This week on 570 RAW the topics were pretty varied.

We talked fantasy football with FoxSports.com’s Ryan Fowler and got into the evolution of drafting. Conventional wisdom used to be to lock up RB first but now it seems that QB is the safest way to play it early on in your fantasy football draft. Check out what Ryan has to say at the start of the Hour 2 podcast this week (8/18).

2012 top 200 fantasy football rankings update - News | FOX Sports on MSN msn.foxsports.com/fantasy/footba… via @foxsports

— Ryan Fowler (@FOXSportsFowler) August 19, 2012

The Dodgers and Angels were also discussed. The Angels are really struggling and they need their pitching to step up, Mike Trout can’t do it all himself. As for the Dodgers, they were in the midst of a big road trip and we discussed how Hanley Ramirez was bringing it on the road. He’ll be very important for the Dodgers as they try to take control of the NL West down the stretch. Here’s video of both home runs Hanley hit against the Braves on Saturday night: link.

Chad Johnson (formerly Ochocinco) was talked about in depth. It seems the general consensus was that everyone on the RAW crew is done with his antics. Clearly the Dolphins and HC Joe Philbin feel the same way. Watch Chad Johnson getting cut from HBO’s Hard Knocks here: link.

At around 11:30 PM on Tuesday night news broke that the Dodgers had traded for Hanley Ramirez. It came as a shock not only because of the hour in which news of the trade emerged but because the Dodgers were thought to be on the periphery of trade discussions with the Marlins.

In the deal the Dodgers receive Hanley Ramirez and lefty reliever Randy Choate from Miami in exchange for starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi and a prospect, Scott McGough. No money is exchanged meaning the Dodgers will take on all of Hanley Ramirez's remaining salary (roughly $37.2 million), something that simply would not have happened under the ownership of Frank McCourt.

Ever since Ned Colletti signed him, Juan Uribe has been an absolute train wreck at the plate. Assuming the Dodgers have traded for Ramirez to have him play 3rd base it will be an immediate and immense upgrade over Uribe and his seemingly "close your eyes and take a shot" swinging style.

Even though Hanley Ramirez has had a tough couple of years, underachieving from his previous superstar trajectory, he is still an impact bat who will help the Dodgers' sometimes anemic offense a great deal. Perhaps a new team is exactly what Ramirez needs to recapture his past all-star ways. At 28 years old it's not like he's over the hill, a career resurgence is absolutely possible. Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria said as much immediately after the trade. Here are his comments as tweeted by Fox Sports.com's Ken Rosenthal:

Loria on Hanley: "It's no secret I love the kid. He needs to have a fresh beginning, a new beginning. MORE #Marlins #Dodgers

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 25, 2012

"This is a very painful moment for me. But we had to do something." #Marlins #Dodgers

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 25, 2012

Getting Randy Choate alongside Hanley Ramirez should help the Dodgers a great deal as well, adding a very good lefty to an already solid bullpen. 

Losing Nathan Eovaldi is a small price to pay for the potential that Hanley Ramirez brings to the Dodgers lineup, but don't dismiss it as an insignificant loss. At just 22 years old, Eovaldi has shown he has the stuff to potentially be a #2 or #3 starter in the majors. The Marlins are getting a very good pitcher in return. Don't let any short sighted, reactionary Dodgers' fans tell you any different. 

In summation, while it sucks to lose Nathan Eovaldi, Hanley Ramirez is well worth it. Adding a great lefty reliever to the equation makes it a no brainer winning deal for the Dodgers. The new owners continue to make their presence felt and show fans that the new era of Dodgers baseball is truly upon us. 

Coming up this week on 570 RAW:

Steve Nash is officially a member of the Lakers. We'll break it down more and talk about how the roster is shaping up. Nash was introduced to everyone at the Lakers' practice facility in El Segundo and was forced to wear his jersey under the street sign outside. Fittingly, the practice facility is located on Nash St. 

Team USA Basketball is in full swing. Blake Griffin went down, putting Anthony Davis and his unibrow on the team. I personally think this is a positive for the makeup of the USA roster (not to suggest I wish injury on Griffin, c'mon, I'm not some kind of monster). We'll discuss how the team is looking and if they could in fact beat the 1992 Dream Team, as Kobe Bryant contends they could have.

To get you ready for London, check out and the highlights of Kobe putting Team USA on his back in the gold medal game against Spain in 2008:

Baseball's second half is underway and thankfully for the Dodgers both Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier are back. Getting them back in the lineup should be a big boost to the anemic offense usually shown by the boys in blue but will it be enough. We'll also discuss the potential trade targets for the Dodgers as the trade deadline approaches. 

I'll try to conduct this discussion without ripping Ned Colletti, but offer no promises. The fact that Kemp is back may put me in a better mood though. Hopefully for Dodgers fans we have a lot more of these coming our way:

Check out our 570 RAW Podcasts from Saturday June 23th (link). Among the many topics discussed were:

The Dodgers and Angels were in the midst of the freeway series and we discussed the current state of each team. Here's Elian Herrera's game saving catch from Saturday night. 

The Miami Heat won it all. We talked about how everyone from LeBron to broken down Mike Miller stepped up for them. LeBron finally got a ring and Chris Bosh finally has people who love him (just watch the video to get what I mean).

Does anyone actually need Siri? Really Zooey Deschanel, you can't just look outside and judge for yourself if it's raining. The robots are going to rise up, and that's only a good thing for baseball. We discussed this as well.

Check out our 570 RAW Podcasts from Saturday June 9th (link). Among the many topics discussed were:

The Mayor of Boston Thomas Menino referring to KG and Rondo as “KJ and Hondo.” This isn’t his first sports related public speaking mistake and it probably won’t be his last. Here’s a good rule of thumb: if you, as a politician, don’t know much about sports, just don’t talk about it. Making a big mistake will only draw attention to your stupidity.

My favorite Heat fan is now this little kid who yelled “good job, good effort” at the players as they were leaving the court after a loss. The only thing that would’ve made it better is if he was yelling it sarcastically. Unfortunately he was completely sincere, as only a young sports fan could be. In five years he’ll be jaded like the rest of us.

The Heat defeated the hated Celtics to advance to the NBA Finals against the Thunder. On the podcast we discussed the matchup and give our picks. I also explained why I am reluctantly rooting for the Heat (it involves me being a petty Lakers fan). This locker room dance party after the Game 7 win doesn’t make me feel good about it though.

Good Job, Good Effort!