Yesterday, Dodgers GM Ned Colletti sat down with Brian Kenny of MLB Network for a chat as part of “Clubhouse Confidential”. Topics ranged from the huge rotation to the even huger budget, but most encouraging is hearing both how much he wants to retain Clayton Kershaw and how optimistic he is about Carl Crawford. That’s not exactly “news,” of course, because that’s exactly what you’d expect a general manager to say.

No TV for today’s game, sadly, though it will be broadcast on KLAC 570. Josh Beckett makes his spring debut, with Brandon League, Kenley Jansen, J.P. Howell, Gregory Infante, and Kelvin De La Cruz  Other than De La Cruz & Infante, each will be seeing their first action of the spring behind him.

One of the many odd quirks of spring — what, Juan Uribe hitting cleanup wasn’t odd enough? — is that the Dodgers will be utilizing the designated hitter while the Giants will not, instead opting to let Tim Lincecum swing the bat. I’m sure there’s a joke about the Giants not actually having enough major-league quality hitters in there somewhere, but what the hell, it’s February 26. Update: well, scratch that. The Giants put out an updated lineup that has Brett Pill in as the designated hitter.

Unrelated but still awesome:

Pedro Baez, whose pitching resume consisted of one inning in an instructional league game, is already being talked about for an appearance in a Spring Training contest after an eye-opening bullpen session with guru Sandy Koufax on Monday.

Baez showed Koufax a natural delivery, a fastball in the mid-90s and a curveball more advanced than many of his fellow Minor Leaguers who have been at this pitching thing for years. Koufax told other staff members he’d like to see Baez in a game this spring.

Just phenomenal. Really, really hoping we get to see him once — preferably in a game that’s actually televised.