Are the Dodgers Ready? - Final thoughts.
A lot is expected from the Dodgers this coming season, and rightly so. It took a few months, and several million dollars, but they finally signed Manny Ramirez. They were also able to unload Andruw Jones, hold on to Casey Blake, and add Orlando Hudson. The line-up looks stronger than last year and assuming everyone can stay healthy ::cough::RafalFurcal::cough:: lack of run support should be a thing of the past.
Not only are there power hitters on the team, finally! But many of these guys have speed, and Joe Torre likes speed. Matt Kemp, Rafael Furcal, Orlando Hudson, and Russell Martin can be counted on to steal a base or two, and when Casey Blak
e and James Loney make up the bottom of the order, you know you’re in good shape.
“So what’s the problem, Dave?” Oh good question, reader. The problem is that the starting rotation is full of “what if’s?” and “hopefully’s.” Opening day starter Hiroki Kuroda has been tapped as the team leader, as far as pitchers are concerned. Presumably, fourth starter Randy Wolf isn’t up to the task, though the veteran is still expected to make an impact.
Kuroda performed fairly well last year, even throwing a one hit complete game in which he was perfect through seven innings, no small feat. However, there were two Hiroki’s pitching for the Dodgers in 2008. The Home Pitcher, who dominated, and the Away Pitcher who was easily rattled and was prone to miss his spots. To his credit, Koruda improved in the latter half of the season and performed well into October. The Dodgers hope he can continue excelling and set the tone for the younger guys.
Oh, the younger guys. Assuming James McDonald will be the fifth starter, that makes three of five starting pitchers under the age of twenty-five. Both Chad Billingsley and Clayton Kershaw started last year, but James McDonald was called in September and only pitched in relief. Having made quite an impression on Torre, however, he’s spent spring training being groomed as a starter.
The real concern here is pitch count. The Dodgers learned a hard lesson when they brought Gange back from injury too soon. You can’t force an arm to do what it can’t, or won’t. Billingsley has the strength to go deep, but expect Kershaw and McDonald to be pulled should they near the one hundred pitch mark.
The Dodgers have long prided themselves on their bullpen, and rightly so, but a lot of good arms were lost in the off-season. So, the prospect of two starters being constantly pulled in the sixth, or fifth inning is cause enough for concern.
The Dodgers hope to com
bat those concerns and limitations by relying on work-horse Cory Wade who’s joined by Guillermo Mota and starter-turned-long-relief-pitcher Jeff Weaver. Add to that a late arrival by Will Ohman and Jonathan Broxton reprising his role as Closer, and you’ve got the makings of a solid ‘pen…eventually.
I would expect these arms to be shaky coming into the season. It’s going to be a matter of trial and error before they hit they’re stride, but Torre isn’t shy about switching things up and seeing what works and what doesn’t.
That said, let’s try no to freak out if April and May don’t go exactly as planned. Eventually, the pieces will fall into place and the Dodgers will be on their way to repeat as NL West division champs.
