2010 Major League Baseball Season Preview: Los Angeles Dodgers

Charlie Klein

Key Additions:

Reed Johnson (OF)
Eric Gagne (RP)

Key Departures:

Randy Wolf (SP)
Juan Pierre (CF)
Orlando Hudson (2B)

Oh how close we really were to an I-5 Series instead of an I-95 World Series last season. The Los Angeles Dodgers, however, were not long for the Championship Series only winning one game of five versus the Philadelphia Phillies. The two teams of southern California are only separated by 25 miles of asphalt and yet one faces far more questions than the other. The Dodgers, unlike the Angels, have more than just on the field issues, chief among these the messy divorce of owner Frank McCourt. This has rendered the Dodgers incapable of making big splashes in free agency this offseason. Excusing the McCourt issues, the boys in blue have to replace their number two starter and do not know what to expect from their mega-money savior Manny Ramirez this season.

In case everyone forgot in their irrational love for Manny, the guy tanked last year coming off the 50-game suspension for using PEDs. Ramirez hit .229 in the month of September and disappointed 'Mannywood' in October. The Dodgers also have questions in their starting rotation. Is Clayton Kershaw ready to take over the top spot? Our Puneet Singh raved about him last summer (http://thetruthhurtssobelievethelies.blogspot.com/2009/05/big-leap-for-clayton-kid.html) and it wouldn't surprise me to see him continue to progress into the pitcher that the Dodgers thought he was when they drafted him. Kershaw and Billingsley are both good pitchers but it is who follows them that I question. Hiroki Kuroda and Vicente Padilla have had issues with consistency their whole careers and I doubt that will change much this season.

I am a big fan of Matt Kemp and really like watching him play center field. I'm just not sure how the rest of this team will do. NL West is going to be a mad house this season, with almost every team having a shot of winning it, save for probably the Padres.

Projected Starting Nine:

1. Rafael Furcal (SS)
2. Andre Ethier (RF)
3. Russell Martin (C)
4. Manny Ramirez (LF)
5. Matt Kemp (CF)
6. James Loney (1B)
7. Casey Blake (3B)
8. Ronnie Belliard (2B)
9. Clayton Kershaw (P)

Projected Starting Rotation

1. Clayton Kershaw
2. Chad Billingsley
3. Hiroki Kuroda
4. Vicente Padilla

Best Reliever: George Sherrill

Closer: Jonathan Broxton

Predicted Finish: 3rd in the NL West.