2008 Preview: Los Angeles Dodgers

It's Joe Torre's job as new manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers to get the club back to postseason play. The pressure to do so won't be anything like what he experienced the past 12 years in New York with the Yankees. Then again, these Dodgers don't have the talent he had at his disposal in New York. They're good and have a chance to win the NL West ... but some things will have to break their way.

With the exception of third base, where Nomar Garciaparra and Andy LaRoche are expected to compete in spring training, the Dodgers’ lineup is set at every position.
The addition of free agent CF Andruw Jones means Juan Pierre moves to left and Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp will have to share time in right field, but it also makes the club better both offensively and defensively. The rotation is set except for the fifth spot, which will go to RHP Jason Schmidt if he is healthy, and there are several major league veterans in camp on non-roster invitations who will compete for no more than one open spot in the bullpen.
If LaRoche wins the job at third, it will officially kick off the beginning of a new era in Dodgers baseball in which all four of the club's long-awaited position-player prospects -- LaRoche, Russell Martin, Matt Kemp, James Loney -- will be regulars in the lineup together for the first time.
ARRIVALS: RHP Hiroki Kuroda (free agent from Hiroshima Carp), C Gary Bennett (free agent from Cardinals), CF Andruw Jones (free agent from Braves), RHP Mike Koplove (free agent from Indians), LHP Tom Martin (free agent from Rockies), LHP Mike Myers (free agent from White Sox), RHP Chan Ho Park (free agent from Astros), OF Nook Logan (free agent from Nationals).
DEPARTURES: LF Luis Gonzalez and LHP Mark Hendrickson (free agents, to Marlins), LHP David Wells, RHP Roberto Hernandez and INF Shea Hillenbrand (free agents, unsigned), RHP D.J. Houlton and INF Wilson Valdez (contracts sold to clubs in Japan), C Mike Lieberthal (retired), INF Olmedo Saenz (free agent to Mets), LHP Randy Wolf (free agent to Padres), C Chad Moeller (free agent to Nationals), RHP Chin-hui Tsao (free agent to Royals).
PROJECTED ROTATION:
1. RHP Brad Penny
2. RHP Derek Lowe
3. RHP Hiroki Kuroda
4. RHP Chad Billingsley
5. RHP Esteban Loaiza
If the absence of a left-hander in the rotation is a concern, club officials aren't owning up to it. Loaiza is expected to replace another right-hander, Jason Schmidt, who is likely to start the season late while coming off shoulder surgery. This rotation is solid all the way through, with Billingsley having long been considered the organization's top pitching prospect and Kuroda having been pursued by as many as 20 teams after he announced over the winter he was coming to the United States. Penny and Lowe are both entering their walk years and thus will have added incentive to pitch well.
PROJECTED BULLPEN:
RHP Takashi Saito (closer)
RHP Jonathan Broxton
RHP Scott Proctor
LHP Joe Beimel
LHP Hong-Chih Kuo
RHP Yhency Brazoban
RHP Rudy Seanez
There are going to be a lot of unhappy big-league veterans at the end of spring training, because the Dodgers are bringing five of them to camp on minor league contracts, and simple math suggests there won't be a spot for any of them, especially now that Seanez is back in the fold. Saito has become one of the game's most reliable closers over the past two seasons, but Broxton has the overpowering stuff to step into the role if Saito falters or suffers an injury. Brazoban and Kuo are coming off injuries, but they are expected to be healthy by the start of spring training. Beimel and Proctor were a solid lefty-righty combination down the stretch.
PROJECTED LINEUP:
1. SS Rafael Furcal
2. LF Juan Pierre
3. CF Andruw Jones
4. 2B Jeff Kent
5. RF Andre Ethier/Matt Kemp
6. 1B James Loney
7. C Russell Martin
8. 3B Nomar Garciaparra/Andy LaRoche
The Dodgers finished next to last in the National League with 129 home runs last year, and Jones should have a big impact on improving that number even though he is coming off a "down" year in which he hit only 26 homers and drove in 94 runs while batting .222 for Atlanta. The lineup could be made better still if Pierre could draw enough walks to move into the leadoff spot, which would allow manager Joe Torre to drop Furcal to the two hole, where Furcal's bat-handling skills would come in handy hitting ahead of Jones. Any lineup that has Martin hitting seventh is dangerous. But even with the addition of Jones, the aging Kent will have to produce in the cleanup spot if the Dodgers are to win.
PROJECTED RESERVES:
C Gary Bennett
INF Ramon Martinez
INF Tony Abreu
INF Chin-lung Hu
OF Delwyn Young
If LaRoche beats out Garciaparra, then Abreu, Hu and Martinez will be competing for one spot on the Opening Day roster because Garciaparra will be the other reserve infielder. If Garciaparra wins the third base job, LaRoche probably will go back to the minors. That probably would guarantee Martinez a spot, with either Abreu or Hu taking the other one. Young has never been counted among the organization's top prospects, but he has exceeded expectations at almost every level. He went 13-for-34 (including 4-for-12 as a pinch hitter) in two big-league stints last year, and he somehow found time in between to tie the modern Pacific Coast League record with 54 doubles for Class AAA Las Vegas.
TOP ROOKIES:
RHP James McDonald burst onto the organizational scene last year, going a combined 13-9 with a 3.07 ERA at Class A Inland Empire and Class AA Jacksonville. He is going to big-league camp for the first time after being added to the roster this winter. RHP Jonathan Meloan, a potential closer, was a victim of too many butterflies in his big-league debut, posting an 11.05 ERA in five appearances, but he went a combined 7-2 with a 2.03 ERA at Jacksonville and Class Las Vegas. He has overpowering stuff and probably will be back in the majors sometime this year.
MEDICAL WATCH: RHP Yhency Brazoban (right shoulder surgery in June 2007) is expected to be ready for the start of the regular season. … RHP Jason Schmidt (right shoulder surgery in June 2007) was shut down from throwing for three days early in spring training after feeling fatigued during a bullpen session. He is not expected to be ready to pitch by Opening Day. … RHP Chad Billingsley (right groin tightness) missed his Feb. 28 appearance.
He was scheduled to pitch March 3.