The countdown starts at 35 days

OK, so after a nice, 18-day vacation to celebrate the holidays, I'm officially back at the grindstone today, exactly 35 days before Dodgers pitchers and catchers are due to report to spring training on Feb. 13. Based on the number of stories generated by countless media outlets over the past couple of weeks, the Dodgers seemed pretty busy. But as crazy as it must have been in the front office, it didn't yield much in the way or results, at least no so far. The Dodgers signed Claudio Vargas to a one-year deal and a bunch of other guys, including Juan Castro, to minor-league contracts. Other than that, the Dodgers:

-- didn't sign Trevor Hoffman, to whom they made an offer but who wound up in Milwaukee
-- didn't sign Manny Ramirez, although it is beginning to seem inevitable that they will
-- didn't sign or acquire a front-of-the-rotation starter

In light of all that inactivity, it's fair to predict that these final five weeks before camp will be busy ones for Ned Colletti and crew -- and for those of us responsible for chronicling it.