The Los Angeles Dodgers won the NL West by three games last year after posting a 95-67 record; unfortunately for Los Angelians, the 2010 season doesn’t hold nearly as much promise.
The ballclub is in trouble… that’s “trouble” that starts with “T” that rhymes with “D” that stands for “d-i-v-o-r-c-e-”!
Team owner Frank McCourt, of the Boston McCourts, and his wife (Jamie) are getting a divorce. The problem for Dodgers fans is that divorce battles in California are like sport. Californians like watching police chases on television because they know they’re very possibly going to end in an auto accident. Divorces in California are similar to police chases—except the carnage tends to be in human terms rather than twisted metal.
The battle is not just about the distribution of assets, it’s about whether you can humiliate and destroy your opponent.
And judges, wanting to make reputations in these all-too-public private dramas, tend to issue really horrific rulings in an effort to show how creative and or tough they are.
In the home of the entertainment industry, high profile divorces are among the best entertainment.
As a result, “The Dodger Way” has suddenly become “the cheap way”. The organization has changed its way of doing business. They failed to re-sign several high-priced free agents, replacing them with the "F W Woolworth 5-&-dime re-treads" that will prevent the on-field team from competing for the division title.
This will be a pretty decent team, but it won’t be good enough.
Key Additions: Alfredo Amezaga, Jamey Carroll, Nick Green, Reed Johnson and Ramon Ortiz
Key Subtractions: Juan Castro, Jon Garland, Orlando Hudson, Mark Loretta, Will Ohman, Juan Pierre, Jim Thome and Randy Wolf
Key Performer, 2010: Hiroki Kuroda
Starting Rotation
Jon Garland (11-13, 4.01) and Randy Wolf (11-7, 3.23) were lost to free agency. They combined to make 40% of the Dodgers starts last season and each eclipsed 200 innings pitched. Those are big spikes to fill.
The starting rotation in 2010 will consist of Clayton Kershaw, Chad Billingsley, Hiroki Kuroda, Vicente Padilla, and a pitcher-to-be-named-later.
Kershaw, 22, is the ace of the staff by default, though he may prove to be a bit young to handle that kind of pressure. The same might be said for Billingsley, whose ERA (4.03) is more reflective of a middle-of-the-rotation pitcher and not a No. 2 guy, especially in consideration of the fact that he pitches half his games in Dodger Stadium - one of the best pitchers parks in all of baseball (see ESPN’s Park Factors).
Kuroda (8-7, 3.76) is the key guy on the staff and possibly the most important guy on the team. He is coming off an injury-plagued season that limited him to just 20 starts, but if he is healthy he will extend the rotation. Padilla (12-6, 4.46) was re-signed after having a solid 12-6 season last year, and could eat up some of the innings Garland and Wolf tossed last year.
Bullpen
The bullpen is strong. Fireballer Jonathan Broxton struck out one-and-a-half batters per inning pitched last year while recording 36 saves. Southpaw George Sherrill — who used to close in Baltimore — is a very good setup man. Ramon Tronosco, Ron Belisario and Hong-Chih Kuo provide the middle relief.
Lineup
The Dodgers will have to rely on their offense if they are to have any chance of making the playoffs this season. They will depend largely on an outstanding trio of outfielders: Manny Ramirez, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier. Ramirez needs to rebound from a sub-par ‘09 campaign in which he missed a large number of games due to a steroid suspension. His teammates took the next step towards developing into two of the best outfielders in the game. Kemp knocked in 101 runs while stealing 34 bases and Ethier belted 31 home runs and drove in a career high 106 runs.
Around the horn, the Dodgers will field a squad of 1B James Loney, 2B Ronnie Belliard, SS Rafael Furcal, and 3B Casey Blake, with Russell Martin behind the plate. Loney hasn’t proven he can provide enough power to be a plus-first baseman. As with Ramirez, the club will need Martin (.250, 7 HR, 53 RBI) and Furcal (.269, 9 HR, 47 RBI) to rebound from sub-par seasons in order to have any shot of making the post-season.
Outlook
Dodgers owner Frank McCourt was the toast of The City of Angels last year after having acquired OF Manny Ramirez from the Boston Red Sox in a three-team trade. One year later, his personal problems are threatening to send a once-proud franchise into a horrific tail spin.
I don’t believe the offense can produce enough runs to offset the suddenly-thin starting pitching. The club’s infield corps is sub-standard unless Loney takes the next step (similar to what Kemp and Ethier did last year) and both Furcal and Martin can rebound.
SOX1Forecast: 85-77, 3rd place.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com
- Login to post comments