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mrschroeder08 partyvancaptain pee_callus25 Tags 2010 Preview 5 Million Dollar Black Hole AAAA Aaron Heilman Aaron Miles Alfonso Soriano Andres Blanco Angel Guzman Aramis Ramirez Arizona Diamondbacks Atlanta Braves B.J. 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I will preview the team that slammed that window in this post. Los Angeles Dodgers 2009 Record: 95-67 (1st, NL West) Key Additions: Jamey Carroll (INF), Reed Johnson (OF), Justin Miller (RP), Luis Ayala (RP), Angel Berroa (INF), Russ Ortiz (SP), Josh Towers (SP/RP), Garrett Anderson (OF) Key Losses: Randy Wolf (SP), Orlando Hudson (2B), Jim Thome (1B), Juan Pierre (OF), Jon Garland (SP), Guillermo Mota (RP), Will Ohman (RP), Juan Castro (INF), Mark Loretta (INF), Jason Schmidt (SP) Summary: Thinking back to one year ago, the future looked super bright for this team. Of course, this is still the case, but the optimism for the near future may be a bit tempered. After a big divorce going on between the McCourts, the P.E.D. related suspension of Manny Ramirez and growing pains by Chad Billingsley, suddenly the Dodgers grasp on the NL West may not be so certain. Of course the young talent in Arizona, Colorado and San Francisco does not help matters. The Dodgers have some impressive young talent, however, starting with Matt Kemp. Kemp is a budding superstar. Fangraphs has him at a WARP of 5, which equates to about $22.6 million worth of production. He is essentially worth what Soriano is making, and he is still only 25. He is flanked in the outfield by Manny and by Andre Ethier. It is hard to believe Ethier was once traded for Milton Bradley (that's a far cry from Carlos Silva). Ethier OPS'ed a .869 and was good for 31 home runs. Those two, along with Russell Martin and James Loney, form a great young core. Looking at that talent makes it somewhat easy to see why they did so well in Ramirez's absence last season. The problem here could be pitching. When Vicente Padilla is your opening day starter, there is a red flag. That's not to say Chad Billingsley and Clayton Kershaw aren't talented. They are very talented. Billingsley fell apart late last season, and that could be due to fatigue. He strikes out and walks more per 9 than the average, and 33 games worth of that can add up. Kershaw has the same problem of elevating pitch counts. He just turned 22, but he needs to cut down on pitches thrown, otherwise he will not get nearly the number of innings he should. He pitched 171 innings last season in 30 starts. That is less than six innings per start. He has ace level talent, but needs to do better than that. Kuroda, Padilla, and it looks like Russ Ortiz round out the rotation, but the real keys here are Billingsley and Kershaw. They are two very talented pitchers, but in the NL West, with Haren/Webb and Lincecum/Cain, they need to play at a higher level to pull the Dodgers through a tough, tough division. Cubs Connection: The Furcal effect. What? After 2005, the Cubs were looking to add speed. The two targets were Juan Pierre and Rafael Furcal. Furcal was actually close to signing with the Cubs in December until L.A. swept in with a slightly better deal. Furcal was gone like that. This hurt the 2006 Cubs in two ways. First, Juan Pierre was acquired for way too much, and he did way too poorly. Second, he pretty much ruined the season Derrek Lee in a collision at first base. The Cubs were actually above .500 at the time, and after that injury, that ended quickly. Turns out Phil Nevin, Todd Walker and John Mabry are not a good first base solution. Anyways, considering it only took 83 wins to win the Central that year, I think a Derrek Lee-led Cubs could have won it. They could have gotten hot. They could have stopped the drought at 98 years. OK, OK, I am extrapolating. I can go further and say that the Cubs do so well that Dusty is resigned, DeRosa and Soriano are never acquired and the Cubs tank in 07 and 08. Anyways, the point? Oh, just saying that an extra few million thrown at Rafael Furcal may have drastically altered the course of Cubs baseball. THAT is the Furcal effect. BIBGLBOOPSARG(tm) SS Rafael Furcal CF Matt Kemp RF Andre Ethier LF Manny Ramirez 1B James Loney 3B Casey Blake C Russell Martin 2B Ronnie Belliard P Vicente Padilla, Clayton Kershaw, Chad Billingsley, Hiroki Kuroda, Russ Ortiz Closer: Jonathan Broxton Predicted Finish: Second place in the NL West. I am actually flip-flopping on this. I had L.A. winning, but I keep looking at the rotation and wondering. Randy Wolf meant a lot to this rotation, and replacing him with Russ Ortiz is a downgrade to say the least. Of the teams in this division, I think they have the best lineup, but their pitching probably only beats Arizona and San Diego. The bottom line is I think they get passed up this year. Still, Kemp, Ethier, Kershaw, Billingsley and Broxton are a really great core. This window will not be closing any time soon. Posted in: 2010 Preview, Los Angeles Dodgers It has been a rough week for the Cub's dugout Gatorade dispenser. That is really unfortunate, because I think it looks like a really cool Gatorade dispenser. What's more, it is very durable. Carlos Zambrano threw a grade A fit today after the umpire (correctly) called Nyjer Morgan safe at home. Let us not forget that Morgan was in scoring position because of a ridiculous error on our $17 million dollar man in left field. Zambrano is going to face a suspension because, no matter who appeared to initiate it, contact was made with the umpire. That is unfortunate, as the Cubs can't seem to keep anyone on the main roster... except for Aaron Heilman. I do have one suggestion for the Cubs, though. Stop focusing on the umpires. Reed Johnson has it right. I mean, it's not like the umpire blew the call at home plate today. That is one of the things that keeps me from realing buying into this team. They go off on umpires. They go off on coolers. At least they aren't going off on each other (but a quick trade for Michael Barrett could fix that). Right now, focus on playing. The 2004 Cubs are examples 1, 2 and 3 when it comes to an embarassingly talented team that got distracted by minutae and was ultimately taken down by it all. This team is scarily reminiscent of that team. All we need is Milton Bradley going off on Bob Brenley on a team flight. I really hope that the 2009 Cubs end up rising above that, though. As for today's game, I have one observation and that is on Babe Fox, the new superstar slugger for the Cubs. Does he not look like a guy that belongs in the bleachers downing Old Style after Old Style rather than on the field? I mean, I jokingly refer to him as Babe Fox because of his insane AAA numbers, but he has the physical characteristics to boot. As long as he produces like he did today (granted it was one at bat), he can look like Horatio Sanz for all I care. Tomorrow, the best team (recordwise) in the majors comes to town, and you have to be feeling hungry for revenge at this point. The Dodgers are looking really good this year, and they, like us, are down a Ramirez. Regardless of what happens this weekend, I hope the Gatorade dispenser can be left alone. At least for two days. Posted in: Gatorade, Jake Fox, Carlos Zambrano, Los Angeles Dodgers | ||