Insider only (no link), but Olney goes through the divisions and our Dodgers aren't atop the NL West:
1. Colorado Rockies
2. Los Angeles Dodgers
3. San Francisco Giants
4. Arizona Diamondbacks
5. San Diego Padres
Thoughts: The Dodgers' lineup is formidable, with its core of rising young stars, and the bullpen should be great again. But the starting pitching is very thin, and we cannot expect with any confidence that the Dodgers will be as aggressive as they probably will need to be in making a midsummer deal. Meanwhile, the Rockies have as much position-player depth as any team in the majors, and Jeff Francis is back.NL West
What? The Dodgers' starting pitching looks thin? You don't say.
9 comments:
I can't claim that I'm not worried about the Rockies in the division, but no one has adequately explained what they have done to improve their squad this winter either.
Other than not having an ownership group that can't keep it's bedroom activities out of the boardroom, that is.
I can't figure out how our starting pitching is any thinner than last year.
Where they started last year:
Bills (Potential ace.)
Kuroda (Solid starter.)
Kershaw (Young, could be great or awful.)
Wolf (Likely to be injured.)
McDonald (Inexperienced, but with potential.)
Where we're starting this year:
Kershaw (Potential ace.)
Bills (Reeling from a bad year, but looking to bounce back.)
Kuroda (Still a solid, but slightly shakier, starter.)
Padilla (Probably a downgrade from Wolf, but still solid.)
???? (Likely Haeger, who could be far more productive than McDonald.)
Exactly, Josh. No disrespect to Wolf's excellent season last year, but lordy, we got him off the scrapheap and were lucky/happy that we got such a solid year out of him. Now the popular wisdom is that we let Cy Young walk. If we would have signed him for $30 mil and he would have regressed to his norm, people would have been calling for Colletti's head.
You could say Padilla's an upgrade over Wolf depending on how the two perform this season.
But basically, because the Dodgers had such a rough offseason with Frank and Jamie and the whole damn trial, the Dodgers obviously got worse from a baseball standpoint.
Hey, wait...
Again, exactly MLASF. That's the meme coming out of the ECMB newsrooms. Cause god fucking forbid they actually do a little research outside of watching TMZ and instead break it down logically.
In a close division race, the Dodgers' series against NYY and BOS could spell huge trouble.
But seriously, it is unfair to say we can't expect great things from the Dodgers starting staff, but assume that Jeff Francis will bounce back to 2007 form after a nearly two year absence. Buster is talking out of both sides of his mouth.
He is now #1 on my list of most hated guys named Buster and down to 2 of my guys most liked named Buster list.
well done. this is the best division in baseball, and olney IS an idiot, but not for predicting the Dodgers in second. Should be a dogfight, check it: http://yallkiltit.wordpress.com/2010/03/29/2010-national-league-west-outlook/
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