Put the Mannymania on hold.

Yes, Los Angeles is a star-studded town, and yes Manny Ramirez became a Dodger darling in his two months with the team at the end of last season. No doubt if he finally signs with the Dodgers there will be a positive reaction from the fans.

But get serious.

The fortunes of the Dodgers this season aren’t tied to whether Ramirez returns.

The hopes of the Dodgers rests on how the young arms they are counting on respond to the big-league challenge.

Chad Billingsley, 25, has been a solid No. 3 starter, but now he is being asked to move into the role of the ace. Suddenly he’s going to be working on the same days as the Brandon Webbs, Tim Lincecums, Jake Peavys and Aaron Cooks of the NL West, not the

middle of the rotation guys.

Clayton Kershaw, who turns 21 on March 19, showed signs in his brief big-league stint last year, but the Dodgers need him to step up and assume a yeoman’s workload.

The rest of the rotation will include Randy Wolf, Hiroki Kuroda and Jason Schmidt.

Kuroda was technically a rookie last year, but at the age of 34 and as a veteran of the Japanese baseball world, he is more on the backside of his career so there’s no reason to think he is going to be anymore than the 9-10, 3.73 ERA of a year ago. Wolf,

32, was 1-2-12 with a 4.30 ERA last year, but it can’t be overlooked that the 32-year-old lefty had not made as many as 25 starts in any season since 2003 until he took the mound 33 times last year. Schmidt, meanwhile, is headed into the third year of

his contract, has undergone two surgeries, and after making only six starts in 2007 did not even appear in a game in 2008.

INFIELD CHATTER

* Right-handed pitcher Pedro Martinez, 37, hopes his efforts for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic creates serious interest from a team. The Dodgers, Pittsburgh and Cleveland have kicked the tires, but no offers have been made.

* Washington general manager Jim Bowden remains on shaky ground, and with the latest revelation of continuing problems with the Nationals program in Latin America, speculation is he is near the end of his tenure. Special assistant Mike Rizzo is considered the likely in-house candidate.

* Right-hander Chad Cordero, coming back from surgery, will work out for scouts Friday. Florida, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Minnesota and Texas are known to have scouts scheduled to watch.

THE ROTATION

Five pitchers remaining on free agent market worth a shot:

RHP Pedro Martinez

LHP Kenny Rogers

LHP Joe Beimel

LHP Will Ohman

LHP Mark Mulder

OUT IN LEFT FIELD

Who is this year’s Tampa Bay? Could it be the Royals.

The Royals would only have to win the AL Central, where there is no overwhelming favorite. They don’t have to climb over the Yankees and Red sox in the AL East.

And the Royals do have the bullets to shock the baseball world if everyone stays healthy and they get a break or two.

There’s a foundation of a solid rotation with Gil Meche, Zack Greinke and Brian Bannister, a legitimate closer with Joakim Soria, and the addition of Coco Crisp to play center field allows David DeJesus to move to left and provides depth of having a player of Mark Teahan’s caliber to backup at the four corner positions.

CLOSING STATEMENT

It’s time to move on.

This time, though, it wasn’t my choice.

Scripps decided to close the Rocky Mountain News, the paper that has given me the chance to cover baseball in Denver the last 17 years. My first 16 years covering baseball I was with four different papers in four different cities, and it was never hard to move on.

Growing up in the Rocky Mountains, though, getting to work for the News, and then being allowed to live outside of Cheyenne, this is home.

And I’m not leaving it.

I’m not even leaving baseball.

My role will expand with the Rockies coverage for FSN Rocky Mountain. I will continue to write for foxsports.com, adding a second weekly column. My role at Baseball America will continue. And if the internet is the future then that might be worth a try.

Keep an eye out at IWantZMyRocky.com for eventual details.

There is a sadness that something that has meant so much for so long is disappearing, and that so many good people are affected.

As I told another writer, the proudest moment I can think of is the last three months, where the people I work with at the News were so professional that they continued to put out the best paper possible while dealing with the emotions of knowing the end was in sight.

Now the end has come and it’s time for a fresh start. Time to push forward and remember the line of National Western Stock Show announcer Boyd Polhamus, “God’s gift to us is that we are here today. Our gift to God is what we do while we are here.”

Happy trails.

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