This year will be the 50th Aniversary since the Dodgers left Brooklyn and headed west to California. The Dodgers made a big spalsh when they signed Joe Torre to manage the team and not since the days of Tommy Lasorda have Dodger fans been excited about this year's coaching staff. It also specualted that Don Mattingly will eventually take over the reigns after Torre's contract ends and is one of the more promising young coaching talent in the major leagues.
The signing of CF Andruw Jones not only gives us a gold glove centerfielder but also a big bat in the lineup that we have been looking for ever since 3B Adrian Beltre departed to the Mariners in 2005. In addition, LA won the sweepstakes on Japanese pitcher Hiroki Kuroda who many believed was the best available free-agent starting pitcher. With the addition of Kuroda, their starting rotation is one of the best with Brad Penny, Derek Lowe, Jason Schmidt, Esteban Loaiza, and Kuoda. Moreover, Hong-Chih Kuo & Chad Billingsley are more than capable of filling in if one of them should get injured. Also David Wells can be signed to a pro rated contract similar to Roger Clemens contract, if Schimdt is not at full strength after spring training.
As for the bullpen, it was heavily overused last season by Grady Little and should have had more trust in his starting pitching staff into letting them pitch out of trouble and thus pitching more innings. Although their bullpen is second to none with lights out closer Takashi Saito and Jonathan Broxton being one of the young set up men in baseball. Scott Proctor, Yhency Brazoban and Joe Beimel will make plenty of appearances this year in trying to hold on to leads.
Although the areas of concern is the health of pitcher Jason Schimdt who signed a big contract last year in which he spent most of the time on the disabled list and will be looking to prove that his shoulder is fine and will hopefully get back his pitching velocity. Another area of concern is the battle between Nomar Garciaparra and Andy LaRoche for the 3B position. Although heading into spring training, it looks like Nomar has the slight edge since he has major league experience and is more versatile than LaRoche due to the fact that he can play 1st Base, shortstop and 3rd base at a high level. However, Nomar's power numbers have dropped significantly and was playing hurt last year with a bum knee and back injury, but many believe he can bounce back and solidify the position until LoRoche is ready and has enough confidence to take over.
Juan Pierre has been penciled in to start in left field due to the fact that his throwing arm is below average and many opposing teams were able to advance when he started in centerfield. Although he has led the Dodgers in steals with his blazing speed, his OBP and batting average are below his career average, but he is still one of the best leadoff hitters in the game and should have a productive season with him leadingoff and setting the pace. Many fans wanted the GM Ned Coletti to trade him to the St Louis Cardinals for 3B Scott Rolen, but that wouldn't have worked out since 3B Base coash Larry Bowa and Rolen don't see eye-to-eye. Moreover, speed is very valuable in Torre's system in which he wants to play small ball.
Thus, with Pierre, Jones and young Matt Kemp, Delwyn Young and Andre Either in the outfield they have plenty of players that can play at this high level and can possible use one of them as trade bait during the season if they wish to add a power hitter or another pitcher to their staff.
Overall, the Dodgers will be very competitive this year and should be the team to beat in the NL west, but the Arizona Diamondbacks who traded for ace Dan Haren will look to repeat as division champions and the Padres will always be in contention with pitchers Jake Peavy and Greg Maddux.
