2010 Major League Baseball Season Preview:

His farewell season was a memorable swan song for the utility infielder, who returned to Los Angeles for a first and final season with his hometown Dodgers and helped the team win a National League Division Series game against the Cardinals with a walk-off base hit.

Loretta is staying close to the game, however. In January he took a job as a special assistant to the baseball operations staff with the San Diego Padres, for whom he played from 2002-05.

FINDING THEIR FORM

BACK ON THE FARM

Several players who finished the 2009 season on major league active rosters will have to work their way back up to the big leagues after being reassigned to various minor league affiliates of their respective franchises.

Texas Rangers pitcher Brandon McCarthy’s fall was perhaps the most dramatic and unexpected.

The Glendale native entered camp looking to compete for the fifth spot in the Rangers’ starting rotation, but never came close to securing that role.

In fact, after a rocky spring training that saw him go 1-3 in four starts with an 8.03 ERA, Texas decided McCarthy would have no immediate role on the team at all and sent him packing for the Triple-A Oklahoma City RedHawks on March 27.

Crescenta Valley High graduate Trevor Bell will begin the season with the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees after being optioned there by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on March 16.

The right-handed pitcher made his highly-anticipated major league debut with the Angels in August and remained with the club through the end of the regular season, although he did not make the roster for the Angels’ two playoff series.

Before being sent down, Bell made three appearances in spring training with the Angels, going 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA over 5 1/3 innings.

Doug Slaten, a former Glendale Community College player who broke into the majors with the Arizona Diamondbacks, was claimed off waivers by the Washington Nationals on Nov. 5. He was then outrighted by Washington to the Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs on Feb. 18.