2008 LA Dodgers Analysis

Before the MEDIA anoints the 2008 LA Dodgers as the comeback or magical team of the year, I’d like to remind everyone of two grim realities:

1) As of right now, the Dodgers are only 73-70. Compare that to the 76-67 NY Yankees, whom the MEDIA is killing every day.

and

2) The LA Dodgers were picked by some experts (including Tony Vahl) to win the NL West (the weakest division in baseball). The general consensus was that every team in the NL West had a chance, with the Rockies and Dodgers having the edge.

Before the season started, here’s what a sports betting website said about the Dodgers:

Jimmy Boyd’s MLB picks will make this the best baseball betting season of your career. If you’ve never played with a world champion handicapper before, you’re about to find out just how big of a difference it makes in your pocketbook. Lay down with Jimmy Boyd from Opening Day through the World Series and have yourself a season to remember.

Odds to win NL West: 3/1
Odds to win 2008 NL Pennant: 7/1
Odds to win 2008 World Series: 25/1

So..in many ways, the Dodgers record is exactly what many had predicted. The catch is, no one could have predicted how many injuries the Dodgers suffered.

SO LET US TAKE A LOOK AT THE 2008 DODGERS SEASON, especially since it was New York Icon Joe Torre’s first season.

Offseason:

The buzz was that Joe Torre and his coaches- Larry Bowa and Don Mattingly arrived. (Donnie wound up taking a leave of absence until recently.) The main question was: “The Dodgers have four outfielders that deserve to start (Matt Kemp, Andruw Jones, Juan Pierre and Andre Ethier), one that should be given a shot to be the fourth outfielder (Delwyn Young) and Jason Repko. What are the Dodgers going to do about this logjam?“

Coaching Staff:

	6 Joe Torre	Manager
	46 Bob Schaefer	Bench Coach
	35 Mariano Duncan	First Base Coach
	10 Larry Bowa	Third Base Coach
	48 Ken Howell	Bullpen Coach
	40 Rick Honeycutt	Pitching Coach
	8 Don Mattingly	Hitting Coach
	11 Manny Mota	Coach

Spring Training:

Injuries: Pitcher Jason Schmidt, Nomar Garciaparra, Andy LaRoche and Tony Abreu got hurt during Spring. Joe Torre’s job was to juggle playing time with a bunch of youngsters and veterans.

Torre made the controversial move to bench veteran outfielder Juan Pierre (who had signed a 5-year $44 mil. contract) in favor of youngster Andre Ethier.

This was the Dodger’s Opening Day starting lineup:

Rafael Furcal	Shortstop
Andre Ethier	Leftfielder
Matt Kemp	Rightfielder
Jeff Kent	Second Baseman
Andruw Jones	Centerfielder
Russell Martin	Catcher
James Loney	First Baseman
Blake DeWitt	Third Baseman
Brad Penny	Starting Pitcher

And 25-man roster:

Pitchers — Brad Penny, Derek Lowe, Chad Billingsley, Hiroki Kuroda, Esteban Loaiza, Takashi Saito, Jonathan Broxton, Joe Beimel, Scott Proctor, Hong-Chih Kuo and Ramon Troncoso.

Catchers — Russell Martin, Gary Bennett.

Infielders — James Loney, Jeff Kent, Rafael Furcal, DeWitt, Chin-lung Hu, Mark Sweeney, Chavez.

Outfielders — Matt Kemp, Andruw Jones, Andre Ethier, Juan Pierre, Delwyn Young.

One storyline was: “The Dodgers opened the season Monday with five rookies from four countries on their 25-man roster: Blake DeWitt, Hiroki Kuroda, Chin-lung Hu, Ramon Troncoso and Delwyn Young.”

The Dodgers finished April with a 14-13 record, 5.5 games out of 1st place. They were in 2nd place behind Arizona. Many members of the MEDIA jumped aboard the Arizona bandwagon, and didn’t boast about picking the Dodgers to win. Fans in New York were pretty confident that they wouldn’t be seeing Joe Torre on TV in October.

May was a month of more injuries: Pitcher Estaban Loiza got hurt and was eventually released. Rafael Furcal, who was hitting superb, went on the DL. C Gary Bennett was placed on the DL. Andruw Jones lost his cartridge in his knee and went on the DL.

Besides, the devastating injuries, one theme was that the Dodgers have a good bullpen, but had offensive woes. Torre did a great job using the bench, and juggling playing time based on performance, especially with so many unproven MLB “no-names”.

At the end of May, their record was 27-28, 3.5 games behind Arizona.

In June, “ace” Brad Penny was put on the DL, as well as one of Joe Torre’s overworked favorites Scott Proctor. Starter Hiroki Kuroda was placed on the DL. And Juan Pierre was put on the DL June 30. The Dodgers got Andy LaRoche back, and picked up some reserve bodies to fill in the gaps.

The hitting was so bad that the Dodgers won a game without even getting a hit.

“As a group, we still have some work to do,” Torre said. “Really, there’s no timetable. You’d like to think you show up and everybody understands and, even if you don’t agree, you commit to it. I’m not really disappointed. We’re not there yet. We have more work to do. I think they know where I came from. But there are certain things they are holding on to, as far as how they play. They have goals and sometimes when it doesn’t match up to what we ask them to do, they go back to what they’re comfortable with.”

At the end of June, the Dodgers posted a 38-44 record, and remained 3.5 games behind the Diamondbacks.

July saw the return of some key players:
Hiroki Kuroda : 7/2
Nomar and Andruw: 7/4
Juan Pierre: 7/25

But also the loss of others: Mark Sweeney (15-day DL) and Closer Takashi Saito.

Rookie Dewitt was eventually sent to AAA, and Laroche was traded for superstar Manny Ramirez, who gave his new team immediate dividends.

At the end of July, the Dodgers were 54-54, only 2 games in 2nd place to Arizona.

August saw Nomar and Penny get hurt. Nomar returned, but Brad did not. Andruw got hurt again. Another Joe Torre pet bullpen project Tanyon Sturze was recalled from the minors, and was eventually released. The Dodgers had been making roster tweaks all season. Most were young flops or utility guys.

Future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux joined the team on August 19, and another Future Hall of Famer Jeff Kent was placed on the DL on the 31st.

The team finished the month with a 67-70 record, 2.5 games out.

September saw the Dodgers continue an 8-game losing streak followed by an 8 game winning streak, including a clutch sweep of the Diamondbacks. They currently are 73-70, and lead the NL West by 1.5 games!

So…who’s been good this year? (Keep in mind, the Dodgers have always played in a low-run scoring ballpark.)

Manny Ramirez, in the 35 games he’s played with them, is batting .410 with an on-base percentage of .507, with 11 homeruns!

26-year old Andre Either proved to everyone that he is the real deal, batting .293/.360, 20HR, and 67 RBI.

23-year old CF Matt Kemp has been great with his .287/.336, 16 HR, 69RBI, 33 stolen bases line.

25-year old Catcher Russel Martin is batting .280/.378, 12HR, 60RBI.

24-year old 1B James Loney is batting .301/.353, with 11 HR.

QUITE FRANKLY, any one of those players would make Yankees GM Brian Cashman green with envy: they don’t get paid a lot, they are young, and they can be productive.

A lot of the backup guys have pretty bad stats, since the big names (Andruw, Kent, Nomar, Pierre) have been injured on and off, their stats aren’t that great.

Regarding pitching, as it stands now:

Derek Lowe: 12-11, 3.53
Chad Billingsley: 14-10, 3.02
Hiroki Kuroda: 8-10, 3.96
Greg Maddux: 1-2, 5.94 since acquired
Clayton Kershaw: 3-5, 4.60

The bullpen has low ERAs but fans are complaining that since Saito has been hurt Jonathon Broxton (3.36) can’t close, and they are hoping Brad Penny returns so that he could close.

Hong-Chih Kuo is a lefty with an ERA of 2.03 with around 80 innings.

Eric Stults had some good starts earlier in the year and has been recalled in Sept.
His ERA is 3.18 in 34 innings.

Joe Beimel is a lefty reliever with an ERA of 2.20 over 41 innings.

Believe it or not, but veteran Chan Ho Park has an ERA of 2.98 in 88 innings.

Anyway, there are some busts in the bullpen, and like I said Dodgers fans are frustrated with the bullpen, in addition to poor hitting and injuries. However, with only 19 games left, the Dodgers have destiny in their own hands; and any team can win a playoff series, since they are so short.

The Dodgers have every right to be an underdog team in the playoffs, and the odds are against them. They don’t have a dominant pitching staff, and the offense has been cold most of the time. However, they have preserved and overcame decimating injuries to veterans. They have a great coaching staff, and their youngsters have gained a lot of experience this year. Most of the veterans have battled injuries and are past their primes.

This team has actually exceeded expectations by overcoming crippling injuries, even though they are exactly where many have predicted them to be.

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