MLB Previews: LA Dodgers

2010 Record: 80-82

Offense:
Projected line up:
Rafael Furcal, SS
Andre Ethier, RF
Matt Kemp, CF
Casey Blake, 3B
Juan Uribe, 2B
James Loney, 1B
Rod Barajas, C
Xavier Paul, OF

Yes the Dodgers offense lost Manny Ramirez, Russell Martin and Ronnie Belliard, but lets face it those guys are all names at this point of their careers. None really helped out too much so the under appreciated Juan Uribe, Rod Barajas, and Xavier Paul should do no worse then "the names" last year.

Where the lineup will sink of swin is with the trio of Ethier, Kemp, and Loney who are all in the prime of their careers. Matt Kemp should be able to bounce back from hitting .250 and Ethier and Loney should improve on their numbers last year. If Rafeal Furcal can come back from a disappointing year and be productive at the top of the line up that will be very conducive to the whole line up.

Rotation:
Clayton Kershaw
Chad Billingsley
Ted Lilly
Hiroki Kuroda
Jon Garland

Other then 22 year old Kershaw the Dodgers have a lot of good veterans out there (I know Billingsly is only 26 but whatever), in fact, the 2011 Dodgers' starting rotation consist of five proven guys, each of whom had an ERA of less than 4.00 in 2010. Not many teams can say that. I like all of their SP, they are all able to get 10+ wins and if any of them fail they turn to one of my favorite pitchers of all time Vincente Padilla. The big concern when it comes to the Dodgers is their RP which did a nice job in 2010 but also has a lot of unproven guys other then Jonathen Broxton, Hong-Chih-Kuo and Padilla. Other guys is Ramon Troncoso, Ronald Belisario, and Blake Hawksworth had disappointing 2010 numbers and they are going to be concerned with the lack of left handed arms in the pen as well.

Overall:
The house that Nomo built has a challenging year ahead of them, but a year that I think they isn't out of reach. The Giants are coming off a World Series championship in their division but lets face it, they overachieved. I like the consistency of the Dodgers SP and upside of their core players on offense. If they stay hungry and get some consistency and timing of hitting they should be right there with the Giants.

Record:
90-72