CEO Stan Kasten: Dodgers payroll won’t stay at top of MLB [links]

The Dodgers are in New York for a three-game series, so you know what that means.

National and New York media have arrived en masse. The Dodgers have given them plenty to write about with their busy off-season, slow start and wealth of injuries.

Here’s a look at what’s out there on the Web:

-- Stan Kasten tells CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman that it is not the team’s intention to remain atop of baseball’s payroll pyramid, that it will gradually come down as the farm system begins paying dividends.

-- Carl Crawford said he doesn’t think he “smiled in two years” while in Boston and has again found happiness with the Dodgers, writes USA Today’s Paul White.

-- Crawford also talks to ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick about his Boston ordeal and how well he is working with hitting coach Mark McGwire.

-- Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal writes it’s not time to panic over the Dodgers’ slow start, complete with strange Titantic photo illustration.

-- For now, though, the New York Times’ Tyler Kepner writes that all those expensive plans have gone astray.

-- Manager Don Mattingly tells the New York Daily News’ Anthony McCarron all those years playing under pressure for the Yankees have prepared him for his current situation.

-- Among baseball’s earliest Top Ten disappointments are the Dodgers, writes Sports Illustrated’s Cliff Corcoran, though he does not expect it to last.

-- Upon his return from suspension, Padres outfielder Carlos Quentin says he did talk to Zack Greinke. Must have been interesting conversation.

-- ESPN/LA’s Mark Saxon believes the Dodgers can survive their current rotation woes.

-- Saxon also has a Q&A; with Josh Suchon on his new book, “Miracle Men: Hershiser, Gibson and the Improbable 1988 Dodgers.”

-- The Times’ Dylan Hernandez writes that Mattingly said third baseman Luis Cruz has “lost confidence.” Makes you wonder if he has to go down to the minors to find it.

-- Ted Lilly (shoulder surgery) makes his first start since last May tonight against Mets phenom Matt Harvey.

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