it's official. Wolf will sign with the Brewers for 3 years and just under $30 million.

***

When the Dodgers chose not to offer arbitration to their top pitcher of last year in Randy Wolf, it was obviously not a good sign. Even with Wolf saying he'd still consider resigning, it looked doubtful.

Now, the Brewers are jumping in and making an offer Wolf would might find hard to refuse.

Wanting a multi-year deal, the Brew Crew have obliged by offering a three-year, $27 million deal. The Mets appear to be in second place, so they may jump back in at this soon. Other teams have been rumored as well, but the Brewers are the first one to make an offer like this.

I would hate to see Wolf go, but the writing has been on the wall for a week now. Maybe the Dodgers are still concerned about his injury history. Maybe they think they'd have to overpay to keep him. Or maybe they're trying to slash dollars off their payroll and aren't coming out and saying that.

My guess is Wolf takes this deal for a couple of reasons. One, you'd think he learned his lesson from a year ago when the Astros initially made an offer of 3 years and $28.5 million only to pull it because of the difficult economy. The Dodgers then nabbed him for one year and $9 million.

The second reason is that the Brewers are pretty good, so they'd be a contending team. A 1-2 punch of Wolf and Yovanni Gallardo is not too shabby.

Wolf not offered arbitration, but will he be back anyway?

In a surprising move on Tuesday, the Dodgers passed on offering Randy Wolf arbitration. Even with ownership in flux (Google this: divorce and McCourts), it was assumed they'd at least want to resign their top pitcher from last year.

Instead, the Dodgers are stuck with the excuse of "we don't want to overpay for him." Wolf's a Type A free agent, meaning he's in the top 20 percent of starting pitchers. He received $8 million last year, so it's most likely he would've gotten a raise in arbitration.

Had the Dodgers offered arbitration and Wolf ended up signing with another team, they would have received a draft pick from the first or second round.

From what I've read, Dodger fans are not happy. It's understandable considering Wolf was clearly their best, most consistent pitcher for all of last year, and he was signed just to give support in the middle of the rotation. By the end of the season, he was starting Game 1 of the NLDS.

On the year, he went 11-7 with a 3.23 ERA. He also struck out 160 while throwing a career-high 214.1 innings. It was an especially impressive year for a guy who basically throws two pitches: a fastball and a looping curveball.

While Wolf will easily be one of the top dogs on the free agent market, he's given us Dodger fans some hope by saying that even in these days of uncertain ownership, he's open to re-signing with his old mates. Just the fact that's gone public with that comment is a positive sign.

Still, I would be pretty shocked if that actually happened. With Wolf proving that he's healthy and at the top of his game, he'll most likely take a bigger payday elsewhere. Right or wrong, the Dodgers remain reluctant spending big bucks on a pitcher.

With Wolf probably gone, the Dodgers now have a starting rotation of Clayton Kershaw, Hiroki Kuroda, Chad Billingsley, and a bunch of question marks. Needless to say, they have work to do.

Manny scratched, but Dodgers beat Korea anyway

Today was supposed to be the day Manny Ramirez made his long-awaited Spring Training debut for the Dodgers. Slotted in the #3 spot and at DH, all eyes were on Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona. Kind of like when Manny was first offered that 2-year, $45 million deal with an opt-out clause after the first year.

And just like when he said no to that offer initially, Manny sat out today with a tight left hamstring.

No big deal, as he said he'll likely be back in action on Friday against the Rangers. I would think it would again be in the DH slot.

As for the game, it was more like a regular season game with Team Korea in town for a WBC Round 2 tuneup. Randy Wolf loaded the bases in the 1st but escaped, and ended up K'ing 4 in 3.1 IP. Hong-Chih Kuo got in on the action by facing 4 batters, allowing a single and hitting one batter. Ramon Troncoso gave up the 2 runs in an inning, while Shawn Estes also worked out of a bases juiced jam to pitch 2 scoreless frames.

All in all, the Dodgers pulled away from a 2-all game on a 2-run single by Chin-lung Hu in the 8th to win, 4-2. They're now at 7-6 this spring with plenty more to come.

The Wolf Pack is back in LA

The Dodgers were successful in getting one of the free agents they targeted, signing lefty Randy Wolf to a 1-year, $5 million deal with incentives. This is Wolf's second stop in Dodger blue, having played for them already in an injury-shortened 2007 season.

Wolf was on a list of secondary free agent pitchers that the Dodgers decided to pursue, passing over higher priced hurlers like Sabathia and Burnett. Once John Garland signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks, it was obvious that Wolf was the Dodgers' main target. Luckily for them, they got him.

The 2008 stats are quite revealing for Wolf. For the whole season between the San Diego Padres and Houston Astros, he was 12-12 with a 4.30 ERA and 1.38 WHIP, in addition to 162 K's in 190.1 IP. His splits between home and away are eye-opening. In 17 starts at home, he was 9-5, 2.98 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, and 86 K's in 99.2 IP. Pretty good stuff, right?

Then there's his road stats: 3-7, 5.76 ERA, 1.51 WHIP, 76 K's in 90.2 IP. Uh, not so good.

Still, it's a good addition for a team that needed another reliable starter. The rotation will most likely go with Chad Billingsley, Clayton Kerhsaw, Hiroki Kuroda, and Wolf. That is if they want to split up the righties and lefties. The 5th starter, just like last Spring Training, will be determined.

So now the next question will be about his health. Remember, this is the same guy that made 18 starts with the Dodgers in '07 before being shut down with season-ending shoulder surgery. Will he be healthy now? That's always a hard question to answer, but he did make 33 starts last year, so his health would appear to be fine. Then again, they thought that with Jason Schmidt a couple years back...

But I'll stay positive on this one. Now that they've got their 4th starter, it's time to put this Manny issue to bed once and for all. Make a decision and live with it. If he's in, fantastic. If not, go get Adam Dunn or Bobby Abreu and get ready for the season.