Capt. Kurkjian Rates Pitching Staves

ESPN's Tim Kurkjian previews his top five pitching rotations, including...

Dodgers: They have too much starting pitching, which could mean a trade involving Brad Penny, Mark Hendrickson or Brett Tomko (Penny would bring the most in return; the Dodgers could use a right-handed hitting outfielder). If they traded all three of them, which is highly unlikely, L.A. still would have a rotation of Jason Schmidt, Derek Lowe, Chad Billingsley, Randy Wolf and Hong-Chih Kuo. Schmidt, a fly ball pitcher, should do well in Dodger Stadium (a big park), Billingsley has a chance to be terrific and no one, especially left-handed hitters, wants any part of Kuo.

...hopefully because of his effective pitching and not because of a disagreeable personality or, like, odor issues.

Kurkjian says the Red Sox have the best rotation and also profiles the starting five from the Tigers, Angels and Yankees.

In other pre-pre-season talk, Ken Gurnick previews the Dodgers' bench. It's made from laminated pine, concrete supports and 3/8" carriage bolts. Ha ha! More cutting-edge humor from Sons of Steve Garvey!