It was only a year ago. Twelve months. I went to the cactus league for the first time. So many conversations. The tone was always the same.

In Surprise, taking in the Dodgers and Royals:

“You’re Dodgers fans, huh?” A combination of giddiness and sorrow on the face of the man with the “KC” hat.

Out to dinner at Grimaldi’s in Scottsdale:

“… .” Silence. It’s the worst thing you can hear from a fan of the opposition. There was virtually no trash talking. It means, we don’t care about you because you don’t pose any threat to us. Those orange and black-clad Giants fans turned out to be right too. The Giants won last year’s World Series.

New Dodgers ownership has shown willingness to take chances with players like Hyun-Jin Ryu and fans are paying attention. By Owen Main

Between last year’s spring training and the end of the 2012 season, a lot happened for the Dodgers. The team was sold to an ownership group that proved their commitment to winning almost instantly with a pair of blockbuster trades. First there was Hanley Ramirez. Then there was the  trade for Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, and Carl Crawford. In a few short months, the ownership group created a buzz around the team that endured the offseason and has fans more excited this year than any in recent memory.

“The one thing that I didn’t know coming in because it was so new is how awesome the ownership group was. They’re awesome,” said Adrian Gonzalez, who played 36 games for the Dodgers after being traded from the Red Sox. “They’ve got one thing in mind and that’s to win and it’s great to be a part of.”

Even when they made the playoffs, getting over the hump to being true contenders year after year was never in the cards. The previous ownership group seemed to want to win just enough games to keep fans coming. The new ownership group wants to win. Period. At all costs. This year, the Dodgers’ payroll is expected to top $200 million. 

After a hectic final six weeks of the season during last year’s pennant chase, the core player’s on this year’s version of the Dodgers has had more time to gel this Spring.

“Guys move around so much in the league now that everybody knows everybody,” said Gonzalez. “It was just a situation where we came in, we were a few games down in both the wild card and the division and it was like ‘you got to win, you got to win’ and that made it tough. I think we put a little pressure on ourselves and we tried too hard and things didn’t come out so it’s definitely a lot more settled knowing that we’ve got a full season to go through all the ups and downs.”

Last season, the Dodgers led the division as late as August before losing the National League West to the surging Giants, who ended up winning the World Series for the second time in two years. This year though, the Dodgers are in their first spring training with the new ownership group.

“Last spring training everybody was anticipating new ownership and all that stuff and this year everything’s more settled,” said second-baseman Mark Ellis. “The feeling’s good. Expectations are high, which is good. We accept those expectations and we’re excited to get going. I think everybody’s just anxious to get out of here and start playing the regular season.”

The team has also invested more than $100 million on stadium renovations in the offseason according to team president Stan Kasten, doing work on every level of the stadium to benefit “every single fan, whether it’s bathrooms, concessions, concourses, artwork,” said Kasten.

After testing out the new digs during the freeway series this weekend, the Dodgers will begin the season on Opening Day — April 1st — at 1:10 pm vs. the Giants.

We can’t blame Dodgers’ ownership anymore.

There, I said it. The Dodgers owners have done almost everything baseball-related that I’ve complained about for the past 10 years. In about a month, they’ve erased the sour taste of starting the last God-knows-how-many seasons with James Loney at first base. In a series of about three trades, the boys in blue have taken on salary like I always thought a Los Angeles team should. If the Yankees can do it, why not the Dodgers? I’ve always thought my team shouldn’t be competing with the Giants, we should be competing with teams like the Phillies, Yankees, heck even the Cardinals and the Rangers. Dodgers ownership acted like they were serious but never even spent money like either of last year’s World Series teams.

Which brings me to today. If this Gonzalez/Crawford/Beckett trade goes through, Dodgers ownership will have truly put their money where their collective mouths have been.

Dodgers fans can bring their smiles back… Whether they’re at the park or… wherever.

I have reserved judgment up until now. I have waited and tried not to jump onto the shiny new ownership hype-machine.

Because I believe in the NL West-proven Gonzo, the still-great upside of Crawford and a possible resurgence for Beckett, I think taking on their salaries is a great investment — especially if they can afford for one or two of them to be busts.

Here’s my final thought — and I guess I have to play Debbie Downer here. However unlikely, I would hate to not have a World Series appearance over the next 2-3 years and for ownership to use the albatross contracts of these guys as an excuse not to spend more money.

Phew. There, I’ve said it. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s root for his deal to go all the way through. And let’s raise our glass in a toast to the end of the James Loney era.

And try not to blame ownership anymore… at least for now.

The group, figureheaded by Magic Johnson and led by Stan Kasten and Mark Walter, have done lots of tangible things including lowering parking prices and making sure that concessions are manned by an appropriate number of workers — two things Frank McCourt made tangibly worse during his tenure as owner.

In a letter today to fans, Kasten covered many of these improvements:

When Magic Johnson, Mark Walter and I were introduced as the new ownership team two months ago, we made bold commitments to you and to all of the Los Angeles community. Since then, we have conducted surveys, focus groups and town hall meetings. In addition, we’ve engaged in countless conversations with many of you each night at the ballpark. We will continue to listen to you and your suggestions regarding the improvement of your Dodger Stadium experience and we have already begun to act on your recommendations. Some have been achieved already, some are in progress, and still others are being planned. But they all represent a no-excuses culture that we are creating throughout the Dodger organization.

Kasten’s group has done a good job of changing the culture around the team and stadium, as a fan first and owner second.  His email shows that he’s at least making an effort to keep lines of communication with fans open. After an obliteration of such lines under the McCourt regime, it feels like a warm hug to us Dodger fans to be communicated-with even a little bit.

Despite the warm fuzzy that the letter gave me, the most important portions of it were the following two line items from Kasten:

— We have moved forward with a more aggressive strategy in scouting and signing international players, a hallmark trait of this organization, to strengthen our player development system. This strategy has already paid dividends in the recent signing of Cuban outfielder Yasiel Puig and others.

— Most importantly, as demonstrated by the recent signing of Andre Ethier to a five-year contract extension that will keep him a Dodger playing alongside Matt Kemp through at least 2017, the signing of the aforementioned Puig and the signing of Corey Seager, our No. 1 draft choice, we have the resources to assure the Dodgers are contenders year in and year out.

Hey look over here, not over there!

Like a dog abused over and over, many Dodgers fans are still wary. McCourt had what seemed like a number of good plans and a lot of loud and proud announcements that proved to quietly be duds. Examples included, but certainly weren’t limited to the way the Dodgers handled the finances of club-backed charities, continued deterioration of the fan experience inside the ballpark, and a spin-heavy set of roster decisions based on poor financial management and not on the team.

So, while I’m generally pleased with what Kasten has done, he and the Dodgers organization must understand that I need some time to heal before I fall head-over-heels with trust.