The other night, I was listening to DodgerTalk on the way home from work and the subject of which of the young players the Dodgers should end up keeping came up. The one downside of bringing up young players around the same time is that they all become expensive around the same time. Ethier, Broxton, and Martin have already gone thru one arbitration year, and Loney, Kemp, and Billingsley, should all be coming up this offseason. The hosts of Dodger Talk (Ken Levine and Josh Suchon) said that the Dodgers would probably not be able to keep all of these guys so they would be facing tough decisions in the next couple of years.

I've been thinking about it for a couple of days and I don't really think it is that tough of a decision of who to keep. Of the position players, Ethier and Kemp are the only definite keepers. That would be a great 3-4 combo for the next 5-10 years. Martin has regressed badly the last 2 years and I dont know if he will ever have a year like he had in his first year. Too bad, we dont have anyone in the minors who looks like a capable replacement. Loney wouldn't be bad to keep, but there might be some better options coming up in the minors. Next year, should be the year that Loney decides whether or not he is a keeper. Bills and Kershaw should be kept to be a great 1-2 at the top of the starting rotation. Maybe the toughest decision of all of them is Broxton. I love Broxton, but I just dont see the point of paying $10 million a year to a guy who is only going to get you 3-4 outs a game, no matter how good he is. Relievers are too unpredictable to be given that kind of money (see Lidge, Brad).

So those are my keepers: Ethier, Kemp, Billingsley and Kershaw. Whoever the GM is in the offseason, their mission is to sign at least one or preferably 2 to a long term extension. Either way, Kim Ng is going to have a very busy off-season.