Hot Stove:  A rundown of each team in the offseason and what they are looking to improve in 2012. 

Los Angeles Dodgers:            Staying in the NL West, the next team we will look at will be the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Projected Starting Lineup:

1B            James Loney

2B            Mark Ellis

SS            Dee Gordon

3B            Juan Uribe

LF            Juan Rivera

CF            Matt Kemp

RF            Andre Ethier

C              A.J. Ellis

Projected Starting Rotation:

Clayton Kershaw

Chad Billingsley

Ted Lilly

Aaron Harang

Chris Capuano

Projected Batting Order:

SS            Dee Gordon

1B            James Loney

CF            Matt Kemp

RF            Andre Ethier

LF            Juan Rivera

3B            Juan Uribe

2B            Mark Ellis

C              A.J. Ellis

You can look at the Dodgers’ 2011 season in any number of ways and come to any number of conclusions.  On the one hand, they finished third in the NL West with an 82-79 record.  Finishing over 500 is good.  However finishing third in the weak NL West when you are a classic franchise in the second largest market in the country with arguably the best offensive player and best pitcher in the league leaves a bit to be desired.  This is what happens when you have some of the worst owners in baseball.  The McCourts divorced.  Then they went bankrupt.  Then they tried to hold on, but in the end had to sell the team.  The good news is all that seems to be behind the Dodgers.  The bad news is, Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw are in their primes with no one around them to protect or provide support.  And this season looks like it will deliver more of the same from last season.

Matt Kemp led this team in everything offensively last season.  He led the team in AVG (324), HR (39), RBI (126), R (115), H (195), SB (40) and dates with Rihanna.  He was one HR away from joining the exclusive 40/40 club.  There is nothing this guy can’t do.  Personally, he’s my MVP from last year, nothing against Ryan Braun.  The bad news for the Dodgers is that Kemp has no one to help him out offensively.  Andre Ethier is supposed to be that guy.  And sometimes he is.  He had that hitting streak last season that made everyone think he had finally figured it out.  While he hit a very nice 292, he had only 11 HR and 62 RBI.  He’s not developing into the power threat they want to be protecting Kemp in the batting order.  The story is the same with James Loney.  Loney hit 288 last season with 12 HR and 68 RBI.  These guys are solid hitters, but don’t have enough pop for middle of the order bats.  The guy with the second most HRs on the team last season was Rod Barajas (16), who has since departed.  After Loney and Ethier’s numbers, no one else hit more than 5 HRs.  They are hoping the Juans (Uribe and Rivera) provide some cover and get some of their power stroke on in LA.  But after Matt Kemp everything looks pretty bleak.  They are hoping rookie Dee Gordon continues his strong audition from last season.  In 56 games, he hit 304 with 24 SBs and 34 R.  They are hoping he can be their leadoff guy and continue to hit around 300.  If so, we could see another 40 SB guy on this team, and hopefully, for the Dodgers, another guy coming around to score 100 times.  If Gordon plays well, and Loney continues to hit for a plus AVG in the number 2 slot, then Matt Kemp should have plenty of guys to drive in.  But he won’t have the chance if people walk him to get to the Ethier/Juan/Juan middle of the order that could kill the Dodgers.  LA will go as far as those three go.  If they can be somewhat of a credible threat at the plate, then Matt Kemp will have another strong season and be able to provide an offensive spark for this Dodgers team that is hoping to rebuild under a new owner.

The story is kind of the same with the starters.  They have a bona fide star in Clayton Kershaw, last year’s NL Cy Young winner.  After that he needs help.  Kershaw obviously led the Dodgers in all the pitching categories last season, getting 21 Wins, 248 K and turning in a 2.31 ERA.  He had 5 CGs, 2 SHOs, a 0.98 WHIP and a phenomenal 207 BAA.  This guy is a star.  He threw 233 IP as well.  He has to figure to be the best, or certainly top 3 pitchers in the league again next season.  So the Dodgers pitching begins with him.  After Kershaw, the other pitchers all struggled.  The pitcher with the second most wins, Hiroki Kuroda, has since moved on to another team, and turned in a 13-16 record.  The number 2 starter for next season will be Chad Billingsley.  Billingsley is a former All Star and 16 game winner from 2008.  But he struggled every season since then, going 11-11 last year with a 4.21 ERA.  He had 188 IP, but that high ERA was from a solid BAA (264) and a WHIP that wasn’t fantastic (1.45).  They need Billingsley to go back to being a 15 game winner if they want to compete this season.  He has the stuff to do it, but has never projected to be the true ace of a rotation, only getting to 200 IP once, and never recording more than 16 Wins or less than 10 Losses in any full season.  Workhorse Ted Lilly is projected to be the number three starter.  His season saw a 12-14 record with a 3.97 ERA in 192 IP.  His WHIP (1.16) and BAA (238) were strong, but he just didn’t get the offensive support he needed to have a better record.  He’s an innings eater this late in his career that will keep a team in games.  He doesn’t strike out a lot of guys, but he gets guys out in a strong pitcher’s park in LA.  He is slotted in for more of the same, and in this game consistency is huge.  His age may eventually keep him from eating the number of innings he generally consumes, but he’s expected to turn in another decent season this year.  The last two starters in this rotation are new to LA.  Aaron Harang, the long time Red, is joining the team after a pretty good year in San Diego.  And though Chavez Ravine isn’t Petco, he should probably turn in another solid year.  In 28 starts last season, he went 14-7 with a 3.64 ERA in 170 IP.  That’s really solid production from your number 4 starter.  And while he didn’t strike out that many guys (124) and his BAA wasn’t very good (269), he pitched well, didn’t give up too many runs and kept the Padres in games.  He was able to win 14 games for a club that had an offense that scored maybe 14 runs all season.  So while 14 Wins might be a stretch for next year, he should play well enough to get double digit wins and keep the Dodgers in plenty of games.  The last spot in the rotation goes to the former Met, Chris Capuano.  Last year he pitched his first full season since 2006.  His best season was actually a year before that in 05 when he went 18-12 in 35 starts.  The next season he started 34 games and then that number dropped every season until 2010 when he started only 9 games for the Brewers.  He went to the Mets in the offseason and finally pitched close to a full season as their 5^th starter, going 11-12 in 31 Starts, the most games he’s pitched since 06.  His ERA was a fairly pedestrian 4.55 and his BAA was way too high at 270, but he kept the Mets in games and logged 186 innings.  He looks to do the same thing in LA.  If he can get that ERA and BAA down, then he has plenty of potential to win 15 games and maybe break 200 IP.  But the Dodgers will be happy with 12 Wins and a low ERA in some strong innings.  And they’ll need all those starters to play well, as their bullpen has to be viewed as a weakness.  Rookie Javy Guerra looks to be the closer to anchor this pen.  He had 21 Saves in 23 Save Opportunities with a 2.31 ERA and a mere 218 BAA.  They’d like to see more Ks (38 in 46 IP) but he’s the youngster who they are hoping will lead this pen.  After that a bunch of no names will get from the starters to him, so LA needs the front and back of their pitching to be strong.

2012 Prediction…LA is hoping to return to its former glory.  While we don’t know who their new owner is yet, competition appears to be steep and if Mark Cuban couldn’t make the cut then you know they must like some of the other candidates.  They have one of the best young hitters in the NL.  They have one of the best young pitchers in the NL.  But those two need help.  There are a lot of Ifs on the roster who have to help them out.  The division they play in is weak.  But unless Andre Ethier turns in an MVP type year, and Chad Billingsley is a threat to win the Cy Young, then this team will probably hover around 500, and end the 2012 season out of the playoffs.  This team needs a makeover.  Dodgers fans just hope that makeover can come soon enough to keep Kemp and Kershaw in the equation.

Up next…San Diego Padres.