Can't Dodge the Bullet

Is it just me or are the Dodgers kind of in a mess? I'll admit, they have a great young core with Russel Martin, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, James Loney, Jonathon Broxton, and Chad Billingsley...wait you mean the guy who slipped on ice and broke his leg? They won 84 games last year in the paltry National League West, and did so with mid season acquisitions like Casey Blake and Manny Ramirez and strong pitching from Derek Lowe and Chad Billingsley. Now Billingsley will most likely be ready to throw by spring, but that's not a good sign. To add insult to injury, pun intended, Manny, Blake, and Lowe and even SS Rafael Furcal are all rumored to most likely leave LA. What does that leave the team? Not much. It's still really early in the offseason to speculate but I will. LA could try to keep some of these guys until late into the offseason then lose out and not have a backup plan. They have to do something here, and most likely soon. Not to mention that they have to pay Andruw Jones and Juan Pierre laughably high salaries ($25m combined) next year, and Jason Schmidt is owed $12m as well. As of now they don't have a suitable LF, 3b, ss, 2b and their rotation could lose Lowe and Brad Penny. They are a big market team and can make a splash for C.C. or someone else still to come, but based on the rumors it seems as though they'll miss out on most.

The Dodgers made the playoffs, looked like they were going to make a run last year, and with all their good young players and good young players still to come or prove themselves they seemed to be in a good place. I have no doubt that the future of the Dodgers looks good, but for next year while they still have to pay some of those awful contracts (Jones and Schmidt, Pierre signed until '11 wow) it doesn't look like they'll repeat as division winners. Although, the Giants and Padres still suck (pardon my French), the Rockies just traded Matt Holliday, and the D-Backs haven't proved a thing, so maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's possible that GM is thinking they can sneak in again next year without wasting money this year and retool after then when Schmidt and Jones free up $20+m without losing an actual useful player.