2012 Winter Development Program

UPDATE: I added four videos at the bottom of the post

Here are some notes from the Winter Development Program, including a Don Mattingly Media session. I'll add more as I remember:

- Don Mattingly is now sporting braces, apparently because he was chipping some of his teeth due to the way his teeth were hitting

- Dee Gordon and Justin Sellers were there working out

- Rubby De La Rosa was there, and Mattingly said he's progressing as expected. The expect him to get into game action by July

- Alex Castellanos was taking infield drills at 2nd base, although Mattingly said he will still work out mostly as an outfielder. Apparently the team just wants to see what he can do at 2nd base.

- Speaking of Castellanos, Tommy Lasorda requested to watch extra batting practice from Alex as well as Matt Wallach, giving them pointers as they were hitting off of Jody Reed

- Tyler Henson, whom the Dodgers acquired in the Dana Eveland trade, was working out at 3rd base for the entire infield session. He's played mostly outfield for his career, however, and his defense at the hot corner looked a little shaky

- Scott Van Slyke is a very big dude, and he really does look like a big league player. He hit some bombs into right field, and during fielding drills he was playing 1st base

- Griff Erickson looked impressive during batting practice, showing good power from both sides of the plate. He is also a big guy and looks like he'd be a solid force behind the plate

- Silverio was the only one working as an outfielder. I didn't really get to see him hit

- I didn't really get to see much out of the pitchers since they were in the bullpen for the most part, so there isn't much to report there other than Josh Wall is a tall dude, and that by looking at Withrow I'm convinced he'll eventually be a big league player...he just seems to fit the bil

- Mattingly said the team is pretty much set at this point, so it would be difficult for any of the players from the Winter Development Program to make it onto the opening day roster unless there are injuries. He did say that there's a chance we'd see quite a few of these guys throughout the season, though

- When asked about Prince Fielder, Mattingly said that was Ned's area and that he hasn't heard anything about it

- Mattingly called Van Slyke a late bloomer, said he is now really coming into his own

- When asked about our young arms, Mattingly says we are stacked and that it will help the Dodgers down the road

- When asked about Shawn Tolleson, Mattingly just said he's another guy whose name as come up a lot, but that there are a lot of guys ahead of him already on the big league club

- Mattingly mentioned Ethier's and Loney's struggles against lefties, and said that while he doesn't want to platoon the guys, they want to look at options which would include Sands and Rivera at 1st base

- That being said, for Jerry Sands he is going to have to have enough at bats or else it doesn't make sense for him to be on the big league clubl

- Outside of Rubby, Don says the club should come into spring training healthy

- When asked about Loney's accident, Don just said that doesn't seem like James at all and was glad that the tests came back clean

- When asked if the team has taken a step forward or a step back when compared to last year, Mattingly says he thinks the team has taken a step forward

- Mattingly didn't really have an answer for whether Braun should be stripped of his MVP if he doesn't win his appeal

- Mattingly was asked if he was pulling for Joe Torre's ownership group, but of course he said he wasn't rooting for any one group and that his job remains the same no matter what. He did say Torre could be for the Dodgers what Nolan Ryan is for the Rangers in Texas

- Shawn Green was in attendance, as was Tommy Davis, Ned Colletti, DeJon Watson, and of course Maury Wills

- There is no plan for Belisario if he does actually make it to spring training

- Mattingly would not be interested in bringing back Manny

2012 Winter Development #1 - Michael Antonini (closer player) playing catch with Allen Webster

2012 Winter Development #2 - Infield drills with Dee & Sellers at SS, Castellanos at 2B, and Van Slyke at 1B

2012 Winter Development #3 - Tyler Henson at 3B, with Van Slyke at 1B

2012 Winter Development #4 - Batting practice with FedEx and then Wallach