The Dodgers have signed 30-year old righty swinging 1B/OF Val Pascucci to a minor league deal. Pascucci played in 139 games in AAA-ball last season and he was 134 for 478 (.280 avg, .911 OPS) with 76 runs scored, 28 homers and 88 RBIs. He has also played in 32 games in his major league career in which he is 11 for 62 (.177 avg, .587 OPS) with 6 runs scored, 2 homers and 6 RBIs. Pascucci seems to be a AAAA type player as he is too good for the minors but not good enough for the majors. If given a chance though he could be the next Jack Cust…..only time will tell with him but he was worth signing.

The Dodgers have brought back 35-year old righty reliever Guillermo Mota on a 1-year deal. Mota pitched in 58 games (0 starts) for the Brewers last season and he was 5-6 with 1 save, a 4.11 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP. Mota has now pitched in 548 games (0 starts) in his major league career and he is 33-35 with 8 saves, a 3.93 ERA and a 1.28 WHIP. This was a good signing for the Dodgers as Mota had his best years of his major league career pitching for L.A.

The Dodgers have signed 35-year old lefty starting pitcher Shawn Estes to a minor league deal. Estes pitched in 9 games (8 starts) for the Padres last season and he was 2-3 with a 4.74 ERA and a 1.56 WHIP. He has now pitched in 283 games (281 starts) in his major league career and he is 101-93 with a 4.71 ERA and a 1.53 WHIP. Estes will have a good shot of winning the #5 starter job this spring for the Dodgers as long as he can stay healthy.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have restructured Andruw Jones’ contract deferring all but $5 million dollars of his salary to later dates. The Dodgers have agreed to either trade Jones or release him before opening day 2009. Jones appears to have lost his stroke conveniently as Major League Baseball’s drug testing program has tightened up. I’m not saying that he was on anything but you have to wonder after watching him play last season. Jones played in 75 games for the Dodgers in 2008 and he was 33 for 209 (.158 avg, .505 OPS) with 21 runs scored, 3 homers, 14 RBIs and 76 whiffs. Jones has now played in 1,836 games in his major league career and he is 1,716 for 6,617 (.259 avg, .828 OPS) with 1,066 runs scored, 371 homers, 1,131 RBIs and 138 stolen bases.

UPDATE: Andruw Jones has been released by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have signed 30-year old righty starting pitcher Claudio Vargas to a 1-year, $400,000 contract with $1.4 million dollars in incentives. Vargas pitched in 11 games (4 starts) for the Mets last season and he was 3-2 with a 4.62 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP. He has now pitched in 164 games (114 starts) in his major league career and he is 46-40 with 1 save, a 4.94 ERA and a 1.45 WHIP. Vargas will get a chance to compete for a job in the starting rotation for the Dodgers in spring training and he has a decent upside.